I have a problem with my pet dragon.
His response to anything that he is worried about…… is some variation of this.
(For Part 1 of this continuing saga – see The Horse You’ve Created)
His favorite GO TO move is the CompletelyWithoutWarningDuck&Run
Check this video out…..one minute we’re cantering in a straight line, ears forward, the next we’re going the other direction……
watch video here if not working
After some epic failures and a few unceremonious “dismounts”……we started over……
Back to Basics……..sigh…..
I tried absolutely everything that had worked for me in the past with spooky horses.
Tarps
Obstacles
Baby Basics
Dressage Lessons
Trails
Schooling Field Trips
Crazy looking jumps
Trail Obstacles
Skinnies
Schooling Shows
After 4 months of practice, practice, practice………
It didn’t work.
His GO TO response was still “spin & bolt” from anything that bothered him.
If his worries were only a few things, this wouldn’t be such a problem, but this horse is terrified of…………….
pretty much everything.
Something had to change, so after reviewing everything that was working & not working……
I came up with a new plan.
My little dragon wasn’t getting better with desensitization, familiarization, or repetition. One of his big problems is that once he gets wound up…..there is just no recovering.
He would go into full on nervous breakdown and the rest of the ride would be……..at best terrifying………and at worst….. down right dangerous.
He needed to learn how to control his emotions, and he needed a “calm down” cue. So there’s the crux of the problem….how do you teach that?
It’s not like I can get him to breath into a bag……
So the past month we’ve been working on a “calm down” cue.
This.
Not This.
And now……he’s learning to make different choices………& we’re finally getting somewhere!
Phew!
Have fingers crossed you have a post on how to teach a calm-down cue!!
Yes……it's in the works. It's called "Coming out of the closet" :-0 :-0
I can't wait to read that and I love the title! Believe me, coming out of the closet can be hard and it helps to have a guide. 🙂
Yay! Looking forward to it! So glad you have found a solution – my mare needs one.
Looking forward to it! I love your blog and I too have a boy that has run in the other direction as fast as possible as his response to many things. 🙂 Had him a year and we're finally learning that bravery (touching/going up to scary things)= cookie. It's working so far!
I have the EXACT same duck and spin! Our calm down thing is a small circle where he looks at my knee while he gallops/trots/walks. We track left, left, left all while admiring my lovely knee. And then, he gets to look at my OTHER knee. :0)
Mark Rashid once said that horses are born either with a fear-based reaction or a curiosity-based reaction. It is innate to who they are as horses. You can train and desensitize and work and ride, but in the end when the shit hits the fan, they will react from either fear or curiosity. It sounds like your boy is one of those fear-based horses.
That kind of sucks.
Looking forward to seeing what you are going to do . . . .