Despooking with Baby Seabiscuit in a few not-so-easy steps

I’ve had lots of questions about how I got Baby Seabiscuit to go from this
 
 to this….
 
So I’ve tried to boil down a 6 month project into 5 minutes or less.
Let me know how I did!
 
 
 
Step 1. Get Ur Head Down!
 
 
 
Scared horses don’t have their heads down…..unless of course they’re doing one of these numbers…….
 
 
 
The secret here is your scared pony has to put his head down of his own free will. You’ll notice this is a gadget-free exercise……..
 

 
 
Step 2. Get Ur Head Down – Under Tack
 
 
 
 
longer video of this exercise can be seen here
 
 
 
The millisecond before the BIG – SPOOK – REAR – BOLT is always HEAD STRAIGHT UP.
 
 
 
 If you can avoid that terrible moment…… the rest of the train wreck is easier to avoid.

 

 
Step 3. Build bravery from the ground. I like using trail obstacles.
 
 
This was a big change from the spinning & bolting he did the first time he saw the tire.
 

 
 
Step 4. Get him a play mate.
 
 
click here for video if player not working
 
 
So he can work out some of those shenanigans with his horse friend……. instead of yours truly.
 
 
Step 5.
 
Have NO GOALS.
 
 
 

 

Seriously.

 

 
This is probably the most important part. If I headed down to the arena to have a little jump school, and he got scared of something on the way to the arena………
 

 

 
instead of the original plan we spent the session working on bravery instead.
 
 
If he got bothered & we headed on down to the arena anyway…………it usually ended like this.

 

 
 Rather, we worked on each issue as it showed up, and then the next ride (or so later) we might be able to SUCCESSFULLY ride down to the arena and have that little jump school.
 

 

 
Bad Eventer & Baby Seabiscuit………..looking towards the future………… 
 
 
 

Share with:


7 thoughts on “Despooking with Baby Seabiscuit in a few not-so-easy steps

  1. Equine Snob

    Great post!
    I observed a few years ago that getting them to put their head down immediately made them more relaxed. So, I started trying to cue some spooky horses to put their head down on demand. And it helped!
    I can think of quite a few days where I've "changed my goals" based on how my horse was acting. I always felt like I was "wimping out" of real training or something, but that ride would inevitable be more relaxed than whatever the original plan had been…
    Maybe I'm not as far from the right track as I sometimes think! Thank you for the inspiration!

  2. T Myers

    I admire your dedication. Reminds me a lot of my one difficult horse….amazing what can happen with some patience and proper training!

  3. SprinklerBandit

    This is probably a dumb question, but why? When Baby S was presenting with such problematic behavior, what made you say "I can work through this" instead of "he isn't mean to be an event horse"? Not saying there's a right or wrong answer, just curious on your mental process.

    1. Bad Eventer

      Good question! I actually wrote an entire blog about the answer! See "The Horse You've Created" for all the details (link is at the end.) But let me answer your question with a couple questions. Rearing and bolting isn't just NOT acceptable behavior for an event horse. It's not acceptable behavior for any other kind of horse either. So, if I don't correct his dangerous behavior, what happens to him? It's not a matter of whether he's meant to be an event horse…….It's a matter if he has a home, and avoids a very sad ending. I've been training young horses for a few decades, I have the skills & patience to fix it. He's my horse. That makes him my responsibility. If I'm not willing to put in the time to correct his behavior so that he can have a nice life, or even any life………who is going to? Here's the blog about just that topic. http://badeventer.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-horse-youve-created.html

Comments are closed.