bomb proofing /preparing

Shavings

Shavings

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 October 2011
Messages
2,082
Location
Middle of some where
Visit site
quick question fro you all

how do you "bomb proof" your horse, or for a better term prepare them for things when out and about?

reason for this is last night for Levi on his second ever hack and he was not fazed by anything.. until we found some children on a trampoline (black mesh up so i don't think he could see them)
he panicked and it took a good dig in ribs for us to "scotch" past and even then took a either 10 mins to calm him back down.

so what do you all do? do you put umbrellas and other "scary" items in the school and let then loose?
do you march your horse past scary items until they just give in??

do some horses ever get over a specific fear?

i am not bothered if Levi is scared of the trampoline (we don't often come across them!) but it just got me wondering!!
 
I take them in the school a couple of times a week when they are youngsters and get them to walk over or under anything I can think of that might freak them out.

I usually do all of the below:

- Lay out a big tarp and have them walk over it/stand still on it
- Get them to the point of not being phased when you wave the tarp at them/move the tarp all over their body/pull it over their head
- Teach them to stand still while you use a spray bottle all over their body, including their face (obviously only with water)
- Stick the radio on and make sure they will walk past it without spooking
- Open an umbrella in front of them (stand away from him so you don't poke him!)
- Get a soft football (one of those rubber ones) and chuck it in the air around him, and eventually bounce it off his body/around his legs

Some of them are a bit silly, but it's really good fun once you get into it and so good for teaching them that eventually, nothing is scary!
 
We try to make sure that they meet as many things as possible during the course of their normal life. We don't have access to a school but actually would not want them to only be used to things in the school.
Has Levi been out and about in-hand/long-reined? Gone out in company with a very tolerant 'nanny'? I would take him back past that trampoline as many times as possible until he becomes blasé. It might even be possible to enlist the help of the children to gradually build up his tolerance.
 
Lots and lots of practice. I have never met a horse that hasn't spooked about something, but as long as the spooks are small and they just stop dead in their tracks for a second, I have no problem with them. I can also deal with the bigger spooks when they come. However we had one pony who was terrified of something and no matter how often we went past or who was riding or driving her, she did not go past without giving it a wide berth. It was an upside down bath with a dead pig under there ready to be picked up. Some days there was a pig under and some days there wasn't, we could always tell by the reaction of the pony if there was. Even six years on and riding and driving past it at least 4 times (2 times out, 2 times back) she still did not like it. We learned to live with it and exected it, we made sure road was clear in case she went over and made sure traffic knew.

My point, some things I don't think you can teach them and we would just have to accept. Others you can teach them in a school in different ways.
 
thanks every one!
some real inspiration and what to do with him, Levi is not fazed by balls or tarp, or even the tractor baling wile we got him 5 stage vetted in the same field!!

he has seen said trampoline every day of his life! (its owned by the yard owner) but he has never see about 10 kids run round on it and scream, i think what makes it worse is its 20 ft above his head!
(its in the yard owners garden which looks down on to the yard!) he is not the only horse to spook, a fellow livery had the same problem and kindly asked could the children stand still wile she took her boy to bed
(her horse is a lot stressy then Levi and had started to become very very unhappy with the situation, the children reply was no! we are playing.. ever so helpful)sadly the yard owner is not horsey and is not involved in the yard which i think is the reason why they don't understand the issue, i am well a wear Levi may never come to terms with the trampoline when its full of children and this i understand
 
This video sums up why bombproofing training isn't always effective. He nearly dropped me a few a days before, when the demon Spiderman balloon tried to eat him. I went out and kicked it around, fed him polos off it, and generally messed about with it - and he didn't turn a hair. I left it blowing around in the field for a few days - didnt turn a hair.
Rode him past it a few days later, and he nearly dropped me again. It was suddenly the most scary thing in the world again!
https://www.facebook.com/ally.gau/videos/vb.674180729/10152723104645730/?type=3&theater
 
Well no, that wasn't very helpful of the children but sometimes when they are in large groups they don't stop to think. Could you talk one or two of them (I assume that they are not all YO's) when they are not playing and ask them for help? Arrange with them for them to play and make a noise where he can see them and then do the same above his head, then move onto the trampoline? It might help but I once had a 'bombproof' mare who hated dogs above her head - she was absolutely fine with them round her legs but if they were in a high garden when she passed she made a fuss. Fortunately her fuss was easily dealt with but as above we did have to check that no cars were likely to pass.
 
My mare is very spooky but I find that she gains confidence if I lead her past the offending item, with me between her and it. When I first got her she was terrified of prams and nearly caused a very nasty accident in a collecting ring when she saw a pram and shot sideways in front of a jump. We have to walk up a road to get to the field and on many occasions she saw a pram being pushed in the distance and didn't like it much but realised it was going away from her. When we did meet one coming towards us I got between her and the pram and reassured her until it was past. A couple of weeks ago we did some showing and there was a pram parked on the decking alongside the arena - she didn't even look at it. That's not to say she won't have a meltdown if she sees one in another location, or a different colour etc :D but she doesn't usually like objects being out of place, so the fact that she passed one by the edge of the arena makes me cautiously optimistic.
 
Bombproofing is a state of mind. Every time you handle / take out your horse, ask yourself 'what will challenge him today'. Faced with a choice between two routes, take the one which goes past the kids playground, building site, or whatever. Don't do things the same way twice. Do everything just as you would if he wasn't there. No compromises. If he's bothered, reassure him, then do it again. If he's really bothered, spend time on it - lots of time.

I once spent an hour a day for 3 days sat on a pony right by the busiest junction in town, watching the heavy stuff go around the roundabout, as he danced the tarantella underneath me. Slowly 'terrified of traffic' pony became 'can we go home yet' pony, and eventually 'this is dull, can I go to sleep for a bit' pony. :)
 
I get them really good at ground work - backing up from a finger wiggle, a turn on the haunches, turn on the forehand, sending forward, changing direction etc, then I walk them out in hand on a long rope continuing all of this so I know I have complete control of where the feet are in every situation, I want the focus to be always on me. I don't actively try to de-spook them to anything, IME even if they're fine with it in the school/field/at home, it is still going to look different out and about, so I want them listening to me and looking to me for confidence and leadership. When they're happy on the ground I find it easy to transfer it to saddle, any sticky moments I just get off and repeat the groundwork
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top