'bombproofing' your horse

ChasingTheDream

ChasingTheDream

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Hi,

Any tips on how to de-spookify a horse? :p

I know the usual ones like the numnah thing, and tarpaulin but are there any other unusal ideas?

Thanks :D xxx
 
rubbing down with plastic bags, party poppers, those party things you blow, making a drum and banging it loud, put an umbrella up and down, closer and closer - I managed to put it over the boy's head in the end.

Just use the imagination.......I had great fun ! :)
 
shysmum said:
rubbing down with plastic bags, party poppers, those party things you blow, making a drum and banging it loud, put an umbrella up and down, closer and closer - I managed to put it over the boy's head in the end.

Just use the imagination.......I had great fun ! :)
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Aw wow - thanks thats awesome :D xxx
 
shysmum said:
rubbing down with plastic bags, party poppers, those party things you blow, making a drum and banging it loud, put an umbrella up and down, closer and closer - I managed to put it over the boy's head in the end.

Just use the imagination.......I had great fun ! :)
Click to expand...

I've done these and found them to be great. My mare wouldn't let you near her with a plastic bag :) I tied a tesco bag on the end of a schooling whip and worked with her that way. Also a lunge whip making it twirl round like a helicopter - but watch you don't hit your self or the horse :)
 
Lotty said:
I've done these and found them to be great. My mare wouldn't let you near her with a plastic bag :) I tied a tesco bag on the end of a schooling whip and worked with her that way. Also a lunge whip making it twirl round like a helicopter - but watch you don't hit your self or the horse :)
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Knowing my luck I'd end up hitting myself :p
He's wary of dogs, is there anything (other than a dog) that can help de-sensitise him?
I'm hoping to get him hacking out calmly and meeting dogs without cantering off by summer (long term project :p ) xxx
 
My old horse hadnt come across dogs .I used to take my dog into his paddock on a lead with a wheelbarrow to potect us both.In the end they shared water bucket together .One of my funniest moment s that I missed on camera was them standing side by side having a pee :D
Borrowing a dog is best idea:p
 
ballons, strimmers in the field, standing them by a car reving tooting the horn etc, throwing things around them (like a bucket) lots of different noises KIDS... they create the most noise! (as you can tell my horses all get totally abused lol )
 
cellie - Haha; :D would have been an amazing picture :p
Good idea, I'll have to find a dog - Mine is too badly behaved :p

jhoward said:
ballons, strimmers in the field, standing them by a car reving tooting the horn etc, throwing things around them (like a bucket) lots of different noises KIDS... they create the most noise! (as you can tell my horses all get totally abused lol )
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Haha; thanks - all idea's have been noted down and next time Im baby sitting I'll drag some three year olds up to the yard :p :D xxx
 
ChasingTheDream said:
Knowing my luck I'd end up hitting myself :p
He's wary of dogs, is there anything (other than a dog) that can help de-sensitise him?
I'm hoping to get him hacking out calmly and meeting dogs without cantering off by summer (long term project :p ) xxx
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Well exposure to a LOT of dogs helps. Here is Morrich Finn, one of my Highland ponies. Sometimes dog proofing can be carried a bit too far!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llLgWst3UlQ
 
What are you trying to desensitize your horse to? With my boys, I find that hacking them out regularly helps as they get to see lots of different things and learn how to cope with whatever they come across.
 
Also think about scary thngs you'd see on a hack.... pushchairs, pushbikes, cones, road signs, wheelie bins. I had two particularly well-remembered incidents on my share ex-racer that had his eyes on stalks... two things I hadn't managed to get hold of to desensitise.... a person in/on a mobility scooter with a rain hood on it!! :D (v v rare, admittedly) and something horses would very rarely see anyway.... hacked out on bin collection day and someone had put an old upright hoover out for the bin men.... that caused a bit of jogging sideways, I can tell you!!! :D :D
 
I tried to desensetise the old appy mare to umbrella's, never did manage it. I leapt about the field with one, dodged round walls and must have looked a total fruit loop :D. She was fine with my brolly, but still refused to pass the fishing ones at the side of the mill dam, this was very awkward as it was the route from her summer field to the yard! She never liked pushchairs, especially ones with parasolls, skate boards and big vehicles. We never met a mobility scooter, thank goodness. The current Appy has met a golf buggy with a tent arrangement on it and appart from looking a bit shocked and disapproving, went past it fine. The thing this one doesn't like is ponies with carts attached, I think she thinks the cart is eating the ponyQ
 
A few other things we did - I led Shy everywhere I could on the roads, and made sure he walked over drains, and as above, past wheelie bins, signs and stuff. And loose horses in fields next to roads - did all this using a bridle, and hubs on the other side leading with me. I also led him thru a lot of water - a stream and puddles, and made him stand still in the stream - got very wet doing that !! He lived on a farm, so is great with tractors and stuff.

Two things we haven't met yet are the dreaded pigs :eek: and the even more dreaded alpacas :eek::eek: Now that will test his coping skills !
 
I would agree with if he doesn't like dogs, to get him to spend more time around them. Mine didn't used to like them although there are two guard dogs at the stables, but they are always locked away during the day. Consequently whenever we hacked out it was very hard to go past dogs, as he hated them. He has been in the field next to my house during the summer, and I have a completely loopy poodle. I would take my dog and his ball into the field and play with him, my horse would just stand next to me having a good scratch of the head. Now I have even managed to go out on a hack with him and my two dogs, I told this to my YO (he will be going back there for winter) and she couldn't believe it. Now when we encounter dogs he is fine.
 
I'll send my daughter round.....after a while of her flashing around the yard on her bright pink bike, complete with handle bar tassels and wheel-clackers....he'll be fine lol!

My new horse is/was verrry spooky....I leave gates banging in the wind, shake rugs out, drop buckets etc etc .....and I pay no heed to either the noise or the horses reaction.

He's now much more chilled....if I don't react, he knows theres nothing to worry about.

Last night as it was getting dark I took him to the yard gate to watch the buses go past - all lit up.....he was bored rigid after about 10 mins.:rolleyes:
 
I wore a Mollichaff bag, i have a pic but can't load it off my phone at work, mum was rolling around, she wasn't scared at all and my old boy tried to eat me. :D
 
You never know what you are going to come across out hacking..at the weekend my friend and I had to hack past 2 kids scooters which had been abandoned in the lane when the little kids saw us and ran screaming to mummy 'cos they were scared of our horses. We said 'Oh, these horses are more scared of you than you are of them' and the nags took no notice of the kids, suddenly, whoops, 'what the f is that?' 2 x scooters just abandoned there, it was very tricky getting by without falling in the ditch..then on the return trip throught the river there was a SOFA abandoned on one side of the ford exit and about 6 bikes piled up on the other. Kick on!!!
 
Lol at the scooters:D

Few months ago when I still had my old boy....we were out hacking, cut through a housing estate- small boy going down his drive holding his scooter above his head, you could just see a floating scooter bobbing around over the top of a parked car......my lad absolutely poooped himself!

I once passed a wheeliebin that had been customised with a blow up photo of the family who it belonged to.....horse couldn't believe his eyes...

Small children carrying ballons and wearing rollerskates speeding towards you (or coming up behind you)....not good either:o
 
Have a look on Michael Peace's website as he's got some good ideas.

Beware though, as often its far too easy to be all enthusiastic and go in all guns blazing. FIRST you have to build up the bond with your horse BEFORE you do the spookbusting, as its actually quite abusive to the horse if you're always spookbusting and scaring him without building the relationship first.

Also bear in mind that something you do in the yard at home, i.e. baby buggy, might be OK and he might appear perfectly fine with it, then you go out on the road and he's still prancing around all over the place! - simply because he's happy and secure in his own yard, but outside is still a big scarey place.

It is worthwhile when you know you've achieved that special bond though: for ages I was tooting my car horn at mine every time I went past his field; then one day we were out hackign on a blind corner and someone really had a good old toot, and he was perfectly fine & chilled - fink the motorist was more scared than us!!!

Its about building confidence, gradually, and building the relationship up.
 
I need to borrow a tractor, that is one thing my lad really doesn't like!!

I've just done two clicker sessions with my lad and a big golf umbrella - he's happy to come stand under it with me now to get his click :)
 
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