Dry Rot
Well-Known Member
We have a spooky pony. He was bought in with quirks. His ground work is good so someone has clearly done this work with him. He'll lead over plastic, over a pallet, over ply wood, load, etc. and someone has obviouly done a lot of work with him, but he was then sold on. But we are occasionally finding things he is phobic about and gradually over coming them one by one. It is slow work, but we are getting there.
The other day, someone was leading him and I was walking behind. He definitely did not like that one bit and kept swinging his bum around to the right in an attempt to face me head on. Clearly, he fears someone walking up behind him like this. No problem walking up to him from behind in the field, it is only when he is being led. We then tried to lead him up beside a fence so he couild not swing round and it was clear that he would have reared rather than put up with this, so stopped.
How do we overcome this fear? Clearly, it is a phobic reaction and he is frightened of being attacked from behind when led, but how do we get him to accept it? Long reining? I decided not to force the issue and wait until I could arrange things better, but what can I do?
The other day, someone was leading him and I was walking behind. He definitely did not like that one bit and kept swinging his bum around to the right in an attempt to face me head on. Clearly, he fears someone walking up behind him like this. No problem walking up to him from behind in the field, it is only when he is being led. We then tried to lead him up beside a fence so he couild not swing round and it was clear that he would have reared rather than put up with this, so stopped.
How do we overcome this fear? Clearly, it is a phobic reaction and he is frightened of being attacked from behind when led, but how do we get him to accept it? Long reining? I decided not to force the issue and wait until I could arrange things better, but what can I do?