Natural Horsemanship & Spooky New Horse!!

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rachier

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Had my new cob for 2 months now and been taking things really slowly as i am nervous anyway - riding little and often.

The only thing is somedays he is solid as a rock and other days you are just constantly going sideways - reassurance from the leg seems to work, but it is still a bit unnerving!!

Can anyone recommend a natural horsemanship method to help me school and bombproof him consistently - just there is so many types about - some comments on personal experience would be handy!!!
 
I train my horses up to the level that they can be ridden through central London by themselves without batting an eyelid. They will not spook at anything. It is all down to giving them thousands of hours of experiences of being ridden out by themselves. In other words riding them out each day for as long as possible by themselves.


There is no doubt that the temprement of the horse will effect how bombproof/spookproof one can make them but all of mine have been trained to be completely laid back when being hacked out by themselves. It involves a lot of time in training them up but there is nothing nicer than being able to ride out a relaxed horse.
 
When he spooks i try to sit quietly and softing applying leg aids to encourage him to go straight again. This seems to work and relax him, but somedays he can catch you out! And sometimes yes - i will admit i do tense up and in turn he ends up tense, but that is something we are working on...... i have three lessons a week and my instructor schools him once a week and he hacks out a couple of times to help get over my nervousness and it is working.

Suppose the natural horsemanship would help us bond as well.
 
Have you tried spook proofing him at home - show him all the objects that you might meet out on a hack...but in a way where he has positive associations with them.
So maybe put a traffic cone in his stable with his feed, or get him used to umbrellas, polythene bags, tarpaulines, ride round him on bikes, etc, and praise him, give him a little treat each time you approach him with something new.
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I have the spookiest horse in the world and i am a confident rider, i have tryed despooking alot and read every natural horsemanship article going on the subject as well as two dvds, even got her running over a plastic tarp only for her to shy at every grid when we rode out straight after. I am sure with mine that i have been feeding her too much high energy food but can't win coz i needed to get weight on her as shes a skinny Thoroughbred. Shes being rested at the moment but i've cut her feed right back while shes on the grass and hoping that will help when i get back on.

Do you ride out with company? if not i bet that would make you both feel much more confident and then you can progress to going out alone.
 
QR
Perhaps avoid doing the NH stuff...and try just straightforward positive reinforcement? The key is not to get them to do something - it is to get them to enjoy doing something for reward - which can be a treat, praise, a pat, removal of negative stimulus like a leg aid.
That way they won't be anxious, but instead will think 'Great - a plastic bag - I might earn a treat here!'
Hacking out with an older, calm horse will also help to set a good example - but do take turns at being lead file or you'll create a 'follower'
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I think if you are a little nervous yourself, then riding out with someone else is really helpful. Not only can they they give you a lead if your horse is a bit unsure, but having someone to chat to will help you relax and take your mind off all the things that "could" happen.

One of our ponies is the spookiest, most hysterical pony I have ever met, he has always been like this, we have had everything checked - it is just the way he is!
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I like the sound of PeterNatts horses - something that has been trained to cope with anything, even on its own - thats what I need!
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Peter- when you have trained your horses, if one was to focus on something in the hedge say and get all hyper, swinging quarters etc how did you train them that there was nothign to worry about?
Mine does this and i end up not knowing how to handle it...
 
Providing it is safe to do so I would let the horse look at the hedge or whatever it was shying at from a comfortable distance and as the horse feels more confident push the horse gradually towards the hedge and make it look at whatever it is spooking at and then make it walk past it in each direction about 20 times till it gets completly bored and treats the object as being of no interest whatsoever.

It's just a matter of spending time on these things.
 
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