Spitballing ideas for tackling arena anxiety

[Caol Ila]

My Highland has an odd history. He was feral until he was 7/8-ish, then started in 2018 by a very sympathetic, kind trainer. But his owner did not have an arena, so he was started in a round pen, then ridden away hacking. Apparently he took to everything well and was super easy to back. Unfortunately, the trainer was injured in a wreck on something else, and had to stop working with him. He did nothing for over a year. Owner then sent him away to a pro for training. Apparently he wasn't so easy and had some meltdowns in the school (and he had never seen one before), and the pro powered through but told the owner that he should be a trekking pony, or a therapy pony (the latter baffles me, but moving on...). The owner, in fairness, must have been aware of the clusterf*ck, because before letting me proceed with the vetting, she had me ride him to a neighbour's school and ride him around in it, so I knew exactly what I was getting. He didn't do anything terrible or terrifying, but he felt like an unexploded bomb and all I did was walk around for 15 minutes. He sweated like he'd run Badminton. Like every sucker buying a lockdown horse, I bought him anyway.

A week or so after he arrived at my yard, I rode him in the school and he felt like he could go off at any second. I left it. Given that a pro couldn't power/coerce him through his concerns, I doubted that I could. And there was lots of hacking to be done. He's perfect in company, and he loves OH so he will follow him anywhere. He's leading past more and more scary things, so the hacking alone will come. I saw it as filling the well of trust and experience, so when I need to draw on the well, there's something there.

Daylight is against us now, so I am looking at the school and thinking, I need to deal with that. My current thoughts are use his love of OH and have him follow OH around the school, and then gradually peel off. And/or bring my rope halter, and if things get sticky, jump off and go back to groundwork, because he is absolutely fine doing groundwork in the school. He understands seat/leg/rein aids, as we work on that on the trail, and he will be a really nice ride in the arena once he realizes there are no horse-eating monsters or scary trainers hiding there.

 

[ycbm]

Unless you've tried this already, I would feed him something he really likes in the arena every day until he looks forward to going in there. Then I'd ride him for one minute and feed him. Next day two minutes and feed him, .....
.

 

[Caol Ila]

I like it, YCBM. So obvious, but I didn't think of it. Being a Highland pony, he is very amenable to bribes.

 

[iknowmyvalue]

How is he working from the ground tacked up? Could you start with the groundwork stuff he’s more comfortable with, hop on, walk a few steps then go back to groundwork? Then just rinse and repeat building up the amount of walk?

 

[ycbm]

I like it, YCBM. So obvious, but I didn't think of it. Being a Highland pony, he is very amenable to bribes.

I'm not a big fan of treats but my trotter is definitely easier to train with them, and he's changed my mind a bit. It really seems to reassure him.
.

 

[Gloi]

I'm quite a fan of bribery when needed. It's easier than force.

 

[holeymoley]

Could you walk him round in hand and gradually build up? Or if he’s fine with that, go in either before or after a hack, do one 20m circle or one lap and come out and do that until each time you do a little more.

 

[Caol Ila]

I'm not a big fan of treats but my trotter is definitely easier to train with them, and he's changed my mind a bit. It really seems to reassure him.
.

Hermosa has changed me into a huge fan of +R, in behaviourist lingo. Obviously I am teaching her pressure and release ('cause that's how you ride) but reinforcing that with the odd treat definitely reassures her that she's done the right thing and builds her confidence and enthusiasm.

It is even more useful with Foinavon, because too much pressure blows his mind (as the pro discovered). Hermosa is far easier to train, at this moment. She doesn't get flipped out and worried when she doesn't immediately find the answer. He does. The Highland should not be sharper or more reactive than the PRE, but there we are. I mean, she became a hot mess right before and right after foaling, but five months of being a mum has made her pretty zen-like and willing to calmly consider any question.

I'm quite a fan of bribery when needed. It's easier than force.

Definitely!

Could you walk him round in hand and gradually build up? Or if he’s fine with that, go in either before or after a hack, do one 20m circle or one lap and come out and do that until each time you do a little more.

I have thought of this, but then suffered total lack of self-discipline. My fault, lol. I just haven't been bothered making my hacking buddies do arena circuits before hitting the trails. It was complicated by the fact that if the school was busy, he would freak out just walking alongside it, which you have to do when riding out of the yard. Had some very exciting, spinny moments. Only in the last few weeks has he reliably not spooked at people trotting and cantering around the arena while we passed them on the other side of the rails. That's progress?

 

[scats]

I read an article once about horses with anxiety in the arena and the writer said he used to take his horse into the arena, get on and stand in the centre. He’d have a fag (I’m not suggesting you do that), have a natter with his horse, then leave after 5/10/15 mins, having gradually increased the time. He completely changed the horses mindset about the arena and was able to progress to walking for 5/10/15 mins etc. He did it over a fair few weeks, so you might have to be prepared to be in it for a while.

 

[stangs]

I’d be combining ycbm and scat’s ideas. Using R+, you can condition him not to have negative associations with the arena, rather than expecting him to get used to it. (I need to find the article again, but there was a very interesting study showing that when R- was used to get animals comfortable with injections, i.e. something they were uncomfortable with, even when they were adjusted enough that wouldn’t show stress behaviours, the stress hormone levels remained high. When R+ was used, the stress hormone levels dropped over time.)

But while you’re reconditioning him, I wouldn’t want to do any work with him there. Make it a place of no expectations, where he’s not being forced to work, and build up very slowly from there.

 

[Red-1]

I have helped re-train a horse like this. It had been a SJer who had been pushed too far and had thrown the towel in.

We made the school a nice place. Yes, we did take him in there to feed, but that had minimal effect. We then hacked out, bt came back to the school at the end to dismount, have a carrot, have a fuss, then go in.

Then, have a walk to the other end, dismount, have a snack etc.

Then walk a lap, etc etc.

Sometimes we would just hang there, mounted up, but no pressure.

We just upped the work incrementally. Never asking too much. Always rewarded.

The horse, a year later, was happy to jump even. That was a biggie, as it had been turned over, had refused and been hit in his previous life. Trust.

 

[Cortez]

Time, staying calm and repetition should do the trick (as is always the case with training horses). Spanish horses are super smart, Highlands IME are, erm, less so….

 

[Hepsibah]

Time, staying calm and repetition should do the trick (as is always the case with training horses). Spanish horses are super smart, Highlands IME are, erm, less so….

Highlands have pony smarts. Less likely to blindly comply with (to them) pointless or dull activities and more likely to negotiate for more rewarding ones. They like to please themselves as well as you...

 

[Goldenstar]

I deal with this by hacking out and then walking round the school and feeding them treats from on top .
If they are really bad I lead from another horse round and round the school before I start with the riding bit .
I also lunge walk them round the school endlesssly .
It’s takes long time sometimes but does come .

 

[GoldenWillow]

I had a cob who was very shut down and anxious, and frankly dangerous for anyone other than a pro, in a schooling situation through previous experiences. I had a choice whether to sell him on and continue the cycle of him being passed around quickly which I'd discovered he'd been on after I bought him, or find a way to work with him that kept me safe.

I knew nothing of +R training but fell into it naturally. I started off with ground work and rewards, watching carefully what made him relaxed, what he enjoyed (he was a naturally curious and nosy horse) and what triggered his stress and worked around these. He enjoyed pole work so I did that inhand then would do ridden within his comfort zone, then back to inhand. Slowly increasing his comfort zone. I tried to make it "fun" and a game for him and found that it naturally progressed into "normal" schooling.

I went from almost resenting him for not being the horse I thought I'd bought to loving the challenge of working things out, finding out a huge amount about both him (applicable to all horses) and myself in the process. I think he taught me more than any other horse I've known and permanently changed my thinking and training processes.

 

[littleshetland]

Just hang out with him in there? Take some treats for him and maybe for you and just be in there with him and enjoy his company and then gradually build it up from that.

I remember reading an old cavalry handbook advising the best way to bond and install confidence in your new or nervous horse was to set up a comfy chair in the corner of the stable or stall, get your newspaper and just sit and read to the horse. This does sound a bit nuts, but I can certainly see the logic...

 

[MotherOfChickens]

He was feral most of his life, could it be the footing putting him on edge? both of my moorbred ponies are quite suspicious of deep footing-this is very useful out hacking but not sure how they’d cope with arena footing having never had them in one. Just a thought-maybe having someone on top makes him feel worse about it-some great ideas about working with him.
I agree with pony smarts too, if you want them to do something that they are either unsure about or they don’t see the point of, you need to work with them. Let’s not conflate trainability with intelligence ?

 

[Caol Ila]

He must have found his first arena experience -- at the pro yard -- very bizarre. Not helped by the fact that he was in a strange place being handled by people he didn't know. I actually know the yard, and the footing in the arena has some funky, deep sections. So Motherofchickens might be right -- that might have been a factor in his so-called "tantrums," (in the words of the pro). Out on the trail, he's a footing genius, a proper all-terrain pony.

Good suggestions all. He's cool with in-hand work in the arena, which suggests that his anxiety is associated with being ridden in one. I like the idea of starting with hanging out, on board, doing nothing other than giving him praise and treats. I'm bound to get some strange looks from fellow liveries -- a lot of the horse world still follows the 'make him do it' approach -- but I don't care!

 

[Carrottom]

For a slightly different take - have a look at Warwick Schiller's "watching the ears" YouTube video.

 

[spotty_pony]

I started my ‘arena-phobic’ ones by hacking out and just walking around the arena a couple of laps when we got back, and then built on it from that.

 

[PapaverFollis]

I would start by walking two steps into the arena at the end of every hack, then dismounting. Build to walking to the middle. Then sit for a bit (have a metaphorical smoke break) before getting off. Build the time. Then take a longer route to the centre. Then go all the way round.... and on and on. No pressure. Add a treat before dismounting too for extra juice.

Granny horse hated and was very stressed by arena work when I got her. Not as bad as yours sounds but not comfortable. She was just unbalanced and had been rushed and forced. We hacked a lot. We worked on stuff slowly, built strength and balance carefully. We did schooling in ten minute bouts before and after hacking. We got somewhere in the end although hacking was always favourite.

 

[Dasher66]

What she said ^^^.
id make the school somewhere you dismount, untack and give a small feed after hacking.

 

[Caol Ila]

Started arena training today. Walked in today after hack. Stopped after a few steps. Gave him a treat. Asked for another couple steps, then stopped and gave him another treat. I let him stand for a few minutes. I dismounted, loosened my girth, then led him back to his stable. He was very civilized about the whole thing, but I felt that if I asked for anything more, I would run into a lot of resistence.

We will rinse and repeat. My friend, who has a very "old skool" approach to training (kick it until it goes), thinks I'm mad. But I'm okay with that.

 

[Regandal]

Started arena training today. Walked in today after hack. Stopped after a few steps. Gave him a treat. Asked for another couple steps, then stopped and gave him another treat. I let him stand for a few minutes. I dismounted, loosened my girth, then led him back to his stable. He was very civilized about the whole thing, but I felt that if I asked for anything more, I would run into a lot of resistence.

We will rinse and repeat. My friend, who has a very "old skool" approach to training (kick it until it goes), thinks I'm mad. But I'm okay with that.

Fab. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar……?

 

[clinkerbuilt]

I found this a really interesting read (sensory deprivation "indoors"). And another piece in the same series talks about allowing horses to sniff the arena to reorient themselves on each visit.
https://horsesport.com/magazine/beh...n-brain-understanding-indoor-arena-behaviour/