Tips please on bombproofing horse

npage123

npage123

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Please give me some advice!

My TB is nervous when we go hacking, even though I never take him alone. So I plan to try and get him exposed to scary things in the school over the next few weeks. I thought I'd scatter some tarpaulins, umbrellas, beachballs, flags and balloons in the school, and then take him in there and let him sniff it/explore it etc.

But I don't really know where to start, other than taking him into the school and letting him realise in his own time that there's nothing to worry about... I've always been able to achieve 'join-up' with him very successfully :) but have never tried it with the scary objects in the school and I'm not sure how to go about this.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
 
I found (though the mare was generally fairly placid) that the best way was to have a 'scary' half of the school and a non-scary empty half. All the scary stuff was on one side so she could avoid it if she wanted to BUT I would wander into the scary side with a feed bucket with apple halves and chopped carrots in. She would be loose (but never alone, I kept and eye on) so no pressure from me she just had to decide when she was ready to go get the treats. Started with just a single plastic bag and worked up to all-sorts up to and including the tractor. I even ended up putting the treats on the scary things, or under the balloons ect.

Worked really well, took a little time though.
 
I do bombproofing sessions with my Horse. My biggest tip would be be firm but fair, Eg. Don't force them into it but at the same time don't let them get away with mucking about ;) remember to praise and listen carefully to your Horse.

I would start off with a couple of the items you have listed (rather then all at once, which sounds kinda scary) take him in a lunge line and wear hat and gloves. Be as relaxed as you can be (he will feed of your emotions) and just walk around the objects, you don't have to go up to them straight away. Watch your Horses body language carefully. If your Horse is relaxed walking then up the ante and introduce him to the object (let him sniff, pick it up and place it back down etc then progress to touching it to his side and moving it away) if your Horse is still tense walking around it then keep going until he is relxed (even if it takes a couple of sessions and some treats when he gets near the object) theres no point in carrying on if he is tense otherwise you will just scare him even more.

Good luck.
 
Other thing I do is regularly tie up to tie rings to feed, & have a scary object near by. So maybe a tarpaulin with a carrot on top, or a plastic bag on the tie ring. Cos its their territory they are more likely to be relaxed & investigate. It's good to do school sessions but also include it in daily routine, so groom with an umbrella, a flag etc. Ride past stable on bike, if possible encourage yard kids to play on scooters etc near his stable. If he enjoys being caught & coming in catch him with silly items with you, deliver feed carrying a balloon etc. You can never show them everything they might meet but you can teach them to follow your guidance with potentially scary objects. And if you can, having a bombproof horse for him to copy helps too.
 
Wow, thank you so much everybody for the great advice! I'm going to start the training process the very next time that I go up to the yard and I'll try everything that you posted throughout the next few weeks :0)
 
Also, if there happens to be a scary thing on the yard such as plastic haylage wrapper lying around or a delivery of feed or a big tractor, take the horse to have a look at it. Anything unusual - just lead the horse up to it and have a look, go past a few times, get close as is safe etc and be quite matter-of-fact about it. I do this with mine all the time, we do it out hacking now and it has helped hugely.
 
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