So, I've been making great progress with my baby in nice short sessions, but twice now I've noticed she gets very pushy, twitchy and fidgety when she's scared.
The two things that scare her so far: Leaving the farm boundary (I'd say a good acre or two outside of the heard paddock) and the arena when it's raining (noisy and load).
Now I try to stay calm and usually go back to a safety spot before continuing, but she has odd habits that quickly progress into dangerous situations!
Basically she gets very scared, and will start to move continually, and if you school her with the dually it DOESN'T help at all, it make it worse! She'll invade my space to push past me, and if you school she'll freak and BOLT away to a safe place.
This happend today in the arena, and I took her to the round pen and actually managed to do a join-up session (because she wanted to bolt already it wasn't hard to get her running) And after that she easily back up and calmed herself and respected space.
Am I doing the right thing? How do I go about dealing with this issue without the dually? (It's kept on, but again if you school her back out of your space she'll run and the dually will not stop her at all)
Sorry for the long post, just not sure how to deal with this when it comes up. Normally she's very respectful of my space, and reacts normally to pressure (comes off of it). But once scared she'll crowd right into you and push you over if you try to back her up.
She still will follow you though, just not back up.
How do I deal with this issue? What am I doing wrong?
Also when I finished join-up I got follow up as well with ease. I didn't try the arena in the rain after the join up, I decided to leave it, just in case it happened again regardless of join-up.
I'm not sure if I'm out of my depth here, but I'm hesitant about schooling a (young) horse when it is frightened. Horses are spooky creatures and a young horse would crowd her mom too for safety. Seeing as you are not as big and strong as a mare, you really don't want her to do that to you, but the schooling might make her even more insecure and make her panic when she can't go to her safe place.
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Schooling her back, you also raise the energy - even if you stay calm - and in a fright situation, you would want to lower it instead to convince her that you are ignoring that scary thing.
No reward is generally needed - just walk on like any leader horse and the rest may follow - since that could risk her thinking that being anxious was the right thing and you reward her for bringing attention to the danger.
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Try to make her do circles instead if she is frightened rather than back up, since she is already fleeing from something behind her, it makes no sense to her to go in that direction. Circle her until she listens to you again. Also, you are making her work the flight energy out of her system, so it's like a "mini" Join-up when they run just so many laps before it is time to turn/stop, and eventually, standing still will be the preferred alternative. (It sounds like a plausible theory in my head at least! ;) )
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Before encountering more "scary" situations maybe you could do more of trust-building groundwork in the round pen? Walk over tarps and poles. Doing lots of turns and circles to make her attentive on your doings. Schooling her back when she is calm and head is down so she can process things.
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Can you find an older horse that will accompany you outdoors? That would be an immense help for your horse and she can practice going first for shorter periods and build confidence that way.
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Wishing you tons of good luck, and stay safe!!
Hi Girls, a well weaned of yearling can for sure be schooled into the Dually. What you need to keep in mind is the Schooling IN - it is not the Dually that makes the difference for the horse - it is your HANDS that hold the line, Your energy, and your ability to read the horse. I think you have raced the bar too quickly and need to take a step back or 2. Your horse is trying to tell you something!
The young horse is so much "into pressure" - a natural reaction and state of mind due to the development of learning the language Equus - it is our responsability to read the horse, know the release in our hands, eye movement etc etc the second we have our horse in our hands.
Horses are INTO PRESSURE animals for a reason. Horses are synchronizing animals for a reason and it is the Human that needs to learn the language of Equus and the nature of the horse - take a step back, watch and study Gentling your spooky horse and see HOW a youngtster takes in information! Less is More and More is LESS! Good Luck!
Thanks both of you, I think I will be going much slower for sure, and taking some other horses with me if I decide to "push a boundary" with her. She does seem to want to crowd into a person (only me) when she's scared, so could be the natural crowding and she's simply a little to young to be asking so much.
Thanks again, I'll work with her slowly with confidence building in the round pen or arena (when it's not raining, raining makes it a scary place haha) first and as she ages and is exposed to those first the confidence will come a little later before I push for more. :)
Today in the arena she was fine, and was back to her sweet little self again, I gave her food in the arena as well, which made it more of a "fun" place to be for her. ;)
Hi thehomemadehorse - as the others have indicated slowly is good - take it quietly and don't expect too much of her. So pleased you had a better day. From memory she is still very young and hence she is crowding into you when scared for protection as she would her mother. Most young horses will try to do this. You need to be re-assuring but firm with your request to stand off you. Perhaps you are not using the dually effectively. Have you checked out those videos on "horseandcountry.tv"UK on leading and loading as they really show you how the dually should be used. If you have a long lead rope then when she runs off you should still be able to hold her - wear gloves and a helmet. Others may differ but I would NOT work a baby like yours when it is raining or when it is really windy. She is still so young so it is better to miss a session than push her when conditions are not conducive to a calm training session. Good luck.
Well done! Keep listening to your horse and put the pressure on you to make your horse trust you! Warmest CI Ann Lindberg