Getting a horse less afraid of things…

My husband took in a horse for training and we filmed a little of what we did with him. Since there has been a few people here that has talked about their horses being shy I thought you might want to see what he did with him and how he progressed.

Some background for the horse:
He came to Norway from Holland and apparently was kept in a barn with an indoor arena attached to it, the horse was simply hardly ever outside!
I participated in a television series about animals, where I shoved different training solutions, and through that TV-series I met him.

The problem with him was that he had been spooked when I rider took of her jacket while on his back. He got startled, bucked, and scared again when she landed on his hind-end; he bucked again and the rider flew off (and got stepped on etc… making it very dramatic, but all ended well for the rider).
After this incident he got scared of anything happening over him and he had to be held by several people when mounting him.

So, in the show I started by teaching him the chair game, and it went very well.
Hubert, a 5 year (I think) old Fresian gelding, was a great learner with a super temperament, he caught on really easily.
The owner got her homework and a week after filming the first session we went back to show the results so far. He did great, but then we decided to take him outside to film him there since the weather was so great. That's when we discovered that his problems were a bit bigger than we thought.

A little bird landed in the sand… OH MY GOD!! he said.
A car passed on the road a quarter mile away… OH MY GOD!!!! he said.
A dear moved in the field so far away that it was hard to see what it was… OH MY… well you get the idea… !

We filmed the chair game (that did work well enough for the series), but talked to the owner about the dangers of riding out with this horse the way he reacted to every thing. Shortly after my husband happened to be at a weeks course not far from his stable so he started visiting the horse to see if he could help them a little. When he returned home he brought the horse with him for training. He stayed here for three-four months (about - can't remember exactly) and here are some of the clips from the training.

There are several little clips and I will post them in separate posts so that you can comment and ask questions about them if you want to. If you don't have any comments I will just let the clips speak for themselves :)

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Marlene Thoms on October 12, 2010 at 1:03pm

Thanks Ellen, I can see how this game would help a lot. Sharif is the type he would rather be somewhere else or avoid all together, so reinforcing the approach would get him thinking more forward. I might start with the bike just sitting without motor running and reward approach and eventually sniff. Then try the same idea with motor running. Would that be better to start there? Or is it better to start with chasing anything else first?

Permalink Reply by Ellen Ofstad on October 12, 2010 at 1:23pm

I think I would start by letting him follow other things first.
Then the bike, but with the motor on from the start. It's the only way you can chase it away, and that is kind of the key :) to ease into it, just have a bigger distance in the beginning...

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Lamm on October 13, 2010 at 1:06pm

chasing away is a new game in itself with my horse.. he loves to chase things away... even ate the grill off my car once... lol...

Permalink Reply by Ellen Ofstad on October 12, 2010 at 1:14pm

Another clip about teaching a horse not to be afraid of something...
In this clip nothing went as I had planned it :)
I was going to show a reporter that was here how I would train a foal to not worry about a tarp, and my intention was to use the follow the tarp around method and starting with a long lead rope. What I hadn't anticipated was that his dad wanted to play with it, too. Since Fabuloso so clearly thought it was fun I changed my plan, and decided that he could help me train little Bravo instead of just me. Nothing is more inspiring to a young boy than seeing his dad having fun with something, especially with these two, the foal was a real daddy's boy :)

When the foal seemed ready to take a closer look I get worried about the wind that was pretty strong; it's not a good idea if the tarp blows up around the foal the first time he gets close to it. I try to hold down the corners and ask the stallion to hold down the other end, but it ended up being pretty clumsy. With both me and the stallion standing on the tarp there wasn't any room left for the foal... :)
I decided to end the session for the day and to continue a time with less wind.

The funny thing was that I never got around to it... until over a year later. I found the tarp in the barn again I thought I'd see what the youngster thought of it now. He hadn't seen it since this film was made. I pulled it out in the field, and he ran right up to it and did exactly the same thing his dad did in this clip! I thought that was pretty cool! Shows something about the power of learning from another horse!

Anyway... this is the clip in all it's clumsiness..

Permalink Reply by Marlene Thoms on October 12, 2010 at 1:22pm

That is so cute Ellen. And interesting that the little guy remembered Daddy's lesson a year later.

Permalink Reply by Megan Hammock on October 12, 2010 at 3:51pm

CUUUUUTE video:)

What exactly are Mr. Fab's ears saying at 1:35? They're back pretty far but not pinned.. Kai does that a lot when I'm doing something she doesn't want and I worry she's getting pissed and might lash out..

Permalink Reply by Marlene Thoms on October 12, 2010 at 5:11pm

I'm not sure if Ellen would agree, but I'd venture a guess that Fab wants Ellen to hand out more treats faster. He's playing the game, but when she tries to put him aside to let the foal at it, (around 1:10 I think), he seems miffed that he's not getting all the treats even though he's trying to paw at the tarp. Can ears back, but not pinned also be a bit submissive in horse?. In dogs they will sometimes do that as a sign of submission, not pinned back in agression. So Fabuloso is saying, I'm trying to be a good boy (so hand over the treats and nobody gets hurt! lol, just kidding).

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Lamm on October 12, 2010 at 6:53pm

Oh what a fantastic rapport you have with your horses.... that Fab just loves you woman... what a touching relationship you have.. thank you for sharing your videos... I enjoy them..

Permalink Reply by Cyndi on October 13, 2010 at 2:07pm

Ellen, what do you use for treats? Is it just grain, or do you use something else? Fanny foundered on oats, so I can't give her that as a treat. I sometimes use carrot or apple pieces, but I quickly run out...not to mention what that does to her waistline :o)