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How to Reach a Horse That Shuts Down.
My horse Dezzi is wonderful to ride.. until she doesn't understand what your asking her to do. Most horses would get worked up or buck, bolt, rear etc. but Dez just shuts down. Its like as soon as she gets scared or doesn't understand something, she goes into her own little world. None of the horses i have trained in the past have done anything like this, so I am struggling to reach her. If anyone has any tips on how to get her to respond once she shuts down, that would be great!
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Lamm on
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go back to something she knows... get her confidence back up, then try one eeensy new thing...... then end on a good note.. make sure she licks and chews..
my horse oliver is like that too. :) better than having a temper tantrum... he just plants his feet and will not move.... if you see her ears flickering around you know she is saying that she is trying real hard to pick up a signal but she is confused....
when she gets the right answer, make a big deal out of it....
this is what I do with my Oliver.....
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Permalink Reply by Jenna Merkley on
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thanks!
today when i rode her she would not trot for some reason. Then when I asked her to halt the walk on again she wouldn't. I always try to end the ride on a good note but today I couldn't. She refused to walk foward at all. I even just sat there for like 5 mins til she seemed to be focusing on me again, but as soon as I put my leg on she shut down again. She is a horse that really depends on trust. She took a long time to trust me when i bought her. I think i just need to get her trusting me more again, because since i started riding her, we have stopped doing alot of ground work. Maybe I should focus on that for a while?
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I am going to sit on Oliver...... even if we don't move forward..... and sit and stretch and just get him used to me being on him... and then when we aren't blocked, our energy, together, we will move forward.... I go super slow with him.... but each day he gets more confident.... I haven't ridden him yet which is I why I tell you that my goal now is to just sit..... till he feels comfy moving for me... I worked on our energy together on the ground now for almost a year. :) The waterhole work sounds like stuff I do with my youngin.... :)
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**then walk on again**
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Permalink Reply by ridergal49 on
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I have to respond to this one. I have been following a lady by the name of Carolyn Resnick. She would probably tell you to go back and start sharing territory to get the vibration of the bond going. Anyway she does natural horsemanship but she works to understand the horse rather than having the horse understand her. There are 7 Waterhole Rituals with sharing territory being the first one. I have a mare that had a very difficult start in life and I am working the waterhole rituals with her and we are making wonderful progress. She now runs to meet me and enjoys the time we spend together. This probably will not be a quick fix for you but in the long run you will have a horse that accepts your leadership and respects you. So give her blog a try and see what you think. Good luck. Check out www.carolynresnickblog.com.
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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Gormley on
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It sounds like your horse has a great rider as you sound empathic toward her. I myself have seen this and i will give my humble opinion as i have retrained many a race horse in my youth (yes i am old).
I think it depends on the thing you are asking your horse to do when you get the shutdown. If it is increased energy stuff ( upward transitions, jumping) then it helps to do something that is involved with the horse being compelled/naturally motivated to move forward automatically without her thinking and pair that with a built in immediate reward. Use the horses instinctive positive motivators to work for you. Once they get the idea make the rewards intermittent- clicker training is good for this. This can help make them feel secure and confident with forward commands.
When forward commands are associated with coercion such as spurring or whipping with force in the past (i know you are not doing these things), submissive horses will shut down when asked to go forward. They will always be paying attention to the whip rather than moving with a forward flow. They then tend to need constant kicking rather than going forwards on their own.
I personally like to observe the horse interacting with other horses free to make sure they can accelerate. Sometimes one can notice subtle lameness this way. Also if your horse is in a field make sure they accelerate and that they don't just walk when you call them for food. Per my vet husband, Horses that can't go forwards more than walk or trot can sometime have a subtle minor lameness that does not show with limping. ESPM and recurrent tying up can make acceleration difficult in a horse, as can myopathies with other causes. Also a sore back can interfere with forward impulsion among other subtle pains horses get.
I tend to think horses with this behavior you describe in her do not have trouble stopping and even think of halts as a reward. They are responsive to "the comfort of/in the halt" a training technique used by many dressage trainers. It sounds like your horse is really sweet, just a little shy about trying new things. Sometimes i have seen horses with that type of mood you describe on her improve when you train them in a new area of their field than usual, or in a different property. Good luck! im sure you will bring your horse out of her shell as you are a sensitive rider that is treating her as an individual. Happy New Year !
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Permalink Reply by Shirley on
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Ridergal49
Ohhhhh! I love your attitude. I will take a look at Carolyn Resnick.
Ride on!
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Permalink Reply by Steve Wawryk on
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If she is tired and out of wind then get off and work on desensitizing her to ropes bags rubbing all over this is a good time to work on this because she is looking to rest and is more likely to stand. If she just shuts down and refuses to respond to a cue like a squeeze to trot then get after her make her move her feet. cluck, spank stand on your head if you have to but don't let her not move. Reward the smallest try. If you don't feel comfortable to do this in the saddle then get down. Remember your safety is most important, your not rewarding the horse by getting down as long as you make her move her feet. make her move her back end away from you just get her moving. If you are asking her to negotiate something new and she is refusing then it may be a fear factor but if she is doing this evasive behavior in familiar situations then get after her to move.
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Thanks for your confidence in me Elizabeth :)
I hope I will be able to help her.
You pretty much summed her up. She is the sweetest mare but has no confidence in herself or me when faced with new (or old, depending on her mood that day) situations.
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Just thought I would say... : Dezzi and I had a wonderful ride today! With only one shut down that was quickly fixed, thanks to all of your opinions and ideas! I hope I will be able to continue to improve! Thanks :)
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Nice to hear Jenna... :)
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Linda Parelli has a segment in one of her DVD's on this with one of her own horses. She call it catatonic (not sure spelling) when she is describing a horse that doesn't get stubborn but literally shuts down---they are totally within themselves as if their mind has truly gone somewhere else or sometimes a robot mode, they are going through the motions but their mind is totally not in the moment. It was in a demonstration she was doing about how to read a horse. In her case as she continued to treat it fairly her horse went into these ,almost trances, it got better and better and happened less and less often over time. At the point they did the taping of the horse, it only did it when she offered it treats. For some reason this was a big trigger for the internalization. She had learned to wait for the horse to come out of it naturally because if you tried to force it at this point it could really explode and be dangerous. I wish I could remember if there was more explanation on this but I don't think there was.
Be patient, there is likely to be some trauma for the horse behind this behavior.
I see you wrote this just a couple of weeks ago. Hope to hear how things go and improve.
Best wishes for you and Dezzi.
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