Author: Gill

I have an Open University degree in general science and have passed an Open University digital photography course. I specialise in equine and nature photography and have images published in Local Rider, local newspapers and photographic magazines. Plus one in the Royal Photographic Society's Nature Group Exhibition 2011. I also study equine behaviour and recently passed the Natural Animal Centres Equine Behaviour Qualification Stage 1 https://www.positivelyequine.uk https://www.positivenaturalhorsemanship.co.uk https://www.gmlimages.co.uk
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Mojo and the clippers

Another good session with Mojo today. I haven’t done much recently due to holidays and other things getting in the way.

Yesterday I saddled him at liberty – he was a little fidgety but stood still as I fastened the girth.

Today I did the same with the saddle and he stood perfectly still for the numnah, saddle and girth. A big fuss, lots of scratches, bridge and treat too – as I was very pleased with him. He actually came and stood by the fence at the far side of the school as that is where I had put the saddle on the fence.

He came to the mounting block and I played with putting stirrups up and down and tapping lightly on his side – not a flinch. We then did some weaving round cones with him wearing the saddle – I threw the stirrups over the saddle to stop them flapping about.

When we had finished the cones and some frisbee following I pulled the near side stirrup down and then threw the off side one over the saddle – he did startle at that but stopped and came back to me.
So I did a few more of these and he was still and seemed happy.

I then took off the saddle etc and jackpotted him. As I put the cones and other things away Mojo mooched round the school.

Then I got the clippers – I borrowed some quiet ones – and he targeted them, let me touch him all over with them off. Then I stood by the gate and turned them on , his head went up and he began to move away – not a big startle as he does with the louder ones. So I switched them off and put a treat in his bowl. Let him sniff them again and gave a treat.

Then went back to the gate and turned them on – he just stood and watched – another treat in his bowl. I repeated this once more then held the clippers out to the side with them on and he didn’t move. More treats in a bowl.

This time last year he was petrified of clippers, fly spray and several other things.

Then I went back to the gate and held the clippers out and he came to me and touched them. A huge deal for him so he got lots of scratches and praise and treats in his bowl and I ended the session there.

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Feet revisited

After treating Mojo for feather mites with powder and neem based fly spray I have gone back to basics of foot lifting.

I now need to add more duration and get him better at people holding them.

We also did some more generalisation at the jump block as well as the ordinary one – which I missed off the video due to not positioning it correctly.

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To buck or not to buck?

Fight, flight or freeze?

Horses never do anything without a reason. If they buck, bolt, rear, bite or kick they are not just being “naughty”.

It may be FEAR due to pain, or FEAR due to being asked to do something they don’t understand, or even FEAR due to being unbalanced. It is up to us with our bigger brains to do the detective work and find the cause. It may be they have been inadvertently reinforced for a behaviour we don’t want. So kicking the stable door at mealtimes may increase if we always feed that horse first. The horse associates the kicking with the food.

Behaviour is the way horses communicate. Just because another horse bites, kicks or pushes another horse does not give us permission to do the same to them. We are not horses and horses know that, if we treated them as a another horse then we would need to let them recipricate. We do not want horses to bite us, kick us so we don’t allow that. Horses do not bear grudges, they push another horse and that horse moves – it is usually associated with resource guarding and is quickly forgotten.

We must get away from using labels too, horses are not “naughty”, taking the “p——“ , or any other label we might use.

Use the ABCs of behaviourism to observe what they do:-

A = Antecedent – what happened before what happened happened.

B = Behaviour – what the horse actually did in physical terms, but don’t ignore the emotions involved.

C = Consequence – is the behaviour increasing or decreasing, if it is increasing in frequency it is being reinforced by something, if it decreasing it is being punished by something.

The more we can use these criteria to describe behaviour the less likely we are to ignore what the horse is trying to communicate.

Learn to read the subtle signs of distress and defuse the situation before they become over their fear threshold.

Adrenaline (epinephrine) is the main hormone of the FEAR response, with a half life of 2-3 minutes, so we need to wait and let it dissipate before asking them to do something else.

Punishing an already fearful horse (and it can be just mild anxiety) is not at all helpful. We need to help them cope with our environment.

Horses react in several ways to threats to their safety, they look and may just freeze. If the threat is disregarded they will go back to base line, if the threat seems real they will flee. If they cannot flee they may well fight, so kick, bite, buck.

If we punish a horse who is threatening to kick or bite then we are taking away one means of communication, eventually the horse may not give a warning but just attack. This is often how aggressive horses have been treated in the past.

If we don’t go slowly enough to habituate them to saddles and having humans on their backs they may well go over their FEAR threshold and try to escape. IT IS FRIGHTENING FOR US TO BE OUT OF BALANCE AND FEEL LIKE WE ARE ABOUT TO FALL. Check this next time you trip and feel your heart rate increase. Some horses in this situation stop (FREEZE), some try to run to regain balance and may well go in to full FLIGHT mode. Some with an unbalance object (person) on their backs will buck to try and remove the object (FIGHT).

 

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Generalisation

Horses tend not to generalise well, so if you train only in one place they will not be as confident in a new place. Which is why many people don’t understand why their horse is not as good at a show as at home.
So whilst training try to do so in a variety of settings and on both sides of the horse.
I have been teaching Mojo to come to the mounting block and he is now very good, I have moved the block around in the arena. So today I walked him to the end of the school and pulled out a jump block. He was busy being nosey over the fence, so I stood on the block and called him. He immediately came and sidled up to the block, lining himself up. I pulled down the stirrups on the saddle and put weight in the stirrup and he continued to stand next to me. I walked him round a bit more and then went back and stood on the block – he did exactly the same, big fuss and jackpot and we finished there.
I now need to take him outside and do the same – so he knows that when I stand on something and call his name he is to line up next to me. This is so useful when out and about so he lines up to logs or gates or anything else I can use as a mounting block.

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Mojo and the dummy body

I made a body for Mojo, I just need to stuff it more and make it heavier. The idea is to desensitise  and counter condition him to having someone mounting and being not very balanced about the process. He wasn’t bothered about the “body” after the initial sniffing at it outside the arena, it was on the fence whilst I groomed him.
The plan now is – once the body is heavier and sits better – to walk him round with the body on and get him used to someone wobbling on top.
If a horse feels out of balance with the rider it makes them fearful – just like we are if we feel unbalanced and about to fall. As the sympathetic nervous system takes over the horse may run or he may freeze. Mojo tends to run in  these situations.

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Saddle, bridle and long reins.

April 19th 2016
Today I saddled and bridled Mojo in his stable, not a flinch or movement – apart from his hay eating.

Then attached the long lines but he didn’t want to leave his hay so I did take the hay net with me and tied it on the sandschool fence. Now we have just rails rather then filled in boards it is easier for him to eat it through the rails. I left him outside the school with the hay net for a while as the farrier had a horse tied up next to the gate to the school.

I then asked him to walk on and in to the school, we then just walked round with me on the left side – which is the side he likes. Then I went to the other side and we walked round a bit more. He still wont go out on a circle so more needs to be done to help him with this.

Next was some standing at the mounting block – he was excellent when I leaned over him, put pressure in the stirrup and wiggled the saddle around.

Big jackpot when he got back to the stable.

Mojo with his saddle and bridle on.

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April 2016 Update

What a difference between today when I fly sprayed Mojo and last year when he tried to jump on me.
He was eating his hay and just stood whilst I sprayed him on the left side. Then he decided the smell was a bit strong, but after a sniff and a few treats he was ok when I went round the other side.
I also long lined him and he is OK on the left but still tried to put himself back on that side when I changed sides. So I got his frisbee and threw that in front of him and he walked forward and forgot all about me being on the “wrong” side.
Then added the legs and he walked round with them on. I took off the lines and pulled the legs off and pushed them off and tapped his rump with the boot. All he did was come a bit closer to the mounting block.

I have been working on leading him from the right side and he is getting better. A few days a go I had him at liberty and we walked round the school but he did try to move to the other side. So I got the frisbee and threw that for him to follow, once he was concentrating on that he was fine and very relaxed going forwards. Yesterday I did it over some poles and he was long and forward over them following the frisbee.

He did leave once to go and see if the people by the fence had anything for him, but he soon came back.

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More saddling

Saddled and bridled Mojo with no fuss, fidgeting or moving away. Even though the old bitted bridle has a browband that is a tad too small. He stood whilst I fiddled with it and adjusted the cheekpieces. Then we went for a walk with a headcollar and the saddle in place.
Now it is getting better weather (although not over the weekend as the weather forecast isn’t too good) we can start to do some mini treks in hand.
Then I need to get Liz to ride him again and sit on him myself – I will wait until he is OK with people being clumsy get on and off. I am not as agile as I used to be and sometimes get a little stuck dismounting.

I also cut the dreadlocks out of his feathers – so he looks a bit raggedy now. They grow so quickly it wont be long before they look OK. Roll on the warm weather when I can wash them.

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Mojo and the dentist

Mojo had his teeth done this lunchtime, he was very good about the experience. He got a little worried at the new person, but Corrie was extremely patient with him.  I was very pleased with him – he did hold it together, he did get a lots of scratches and a treat at the end.
He was however very happy to go out in the sunshine naked afterwards.

Before that we did some weaving round cones, walking over poles and targeting a frisbee that I threw on the ground. I had to keep him occupied whilst waiting for the dentist. He was better today with staying on the mat until cued to come to the mounting block or cued to target a cone. We hadn’t done that recently, I then put out the tarp and he was very keen to go and stand on that.

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Impulse Control

Tuesday I saddled Mojo before I took him in the school. We did some standing at the mounting block and some flexing left and right at the block. I scratched rather than giving him food for most of the session, he did seem much better and seemed less frustrated. He was also better with the saddle today, he was eating his hay whilst I saddled him.
Then over the poles – first following the target and then without, only gave treats a few times.

Mojo stood perfectly still to have his saddle on today, not a twitch any where.
We just walked round over a pole, still not good at picking up his feet if the pole is off the ground.
He stood at the mounting block whilst I pulled down the stirrups, rocked the saddle side to side.
Must try long reining with the saddle next time.