Desensitizing. It is spouted by nearly every clinician as how to make your horse "safe" to ride in multiple environments. And yet, more often than not, it creates more anxiety in many horses (especially sensitive breeds such as Arabians) and fear and frustration for the owner/rider.
The problem here is that people are being led to believe a falsehood. That a horse that handles new environments, new situations, and new stimulus are "desensitized" and thus are not bothered by these things. They are missing the most important bit of information, the horse that handles the situations is not "desensitized" to them, but has learned how to process and react in a secure manner. What we must NOT forget is every horse has their own personality, confidence level, and attention span no different than any of us. So, obviously some horses will be quicker to process and react to new and intimidating stimulus in a secure manner than others.
So, what DO we need to do to prepare our horses (especially more sensitive personalities) to handle new stimulus in a safe and secure manner? While it is a simple process, it can be a difficult one to learn and to have the patience for. What you must remember is even the smallest step forward is important. The process is to teach our horses to look to us for direction during stressful situations and guide them with consistency and patience. Obviously, to do this our horse must have a solid base foundation of ground manners, lunging, etc. As with everything else, the process starts on the ground. Our example today will be in the attached video. A young Arabian mare who has a tendency to be on the anxious side.
The Mare knows her basic ground manners, she knows that if she is anxious she is allowed to wiggle, move her feet, and feel as though she can escape if she needs to. It is very important we never remove our horse's comfort in knowing they can escape if needed, forcing them to "hold still" creates a claustrophobic reaction of anxiety that can develop to out right fear. And so, knowing she can move gives the mare an opportunity to express her anxiety as opposed to bottling it up and exploding "unexpectedly" with a bolt, bucking fit, rear, take your pick (not a reaction I enjoy, especially under saddle). I want you to view that horse being made to hold still as a soda that's been sitting in a hot car, it will explode, it's just a matter of when. Back to our example Mare. The Mare is allowed to express her anxiety and thus, she is still aware of her human, not shut down, and is able to be worked to where she begins to focus on her handler and take comfort in being given cues as opposed to panicking.
The problem here is that people are being led to believe a falsehood. That a horse that handles new environments, new situations, and new stimulus are "desensitized" and thus are not bothered by these things. They are missing the most important bit of information, the horse that handles the situations is not "desensitized" to them, but has learned how to process and react in a secure manner. What we must NOT forget is every horse has their own personality, confidence level, and attention span no different than any of us. So, obviously some horses will be quicker to process and react to new and intimidating stimulus in a secure manner than others.
So, what DO we need to do to prepare our horses (especially more sensitive personalities) to handle new stimulus in a safe and secure manner? While it is a simple process, it can be a difficult one to learn and to have the patience for. What you must remember is even the smallest step forward is important. The process is to teach our horses to look to us for direction during stressful situations and guide them with consistency and patience. Obviously, to do this our horse must have a solid base foundation of ground manners, lunging, etc. As with everything else, the process starts on the ground. Our example today will be in the attached video. A young Arabian mare who has a tendency to be on the anxious side.
The Mare knows her basic ground manners, she knows that if she is anxious she is allowed to wiggle, move her feet, and feel as though she can escape if she needs to. It is very important we never remove our horse's comfort in knowing they can escape if needed, forcing them to "hold still" creates a claustrophobic reaction of anxiety that can develop to out right fear. And so, knowing she can move gives the mare an opportunity to express her anxiety as opposed to bottling it up and exploding "unexpectedly" with a bolt, bucking fit, rear, take your pick (not a reaction I enjoy, especially under saddle). I want you to view that horse being made to hold still as a soda that's been sitting in a hot car, it will explode, it's just a matter of when. Back to our example Mare. The Mare is allowed to express her anxiety and thus, she is still aware of her human, not shut down, and is able to be worked to where she begins to focus on her handler and take comfort in being given cues as opposed to panicking.
Today we used sleigh bells to work on teaching the Mare to focus on her handler and trust in the cues over the urge to escape the new and uncomfortable stimulus (this is her first time working this exercise). To do this we introduced her to the bells by shaking them as we walked backwards encouraging her to "push" her handler and the bells away from her (unfortunately not on the video) each time she steps closer on her own we stop the ringing. We give her a sense of control. We work this until she realizes if she reaches out to touch the bells or visually relaxes the ringing stops.
Our next step is for her to wear them on her surcingle while free lunging. Now this is the moment we are working for, she may panic and bolt to escape them, she may decide to balk to stop them from making any noise. Our job is to stay the course and ask her to work as if the bells are not even there. Walk, trot, back down to walk, change directions and start all over again (since we know the two side of their brain don't always communicate ;) ). What you will see if. Our video is the Mare already comfortable working one direction and the reaction when she is asked to work the opposite direction. Add in the wind and the tractor and we have a recipe for a hot mess. But as you will see, staying consistent to the work she already knows and patient helps our Mare develop focus on her handler despite being uncomfortable with the noise on her surcingle. Over time, this Mare's confidence in her handler/rider and in her self, developed by teaching her to focus and make safe decisions, will rise to the level she will not react in an unpredictable manner in a new situation and eventually behave so that she seems to be "desensitized".
So, please, teach your horse to focus and make safe secure decisions and forget about "desensitizing" an animal that can read your every emotion, react to your body language before you even finish the thought, and is willing to learn for you despite all the shenanigans we put them through.
Our next step is for her to wear them on her surcingle while free lunging. Now this is the moment we are working for, she may panic and bolt to escape them, she may decide to balk to stop them from making any noise. Our job is to stay the course and ask her to work as if the bells are not even there. Walk, trot, back down to walk, change directions and start all over again (since we know the two side of their brain don't always communicate ;) ). What you will see if. Our video is the Mare already comfortable working one direction and the reaction when she is asked to work the opposite direction. Add in the wind and the tractor and we have a recipe for a hot mess. But as you will see, staying consistent to the work she already knows and patient helps our Mare develop focus on her handler despite being uncomfortable with the noise on her surcingle. Over time, this Mare's confidence in her handler/rider and in her self, developed by teaching her to focus and make safe decisions, will rise to the level she will not react in an unpredictable manner in a new situation and eventually behave so that she seems to be "desensitized".
So, please, teach your horse to focus and make safe secure decisions and forget about "desensitizing" an animal that can read your every emotion, react to your body language before you even finish the thought, and is willing to learn for you despite all the shenanigans we put them through.
Please, as always, feel free to ask any questions.
