by Amanda Ballard

Created on: March 28, 2009   Last Updated: June 25, 2009

Horses are amazing, intricate animals. They have a very strong survival instinct and at times that instinct that has helped keep them alive gets in the way of training. Horses are smart and they are curious. Some horses are easier going than others and they have such a relaxed personality that it can be hard to find something they will actually spook at. Other horses are prone to freak-outs if any tiny detail is different in their environment. At some point even the steadiest horse will meet something they have never come across before and they will spook.

Desensitizing is the technical lingo for introducing the horse to commonly encountered scary objects such as plastic bags flapping around, balloons, balls bouncing, children yelling and running around, umbrellas, etc. This is usually part of most horses' training. The objective is to introduce scary objects, teach the horse it isn't harmful so later when the horse meets the scary object it will remember and not spook. Bombproofing is much like desensitizing only you expose the horse to anything and everything that you think might scare the horse. Introduce things one at a time and work on getting the horse totally comfortable with that one thing first before you move on to a new item. You can't expose your horse to something like a parade if he has never heard kids yelling, seen any vehicles, heard any sirens, etc. If you try to teach too much at once you can overload the horse and the horse doesn't understand so many new things at once so they don't learn. All overloading a horse does is create a fearful horse and it creates more work for you.

If a horse was scared of a plastic bag for example, I would start by tying the bag to the lash of a lunge whip and standing a little distance from the horse, well out of kicking range, and start slapping the bag against the ground, whipping it through the air, etc. If the horse is really scared and tries to run away, don't try to force him to stand still. Instead, move with the horse but try to keep the nose tipped in toward you so you remain in control of the speed. Don't stop making noise with the bag until the horse settles down and as soon as he stops moving, you stop. Then work up to being able to step closer, then flap the bag against the horse and touch him all over. If he doesn't like his neck being touched but doesn't mind his back being touched, then briefly touch the neck then move to a safe spot where the horse is ok with it, then back to the neck.

Repetitive

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