Luke I think this is fantastic, as you are doing a couple of things with the horse and one has to do with building trust with him, as indeed he did not die and then also building his confidence, working though this "opportunity." Thanks for sharing this.
I love this and the video helps me because when I get into a similar situation, I can visualize the video and it helps me remember to relax and what to do. I also have a question about my mare. She is 17 and I have owned her for 5 years. She loves the scary things! We can spend our whole ride walking up to stuff that she is worried about. She works her way to it, touches it and relaxes. Then we go on and on again. How do I keep her moving? Or is this simply something that takes the time it takes and I should just go along and let her build her confidence? ☺️
My mule takes the smell of the bear from the bottom of the hill and adds it to the sight of the moss covered Boulder at the top to create his own custom monster. Haaaa. Hes 22 now and finally is pretty dang brave after 7 000 times he didn't die. 😂
HI Luke, I realize there are a number of ways to deal with this type of situation, but forcing him to go deal with the stump before you move on isn't how I would choose to do it. I realize you aren't being heavy handed about it, but you're still making an issue of it. A couple other possible approaches: Since my horse is clicker trained and LOVES being asked to "target" things, I would simply point him toward what he's obviously concerned about and ask him to "target" it. He would immediately begin to understand that it isn't a scary object if I'm asking him to do that and he would begin to relax. And then of course he would do it bc he would want a treat. He might move toward it pretty slowly, but he would do it. Even if you don't believe in clicker training, teaching just that one clicker behavior can turn your horse into a much braver soul out on the trail. I have even had him stop dead at something bothersome, look at it for awhile as I just sat there doing nothing, and then inch toward it on his own (basically telling himself to target it). That's only happened once but it was very cool to pretty much feel the wheels going around in his head! The other way to approach it is keep him moving forward down the road but pretend the stump isn't there and let him stay as far away from it as he wants. After you've gone a ways, turn around and come back, down the middle of the road, and as you approach the stump if he keeps going straight great, but if he sees it and cuts a wider path around it, let him do that. Keep going a ways then turn around and come back. Do it a few more times, starting out "closer" to the stump than he was when he went past it the previous time. All the while, completely ignoring the stump and definitely not trying to keep him close to it as he approaches it. Let him choose his path. The object isn't to make him less scared of THAT stump, because there will be a different stump (or whatever) every time you go out, so you haven't really gained anything. The object is to build his confidence by going out and not being worried. If you let him skirt around something potentially dangerous [to him] it will barely register in his brain. It's being forced to confront scary stuff that raises their anxiety level. At least that's my theory. Looking at his hoofmarks in the road, it looks like a big spook!! Take care.
Luke I think this is fantastic, as you are doing a couple of things with the horse and one has to do with building trust with him, as indeed he did not die and then also building his confidence, working though this "opportunity." Thanks for sharing this.
I love this and the video helps me because when I get into a similar situation, I can visualize the video and it helps me remember to relax and what to do. I also have a question about my mare. She is 17 and I have owned her for 5 years. She loves the scary things! We can spend our whole ride walking up to stuff that she is worried about. She works her way to it, touches it and relaxes. Then we go on and on again. How do I keep her moving? Or is this simply something that takes the time it takes and I should just go along and let her build her confidence? ☺️
My mule takes the smell of the bear from the bottom of the hill and adds it to the sight of the moss covered Boulder at the top to create his own custom monster.
Haaaa. Hes 22 now and finally is pretty dang brave after 7 000 times he didn't die. 😂
HI Luke, I realize there are a number of ways to deal with this type of situation, but forcing him to go deal with the stump before you move on isn't how I would choose to do it. I realize you aren't being heavy handed about it, but you're still making an issue of it. A couple other possible approaches: Since my horse is clicker trained and LOVES being asked to "target" things, I would simply point him toward what he's obviously concerned about and ask him to "target" it. He would immediately begin to understand that it isn't a scary object if I'm asking him to do that and he would begin to relax. And then of course he would do it bc he would want a treat. He might move toward it pretty slowly, but he would do it. Even if you don't believe in clicker training, teaching just that one clicker behavior can turn your horse into a much braver soul out on the trail. I have even had him stop dead at something bothersome, look at it for awhile as I just sat there doing nothing, and then inch toward it on his own (basically telling himself to target it). That's only happened once but it was very cool to pretty much feel the wheels going around in his head!
The other way to approach it is keep him moving forward down the road but pretend the stump isn't there and let him stay as far away from it as he wants. After you've gone a ways, turn around and come back, down the middle of the road, and as you approach the stump if he keeps going straight great, but if he sees it and cuts a wider path around it, let him do that. Keep going a ways then turn around and come back. Do it a few more times, starting out "closer" to the stump than he was when he went past it the previous time. All the while, completely ignoring the stump and definitely not trying to keep him close to it as he approaches it. Let him choose his path. The object isn't to make him less scared of THAT stump, because there will be a different stump (or whatever) every time you go out, so you haven't really gained anything. The object is to build his confidence by going out and not being worried. If you let him skirt around something potentially dangerous [to him] it will barely register in his brain. It's being forced to confront scary stuff that raises their anxiety level. At least that's my theory.
Looking at his hoofmarks in the road, it looks like a big spook!! Take care.