my horse consistently spooks at deer which are abundant at the barn especially at night when i work with him. he freezes and generally these tips help him, but i’m wondering if you think doing this overtime will make him more confident and less wary of deer all together? i’d like to start working on trails and i don’t want to end up with a horse frozen in the middle of the woods 😅
deer and other wildlife is tricky as you can't set up a training situation to address it progressively. However, if you do these whenever you see a deer, you will help him to unfreeze, tune into you and become calmer about them. Over time, yes, he should reduce his anxiety and reactivity about deer because it's no longer deer=panic, but now deer=tune into you (which leads to good stuff), and then deer=I know what to do and then deer=nothing to worry about. You should find you have to do less and less to get him to calm down when he sees a deer, until it's just a quick tune into you for reassurance and then continue on. If there's another horse who's calm about the deer that you can also use to help him realise it's nothing to worry about, that can help, too. Good luck!
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this technique has made spooks with my mare so much more manageable. like night and day! thank you for all you do.
You're so welcome! Thanks for sharing x
my horse consistently spooks at deer which are abundant at the barn especially at night when i work with him. he freezes and generally these tips help him, but i’m wondering if you think doing this overtime will make him more confident and less wary of deer all together? i’d like to start working on trails and i don’t want to end up with a horse frozen in the middle of the woods 😅
deer and other wildlife is tricky as you can't set up a training situation to address it progressively. However, if you do these whenever you see a deer, you will help him to unfreeze, tune into you and become calmer about them. Over time, yes, he should reduce his anxiety and reactivity about deer because it's no longer deer=panic, but now deer=tune into you (which leads to good stuff), and then deer=I know what to do and then deer=nothing to worry about. You should find you have to do less and less to get him to calm down when he sees a deer, until it's just a quick tune into you for reassurance and then continue on. If there's another horse who's calm about the deer that you can also use to help him realise it's nothing to worry about, that can help, too. Good luck!
Hi can you explain why you are doing target training? Have her touch the target
Thank you ,great ideas in your video
very helpful!
Can clicker training work here?