www.art2ride.com - Click here to see more from Art2Ride Will Faerber from Art 2 Ride Discusses the training of horses that have learned to spook as an invasion and what to do about it: How to develop relaxation.
I am so thrilled to have found your wonderful videos! You are a true horseman- and it is so wonderful that you are sharing the true keys to success- that is every time we work with our horses that we are training them! A good rider is a great trainer- they use the information you are sharing to communicate and respond to what the horse is offering. Please continue to share your wonderful videos! I have not found one yet that doesn't offer great insight into dressage along with correct insight into proper training perspective- for any discipline. Working for relaxation, acceptance and trust!
When the horse starts looking around and you lose her attention put her into a leg yield or shoulder in to regain her focus. Keep working the horse until she stops looking around relaxes then stop and get off. Most of this kind of distracted behavior begins and becomes chronic when inexperienced riders stop and pet the horse on the neck trying to get them to relax but that sends the horse the wrong message. In other words don't reward the horse until it becomes calm, then be done for the day. If you work in the way, before long the horse will understand that the only thing that will get it out of the work is to work!
I got my horse for a gift from my husband. He is a young horse. For now I would say young horse is a dumb gift for a person with a knowledge of "yes I´m sure that this is horses head" person. I had no experience more than going 15 year back to my teenage times when I went to riding school for a minute and a major love for horses. I was bold when I first started with him. What I mean by that is going forest riding by night time alone and so on till to the point when I noticed that he had hard time passing narrow places and in the end he got scared in the jogging trail spooked and bucked me of. I escaped with two broken bones in my spine. He got four months of spare time and after that I´m really stuck because he refused to go riding without other horses. I like to think that I have all the time in the world to get him where I want. I started with just small walks around a stall area. Every day further and further until the point when we were 2 km away from home, Suddenly big logging truck came and that was when I saw for the first time what a spooked horse looks like. He almost sat down in vertical position and was shaking all over his body. I did not know what to do so I did pet his neck and talked to him and hoped he will stay in his senses. He did stay in his place until the truck passed. Shaking but stood still. So glad that he did. I was lucky once again. Thank you for teaching to get of the horse when he is shaking because I know they can be suicidal in the condition of danger. My answer went too long...sorry
If the horse becomes truly afraid and begins to shake, get off but put the horse right back to work on the lunge. Any horse can be trained if they are sound and you are willing to take the time. It takes two years to establish a correct foundation with the horse no matter if it's three or twenty-three!
Oh, Goodness. Thank you for this, Will. Your description of Bailador's early spookiness issues is exactly what I'm facing with my horse, and I was dealing with it in exactly the wrong way!! So grateful for your advice.
grateful to have found you. Just ordered more "stuff" I thought I wouldn't use. Your instructions encouraged me to move forward w. my retired harness racehorse mare who is a dream but wasn't taught anything (except by me, so far) about carrying a rider.
This video really helped me. I have a 16.7 hand warmblood and he spooks all the time. I have gotten used to it so I don't react much but i will definitely try to make him relax before I leave the arena. Thanks
Love your common sense - getting off in dangerous situations- our safety IS the horse's safety. Going back to the beginning and not worrying about the 'ladder'. It is amazing how far you go when you put first things first.
You are a great inspiration and motivation for me. I watch every of your videos, trying to apply it on me and my young arabian horse. Thankyou for posting your videos! /Katarina from sweden
very good explanation. the good old legyield always helps with us (wish i knew that when i first got my horse). and even if my horse spooks at someone who is walking past the indoor arena and it's dark outside (he can hear them, but cant see them and he really hates that...) and bolts, i ignore it and just use the new energy to work him (bolt --> bring him back to normal canter and canter for one or two circles). when he did well, i rewarded him by rising-trott for a moment until he literally "forgot" that he spooked at something. he hasn't bolted in almost two years. sure he spookes at little things or noises occasionally, but it's just who he is and i've learnt to deal with it. it is not desturbing our work anymore.
Hi Will, thanks so much for all of your informative videos - your video about spooking horses really felt as if you were talking to me! My young horse can be very spooky and reactive to sometimes a sound or something that you would not even think would bother her - noises that you think will upset her don't.....thanks again for the info and keep them coming! Mary Anne from Vancouver, B,C., Canada
If you aren't doing it now, start lunging the horse correctly to stabilize her contact with the bit and get her working through the back and accepting the contact correctly, which of course that will never happen in a bit less bridle as there is no bit there to accept contact with. If you want to do dressage and advance beyond the beginning stages you need to go back to the beginning and teach the horse to accept the bit contact.
There is really a wealth of information in your videos, and I keep coming back to them almost daily. Since I am trying to follow your advice I finally have the feeling of really getting somewhere, and you cannot imagine how thankful I am for having access to these teachings. As a very fearful rider I experienced a lot of frustration during my ten years of riding horses, and feel like I have arrived at home in the classical foundation training. But there is one thing that still causes me a lot of frustration, and that is riding out. Since my little mare is gaining muscle she shows much more enthusiasm when we ride out. I guess that is normal for a horse going out, but I find it difficult to handle. She is not bolting, but galloping with much more energy and speed than in the riding arena. In the arena I am only starting to canter a little, working mainly on the walk and trot. I find myself torn between curbing her joy and getting into a fight with her (making her spooky and frustrated in the process), or letting her run while having a bad time myself, because I am scared of the extra speed. Also I am concerned that all of this hasty running will be giving her a sore back. The only solution I see is to not ride out at all, hoping to get enough control one day to enable a nice and civilized ride out for both parties... You probably know some of the beautiful landscapes Portugal has to offer in spring, and sometimes I feel sad going round and round in the arena without a day of just strolling around on horseback. I would be very interested in your take on riding out - do horses need to ride out? Should we ride out with a horse that still feels somewhat overenthusiastic, and risk a fight? Should riding out be an integral part of a horse's training? How to go about it? And once again, thank you so much for your videos! Warm greetings from Beira Baixa.
+Anna Sarah Krämer Fazendeiro You should never take a horse out until it has fully accepted the aids and is working correctly in the ring. Far too many people and horses get injured every day by taking them out before they really have the horse in the aids and relaxed. When you do start out it should be at the walk and only for a short distance always being sure that the horse remains calm on the way back and working over it’s back.
+ArttoRide Thank you so much for your answer - I will go back into the arena and keep working there, and go out again when we are actually ready to go! :-)
ATR is correct, follow his instructions. In addition, if you have a fully trained horse that is familar with the trail, but still loves to run and is a bit too hot for the trail, take the horse for a canter around a pasture first as it will get energy out and make him less likely to want to run because he's a bit tired. If you have a very hot horse then make sure you get him sweaty. It really helps the horse to reax.
I would say that all of our exercises have relaxation as their primary goal as stretching is how you get horses to relax, so watch all the videos and get your horse stretching over it's back and you'll see how much more relaxed your horse will be.
Hi, and thankyou for your videos. I have a big warmblood who was in poor condition but now that he has topline and is looking fit he has started spooking at silly things. one such unexpected spook left me sat in the sandpadoock badly bruised. I believe he is just evading work so I have applied your technique of leg yeilding into Ny corner that he has issue with ...eventually he settles to his work. Thank you.
I have a OTTB mare that I just got in mid September. When she spooks, instead of avoiding it, she tries to attack it. I was just taking her out on a long walk in the field and I noticed a grocery bag on the ground. I thought to myself "Well, she will have to get over it sometime". She looked at it one time, pinned her ears back and tried to squish it. When we are trotting by the little liver pool she tries to kick at it... Any advice for that?
Hi Will, I enjoyed your video it was very good. I have an arabian who could be the star here. He actually shakes from fear. You mentioned such a horse. What is your opinion of this type of temperament. Do you think he can be settled down? You said to get off a horse if it is shaking like that. So if I am working him and he starts, then what? I guess what I am worried about is if he is worth the time or will he always be dangerous in this regard. Thank you
What can I do with my horse. He had a huge environment change from dead quite to cars and people walking past. He spoooks for the little stuff and if I ask him to trot he runs off with lots of speeed. What can I do to control him and get him back in schooling.
I've got a mare who responds pretty well to desensitizing and understands she should stand and relax to get rid of the scary object. She's not spooky undersaddle (mostly) with objects but she is super nervous (energetic saddlebred). I think her lack of quality training as a 2 year old is the culprit (jumps off your leg, worries at bit with contact, used to be terrified of my voice while riding...). I'd been working with the lunging and long/low training, but sometimes she trots at 100mph. Undersaddle, she calms much quicker with just a little canter and then trotting rather than trotting forever waiting for her to relax. Do you have tips for nervous horses (IE nervous about rider) for relaxing?Using this lunge until she relax sometimes works, but sometimes she ends up lathered and frothed... she sometimes is so hot/fresh that lunging doesn't seem to promote relaxation as much as riding.... ironically jumping cavallettis and a little cantering helps more than lunging... Advice? Should I just ignore the racing around on the lunge and let her go til she's dead tired?? That doesn't feel like it'd teach her anything
Hi, This kind of horse can be very difficult and take a year just to settle them down so that they are not running away from the aids. On the lunge you might try lunging over a single pole on the ground as in the work with the cavallettis, it gives them something to think about rather then running. The problem with this kind of horse is that they get fit very fast so just the lunging if they are running for hours is not good. You may need to let the horse lose some of it’s aerobic fitness by just walking for a while if you can do that. It sounds very much like you need to go back to the beginning with this horse and get her trusting you before you will be able to make any other kind of progress. I’m sure the problem is just as you said, bad training at the start. I suggest that you send in a video so that I can help you make the right decision about what to do next.
Hi Will, I am very much enjoying watching your videos. My young mare is a pretty good girl -- Appendix QH, probably a little hotter than most but a pretty solid citizen not spooky really distractible. In the ring she will focus for several strides then snatch her head up to look around. I get her attention and keep going. If she starts looking at something I straighten her head around and try to get her to refocus. Will she ever be more focused? I am myself ADD so the two of us are a pair.
How do you teach your horse to stretch ? my arab mare is quite good and is more relaxed in a bitless bridle then a bit. she relaxes better and responds better towards my given aids etc.. she stretches a little and puts her head level with her withers in the walk but in the trot her head goes up 5cms,, she is getting better but id like to know how to improve this.
I am really enjoying your videos and advise, thank you. However, there is too much reliance on lunging and schooling sand Many of us do not have access to these, nor flat ground, so we have to work through all this out on the roads.... Advice in those situations would be good.... My horse becomes short and choppy whilst looking for the slightest thing to spook at whilst out riding when he knows there is another horse nearby. It is only another horses thing. Doing everything you advise and coming on nicely, then it all goes again when he nears another horse. Have to deal with it as what will he be like at competitions? And, yes he is fine on his own away from other horses. And, yes, he does have a companion at home. Not nappy going away from there.... Any thoughts, please?
+Julia Gale Without seeing exactly what is happening we can only guess at what is happening but it may be beneficial to set it up so you can work your horse in hand so you can get him to listen to the aids better when he is in that particular situation. Meaning get a friend to join you with their horse but already be on the ground with your horse in hand. Be sure your horse knows how to respond correctly first and you can successfully work him correctly in hand (there are some videos on this). It can be much easier to get him to focus on you and learn to relax with another horse around. If you aren’t comfortable with doing this yourself find someone who has had the experience. Some horse’s that won’t settle down on a lunge line with respond very well to the work in hand.
Hi, Will, my name is Orsi and I am writing to you from distant Hungary. I have found your videos very useful in schooling and riding. However, there is a detail which may seem silly to you but which I think many people would profit from. As I advance more into dressage I realise how extremely tricky it is to get a really correct close-trotting movement right. I mean the tricks and tips for the kind of really advanced close trotting or school trotting that professional dressage riders use. I know this is slightly outside of your main focus (schooling the horse) but it would be extremely useful I think if you could do one instalment purely on this issue. I always run into dilemmas like do I put my weight into my seat-bones or distribute them along the whole length of my thighs; is it done from balance with loose muscles or am I better off gripping with my calves; do I let the horse move my abdominal section or move it with the effort of my stomach muscles, etc., etc., etc. I hope you don't find this a silly question, I do not seem able to find any good instruction videos or definitive answers, so others must be in the same dilemmas as I am. Since professionals make it look so effortless the advanced videos are impossible to learn from... Thanks for all the videos and good luck to you and your associates! Orsi
+Orsolya Frank Here is the rule we follow: If the horse is hollow, we don’t put any weight on the seat, as that would only make the horse even more hollow. So if we are sitting we can lighten our seat by closing our thighs a little on the saddle and stretching up and back with our shoulders, once the horse’s back comes up, we can sit straight and loosen our legs so they have no grip at all as we let the horse carry all of our weight. So what I hope you see here is that all the methods you talk about are right but only in certain circumstances. The trouble with most Dressage instruction today is that only on method is taught!
+Orsolya Frank Here is the rule we follow: If the horse is hollow, we don’t put any weight on the seat, as that would only make the horse even more hollow. So if we are sitting we can lighten our seat by closing our thighs a little on the saddle and stretching up and back with our shoulders, once the horse’s back comes up, we can sit straight and loosen our legs so they have no grip at all as we let the horse carry all of our weight. So what I hope you see here is that all the methods you talk about are right but only in certain circumstances. The trouble with most Dressage instruction today is that only on method is taught!
+ArttoRide Thanks a lot, Will, I have myself been suspecting that there are actually a number of different ways to sit correctly and one adjusts to the circumstances. So thank you. I also take this occasion to thank you for the entire routine of relaxing and loosening the horse in a dynamic regime at the beginning of the ride and letting her come up as and when it comes organically to her instead of squeezing her into a frame - it has been very helpful, she has improved noticeably and is relaxed. She had leg injury before I started riding her and there were predictions she would not get very far but following your routine and doing a lot of walking in between the tough work she has been working six months now and is trouble free. Good luck to you all, carry on the good works and I wish you a Merry Christmas!
