Spooking on the Trail: What to Do and How to Handle It

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Most of the spooky horse videos talk about how to get control of the spook and most of the time the spook happens so fast you are unprepared and get hurt. Or you over-react and make it worse by either pulling your horse around and flipping them or tightening up and adding to your horse’s fear and need to flee. The reality though is most of us are not strong enough, fast enough or confident enough to manage the spook. And bending the horse doesn’t always work.

In the end, it shouldn’t be about handling, managing, riding out the spook, buck or bolt in your horse. That’s just stupid and dangerous. Why not take the time to develop your horse so they don’t spook so bad that you get scared or even worse, fall and get hurt?

Well, that’s what this video is about. Riding a horse that is a school master, meaning she has years of education, training and experience. In addition to the complexity, she has her own personality, nature, idiosyncrasies and unfortunately a few deeply rooted triggers – which make her spook.

I’m riding Sundance, my 18yr old QH mare who is currently my most well-trained horse. She hasn’t been ridden in about 8 months, seriously ridden, let alone out of her comfort and away from the barn. I already know she is barn and buddy sour and to top it all, she has been one of my top two toughest horses to re-train. She has never made schooling easy until recently and I think that’s for two reasons: our relationship has continued to deepen and she is maturing and getting more trusting and wiser.

None-the-less, she has her issues and today you get to witness all her subtle yet strong idiosyncrasies, triggers and best of all her choice to partner with me, work with me and keep me safe. This is what it’s all about, right? Don’t we all want to be safe when riding our horses especially when out on the trail? Well, while I have the answers that are you are looking for, you may not want to hear them and that’s because so much of what you see between me and Sundance, the way I handle all horses, has everything to do with me. My attitude, perspective, skill set and choice.

See, I choose not to compromise my horse’s emotional, mental or physical being when I don’t like what she does or choices she makes. Like raising children, isn’t is up to the parent to make choices and decisions based upon the general well-being and wellness of the child? Meaning, if my child does something I don’t like, I just don’t go off and smack them? At least you know you shouldn’t and that’s because you know how wrong it is and how emotionally detrimental it is to the child’s psyche.

Well, it’s no different for the horse. Just because they are really big and powerful does not give a person the right to hit them or make them do things out of fear, dominance or excessive pressure. Like children they have feelings and have emotions. And, if we are aggressive with them, they may comply out of fear, but they will never like us, love us or want to be with us and take care of us.

And don’t think for one minute that this doesn’t matter. It does. I’ve studied wild horses and worked with them and when you observe a wild herd of horses for long periods of time you get to witness the amazing and beautiful way they cohabitate, interact, care, cooperate and communicate.

I hope you enjoy this video and most of all come away with a few new perspectives and techniques. I thought I’d write down a few of the areas too that help identify why horses spook and the solutions.

Factors that cause spooky behavior
Sensitivity level not necessarily determined by breed. My big 18hh Friesian cross Zor is my most spooky horse and more than my 3 OTTB’s and Arab
-Triggers
-Lack of experience
-Learned behaviors from other horses, including their mother

Solutions to fixing the spooky behavior
-Relationship – helps them feel safe and comfortable and trust you
-Thinking vs reacting – exercises that develop their left brain
-Experience
-Desensitizing – applied over time thus making the scary “thing” part of their everyday experience vs flooding or over saturation
-Time and taking into consideration their maturity level

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