Introduce Something New To Your Horse
I am reminded presently, as I consider our prospects for this year, that there are a few things I need to get busy on introducing to my horses. I have a couple new horses I’m training on this year but also some horses I’ve had for a while from whom I anticipate asking for new jobs. In both cases I’ll need to make a focused effort on expanding their horizons in our training. For example, my resale horse is very worried about flappy things – so he’s slowly learning about tarps.
Meanwhile the new lesson horse needs to learn about ropes and “whizzy” sounds. We learned the other day that she was not really ok with this when my husband started practicing roping the dummy steer while I was riding. She was not happy about it. Also, my most favoritest lil’ lesson horse ever (Dudley) needs to learn more about actual roping and pulling objects behind him to hopefully start working as my daughter’s youth rodeo pony over the next year or so.
Options
These are all very different scenarios but prime examples how no matter what stage of life a horse is in, there’s always something new to learn. Even if your purpose is to engage your horse’s mind and shake up the routine, it’s still good to keep it fresh.
There are literally thousands of “new things” you could introduce. I suggest you pick something that is somewhat related to what you generally do with your horse. It is easier to follow through with learning new skills when they feel applicable to what you already do. Also pick something achievable. Don’t expect your horse to learn a whole new discipline in one month. Just pick one task with only a few steps involved in learning it.
For Example
With the project horse and the tarp, I placed the tarp on the ground in the middle of the round pen, held down by ground poles. The poor horse was prepared to fly away the first time he saw it. So, I lunged him and initially made a point to him that out on the fence was workspace and the middle, closer to the tarp was rest space. As he moved his feet around lunging he worked off some of his anxiety so that he was willing to hear me offer opportunities to rest. In our first visit he got to where he would walk up to me while I was standing on the tarp, but would not consider stepping on it.
We had about three similar sessions on different days before he became calm. Though still leery we then moved onto leaving him in the round pen unattended for periods of time, now that I didn’t fear him trying to climb out to escape the tarp. This is allowing him plenty of time with no pressure to process that the tarp is in fact not going to swallow him.
Our Progress
Next, I made the conversation entirely about him and me, ignoring the tarp entirely and trying to just do our groundwork as if it didn’t exist. This is ultimately how I want my horses to work in the face of scary things, to focus on me solely and allow me to talk and guide them through it. Now we have progressed to riding in the round pen in the presence of the tarp, still ignoring its existence as best as we can. If it makes a small flutter, we definitely twitch, but this is a controllable response and not overly dramatic. For the record this horse has maybe a dozen training rides on him in total to this point, so I’m still feeling very positive about our progress, regardless how slowly and methodical we are having to be.
Ultimately actually walking over the tarp will be a minor event. But due to his rather extreme level of anxiety over it initially, slow and methodical is key. Once he has conquered the tarp on the ground, later we will try actually handling it and touching him with it. For now, that would simply result in a “horsey kite” and a lot of stress and drama for this terrified fellow. Nothing good would come from traumatizing him by “attacking” him with a moving tarp too quickly. For most horses, tarps are scary at first, but not all horses take it so much to heart. Every difficult task you and your horse conquer as a team is relationship built to help conquer the next new thing.
Ideas and Inspiration
Like I said earlier, there are literally hundreds of different tasks you could choose to focus on. Below is a list of a few that I find casual horses and riders miss mastering. Use this list as inspiration as needed, because I suspect that many readers already have a couple ideas of their own. Take into account where you and your horse are in your training and go from there.
- Teach horse to Ground Tie
- Open/Close gates or rope gates
- Side pass
- Spin
- Turn on the Haunches
- Jump
- Ride over a bridge
- Ride Bareback
Final Thoughts
Your “new thing” might actually take all month to accomplish, and you may need to break it down really small for your horse. It might even take two months to master… Or, you might be lucky, and your horse has it down in a couple of sessions. Great! Pick a second new thing and do it again! But don’t be afraid to follow through even if you find a lot of resistance in your horse. Partner up with your horse and learn your way through it together. If you make victory together a habit you and your horse can become unstoppable!
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