Cavalli Connections » The lifelong pursuit of classical riding.

Face, Not Chase!

Horses usually spook for one of two reasons: they are pretending to be afraid, or they are actually afraid. Horses that pretend to be afraid have often been reinforced for spooking in the past, and they have simply figured out it’s a surefire way to avoid work. And then you have the ones who don’t play games and really are afraid. Lots of really-afraid spooks are startle responses – the same response humans emit when something jumps out at us! So we can’t really blame them. But then there’s the non-startle spooks…

Meet Wilt…an active member of Spookers Anonymous.

This is Wilt trying to believe my Mom when she tells him that the line across the door (that was just put up for her next lesson, to keep a certain mischievous pony from escaping) is ok, darn it.

Wilt has no interest in getting out of anything; he loves to work. And on the whole, he’s not what one would label a “spooky horse”. But there are some things that throw him for a loop, things that just aren’t right.

There’s a grill just sitting in the woods. He knows it’s not a tree…so what the heck is it doing there??  He won’t step on a tarp, even when Zac (whom he’d follow off a cliff) calmly walks onto the tarp and stands in the middle of it. And cows…oh my goodness.  They might as well be aliens.

So anyways, our outdoor arena has trailers backed up to one of the short ends, about 10 feet from the fence. And Wilt just cannot get the thought out of his head that there might be monsters lurking around them. The first time this season that I rode him out there, we used 2/3 of the arena (because he’s a dork and I’m a wimp on big horses :p). Wilt is 16.2 and allllllllll muscle…and when he’s afraid his body grows and his brain shrinks. Logically I know if he spooks it’s going to go down in one of two ways: he either does the 4-foot plant…or he shoots sideways (and throws out your back). He never takes off like a bat out of hell. Never.

So…what’s the problem? I have a decent seat, good balance, and I know that the way to help a horse gain trust in his rider through scary experiences is to remain calm and relaxed and show him there’s nothing to fear. By avoiding the fearful place, I’m just confirming that there’s something to be afraid of!

I realized that was being ridiculous; I needed to just act like nothing was wrong. Because I know there are definitely no monsters by the trailers.

My Mom rode him next and he was prancing all over for her, so at least I know it’s not just me.   But the next few times we were out in the arena we went by them.  He wasn’t perfect, but it was a start and much better (for both of us).

So yes, face your horse’s fear. Don’t be stupid about it…but don’t allow silly things to keep you from doing the normal things – like using the entire arena. Geez.

On the other end of the spectrum you have Zac.

Zac typically spooks maybe twice a year, and it is usually a slight startle at something (like the cat zipping by out of nowhere). Afterwards he gets incredibly embarrassed that something as silly as that could have possibly scared him. It’s very humorous.

So my Mom and I went on a yahoo-all-over-and-gallop-up-the-steep-hills trail ride about 2 weeks ago. Me on Zac, her on Wilt. Zac has to go first because if Zac doesn’t “beat” Wilt, his life is pretty much over. At 26, he still thinks he wins all the time. We don’t tell him that we hold Wilt back so that he can retain his dignity.

So I go flying up this hill that goes up…levels out…then goes up again. My Mom is a little ways behind me. Just as I reach the very top and just as I’m getting down to a canter, there is a really loud noise about 50 feet ahead. I look up and a bunch of wild turkeys with really loud wings fly up, startled at us.

My first thought, which took less than a second, was something to the effect of: Oh ok…no big deal, Zac will stop and we’ll look at them and Wilt will be ok because Zac is in front of him. Unfortunately, Zac’s initial thought, simultaneously, was: Yeah!!! Let’s get ‘em!!! And as that split second ended, his head shoots up and we’re are gone, out of the starting gate, BAM.  Half laughing, half screaming…I start yelling at him, grab at the rope that’s around his neck (for occasions just like this)…and we eventually stop.

But not before my Mom can start yelling at me: “Sit DOWN…I’ve got a bucking horse back here!!!” Apparently Wilt was listening when she held him back, but wasn’t all that happy about Zac high tailing it out of there, potentially leaving him with some very big, very scary birds.

(For the record, the first thing my Mom will always yell when a horse takes off is “Sit DOWN!!!”…in various ways.  If you’re lucky, you just get “Sit DOWN!”…if you’ve been getting on her nerves for awhile it will be something more like, “Get your BUTT in that SADDLE!!”  In 2008, for about 5-6 months, I rode a horse in AZ that took off with me almost every time I rode him. Even though I was 3,000 miles away from my Mom, the first thing I always heard in my head was her voice saying: “Sit DOWN!!”. So yeah, I think my instinctual response has gotten a lot better. )

So I think I may have the only horse in the world who runs towards the danger. In the past, when we’ve been at barns that had large, open fields, Zac would chase deer, head straight up, not really sure what he was going to do if we caught them but having a blast all the same. He is so much fun!

Moral of the stories: face your horse’s fears – don’t chase them!