Create A Relaxed Horse
You at one point or another have dealt with the unexpected spook, the unseating wheel or the tension that builds when the horse is insecure and lacking confidence. There are ways to create a connection to mitigate the chance of your horse “running for the hills”. Here we discuss 9 reasons your horse is spooking and solid, actionable ways you can turn that around to a calm ride, even this time of year.
Why is your horse spooking?
What great time to talk about horses spooking then during the spookiest season of all, Halloween. Is it possible your horse is actually seeing ghosts? Are they just fresh from the recent cool, crisp air or is it something more? Here’s a top 9 reasons why your horse may be spooking and a different multi-faceted approach to resolving this rather unpleasant aspect of training horses.
#1 There are certain personalities that are more prone to spookiness. It’s just like human personalities. Some are more anxious than others, some worry more, some are more fearful etc. If you have a spooky horse it’s important to have a feeling as to whether that comes from frustration, worry, fear, or exuberance. As in all things, the individual way to address each will be different. However, in horses, just like with humans you can change that tendency. How?
- Mindfulness. So in humans you would develop a practice of present moment awareness whenever a particular feeling would come on. This is well documented and practiced especially with anxiety or panic attacks but can be used in any emotional state. You want to know the cool thing? You can also practice this with horses! Reflections From The Saddle has a unique technique for staying in the present moment and creating a learned reaction where your horse looks to you for peace in un-peaceful moments. If you practice this method, you can bring a peaceful awareness to not only yourself but also your horse.
- Deal with your own emotions and state of mind first. You feel the tension. You just know your horse is going to spook. He/She has every day at this corner. You are ready. You are waiting. Can you imagine what this feels like to your horse? Do you realize that your own present state of mind and emotions can directly impact your horse? New studies in the physics of subtle energy is actually proving that your own present state of mind can have great impacts on how your horse responds to you and the environment. So it may not just be the tight seat, the gripping legs or the extra hold on the reins. It can also be your heart rhythm, your sympathetic nervous system and the subtle energy you are putting out when you are scared and waiting for the horse to act up. Finding that place of peace in your own body is as important as helping your horses find confidence. You must lead the way as any good leader would be expected. Take the time to work through your own responses before expecting a flight animal to. There is a psychology to riding and staying centered, balanced, confident and calm and is as much a prep for your riding (on and out of the saddle) as is all the technical lessons and body fitness.
- Balance the emotions. You all know my dual horse pursuits. Acupuncture and Energy Medicine and Reward Based Dressage Training. Well this is straight up Chinese Medicine. In TCM there are emotions that go with each of the 5 Elements and each individual whether horse or human will have one element that is presented stronger in than the others. We call this their constitutional element. Balancing that element will balance those emotions. I have seen it both over the long haul and over the course of one treatment. Understand that the humans and horse will tend toward that emotion whenever they are out of harmony. Acupoint Therapies has a course on using essential oils with acupuncture points so that you can learn to balance your horse’s 5 Elements so that you can work with their emotional state in that element. Whether the element is unbalanced on the yang or yin aspect will effect the presentation. For now understand that when unbalanced: Fire horses tend toward with sadness, lack of joy, or restlessness and anxiety. Wood horses tend toward frustration and impatience or lack of confidence and self doubt. Earth horses tend toward worry and overthinking or possessive and domineering. Metal horses tend toward withdraw and difficulty forming bonds or negativity and grief. Finally, water horses tend toward shutting down and giving up or extremely stressed and fearful. Spookiness could be from lack of confidence, fear, anxiety, restlessness, impatience, frustration, overthinking, withdrawal and stress. See how each of the elements may present as spooky behavior? Weekly treatments are recommended at a minimum and sometimes for awhile daily is best. This is why the course was developed to allow horse owners and trainers to work with their horse on a more frequent basis than a practitioners time could allow. Check out courses at www.acupointtherapies.com
- In addition there are acupuncture points to calm the mind, calm the body and calm the emotions no matter what the reason. In Chinese Medicine this is working with the Shen (spirit) of the human or animal to bring about a calm outlook. These are general points to calm the spirit and are important in any treatment where a behavior issues has been presented.
#2 Horses will become spooky if they are in pain. It’s always important to eliminate pain as the reason for any spooky behavior. Sometimes the only way they have to communicate this to you as a rider is to become difficult which includes spooky. It may show up randomly, unexpected, during certain movements, or when the work gets challenging or difficult. Spinal pain especially of the neck and back is one particular insidious pain that will often be displayed in spooky behavior. While any body pain will cause spooking, most limb pain will also show other symptoms as well. So before getting too far down the rabbit hole of training, make sure the horse is not in pain. This is sometimes easier said than done but always something to keep in mind!
*(I recently posted on Facebook to make sure that you don’t clip the hair directly under your horse’s saddle in the fall as the rubbing of the hair can just be enough of an irritant to make them back sore, tight backed, cold backed and therefore spooky.)
#3 Vision Problems. It goes without too much explanation that if your horse cannot see well due to eye injury, eye disease, poor lighting etc they will be spookier. Note here that horses that are forced into a frame and cannot see because of their head position can also become spooky. This is due to a lack of being able to see their surroundings. Being prey animals, horse’s hearing, smell and sight is very important to their feeling of security. If you take one away it can make them very anxious and un-confident. This can really play a part in making spooky behavior worse! Think of what your reaction is to when your horse spooks. Is it to put your horse deeper “on the bit” or into the connection? Now they think they have a reason to spook. They can’t see.
#4 The horse doesn’t have a voice. Many horses that are forced, coerced and made to do things (the list is endless here) without having a say can become spooky. Especially if they have been abused or felt mistreated or abused, been handled emotionally or physically inconsistently or have specifically been “man handled”. Stepping back and looking at management and training from the horses point of view with some great patience can go a long way in a horse feeling confident in their environment and work. Sometimes when the horse finally feels heard they will actually start expressing all kinds of grievances and emotions. Part of the healing process is allowing this to happen without judgement or reprimand, allowing everything to come out and rebuild the relationship slowly and steadily. If you are looking for simple easy games to start connecting with your horse on a deeper level check out https://www.reflectionsfromthesaddle.com/free.
#5 They feel claustrophobic. This one is particular to equine sports where the horse is ridden in contact even if done appropriately and kindly. It’s the feeling of being trapped. And it doesn’t mean that you have been pulling on your horse’s mouth or forcing their head down. It can just mean that they feel compressed and the spook allows them to get out of it for a second or two. Often times this just takes the presence of mind to release one or both hands when the tension is building, in the spooky corner or when challenging them through something. This seemingly kind gesture gives them the freedom they are seeking and will alleviate the need for them to spook. Conversely most riders will actually hold more and tense themselves when they feel the horse being exuberant or spooky. This takes great confidence and presence of mind. In some instances letting the horse move more forward will help them let go of the need to spook. Sometimes taking the quiet approach of staying at a relaxed slower gate is necessary until they relax and can move more forward with calmness. Each scenario will be individual but it helps to know the approaches.
#6 Working on a relationship where you can ask for the horse’s attention to remain on you. There are specific behaviors that can be “trained” to help bring focus and calm to a horse when they are feeling spooky. They can be trained on the ground and they can be trained under saddle. Noticing the slightest ability for your horses to focus back on you and rewarding that will go a long way in the horse’s eyes. Most of the time they are subtly communicating and we don’t hear them. When you start opening the lines of subtle communication, you can have a conversation that is quiet but effective during those tense moments when your horse will be building toward a spook. In fact, training and noticing the ear flick back to you for guidance will actually prevent A LOT of spooky behavior. Focus can be ridden at any gait and combining this with #5 can be a really winning combination for developing a partnership where the horse feels confident about following your guidance.
#7 Spending more time in peace. Make sure there are more interactions with your horse that are positive than negative. In relationship counseling John Gottman talks about making deposits in the relationship on a daily basis by having the other person feeling heard, understood and important. The same goes with our horses. If you practice interacting this way, when you do need to make a withdrawal the relationship stays out of the red. Just like a bank account! Say you have been doing good relationship building exercises at home but now it’s time for a show. The horse will be more likely to engage with you in a positive manner at the show (when you are asking for a withdrawal) if the emotional bank account between the two of you has been going strong with lots of positive interactions.
#8 In all honestly the combination of several approaches above will be your best bet. In most horses spooky behavior is complex and a combination of several “problems”. Your horse may need a combination of an emotional balancing, pain relief and giving your horse a voice. Or maybe your horse needs focus training, mindfulness, and relationship building. Maybe your horse gets tense in mind and body and then the pain comes on from the tension. Whatever the reason for your horse’s spooky behavior, they are trying to speak to you. They are trying to communicate and it’s your job to figure out what they are saying and why. Play with the above suggestions and see where it leads. The most important facet of horse training is patience and persistence while listening to the horse. Just embarking on this journey will completely change you! I promise! I see it in myself every day so I know the journey because I am on it too.
I understand that each of these topics and suggestions could be in a course all by itself so this blog is just to give you some ideas to think about and further explore. If you are looking to work with Rebecca in a more one on one situation, please contact her at reflectionsfromthesaddle@gmail.com