Does anyone else have the problem of a fidgety horse who just wont stand to be mounted!? have any of you had the problem then cured it!? I need help!!!!!!!!!! Ive put up a similar thread to this before but was just given the advice that i should do the parelli games with him! Does anyone have any other ideas? (teeth,back and saddle are all fine by the way!)
Hi Ponygal!
Yes - I've had the problem myself, and seen the problem and cured for others it many, many times. Not sure exactly how many - but it must be into the hundreds by now!
I can't be sure without seeing it, but I have a very strong suspicion that the problem is with the blind spot over your horse's back. Horses have 3 blind spots - one under the nose, one over the head and along the back, and one directly behind the tail. Anything moving into and out of these blind spots often frightens the horse - especially over the back and behind the tail. Over the back is where a predator would attack, and there's a strong instinct that tells the horse that anything disappearing into that space is bad news. The more frustrated we get with the horse moving away, the more we tend to behave like a predator - and so the whole thing gets worse.
The good news is, there is a pretty simple solution that just needs a little time and a lot of calm and patience. Start off by taking a rope, and swinging it from side to side under the horse's chin. First from the left - so the rope goes through the blind spot from left to right. (If your horse seems to prefer having you on the right, start on the right - but this is pretty rare). The rope must be long enough in the swinging bit the the horse sees it in one eye and then the other. Every time the rope swings from left to right and back, stop and stroke the horse. If this is OK, go to gently swinging the rope over the face (rather like another horse swishing flies for it in the summer!). If that's OK - swing the rope over the neck. Then move back so the rope goes over the shoulder, then the saddle are, then the hindquarters. If you find a point that the horse gets upset about, go back to to position before, and work back to the problem area before moving on. Every time the rope swings from left to right and back, stop and stroke the horse.
When you can throw the rope from left to right over any part of the horse without it reacting negatively, go to the other side and repeat the whole thing right to left.
Then go to the mounting block, and repeat the whole process with you standing on the block. If the horse moves away, just gently bring it back and set it up again until you can do the whole thing from both sides from the mounting block.
Now, starting again on the left (or the preferred side) - lean over and stroke the other side of the horse - start on the neck, then the saddle area, then the hip and hindquarters. If this is OK - put a foot in the stirrup and stroke the other side of the horse, then take the foot out of the stirrup. Gradually work up to putting weight in the stirrup, then taking it out again, and so on, until you can mount without the horse moving away.
Take it slowly, keep calm, and when things go wrong, just go back to the last step and build it up again.
The horse doesn't need to "learn" to stand still, it needs to gain the CONFIDENCE to stand still. Moving its feet is a horse's security blanket. The more you try to force a horse to stand still, the more it feels it has to move - so you need to make standing still feel safe and comfortable so it can stand there relaxed, not stand terrified to move.
Good luck, and let us know how it goes!
Kate
