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 Expert
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Location: PA | Besides more hauling, what are some things you do at home while riding to "season" in your younger horses? My guy is ready to haul, but needs more sights to see so when he gets to the shows he "settles" in more easily and not looking for monsters while trying to exhibition. What do you do while at home to try to rattle the younger horses so when you start hauling them they are not so frazzled by everything. | |
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 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
 
Location: Phoenix | I would do lots of sacking out with different objects, lots of trail riding, lots of trips to town, & to other people's places to ride....having a bond helps too. The more your horse trusts you, the more he'll trust that it's OK when he sees something questionable. My 17 yo rodeo horse will get looky at stuff on our trail rides but he doesn't freak because he trusts that I won't make him do anything that will get him hurt. | |
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 Expert
Posts: 1482
Location: on my horse | What Hammer time said. I haul mine to little tiny quiet schooling shows, trail challenges, friends houses, different local arenas etc. My favorite thing to do with mine is go and show in as many 5 dollar schooling shows and classes as I can, that way when you're cruising around the ring at a nice lope or trot with a bunch of other horses in your class they get pretty confident with that. I'll also enter the reining or another pattern class that way I'm helping keep them broke and not always expecting a run but then I have a good 5 minute pattern to let them figure out that there aren't any monsters in there. I also take them to races with me and will just hang out out back at the warm up and pony them off my rope horse if I'm really worried.
I start hauling like that when they're 3 and just getting kinda broke and by the time I'm actually ready to start exhibitioning for real and entering they are miles ahead.
ETA ... I'm no professional so take what I say knowing that lol
Edited by redmansmyman11 2016-06-19 12:36 AM
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Expert
Posts: 1280
Location: Texas | I have tried to desensitize my 3 yr old to as many objects & situations as possible at home (since he was a yearling),but ultimately, it has just been the more I go the better he gets. Mine is kind of weird in that it seems that he is more distracted by the other "new" horses, & doesn't pay much attention to the grounds/facilities. I have gone to a lot of quiet arenas with low attendance to gain confidence. Now I need to break out of my comfort zone (& his) & go to places where there are larger crowds. | |
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 Hawty & Nawty
Posts: 20424
| My new horse is very looky, high head etc and he's been hauled a lot. To be truthful, it's unnerving me. Thanks for this thread, I'll be keeping an eye on it. | |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 878
Location: "...way down south in the Everglades..." | Good advice here...if there's something in particular, try to mimic it the best you can at home. I had one petrified of golf carts/4-wheelers. I didn't have a golf cart but I started riding the 4-wheeler right near her stall and turn out frequently until she realized it wouldn't attack her. Another big one for her was the banners. So I used tarps and plastic bags and kept moving them around outside her pen...different locations each couple days. It honestly worked but the best thing for any of them is exposure to "scary" places time, time, and time again until they get settled in :-) Some just take a lot longer than others and I've found the ones that didn't have much handling or hauling when they were really young, take even longer to adjust than a younger one does. | |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | I start them out by taking a broke horse and ponying them until their tongues are hanging out, then get on.
The things that bothered my last young one the most were close quarters in the warmup pen (because I mostly ride alone or with my daughter at home), and someone coming down the ladder from the announcer's stand right beside her. She bucked the first time she saw a bull at a rodeo, but we were loping a circle by the pen, and I just made her keep going until she stopped looking. Ponying her not only got her tired, but she first saw scary stuff with a seasoned veteran to set a good example and bring her back to earth faster.
Once they have been hauled enough that I don't need to pony them (doesn't take many outings), I get there early and lope them down.
As for stuff to do at home, I have kids. No horse is as broke as they could be until they have lived with kids. Swinging from the rafters, tricycles and scooters in the barn aisle, toy tractors in the pasture, wearing kitty ears and tail while running across the yard on all 4s, kickball using my barrels for bases while I'm working a horse, paint ball splatters on barrels... If you don't have a kid, rent or borrow a few.
Edited by Three 4 Luck 2016-06-20 2:02 PM
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 933
Location: north dakota | Three 4 Luck - 2016-06-20 2:01 PM
I start them out by taking a broke horse and ponying them until their tongues are hanging out, then get on.
The things that bothered my last young one the most were close quarters in the warmup pen (because I mostly ride alone or with my daughter at home), and someone coming down the ladder from the announcer's stand right beside her. She bucked the first time she saw a bull at a rodeo, but we were loping a circle by the pen, and I just made her keep going until she stopped looking. Ponying her not only got her tired, but she first saw scary stuff with a seasoned veteran to set a good example and bring her back to earth faster.
Once they have been hauled enough that I don't need to pony them (doesn't take many outings), I get there early and lope them down.
As for stuff to do at home, I have kids. No horse is as broke as they could be until they have lived with kids. Swinging from the rafters, tricycles and scooters in the barn aisle, toy tractors in the pasture, wearing kitty ears and tail while running across the yard on all 4s, kickball using my barrels for bases while I'm working a horse, paint ball splatters on barrels... If you don't have a kid, rent or borrow a few.
Between the kids and the tractors, dirt bikes and ATV's in my yard all my horses get exposed to a lot. I also go camping with the horses and the camp ground is full of golf carts, more kids, people driving wagons and carriages. I like to make my horses follow the golf cart or wagons if there scared and if they find a scary object I make them work by it. | |
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Expert
Posts: 1543
Location: MI | I totally agree with the kids thing, my kids have seasoned my gelding much quicker than I would have without them!
Also though, in the 'scary' situations, figuring out what brings their attention back to me at home. For my gelding, it was trotting figure 8s or changing directions. Doing that at a show reminded him that I was in charge and that he didn't need to be worried about the boogies :). | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 926
| I have a gelding I've been off of for 3 years. He was hauled when he was 4 for about 4 months. He really was pretty good for as immature as he was.
The next year he began to act very nervous and scared after about 5 or 6 trips we went to the vet and diagnosed kissing spine. So I tried everything that year, 2014, and then gave him 2015 off, with surgery for him at Dr. Honnas the first of December for the KS.
I'm now starting to go again and it's unpredicatble. We're still just going slow in exhibition, but one time he's fine, the next time he's a raving lunatic shying at any and everything, not just looking, but doing a 180 with no warning. Then next place, pretty nice.
I think it had to do with me hauling him before I realized what was wrong, him being anxious but still trying to work. This past weekend, went whenever he started to shy I swatted him on the shoulder with this limp little quirt and just said, ' that's enough'.... he'd then let out a big sigh, and go on about his business.
Any thoughts/direction/suggestions for this is appreciated. My opinion is that with the anxiety and pain overlay this is probably more than the usual young'n going to town. | |
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