Recently I attended a webinar given by Shawna Karrasch about her On Target Training System. I wanted to check it out, that whole clicker training thing, and I discovered that I’ve been using it all along, except in my case the clicker is my voice saying “good boy”. Both constitute positive reinforcement ideals.

Her principles are sound and good and if anyone is having trouble with their horse they might want to consider what Shawna has to offer. If you are interested you can check out her stuff at www.askshawna.com.

Shawna spoke of her common sense training system and several horse related issues. One of the issues she spoke of is spooking and as I listened to her my ADD mind wandered (as it always does) and I remembered a day trail riding with my horse which gave me the inspiration to write this essay.

Now you remember that my horse had formerly been a racehorse (a sprinter) and he has been known to spook from time to time. If he’s feeling especially delicious it can be one heck of a spook at that.

I think it's funny how I never considered him spooky (and still do not) though when I think about it, he’s spooked dozens of times. Big ones, too.

In the beginning of our time together his spooks consisted of “spin at lightning speed, then bolt off”. It was quite the pain in the ass.

As time passed and he became far braver the spooks changed twice. Spook One consisted of his lowering his altitude (like a cow horse crouch) in a millisecond then taking a look step to the side. Although this spooking technique was far better that “spin n bolt” it was still quite the pain in the ass. Often it felt as if my ass managed to travel far while my head was left for a moment where it was, like I was some sort of Warner Bros. cartoon.

Spook Two, which currently is the most common spook, is “startle in place, perhaps decreasing ones altitude”. Again, this consists of crouching down like a cutting horse. This spook is pretty cool and not at all a pain in the ass. I do not resemble a Warner Bros. cartoon.

I often marvel at how I don’t move at all for this spook and often don’t realize there even is a spook until it is over. I figure this is because I am very relaxed most of the time. There’s no time for my body to resist the movement and instead I sort of just go with the flow. That, or I'm just plumb tired.

(It is when you have fear that you tense up and then such a spook can unseat you because your body is working in opposition as opposed to moving in unity with the horse)

Once in a while he’ll still do the step thing, but he has to be very, very frightened. Like a deer-suddenly-jumping-out-a-foot-from-us frightened. But most of the time he just gets real looky and tenses his body. I have discovered that Chihuahuas in baby carriages at shows and abandoned coffee mugs in an indoor during a clinic can be the cause in these cases. I get past it by laughing at him and calling him a boob, and he is apparently okay with that.

Sometimes his spooks are so benign that although I feel his insides jump, his outsides stay in place. This kind of spook I consider victory.

But no matter which he does I think my reaction is the number one reason why his spookiness has decreased over time. I kinda laugh at him and make fun of him. “Oh now you big baby, what’s the matter, a tree frightens you now?” And then I start chattering and I can feel him breathe a good “whew”.

I have no doubt that if I acted differently it would feed the spooks and I do have to admit that once or twice I’ve been actually a little bit a-scared. But when I figure out that I’m a-scared I get pissed, because I’m never a-scared dammit!! Plus being a-scared becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and supposedly I’m too smart for that. Or at least that's what my blogs say.

So on this one particular summers day I was riding in the large park near my barn. This park is used by many, equestrians and non-equestrians alike. Much to my chagrin, many hunters also utilize the park and do all sorts of hunting stuff in there.

I was riding alone and my horse was getting all into the trail ride with his ears alertly pricked forward and a nice long swinging gait. Relaxation at its best. We were content.

Then, all of a sudden a young Weimaraner comes bouncing up to him, stops in front and begins to bark at his face. Horsey froze and I began to talk him through it. A moment later a pistol carrying hunter type came strolling by and began to correct the dog. He figured his dog was being a nuisance, but I saw opportunity.

I said to the guy let the dog go and let’s see what transpires. Certainly I’d run into more dogs on the trail and I should cross this bridge now. Better now than never! Within moments, Weimaraner was standing on his back legs touching noses with my horse. Both dog and horse were okay with this and endlessly fascinated with one another.

I asked the hunter guy if the gun was loaded and he said it was, but with blanks. I asked him to begin shooting it repeatedly and he was happy to oblige. His must have figured his dog was getting trained too!

So there we were, the horse, the hunter and the Weimaraner all making nice nice while the pistol was repeatedly fired. It went splendidly.

We shook hands, both very happy with what we’ve accomplished training wise. I bid him and Weimeriner goodbye and continued my ride.

Up ahead I saw another horse and it was being very naughty. I rode up and saw the reason why. A hunting club had put throughout the park a bunch of fiberglass targets for hunters to use as practice. These targets were realistic looking animals. There was a turkey, a deer, a bear, a bison and then the object of this horse’s meltdown. It was a fiberglass Tyrannosaurus Rex about ten feet tall.

Now I can’t tell you why there would be a fiberglass T-Rex in a park chock full of people riding horses. As far as I know this park didn't contain "Jurassic" it its name and I’m thinking not too many T-Rex hunting licenses are issued by the state. Plus, if there were T-Rex roaming around, odds are I wouldn’t be trail riding there anyways.

But I figured what the hell, training opportunity being what it is, let me try. With reassuring coaxing and my horse fresh off his happy Weimaraner pistol experience I was successful getting him to stand next to the T-Rex. Not bad for a jerky racehorse!

With my being able to accomplish this, the other horse also settled. We continued on our separate ways and I figured we’d done enough on our “relaxing” trail ride.

On the way home we came across a creek that was about six inches wide. Wouldn’t you know it was THAT the ended up being the tough thing to do?!

Okay, so hunters, firing pistols, Weimaraners and T-Rex’s are okay. The six inch wide stream was to prove the tricky thing, a true panic situation.

It's so much easier riding circles in the ring.

Not in the mood to start a fight I simply turned and backed him into the stream then spun him around and by the time he realized what I’d done we’d crossed that sucker. Brains over brawn.

I could feel him literally take a long, relieved sigh.

We arrived home and I sung him his praises and cared for him like he was a King. He liked it very much and we walked away with another great experience under our belt despite the best efforts of The Weimaraner, the pistol and the T-Rex.


Note:. I would be remiss if I didn't point out one more important thing. I did not start out taking a spooky horse out on trails to stand next to fiberglass T-Rex's.

I started out slowly, one step .... one baby step at a time. It began with trust while brushing. If you read my web page section titled "Tao of a Thoroughbred" you can see how the trust evolved. From that it evolved to trust riding with others out on the trail. When he'd be frightened of the dumpster that one day appeared on the property I had to caress him to approach it which I did with the promise of carrots in a plastic bag until he got to the point that he, on his own, touched that dumpster with his nose and sniffed it and he could then grab the carrots.

I consoled him constantly and eventually our partnership and his trust evolved into standing next to fiberglass T-Rex's on the trail.

In this too Shawna is right. Start small so you can achieve big.

 
    

I wish I had a good photoshop program, but this little scene just cracks me the hell up! Was I giving the finger to the T-Rex?