What the best way to deal with a spooky horse.?

Question

I am currently riding a Welsh Section A Pony. He is very quick and hard to slow down. He spooks at very minor things.

Answer 1

First of all, to start training him, keep him in his stall or in the pasture, away from things or ppl that startle him. For a week or more just spend quality time with him. walk him around in the pasture. Or tie him up and read ( aloud) to him. He will concentrate on you while you read. When you let him free and walk across the pasture, when he follows you, you are ready for the next step. This step is to build trust, which will calm him down when he gets spooked because he will trust you more that you will not let anything hurt him. - (if what I said to build trust does not work, concider looking into a special technique called join up)

1) Still keep him in the pasture or stall, just somewhere quiet. Slowly build up his confidence by waving a flag near him or walking him by a post with a bag flapping in the wind. When something startles him, take him away from the object and use t- touch (tell you about it later) This will calm him down. Talk to him, pet him. But Most important DO NOT GET UPSET WITH HIM! Also when he spooks, stay calm. If he sences you are scared, it will make more insecure. When you can walk him near those little "spooky" objects, move on to bigger things.

Crank up you radio and get him used to that.
Bang pots and pans from a ways away and just keep getting nearer when he calms down.

After he does all that without spooking, try having someone drive past him in a car. when he is used to that try honking the horn.

Drive machinery near him. Stuff like that.

2) T- touch- small counter clock wise circles with your fingers. Move along his mucles on his back neck head ears, etc. Buy a book on it. NOt only will t- touch calm you horse down, it will create a strong bold with him.

3) Join up. hard to explain. Buy a book on it or talk with a trainer. I highly recomend it. It creates a VERY strong bond with you horse and you if done correctly. No it does not cause any pain. it has to do with his instinks.

All that i have said will build your trust with your horse. It will stop the spookiness in a very large degree, and also make him safe.

Good luck! Say hi to your horse for me! PS email me so you can tell me about you horse. I wouldn't mind telling you about mine either! lol

Answer 2

the horse i ride is the same way, he spooks at nothing. we'll walk past something five times and sixth time he'll freak out lol, what i usually do is just stay relaxed myself and kinda laugh at him, don't get tense and nervous cause the horse can feel it and that will cause him to freak out more. and then just slowly pull the horse down into a gait that you want if the horse is a bolter. don't over react cause that will also cause the horse to freak out a little. alot of times you can tell when a horse is gonna spook cause they will turn their head slight toward the thing they are scared of and try and get away from it. if your horse starts to do that then squeeze slightly with both legs and loosen your reins a little, just enough to give the horse room to go forward but still have contact with the mouth incase the horse bolts. that ways the horse sees that you are rewarding him (in a way) to walk past the thing that scares him. eventually the horse should start to get better with the things that spook him. also the horse could have an eye problem that causes him to spook, if you just started riding him i would probably talk to the person who rode him before you and see what they say, if he has always been spooky it is probably just part of him personality, but if he is just now becoming spooky he could be developing cataracts.

Answer 3

It all really depends on the horse. Like my horse is really quiet but like all horses things startle him. Knowing how my horse is what i do when he spooks is absolutely nothing. You may see some people after a horse spooks beat the crap out of them but with most horses that does not work. After the horse spooks, i take him around the object he's scared of and make him look at it. Your pony may not have also had what i like to call "real life experience training" Every new horse i get I take it through a course of different items like flapping a tarp around, walking on the tarp and so forth. I have found this little (or alot of work depending on the horse) really can pay off down the road.

Answer 4

Get him in a round pen. Have the following: plastic bags, a bag of cans, a sheet, a milk jug with small pebbles.

Make all the noise you can. Rub the plastic bag on him, flap the sheet at him, etc.

When he calms, soothe him. As a matter of ofact, soothe him during the desensitizing. Soon, he will realize these things will not hurt him.'

As for his hard to slow down, work him in the round pen, rewarding im for obedience. Lunge him before riding. And could he be on a feed that is too "hot" for him?

Answer 5

Work him, and don't get too tense. If he knows you expect him to shy, he'll be only too glad to oblige. As for the gun, what idiot think that a shotgun will take out a horse?!??!!!!? Cruel is right! Having shot buried in your flesh, with no relief, would be most unpleasant. And the glue factory-- I don't think spooking is bad enough to warrant putting the horse down. Good luck!

Answer 6

My sister has a very spooky horse, and he just needs some work we practice waving small flags and things around him hopefully to get him used to things like this but it takes a while. Do a lot of desensitizing, and make sure you are ready for anything he has to throw at you while riding him!

Answer 7

There is a really great book called Bombproofing Your Horse
It is written by a policeman who trains the horses for the police.
They are some ofthe most steady horses around and he tells you exactly what he does and shows you how he teaches them to be so confidant and steady.
It is a really good book and well worth buying. It gives lots of great ideas that you can do yourself. It shows you how to progressively teach the horse to be less reactive.

Answer 8

Carrots

Answer 9

You just need to work with him gradually. He might not calm down very quickly... I guess you just got a high strung horse.

Answer 10

My Arabian was really scared of all the chickens around my house so i caught him whern he was really calm and walked him past them a couple tiumes now hes not scared