my horse is scared of everything and never been harmed. i have worked with him but not much luck. any ideas?

Answer 1

Sounds like my arab. You have to do a lot of sacking out and desensitizing. Small arena or round pen. Fill it with plastic tarps, poles, huge inflatable exercise ball, plastic drink bottles, large plastic rubbermade lids, plastic garbage bags filled with newspapers, etc. Things he cant get hurt on. Then lunge him around the pen. Let him go slow and take him time at first and gently coax him over things. After a few days he shouldnt even notice any of it. Then work on picking up the items and the tarp and making noise with them. Keep doing it until he holds still and relaxes. This should all be over several weeks time. Dont rush him too much. If he spooks at something dont back off - gently keep going towards him with it until he relaxes. Then drop it. After yu can do all this then you saddle him and tie the tarp, etc to the end of a long rope. The rope go around the horn and facing him from a ways back you slowly pull the rope towards you - which will drag the tarp right at him. This is the scariest thing to him so go very slow with this until you can drag the tarp towards him and up to the saddle. Want a visual on this? Get Clinton Anderson's DVD Road to the Horse.

Answer 2

Many horses are just born that way, same as people. Make sure he is not picking up any negativity from you. It can become a vicious circle; horse spooks at something, next time rider sees something similar they expect a similar reaction and often get it.You have to be as calm and relaxed as possible and don't try to force him too close to something that bothers him.Better to ignore the hazard but give your horse room to pass it without it becoming an issue. Your horse can gain so much confidence from you, but will pick up on any worries you have.Do a lot of work on the ground with him and give plenty praise. Don't overface him and take things slow and easy.
If you get the chance to take him out along with a real schoolmaster type, this can help.
I worked with police horses for 20 years and believe me, most of the good ones are born naturals, rather than trained, although obviously they still require training, but that calmness under pressure is inbred.

Answer 3

I would start by sacking him out . Don't start with anything too scary at first, the key here is to build his confidence. Too much ,too soon, too fast will set you back big time. Start with something lower key , such as say, a saddle blanket , it has a familier smell and may not be as scary. Don't approach right off with it open , keep it half fold and rub it on him , graduate to all parts of the body , as time progresses , move on to other things such as paper bags or plastic bags , tarps, ect...useinfg the same method. Sometimes , I will pull an object behind another horse , and have the spooky one follow the object , this puts the horse in a situation where his curiosity will get the best of him and he will want to investigate , and will follow the object. It will not then be as threatning to him. This is not a timmed event, slow steady will pay off in the end. As with all training , break it down , use patience and stay consistant!

Answer 4

Well ok, this is what I do when I ride a skitish horse. I just reasure them in a calm voice and encourage them to look at the thing they are scared of. Cercle a few times in the area that the thing is so they can get a good look at it and figure out that they won't be harmed. My horse is a western horse but since I started jumping, I could'nt just let him go. I trained him to be a hunter but he used to spook at everything, even the crop! Now I am going to do my first hunter show and I am quiet sure that I will place cause nothing scares my horse anymore because he trusts my judgement .

Answer 5

First, get him used to things that aren't that scary, like, a hose running. have someone hold him still, while you touch the water and stuff to show him it doesn't hurt you. If he seems confident, then try hitting a pan lightly so it makes a quiet noise. Slowly make it louder. if he shies, then make it quieter. Get him used to things like that and he might calm down. Horses are naturally skittish. their ancestors are used to herds, but a horse alone feels unprotected. try doing things that scare him to another horse that won't be scared. If he sees another horse that is okay with it, it may give him a confidence boost. oh, and if anyone sees this, feel free to email me, and we can talk horses! [e-mail].

Answer 6

try spook training. this is when you make your horse tolerate and get used to things that would generally scare a horse. if you can put this horse in a round pen or small paddock and use things such as a flag, umbrella, noise maker, air horn, plastic bag, etc. all of these things would terrify a horse but if you introduce these to them in a safe unfrightening environment and get them used to it. if you want specifics on how to do this, it is natural horsemanship, which parelli and john lyons work with. my trainer taught us how to do this but a little extra advice from these proffesional trainers is good to have.

Answer 7

First, spend 30 minutes with him without touching him/asking him to do anything/etc. Then just rub him all over so that he trusts you more (it doesn't matter how long you've had him, these two steps will help!) then once he is PERFECTLY comfortable with your introcduce him to things. Don't force him or hit him just lead him to whatever he's scared of and let him investigate it for himself.

For plastic bags take one and rub him with it.

You can also check out books about desensitizing from your library. Go to amazon.com and search "desensitizing"

Answer 8

Horses are born scared of everything - being prey animals and all. You need to desensitize him on every 'scary' object you can find.

I find that putting scary objects in my horse' paddock helps because their curiosity causes them to eventually go up to the object and investigate it. Eventually, my horse ends up playing with the 'scary' object and then it's no longer a scary object.

Answer 9

I had an arab like this, and I eventually got her going on endurance rides, and showing successfully. She was very high strung, and afraid of everything. I worked with her extensivly in the arena to train her, so that I could easily control her when she spooked, and by just spending hours in the saddle I got her trusting me, and respecting me. After getting her training solid in the arena, I would start taking her out on trail rides with older quiet trail horses. She would spook constantly, it would get really annoying, but she just gradually got better and better. I had her well trained enough that her spooks went from bolting uncontrolably/bucking to just taking a few side steps, or stopping to look. Also I took her trail riding frequently in places she had never been, so she built up a lot of trust in me, we would go out to a scarey new place, and I would always get her home safe, she got so trusting of me I think I could have told her to walk off a cliff and she would have done it.

With time, and training you will be able to get enough trust out of your horse to make it calm down. I found with my arab that her being 'scared' of everything a lot of the time was just an excuse for bad behavior, she would spook at things when she wasnt paying attention to me, or when she got sick of working. After a while I could tell what she was genuinly afraid of, and what was just her being a brat.

Try taking your horse to as many new places as possible, go to local open shows (they are cheap, and have a ton of things going on all in one day) and maybe ride in a few classes, then just introduce her to all the new sights. Take your horse over to a friends to ride, ride on the trails, etc. Try things at home like introducing her to tarps, and other 'scary' things. I put a tarp on the ground infront of my horses stall so that she had to walk over it to get her dinner. Every time I rode I would also put random objects in the arena to get her used to new sights.

Answer 10

Desensitize him. Start on the ground. Start with say, a plastic bag. Shake it in front of him. Let him run away, until he realizes that it's not going to hurt him. Make sure you're in an inclosed area. Let him come to you, and eventually he will start to cooperate. Then introduce him to other things. It worked with my skittish arab.. and now he is pretty much bombproof.