I got a horse, now what? update 1-22-11

[Rusty Hills Farm]

I had a Percheron mare. She was about 2000 lbs so when she blew a gasket, the ground shook. The first time I tried to spray her, she about knocked the whole barn down. What I finally did was fill a spray bottle with plain ol water and started spraying any time I was around everyone. She watched me spray all the other mares, heard the sound of the sprayer, saw nobody else reacting. It took me about 2 weeks of doing this every day before she stopped freaking in the pasture at the mere sound of the spray. Then I started spraying in the aisle while everyone was in their stalls. Again she totally freaked out and I actually had to bar the stall door to keep her inside it. This took another week. Then I started spraying through the door--not at her, just into the stall. I almost had to totally rebuild the whole stall twice, but after about 10 days or so she stopped having a heart attack over it. That is when I started stepping into the stall and spraying. She would stand there wild-eyed and sweating and as soon as she was calm again, I'd give her a treat. Now, mind you, at this point I had been at this for about a month and had still not actually sprayed her.

That's when the weather got really hot and I started hosing down the mares as they stood at the gate waiting to come in. At first she wanted no part of getting sprayed, but eventually she accidentally got wet and discovered that she liked it. Pretty soon she would shove the others out of the way to hog all the water. This was happening about the same time I was trying to spray the bottle inside the stall, so the first time I actually aimed the spray bottle at her inside the stall, she stood rock still for a minute and then tried to "direct" where she wanted to be sprayed! It was all very anticlimactic considering the ruckus she kicked up in the beginning.

They can get really funny ideas into their heads sometimes and it really takes patience and persistence to convince them we are not gonna kill them. The key is not to quit. If you quit they think they were right to freak and there is really some reason to freak so they freak all the worse. So do not quit. Keep at it daily for however many weeks or months it takes before they discover you haven't killed them and they start to settle down over it. And if you are calm and patient and persistent, they really do reach a point where they seem to say, "Oh what the heck!" and finally quit fighting it. The key is to not get angry or frightened or tense because that makes them think something really IS wrong and feeds their panic.

HTH

Rusty

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Pretty much...you're trying to "sack" him out. Use a plastic sack, like a Wal-Mart sack. Make noises with it behind your back so he realizes the noise isn't going to hurt him. Then present the bag in front of him. Let him sniff it. Once he's calm with that, make the sack make noise. When he's comfortable there, go closer to him with it, make more noise. Go SLOWLY. If you sense the slightest resistance to it, ease up. Let the sack touch him. Pet him while this is happening. It will make noise, again, watch his stance and ear position. Keep the bag at a comfortable spot, like his neck, move it through his upper body. Give him a treat for being good. SLOWLY work your way downwards. Letting him hear and feel the sack all the way down. Once he realizes it's not going to kill him, he'll relax to it and your touch. To mix it up a bit, once he's more comfortable, you can tie the sack to a stick so that he sees you, and hears the noise, but sees you up front. It's a new thing.

This is just a desensitizing thing. Have you tried using a SMALL spray bottle (think perfume) with water? Then small spray bottle with fly spray? Then a slightly larger bottle? Then a larger bottle? It may just be that he's psyching himself out by being presented with something he immediately recognizes.

 

[pardenx3]

Get a water trough for one thing! Pool water is not good at all! Chemicals out the a**!!! No chemicals, then its stagnant and how exactly will you just dump out the water to clean it? A livestock trough, PLEASE!!

 

[Kansaseq]

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I think drinking out of the pool was pretty much a one time thing. Please read before you take someone to task. Twentynine is pretty on top of everything; he's done an awesome job.

 

[twentynine]

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Awh! For Cryin Out Loud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can no one read?

Thanks Kansas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

 

[twentynine]

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And you don't even understand pool water treatment!

 

[pardenx3]

Sorry everybody, geeze!

 

[Hound]

Come on folks, common sense. Don't suggest that someone ties a horse *that you do not know and never have seen* to a solid object then present it with something that may well terrify it. A horse does not think like a human; when in fear they do not rationalize that panicking will hurt them worse than the object. I have seen some dreadful wrecks caused by a frightened horse being tied hard. Horses are fight or flight animals, remove the flight option and what are you setting yourself up for? He may give in, or he may pull back and flip over backwards or try to go over the post/fence. He may kick or paw. He may go down while tied, how is a new owner going to handle that?

Equally, tying a horse so he can't get away does not amount to training him so that he does not want to. It simply forces the issue, it does not resolve it. Halter him, you hold the lead rope and you move with him until he stops. When he wants to stop, leave him alone. Don't look at him, don't pet him, just let him rest and think. If he can only tolerate the sight of the spray/sponge, then just get him used to you holding it near him. If he doesn't like the sight or sound of it, just spray it behind your back a good distance away from him approaching until you reach the edge of his 'bubble'. Baby steps will resolve the issue more thoroughly and actually quicker than trying to force the issue.

 

[twentynine]

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Interesting approach. So what you are saying is I should halter him, not tie him close. And when he moves back I should move with him. Should I attempt to restrain him at all? In other words when he moves back should I hold back on the lead rope? or Should I just freely allow him to move back with out resistance. Sure I know right off the bat, that if he really wants to go all I am going to end up with is rope burns. But what I am asking is how much ground do I stand, do I allow him to react and then once the most acute part of the reaction is over pull him back.

He does not leave his feet, mostly his reaction consist of ear pinning, head tossing and he will move his rear away from me. For instance if I am on the right of the horse, when he reacts he will move to his left. But he never raises his feet more than to step over.

I do like the idea of getting a spray bottle, spray it until I reach the edge of his comfort zone. As I see it I can then attempt to desinsitize him without acute reaction. For instance he could be completely unrestrained in the field, I could walk into the edge of his space, as he is desinsitized I can get closer.

Thank you for the suggestion, I do like the idea better than tieing him and just making him upset. Call it bleeding heart or old dumb softy, but I hate really hate to see him get upset.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

I'm sorry..I didn't read where someone said to tie him up? If I said it, that was not my intent?

Tying a horse up can hurt the horse badly by making it panic. Yes, move with the horse. The horse is much bigger than you and will drag your butt halfway to Lubbock. I've noticed that the more you hold onto a horse, the more they're going to fight back to get loose. They are a prey animal, so they don't have the same predator instinct that we have and rationalize by. You've got to think of yourself in a prey animal position.