Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE Newsletter Archives

Horse looks at everything

From: Dawn

I took my horse to a local gymkanan grounds to use the LARGE arena. He was so intrigued by the strange surroundings that I could not get him to pay attention. He spent a solid hour trotting, because he would not listen to my half halts to get him to slow down.

I love your sense of humor! Now if I could just find a sabre-tooth SOMEthing to test your theory. . . . Actually he's sort of strange, in that he is not really 'alert' but actually sort of dozy and then 'surprised' by things. He is lovely to ride when he is going well becuase he is quite sensitive to my cues, and usually willing to 'mind-meld'. After riding some other well trained but duller natured horses and feeling that my legs were going to fall off, I greatly prefer the sensitive, yet slightly neurotic charm of my guy. This was just a bit too much!!

This sounds wonderful Jessica, but leaves me thinking I'd love to if only he WOULD walk on a loose rein, and not head for the hills at speed. That's what I spent the whole hour trying to get him to do, and although I didn't have treats, I don't know that he would have been interested, since he was so hopped up about the surroundings. I will definately try it with treats, but can you comment on the methods if he will not walk or stretch his neck? When I tried to get him to walk around (and I would have been happy to just walk, even if he was not paying attention to me, but surveying the suroundings somewhat more sanely) he would speed up and get agitated. I was patting him whenever he slowed at all, but he was out of touch. If he gets rushy on the trail, I use the methods you described, and it works fine. It was not helping at all this time, and after a hour, we could manage only a slightly fast trot at one end of the arena, and that mostly becuase he was lathered and must have been very tired. He's never been this wonky before, and he has been to several new places, so I was at a loss. Should I take him and not ride him, just stuff treats into him and lead him around?

Thanks again! Dawn

Hi Dawn -- it sounds as though you've been blessed, or perhaps cursed, with a very sensitive, attentive horse. This one would never have been eaten by a sabre- toothed ANYTHING -- and I'm sure his ancestors were every bit as sensitive, in fact, they were probably the early warning system for their herd. Taking him to the arena and letting him inspect it was a good idea, but you may have to take it one step farther. Horses like this need to learn to relax in strange surroundings, and the only way to teach them this is to take them to strange places and let them have a good time there. I suggest that you take him back there and walk around on a long rein -- even a loose one -- stopping periodically so that he can have a treat, get his neck scratched, and just stand quietly. Then walk around some more, and pull out another treat. . . and another. . . by the end of an hour, he should be MUCH more interested in YOU than in the surroundings.

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