How Do I Stop the Spook?

How to Stop the Spook

1. Begin building a strong halt or verbal stop cue using positive reinforcement while training on the ground.

2. Then transfer this cue and behavior to under saddle training.  

3. Reinforce it often until the response to verbal and tactile cues from the rider's body is very strong so the horse will halt immediately and reliably.

4. Practice in areas, times, circumstances and locations where the horse is very comfortable (easy change of contexts).

5. Very gradually increase the difficulty of the contexts in a way that the horse is most likely to be successful.

We want to create a strong reinforcement history that will allow the horse to assert impulse control even in scary situations. This will create a horse that is much more likely to respond to the halt cue when under duress and provide the opportunity for us to offer support. 

Assuming we make every effort to AVOID allowing the horse becoming super stressed and over threshold to the degree that it is likely to spook - if the horse does go over threshold and spook due to something completely out of our control - we will be likely to have a horse that will respond to our well conditioned highly rewarded halt cue, stop it's feet and check in with us. This gives us the opportunity to redirect the horse to a well-known highly reinforcing behavior such as head down or touch a hand target from the tack or even just change direction.

It's imperative that we make every effort not to allow the horse to go so far over threshold that it refuses food rewards or the food loses it's appeal and ability to assist in rewarding, engaging or even relaxing the horse. It's important to prevent throwing horses in the deep end of the pool, when at all possible, by observing their behavior and redirecting them to a lower stress circumstance or behavior while they are still able to exert impulse control. This will assist in building their tolerance level and resilience to spooky circumstances in successive approximations. Remember, horses are flight animals by nature and it's up to us to help them positively understand that they can make choices that will work out well for them even when it goes against their instincts. There's nothing like food rewards to build trust and confidence in a horse!

"Focus on Prevention Instead of Intervention to Build Confidence in Your Horse."

Melissa Deal