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...