COLLECTION MEANS EVERYTHING

What is COLLECTION?

This topic is not finished and there is lot more to come in order to describe what is COLLECTION , HOW MUCH COLLECTION SERVES THE HORSE SPECIALLY FOR SAFE RIDING FOR THE RIDER AND THE HORSE , THIS IS SO IMPORTANT I HOPE WE GIVE IT THE VALUE WHICH DESERVES.

"I SAY SAVE YOUR SELF AND YOUR HORSE BY COLLECTION"

Collection is : the bringing together of both ends of the horse for the purpose of lifting and lightening the forehand.

In order to have COLLECTION you must first have IMPULSION. What is impulsion? Impulsion is the energy that is created in the HINDQUARTERS to move the horse forward. If the horse his "pulling" himself along with his forehand he dose not have impulsion. When he/she is instead "pushing" with his hindquarters to get forward movement he/she has impulsion.

The next thing you must have in order to collect your horse is ENGAGEMENT of the HINDQUARTERS. This is achieved naturally when you have good level of impulsion . When the horse's hindquarters are "engaged" they are lowered to better allow him/her to bring his/her legs underneath his/her body to allow for easier forward movement . When the hindquarters are "engaged" you will most likely see that the high point of his/her hindquarters is lightly lower than his/her withers . You will feel like you are riding "UP HILL" instead of "DOWN HILL".

You must also be able to communicate with your horse using "LIGHT LEG CONTACT".

In order to achieve proper collection you must be able to ride with "LIGHT CUES on the REINS"

If you cannot get each of the above desired responses from your horse individually you will not be able to COLLECT YOUR HORSE.


The more I learn from HORSES the more I know I knew nothing.


One of the big differences from Lunging and Double Long Lining is with Double Long Lining you can teach the Horse to walk and move on Collection but with Lunging you can not.

Horse knowing how to move on collection could go down hill very smoothly proceeding without interruption, upheaval, or problems without jerks or jolts: in a steady flowing motion, without jolts or interruptions.

Horses not knowing collection is too risky and dangerous and uncomfortable to go down hill each step the horse takes down hill is like a punch into your body but knowing the collection it's like walking on a flat surface the rider wont feel it at all.

Most of the Horses with HANDS problem and injuries are because of not knowing the collection.

When first teaching the horse collection , always start at WALK . If you cannot achieve collection at the WALK you will not be able to achieve collection at the faster paced TROT. You and your horse will only become confused and discouraged if you start right at TROT. When your horse is mastered at the walk then collect your horse at the TROT.

No collection in a Horse = No power in a Horse.

PH

Reading Body language to avoid potential accid

This was first started by one of my friends in IHDG forum her initials LL she started it and in this POST any word as IH or Intelligent Horsemanship has nothing to do with the ORIGINAL SIGHT or KELLY MARKS Ideas which I honor so much this is only an example of my own Ideas :

Following a suggestion by PersianHorse, Kelly would like contributions for things which could be aimed at explaining to children ( for the IH kids section ) on this topic....

Unfortunately ONE PERSON (she is doing her best as a head of a gang which they are few to put me out of IHDG but I hope she gets what she is looking for and wish her the best of luck she is doing this to many of the member and many have left the IHDG unfortunately)and this person is still putting comments and nasty word into my blog I know who she is but because I honor the members of IHDG and Kelly Marks I wont put her name in this post anyway she did not like my points and started to put the main subject out of track as you all know how it is in an open forum therefore I started it on this Blog because up to my knowledge the topic is important.

I am sure many of you have seen the movie called The Horse Whisperer by the Hollywood actor Robert Redford, in this movie if we observe closely and know the body language of the horse we will realize in the beginning of the movie when the two kids saddle up their horses and start their ride in the snow they reach a road full of trees they cross the road and start going up the hill and that is where all begins the first horse goes up fell down to his knees then coming down hit the other horse and the other horse fell too with it's rider and they both slipping going down the hill into the road then the lorry arrives and goes over one horse and the rider and the 2nd horse stands up in front of the lorry and the lorry hits him this accident could of been prevented if the riders knew the body language of the horse , WHY because the first horse was resisting to go up that hill the rider forced the horse to go up that hill (in the movie it is clear and the poor horse is shouting to the rider that under my feet where you can not see there is ICE and it's slippery because you can only see on the top where the powder snow is but I can tell under the powder snow there is ICE and if I go I will slip and fell down but unfortunately the riders did not know the BODY LANGUAGE of the horse to understand what he/she is saying to them otherwise they wouldn't force the horse to go up that icy and slippery hill) therefore knowing the body language of the horse is crucial and the age of the human to know this language dose not matter as in this movie clearly shown. If they knew the Hors Body Language that accident would not happen because they would listen to their horses and never would go up that hill.


This is a comment by some one about the teaching of Body Language to children:
I do think that some of persianhorse's concepts are more appropriate for adults than children. Arcs instead of straight lines, and circles of security are things that would, I believe, mean very little to, say, a 5 year old. Even an 8 year old would probably struggle (and would some adults, I dare say!). Our concepts must therefore never go beyond a particular child's capabilities and must always remain attainable. Exactly as you would with training your horse. Children also need fun. Without fun, life becomes "boring!". Dry concepts are therefore hard to get across and instead need to be put into an easily understandable context.


Up to my knowledge today's children know things and learn things much better and quicker than us the new generation is amazing I am 47 years of age when I compare myself when I was 10 or 15 to these kids it's amazing how they learn and how much their brain works much better than us when we where their age so they can learn and we must teach them it's us that are behind , it's us that could not catch up with them they are way ahead of us in every way don't you ever forget that.

For Example:
Never walk in a STRAIGHT LINE towards a horse , We should always walk in a CURVE LINE , this gives the horse a chance to observe us completely.
Always be careful.
We must teach them everything .

Dear all Mothers and Fathers:

Always teach your kids the nature of the horse.
The natural environment which the horse lives in and has its own rules the rules of wilderness in that way your kids will learn everything Naturally and Intelligently.
Always tell you children the truth , tell them horses are food for everyone thats why we have to gain their respect and give and take confidence ,tell them our pulses will go through them instantly our behavior and temper will have an immediate effect on horses.
Tell your children that horses see us as predators unless approved otherwise.

Starting relationship , Kid's with Horses.

Listen but with your EYES.

Look and practice looking , YOU HAVE TO PICK EVERY LITTLE MOVEMENT AND INFORMATION FROM THE HORSE AND HIS/HER BODY LANGUAGE, therefor we have to listen to the horse by our eyes.

Always have a CIRCLE of SECURITY for the Horse . What I mean by the circle of security is never touch any part of the Horses body without KNOWING the HORSE and have a DEEP RELATION ,TRUST ON BOTH SIDES , BOND WITH THE HORSE & RIDER AND CONFIDENCE ON YOUR SELF AND YOUR HORSE HAS TO HAVE CONFIDENCE ON YOU (Very Important). More confidence your horse has on you the more confidence horse has about him/her self for SURVIVING IN WILD we have a great responsibility for ourself and the Horse.
Horse always gives us information about how to survive in wilderness the ability which human is not capable of . In OLD time human used much more from now days because in those days the technology was not in todays standards. But still they are (Horses) are much in head of us as personal knowledge , personal Ability and gathering Information.


For Example:

Touch but not without the horse invitation.

Never touch the horse mouth.

When we reach a horse have some space between us .

Never go around a horse when tied from under the tied rope.

When reaching the horse do not look to his/her eyes from the start point of your relationship , Look down into the ground but observe carefully and pick each movement and action , actually you are looking all over his/her body but not straight in eyes (No straight eye contact).

This is only my point of view no one has to do as I say , When I want to teach a child the relation with horses I start as I posted and in future posts.

Actually Monty was only 9 years old I think when he get his first Prize.

When as a mother you take your child with you to your stable therefor your child is with horses whether she/he wants or not so is best to give them the knowledge they need.

I am not talking about riding , jumping , saddling or long lining a horse by a child.


What do you recommend when either a child or a grown up reaches a horse for the first time he/she should go straight up to the horse and touch where ever he/she likes without the invitation of the horse?



What I mean is you never go anywhere which you are not invited , (to a horse).
Boys and Girls touching your horses with an invitation from the horse which is belong to you , how can you tell me if your horses %100 of the one's touched gave the children an invitation , actually you invited them not the horses.

See my Dear Friend we see horses widely differently with each other.
You are talking about a horse that is in your stable with your stable rule.
I look at the horse from my own perspective from my own point of view , I see horses as wild animal which kindly has accepted us in its nature and it has open the door of confidence, trust , and bound with us so it has the right of an individual therefore it has the rights to say I don't want to give a ride today, I don't like to see no one today , I don't want to stay in this black box today.

For the Age I am looking at it first from the horse perspective a human going towards a horse that dose not matter for the horse how old is he/she. This is a human matter and becomes a problem when a mother going to a horse stable the child's that are with her they don't have any age rating they could be at any age. the reason which the horse reacts differently to a child (small objects) is a different matter.

For example I always tell my students to be calm and relax when going to visit a horse or to be with a horse ,to ride or to do anything which got something to do with the horse always be calm.
When you are high tempered never deal with a horse.
When your pulse is high it will have a straight effect on the horse.
Always visit by appointment , never go to a horse without an invitation.
It is our duty to know and realize when we are invited and when we are not invited , even with a domestic horse in your stable because horses like us have different mood in different days.


I have a small class for teaching kids and adults for riding , handling , understanding , bonding , confidence building and establishing trust with horses.

In my class we have %70 of Theoretic and %30 Practical .

1-How could we be NON VIOLENCE towards horses from the first moment.
2-We learn and study the Horse living in its own natural environment.
3-What kind of animal the horse is we have 2 categories 1. The Predators , 2. The Preys .
4-How is the way of life in these 2 categories , especially MENTALLY and PHYSICALLY ?
5-How our temper and mental behavior reflects on horses as fast as a blink of an eye .
6-How do horses communicate with each other in the herd and in their own nature ?
7-How could we communicate with them and how to learn their language ?
8-How could we reach a point to think , act , behave , socialize and in general be a horse in order to understand a horse.
9-We have a horse statue (a horse model) in our classroom.
10-We always teach how to take safety and security in action and how to prevent accidents as much as we can.
11-What we should do in time of danger for example if we are on the horse and another horse gets loss and attacks our horse with a rider on it , what should the rider do as the first action ,then what dose he/she must do as the 2nd action and so on.
12-We teach how to warm up a horse and how to cool down a horse , when is the most crucial moment to unfasten the saddle's girth and how to dry out the horse for stabling.
13-How to feed and give water to a ridden horse (for example we never give water until 2 to 3 hours after unfastening the girth).
14-We take a note of what ever we see and what ever we experience during our 3 months of work and learning , (Taking note is very important for our understanding and our future work).

Each day we take a test from what we have learned the day before.

Each student has a dummy rider which has the name of it's owner.
For 30 days we study all the things I said in above and in these 30 days we never touch a horse in the classroom.
After 30 days we get an examination from the students and at list each student has to get 5 out of 10 points to be proved he/she has the knowledge to get close to horses.

Important Note: There are some students which they don't get the 5 points but I still use them and teach them more and try to use them in different ways in the horse learning and management.
Lets say a student dose not get the 5 points but this student has a lot of patients , I love the kids with PATIENTS and do my best to teach them . These students they don't know it themselves , why I put so much time on them until the end of their session. Horses need people with lots of patients around them .

After the day 30 : We start practically learning from the horse itself.

1-We have learned how to use our eyes instead of our ears to listen to horses now is the time to put it all in practice and observe the actions and translate what ever we see into words in our notebook.

2-We sit for hours and observe the horse and put our thoughts on a note book. One or two experienced horse handlers or riders start doing the things we have teach in the classroom and in the theory sessions , these things that students see from their own eyes its familiar to them they have read it somewhere before.

3-After one month of practicing Intelligent Horsemanship , Observing , touching , doing the horse work like cleaning their boxes , how and when is the best time to give them water , how to feed them , how to clean them and how to prepare their bead for sleeping and how to use the dummy rider.

4-We learn how to examine the saddle , the saddle pad (very important) and everything which belongs to the horse saddling and equipment and how to clean and how to keep them clean.
Now we start our first step into the stirrup.

The last moment and the crucial moment for all of us , (Student dose not know what is our strategy).

If a student is best and done everything perfect but the day he/she wants to go into the saddle he/she is tempered or his/her pulse are too high we stop there and do it the next time (this next time could be in the next hour or in the next day but the first contact with the saddle is very much crucial especially for me as a trainer).

One of the most important exercises which we teach our students from the starting point is to be prepared for all kinds of surprises in the 3 months of training period this means the student must be ready all the time and for all things related to horses and related to what ever he/she has learned in those days , weeks and months.

1st Month is Theory + Practice (The practice and the theory in action from some one else a 2nd person dose all the practice but the student observes from distance ) , Always a instructor is present.

2nd Month is Theory + Practice (Theory in action with horse from the ground but there is no 2nd person like the 1st month but no riding),
Always an instructor is present.

3rd Month is theory + Practice + Riding , (The theory starts in the classroom for one hour , Practice starts in a round pen for One hour, then the last part which is riding for only 10 to 15 minutes ) , Always an instructor is present.

NO hand feeding a horse from no one especially from a child (Kids).


With higher Knowledge and Intelligent of horses we could prevent lots of accidents which are happening in the time which we have no Knowledge or Intelligent what so ever.

To be honest with you guys , I have no child and I am not even married but that dose not mean I am not worried for other peoples children.

The important part is this if any child get a negative experience from a horse in the starting point this is the most negative accident which could happened to me , to the child and the horse itself , therefore we all will be in a bad and unwanted situation.

A child going to school and experience a negative accident in the first day of school what would happen to this child ? would he/she want to go to school anymore for the rest of his/her life ?

When there is less accidents there will be more people going towards learning about horses.
When there is more accidents there will be less people going towards learning about horses.

So as Mr. Roberts says Make the world a better place for horses to live in.

And I say - Make the world an intelligent learning place for humans about horses so people could intelligently live side by side with horses , Happily ever after.


We never say to our kids that we teach horses we always tell them each moment of my life is learning from them .

For training a horse to understand what he/she means and wants at least we have to become half horse . each moment means a lot for the trainer.

Somehow we have to train ourself first , then start the horse.

The Horsewoman(1-Zoe-RA/ 2- Catrin/ 3- Circusdancer/ 4- Eileen/ 5- Casper) of Britain in IHDG (Kelly Marks & Monty Roberts Website) paid and sent me the book : FROM MY HANDS TO YOUR'S written by Mr.Monty Roberts.
Bless you all my dearest friends which I never forget , each time I pickup this book you are in my heart and you always be.

Mr . Roberts says ADRENALINE UP > LEARNING DOWN .
ADRENALINE DOWN > LEARNING UP.


Bless Him and all others which think this way.

PH

HEAD SHAKING AND TOSSING

The first thing to look at when assessing a problem with the Horse is HEALTH.
Head tossing is a very common problem for a lot of Horses and can happen for a variety of reasons and all usually related to pain and when the horse under saddle tosses his/her head we have to worry and look for the reason.

Pain could be coming from anywhere like body,mouth,teeth ,ears,back,foot,legs,from the bridle, saddle for example most people think the bit is for stopping a Horse and if the Horse wont stop they will go to a heavier bit , Horse mouth is just as sensitive as ours is and thats why when we set the Horse FREE there is no more HEAD TOSSING or SHAKING they always want to get away from what ever hearting them.

If we observe carefully we will see some would LEAN on the Reins to gain their balance and proper position not knowing we are LEANING on the SENSITIVE MOUTH.

The only time when a Horse is free and he/she is tossing they are telling us something which is mostly pain related.
Some times you see the Horse is standing and there is no pain but he/she is tossing the head this could be from excess energy , if I give my Horse Grain and do not ride and exercise him/her they would just toss their head up when I work them out or cut off the grain the head tossing will stop.

Most of the rough handlers hit the Horse in the HEAD thats why there are many headshy and ear sensitive.

If we can eliminate pain as a possible cause the behavior is HABITUAL. To modify habitual behavior provide consequence for the unwanted behavior. A great consequence for Horse is movement (work). I suggest trying hind quarter leg yields the moment he/she begins tossing the head. He/She will learn if he/she tosses the head has to pay the consequence and that consequence is to work harder.

A question from one of my friends about the HORSE EARS WONT ALLOW TOUCHING THEM:

Something wrong with the ears Nich you should find out what , this could end up to a very bad situation , dose she bring her head down when shaking the ears or she keeps her head up or she keeps the head normally?
Is there any possibility of some how water going inside the ears?
Can you halter her? would she let you to do so?
When she shakes dose she have halter on if yes take the halter off and see how she reacts.
Where dose she sleep ? is it clean environment?
Dose she try to rub the ears against anywhere?

Can you work on her ears if I tell you how to do it and how to take first steps so she would let you to look inside the ears without any kind of force so if the vet would come she would let you go near her ears and touch them.

Are you saying there is nothing wrong with the ears or not are you sure you must be sure, if not do not do anything until some Doc (Vet) would see and examine your Horse.

The firs way or step:
could you touch the ear and do nothing and step pack in five steps?
The horse will realize that you touched her ears and nothing happened.
Do this for sometime touch the ears and step back so the Horse will realize no harm done to the ear.if this would end up to what you want then its OK.but if not do the 2nd step.

2nd step:
Could you find something that you could cover her eyes completely and Desensitize the ears?
How to Desensitize?
1-Rub very gently each ear until there is no reaction in the ear or the Horse you will feel it your self when the ear is Desensitized but if done less instead of Desensitizing it will be Sensitized so be very careful what you do and how long you do it , do not put your finger inside the ear for the first time.
2-After you are sure that the ears are Desensitized start touching the inside but very very gently (in this case you have to be sure by VET that there is nothing wrong with ears) and Desensitize the inside of the both ears until there is no reaction from the Horse.

Always be careful,
PH.

HORSE GROOMING

Grooming is the most effective and powerful tool for Human (trainer,rider,farrier,vet) to communicate with the Horse , Horse most rational and deep COMMUNICATION begins with GROOMING.

1-Trust building.
2-Making bond.
3-Accepting us (Predator) in their Herds as a Prey Animal .
4-Makes way into the Private and Untouchable parts of the body.
5-Most powerful tool for Communication between Human & Horse.
6-Horses are very sensitive to touch and they Groom one and other.
7-Grooming can be a powerful influence which we can use to gain Control and Trust.
8-There are Horses which in their body language show dislike to Grooming we have to be very careful with this tool and use it properly , when a Horse shows dislike to Grooming its not the Grooming itself which they dislike it could be different reasons for this either our brush is too hard and rough , they have a very thin skin , they have not accepted us in their circle of security and safety zone.
9-The most beautiful picture in our minds could be Horse Grooming Horse therefore Horses naturally Grooms the Groomer (the Horse starts touching and chewing on you be very careful this is very much crucial if we are not ready and just playing with the Horse we might hit or slap the Horse to prevent and stop him/her from chewing us, we should never do that (we never return a favor by hitting or slapping on the face) either we push the Horse head away or we stop Grooming until we find a way to prevent the Horse from chewing us in return.
Working with this powerful tool we have to put our attention into this our %100 attention must be there with the Horse nowhere else.
10-For the Human safety the best and secure place to stand for Grooming is Beside the Forehand.

One of the main goals in Horse Training is to keep the Horses attention to what you do, We know Horses can see (Paying Attention to) one thing at a time (the Horse eye at each side of their head to see any danger approaching to attack and their Instincts tell them to always watch out for those attackers) each eye has its own view completely and totally different to ours. They don't give their body to a Wild Big Cat to Groom they only Groom one and other in the Herd now when a Horse gives his/her body to us for Grooming this is a highly trust in us (as predators) we have to honor that and look after it well because we have reached a high value , we have been accepted as one of theirs , as one of the herd members. One of the very sensitive places in the Horses body is around FLANK area this place is highly sensitive for the Horse the reason for this is because the predators like Wild Dogs, Wild Cats and Wolfs in the time of Hunt the go for the Horse FLANK to grab and Horses are very weak around the flank area. I Groom the Flank area by my bear hand (I don't use a brush) sometimes with a wool cloth. Kelly Marks in her book (Perfect Partners) say weather we want or not while we are around our Horses we are Training them (I don't have the book so it might be some differences in my sentence and hers) so what is the best thing to use while we are around them and spending our time with them to my opinion is Grooming because we can also have their attention too. We can detect a Itchy place very easily while Grooming if we touch a itchy spot the Horse will show us by their body language they signal their pleasure by Screwing up their upper lip or by Arching or Stretching their Neck . The Horse also could say Back Off when the Horse Pins the ears , Swishing the Tail or picking up a Hind for a Kick. We have to make our Hands Sensitive for Grooming to know how much pressure we have to use for Grooming we have to know all Horses are not the same in Grooming some for example have more sensitive skin therefore we have to use less pressure. By this tool (Grooming) you can build a relationship with a Horse so he/she would leave all his/her friends in the herd and come right up to you in other words come to the Grooming Partner. PH.

SPOOK PROOFING YOUR HORSE

Always be NON VIOLENT TOWARDS HORSES.

If you have a Round Pen , Paddock or any place that you could do this it will help you very much,

-Make good Bond,
-Establish Trust,
-With good bond and trust comes Confidence in both Human and Horse.
-Groom your Horse in short sessions and PAUSE (in pause step away from the Horse so the Horse would realize you are not any harm to him/her) .
-Horse communication starts by Grooming with Grooming this powerful tool you can gain the Horses Trust and Control and with each step you are one step closer to Gain your Horse Confidence.

1- Basic Instinct.
2- Fear.
3- unexperienced.
4- Human fault.


If we want more we have to do more but ...

We all have the experience of without warning in our ride the Horse flights,panics, twists,reverses direction and bolts away. Something has obviously scared him/her. It could be a attack,rock,bicycle or a deer jumping in the path ahead of you or something which we didn't see but our Horse did either by eye,ear or the senses which we don't have (this part is very much important so please give it a good amount of time thinking about it).

I have said before and I am saying it now we could try and DESENSITIZE our Horse to these things like bicycle,sound of a dry plastic,a pig (Horses are really afraid of pigs when they see one for the first time) but DESENSITIZING method works only for the SPECIFIC experiences and there are simply too many items in the world to get our Horse used to all and DESENSITIZE them all what must we do riding in the wild from light until night is very helpful , riding as much as we can especially in places which we could give our Horse more experience and desensitize them to unknown objects as much as we could is great but there is something else something greater than the ones I said above , WE HAVE TO TEACH THEM WHAT TO DO WHEN THEY BECOME AFRAID, we must ALTER their natural instinct like flight,spin and bolt reaction to fear so they stop and facing that he/she scared from.
One of the main reasons that we say never carry a whip or never scare your Horse (we say the same for the human children also) is this so they would find the courage to face what they fear from (Mules have this in their blood more than Horses) but we have to be with them and to show them there is nothing to be afraid of because when they gain confidence from their handler then they see many things with the reaction of their handler they feel true our feeling if we are afraid they become afraid if we are nervous the become nervous if our blood pressure is high their blood pressure will rise too thats why we say don't call them PETS call them PARTNERS.

IH training technique based on communication both mental and physical that develops a partnership between the horse and human.

Traditional training normally starts with physical restraint then forces the horse to submit to the handler's commands. The IH trainer looks at the horse/human relationship from the horse's point of view and then works with the natural language of the horse.

Horses communicate primarily through gestures and positioning of their bodies only followed with physical contact in extreme cases or mutually friendly grooming. Horses are also natural followers and need a leader who knows where they want to go why I say Horses need a good IH leader because for example when a young and unexperienced Horse reaches an obstacle he/she either wants to step back , go round or do something else other than what you want him/her to do.

Every horse no matter what his training level, breed, age or past experience, will benefit from all the experience. Every horse lover, from a beginner to a professional trainer will develop a better relationship with their horse if the IH techniques are properly applied.

We could try and desensitize our Horses to many objects like Deer, Bicycle, Chair, Car, etc but there are simply too many items in the world to get our Horse used to all of them and we can't ask our Horse simply not to be afraid. So what do we have to do?

- We Must Teach Them What To Do When They Become AFRAID.

- We must ALTER their natural SPIN and BOLT reaction to fear to one of stopping their feet and facing that which scared them.

Start with your Horse in his/her halter in a 30 foot rope attached to the halter.

Stand 10 to 15 feet in front of your Horse while facing him/her and holding the other end of the rope in your hand.

Start making the Cow noise but not so loud and vigor just enough to have him/her hear you making the noise.

If he/she stands still go up and pet him/her.

Now go back to your original standing point and try again with just a bit louder noise if your Horse dose not move go up and pet him/her and repeat this and each time put more energy to your noise and do the petting.

After the Cow noise add the noise Poof (like the air coming out of a balloon) then mix these noises together with great energy while making these noises move your hands up and down like the bird wings flying up and down mixed with the noises and each time that the Horse dose not move pet him/her.

Shake a noisy plastic bag at him/her if he/she dose not move drop the scaring object at the point where you are standing then go to him/her and pet NEVER take the scaring object with you while going towards the Horse for petting NEVER.

Your Horse is learning that if he simply stops his feet and looks at what is scaring him/her the scaring will stop.

If the Horse try at any point during the lesson to run off go with him/her while you continue scaring him/her with whatever your using (Never get behind the Horse because they think the scaring object is chasing them). Try to stay in front of the Horse withers not directly in his/her path where he/she can see you use the rope and gently tug at it to encourage him/her to look at you and stop his/her feet when he/she stops you should immediately quit scaring him/her drop the scaring object and go to him/her and pet.

This is not a DESENSITIZING lesson at all .
We are not trying to get the Horse to use to the sound of these object the only thing we are trying to do is to teach him/her how to handle his/her fear.

The SPOOK PROOFING teaches him/her to stop his/her feet and LOOK at what is SCARING him/her that is the reason we we don't APPROACH the Horse with the SCARY OBJECTS we DROP it and WALK UP to pet them without anything in our hands from the point which we drop the scary object up to pet him or her we try to show them we have nothing in our hands and this is very important for what we want to achieve.

We have to do this lesson every day with different objects for example a TRACTOR WITH A HORNE is a good tool for scary object but we have to come off of the tractor and go up to the Horse and pet.

I have trained many Horses for HUNTING the Horses which I have trained for hunting they become very good in spook proofing , first the smell of the gun and the gun powder is very important then gun touching the Horses body , the sound of bullet going from the chamber to barrel , holding the gun while on the Horse , shooting from the Horse coming into contact with the Hunt and all of that .

I do not train Horses for that purpose any more because killing any kind of animal even a fly it's not me any more and I hate it but we are trying to teach the Horse for SPOOK PROOFING and teaching them how to leave their fears behind we are not talking about killing animals.

I have taught many Horses how to attack Wild Dogs and Hyena or Wild Boar (Wild Hog) I hope I have write the name correctly but wild boar is very dangerous for Horses I have seen a male one hitting and opening a mare stomach from one end to the other because they live in very dangerous places.

I am saying these to tell you Horses which grow up naturally in that sort of places they normally have no fear but the Horse living around us they have never see these thing or heard any strange noises thats why we have to take their fear away from them and I am not saying its an easy job but nothing is easy in life especially dealing with a living creature and we have to do it we have to it is our duty or otherwise we should not keep them this is what I believe in .

I hope this would solve your problem and in the end you will have a quiet well behaved Horse especially a Horse which has no fear a Horse which has patient .

If you do these exactly the way I described you will know the result right away as you go toward the end you will see the result if you get the positive result then I will go to the next session.

Don't forget the PATIENT this is all you need.
Make your sessions SHORT and between each session give it a good PAUSE.
PAUSE between SHORT SESSIONS very crucial.

Always be careful,
I wish you the best,
PH.