# How to desensitize horse to things coming up from behind?



## Dustbunny (Oct 22, 2012)

Here's what I would do...Start in the pasture on the ground and round up a friend or two on foot, maybe with a backpack, a bicycle, walking stick, even carring an umbrella. Let her follow them so she knows what it is and then have them follow her. Start over if she gets frightened. After she gets to where she accepts that, mount and repeat. If you can do this on a trail after pasture practice it would be helpful also. She needs to not feel like prey from something coming up from behind.
Good luck to you.


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## Thunderspark (Oct 17, 2012)

Dustbunny said:


> Here's what I would do...Start in the pasture on the ground and round up a friend or two on foot, maybe with a backpack, a bicycle, walking stick, even carring an umbrella. Let her follow them so she knows what it is and then have them follow her. Start over if she gets frightened. After she gets to where she accepts that, mount and repeat. If you can do this on a trail after pasture practice it would be helpful also. She needs to not feel like prey from something coming up from behind.
> Good luck to you.


I agree with Dustbunny....also if you hear a quad or something coming up from behind turn the horse to face it where they can see what is coming....I did that with my mare for awhile and now she's pretty good at not freaking if something comes from behind....


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## Palomine (Oct 30, 2010)

The problem with dragging things behind her is that it may be making this worse.

Wet saddle blankets do as much to get a horse over this as anything. It may also be that she is always going to be more reactive too. Might be changed with feed changes?

But I would stop the dragging deal, if I were you.


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## Thunderspark (Oct 17, 2012)

I have dragged logs/tires behind my mare, I don't think that is going to make her worse.....


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

my neighbor's mare was like that. she finally sent her to a trainer, who worked the snot out of her. She is fine now. So, maybe the "wet saddle blanket" theory has some merit. a lot of mares are like this. I think they are naturally more focussed on protecting their hind area.


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## justicehorse (Oct 17, 2012)

I agree with Thunder. Practicing turning horse to face whatever is worrying him from behind really helps and puts you in a much safer position to respond if your horse does react.


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## themacpack (Jul 16, 2009)

When you realize something is coming up behind you (ie you hear a jogger, etc) are you anticipating her spook?


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

by the way, I didnt' mean my post to sound flippant. I actually have no idea how you would cure that issue. I only mention the one person I know whose mare was really a problem and that's how they dealt with it.


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## dally2012 (Sep 21, 2012)

Thanks for all the replies! I'll try what the first poster said as well as turning her to face the objects!! I don't think dragging is making things any worse because she is perfectly calm dragging. Being a ranch horse, she has to be able to be handy like that!


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

If you hear a scary thing coming up behind you, you can turn her to face it. It helps my horse to have a chance to get a look at the monster. The more you ride, the more your horse will get used to new things.


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## LesandLily (Oct 8, 2012)

I had a MFT that had a HUGE problem with things coming up behind him. You couldn't pony other horses off of him, drag logs or allow bicycles etc. (especially bicycles) to get behind him. We got him over it by finding the longest distance that he would allow something to be behind him before he would spook...just mildly. We then (using my son and his bicycle) brought the bike about three feet closer than that mark, allowing him to see him there. We then began walking him in hand, keeping the bike the same distance away, as soon as he gave a sign of relaxing (deep breath, licking lips etc.) we stopped the bike and allowed him to walk away from it.

We would then bring the bike back in, three feet closer this time and did the same thing over again. Once he was good enough that he could follow him with the bike just a few feet behind him we did the same thing mounted. Mounted it went really quick since we had already done it on the ground. Once comfortable there, we then parked the horse in the front yard with me on him and had my son ride his bike from behind the house into the yard (about 50 feet away from him) and started to ride circles around the horse. The first time was a rodeo and it scared him to see it (the bike) come from nowhere and I learned 2 valuable lessons. First, I should have done it in hand and secondly I was creating some of the spook as I was tenseing and grabbing the saddle horn just a bit to be ready before my son brought the bike out. I found this out by...my wife walked out to tell me about a phone call she had and my son not knowing this came barrelling around the side of the house (too close to the horse...he didn't mean to) and all Pepper (the horse) did was jerk his head up and snort. No jumping or spinning, nothing. I had been totally relaxed talking to my wife and wasn't ready for the bike to come.

So, sometimes I think we may "spook" before the horse does, causing them to spook. Sometime it doesn't feel like it and what we may feel is "prepared" or "ready" to the horse could feel like tension and the precursor to "run for your life". The biggest secret I have found is to find a starting place (thanks Clinton Anderson) and then push just past it allowing the horse to become relaxed or shows signs of relaxation and then take the stimulus away. Bring it in again (maybe a little closer or stronger) and repeat. Over time you can overcome nearly every obstacle if you are patient enough, have good timing and find a starting place. One of the best descriptions I have heard of how to solve horse training problems is to (I am paraphrasing) "put the horse in a bind (mentally or physically) and allow them to search for the right answer. Once they answer the question correctly, it is our responsibility to tell them (release the pressure / take away the stimulus) so they know they answered correctly." 

If you are able to time this effectively, it is amazing how fast you can get a horse over a problem. If you release slowly or don't recognize the horse trying to find the answer, the problem can go on for a long time, never get fixed or even get worse. Timing is everything and I really believe it is the secret to the whole training process. You can teach proceses but you can't teach timing and feel and being able to recognize when the horse is answering the question correctly. To me that is the fun of horse training. Good luck with your issue and have fun getting her through it.

Cheers!
Les


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

I had an arab that blew up one day when a motorcycle came by, So into the arena we went, I had a friend get on his atv and me on the horse and we chased the ATV around the arena. The horse was a lot less spooked of it chasing the ATV vs the ATV chasing the horse.

After a while, the atv got behind the horse and we worked on that position for a few laps. Then we started criss crossing each other. ATV doing laps around the arena and the horses cutting thru the middle to catch the faster moving atv.

After about an hour of playing chase. The horse could care less about ATV's. I give him a refresher when ever I drag the corral with the harrow. But it's no longer a problem.


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