# Re training the reactive horse



## WhattaTroublemaker (Aug 13, 2013)

What are some of your methods to teach a horse that is extremely reactive (bolting blind- in hand or under saddle) to use the thinking side of his brain? We're working on respecting a leader, as he's been on his own for 12 years with no idea what a leader is. Examples of his reactivity: hearing someone kiss from 20 feet away on a lead, flying into a blind panic and nearly flipping himself over. Becoming so nervous about a pot hole he starts to sweat. Seeing a bag stuck in a tree and running over three people to escape. Hearing a dog bark at the neighbours while on pasture and running half a mile to the opposite side of the pen before looking. 

I need some new ideas to help him become a good citizen. He's very soft, and will try very hard but the reactive side of his brain just takes over. We've done so far: lunging with voice cues instead of cantering wide open like he was taught, desensitizing to bags and cans, long in hand walks to relax, and when he spooks on this walks ignoring the spooky object until he's over it. I will not ride this horse yet, as he's way too reactive on the ground to handle in the saddle. Ground work only for now, and he's learned that when he spooks he can NOT run over people like he used to, so we are getting somewhere.


----------



## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

If you are sure he can see and hear within normal limits, and he had not gotten any loco weed (not being funny), what about line driving if you want more ground work?

What was he like before his 12 years of foofing around on his own? Was he ever a well-mannered horse?


----------



## WhattaTroublemaker (Aug 13, 2013)

boots said:


> If you are sure he can see and hear within normal limits, and he had not gotten any loco weed (not being funny), what about line driving if you want more ground work?
> 
> What was he like before his 12 years of foofing around on his own? Was he ever a well-mannered horse?


I'll give you a run down on all his info: 
He was born in a pasture and unhandled until four. His only herd mate was his mother who was evetually separated completely (out of sight sound and smell) due to him being a stud. He wasn't put in a barn until he was five. We bought him with the promise that he'd have thirty days saddle training. 

Well. When he showed up at our house this is what had happened: he was put on a lunge line, lunged full throttle until he was almost too tired to stand for nearly thirty days. The day before he was ridden the 10 mile trail to our house, he was saddled up with a layer of mud and no pad, and ridden hard to our barn. When he got to our barn he had horrible oozing saddle and girth galls that had to be treated. He was very head shy and he kicked out of fear. After a lot of work in the barn he doesn't kick and learned to be respectful on the lead. He was worked into a very soft horse, but highly reactive. His rider had a bad accident on a different horse and he became a pasture puff for around 9 years. 


His reactivity got worse as time went on, and he never trusted the herd "leader" often running and spooking by himself while everyone grazed and paid him no attention. 

He is still nervous in a barn and is now on 24/7 pasture. I'm re starting him but I found out a few things about him: he is TERRIFIED of crops, he's very soft with his face, he will not step on you even if you tried to make him, he respects a quiet rider with a quiet soul. He gets nervous in crowds, is very distracted, but is a truly wonderful soul while working not distracted. His biggest problem is reacting with his flight brain. 

His eyes are 100% as well as his hearing.


----------



## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

I have a horse who was like that. I started her at 12, she hadn't been handled much before that, was just barely halter broke. I tried lots of bomb proofing exercises and gave her many experiences. She stopped panicking so severely after about a year under saddle. Before that she would buck or bolt when frightened. I didn't find that it had anything to do with respecting a leader, it was just that she was terrified of new experiences and had to learn that sudden noises and frights wouldn't kill her. She was submissive to people and horses and would panic even if the other horses didn't, or if the handler was calm, like your horse. 
After several years under saddle she was still extremely spooky, so just needed a good rider who could stay on most of the time. At that point I was able to get her out on extensive trail rides and endurance rides, and those were the best for helping her become less spooky. She is 25 now and still needs an experienced rider for the occasional spook but it's not severe like it used to be (haven't come off her in awhile).


----------



## WhattaTroublemaker (Aug 13, 2013)

My initial thought about his "leadership skills" came from behaviour. Ex. Our "lead" mare is looked upon when there's something scary near the herd. If she doesn't react, they don't. Then there's Roman off running wild and looking to no one. Trouble as well, he looks to me when we encounter something spooky to see if I'm reacting. He sounds about the same as your horse! The only difference is that he's a bully in the pasture, very dominant. He had a bout of food aggression for a little as well but we handled that. I've been working on yielding to pressure exercises as he's very bad for exploding when pressure is applied. 

For example: with trouble, I can pull his head to the ground and touch his nose to his foot with no pressure at all, Roman on the other hand, pulls back and throws his head when the slightest downward pressure is applied to his nose. But what's strange is he's very light from side to side, backing up, leading or yielding his quarters. It's "hot spots" as I call them that need work. His feet are another example. 

I'll keep working with him on the ground, just taking him as many places as I can. He's going to be a re sell as I'm not personally committed to riding such a strong spooky horse, I'm more of a plod along the trail kind of lass. Although on the ground I'm a lot more willing to deal with space invaders and tricky horses. I love dealing with it on the ground actually :lol: just not in the saddle.


----------



## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

Maybe if your horse has a dominant personality, he trusts his own take on things but he doesn't have enough experience to believe things are safe. It sort of turns out the same in the end...either the horse only trusts his own judgment and needs more experience to teach himself what is safe, or the horse is submissive and yet too fearful to base responses on cues from others. Either way, learning that the world is "safe" is helpful. 

He sounds claustrophobic, with a fast, explosive response to feeling trapped. That's something you can build on with ground work.

Yes, if you're not wanting to come off I'd suggest finding him a home with an experienced rider. I've been surprised at how possible it is find a great home for a horse if you're really honest about the challenges and good points. We once sold a seriously aggressive and dominant mare to a home that had been used to having a stallion as their only horse. She was beautiful, they were experienced handlers and it was a good match with full disclosure.

I'd think about what really positive qualities the horse has - for instance, if he had really great conformation and feet, plus was an easy keeper but had lots of energy I'd take a super spooky reactive horse as an experienced rider. To me, it's better for a prospect to have a great body and feet and an iffy mind, because we can mold the mind a bit but there's no getting around a body that won't hold up to hard riding. 

If you put all that out there honestly in an ad, I'd take that as a good sign you were being straightforward and it would make me more likely to buy the horse. The type of person who would be a good fit for this horse will be a very experienced horse person, and it would be difficult to hide the issues from them anyway when they came to look at the horse.


----------



## WhattaTroublemaker (Aug 13, 2013)

Wonderful to hear! He's a bit sickle hocked but he's a beast, a draft Arab cross with huge flashy movements and great frame. I'll work his mind on the ground to become at least a decent citizen before I sell him. Thank you so much!


----------



## Reiningcatsanddogs (Oct 9, 2014)

I have one horse like this. Scared of his own shadow, and everybody elses. Used to be the bully type leader of our little gelding herd, but gave up his “leadership” the second a real leader showed up without a fight. I don’t think he wanted the job in the first place. His being a bully was a sign of his insecurity in himself. 

He is highly obedient, though even then, he over reacts. For instance, if I wiggle my fingers at him to back out of my space, he moves out like I hit him with a cattle prod. Even in obedience he has a fear reaction rather than a thinking one. I affectionately call him my head case horse because he is so hyper reactive.

This is my theory. There are four things that a horse can trust; himself, other horses, his handler/people and his environment. 

Usually you can find one of those things the horse already trusts and then build trust in the other areas out of that. If, like in your horse’s case, there seems to be nothing the animal trusts, then you begin with the thing you can most easily control; you. 

Get him to trust you, then use that to teach him to trust the environment (which you have been), then himself (lots of well timed, positive reinforcement letting him know he made the right decision) and as his self-confidence grows, you may find that he begins to trust other horses.

The problem here is that he will be a resale, once you are no longer a part of his life and everything (people, environment and horses) is new again, unless he has truly developed trust in himself (confidence), he may revert back. 

That is the real challenge of training a hyper reactive horse, getting them to believe in themselves, that they can handle all of the scary new things they will encounter throughout their lives. I think it is the most difficult thing to do with a horse.


----------



## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

He, he has some baggage from his past, but you have to work with the horse you now have
Personally, at his age, to me it would not be worth the effort to make him a re -sale horse, and horses like this , seldom become the type that won't revert, when 'push comes to shove', so I would not feel comfortable re selling such a horse. Okay, if you wish to invest the time, make him your horse, knowing how he might react, and quite another, trying to 'flip' such ahorse, unless you wish to join the ranks of horse traders, that do this.JMO.
A horse that blows, in any direction, when pressure is applied, truly have very basic holes in training.
If you watch the videos that SorrelHorse posted, the idea of what a truly soft horse is, might become clearer.
I don't much buy into the right brain/left brain thing, which has been pretty much disproven. 
Horses are hard wired to be reactive, because if they stopped to 'think' about whether something was a threat or not, they often became 'dinner' However, with correct training we gain respect, which must come first, and with respect comes trust. Those elements in turn, will allow ahorse to over ride his natural instincts, or at least dampen them, when they get clear, consistent and strong leadership from us
Good horse traders, can buy such a horse, and put a relatively quick fix on the horse, then re -sell that horse at a profit. The horse will appear to work great for that trainer, but often the unsuspecting buyer, sooner or later gets hurt


----------



## Palomine (Oct 30, 2010)

Could be other things wrong with him, pulling blood and testing for imbalances might help, thyroid being too high can make one like this. Could also have something wrong with vision. Could be in some sort of pain somewhere too, that makes him more likely to come unglued.

The locoweed comment is worth considering, do you have any locoweed up there, or a plant that reacts similar to it, that this horse might have gotten into at some point? Has there been a lot of drought/rain or??? Some plants do not become toxic until a certain weather condition is met.

Lots to think about. And don't know how old you are, or your health insurance status, or your obligations, but this horse would be one that would go down the road, it is not worth getting hurt by one like this. This is the type of horse that might even run you literally into a tree along with himself, or even over a cliff or dash into road.

Too many good horses to risk it.


----------



## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

No loco weed in Canada!
Of course, if one truly considers this horse over reactive, inspite of very firm professional handling, the blood values, Magnesium deficiency, ect, can be considered
This horse, seems to be one that has not had that firm, clear, but fair handling, thus learned to be the way he is, and that is often not easy to fix, or can be fixed, for a good horseman, but falls apart again, if the person then handling/riding the horse, does not keep the respect of that horse, like the trainer


----------

