# Desensitizing - How do you do it?



## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

This is how I believe in doing it:


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

IMO the first option (CA type forcing a horse to accept scary stuff) can really traumatize some horses and have seen many times this backfire on the "trainer" when the horse does a fast spin/rear/bolt and breaks loose from the human. 


The second method IMO is much preferred because the horse feels free to react as they deem appropriate for the situation. They teach themselves what is really threatening. 


But to bump it up a bit, and have the horses eagerly look forward to what once was scary, one can look to Pavlov's Dogs for guidance. 


If for instance, one rode a motorcycle along the pasture, stopped halfway along and tossed some really good hay over the fence, then continued on without ever once even looking at the horses; the horses would quickly learn that the motorcycle was A Good Thing and eagerly great it at the stopping point. 


Self taught behaviors, IMO are the most effective, and last much longer.


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## Knave (Dec 16, 2015)

I think either is effective, and I use both to my advantage. I read an article, I think from Bobby Kerr, although I’m not certain, where he said he ties tarps in the corral. This in turn limits the necessary desensitization. 

So, I went and took a tarp from the dumpster and cut it down into two sections (throwing the rest away), and tied one next to the feed bunk and another over by the milk cow’s corral. The tarp makes a lot of noise and movement when the wind blows.

The horses quickly got over their fear of the tarp. Zeus, who never was scared, climbed under the tarp as I tied it on to scare the others. Lol. Now they play with it. I also tied up a milk jug with rocks in it, and Zeus (of course) goes and shakes it regularly, but the other horses no longer mind that either.

I believe it helped them out without any work on my part. They could run from it, and pretty soon it was no biggie. The tractors driving by desensitize them to equipment, and I have the girls fly their kites right next to the pen. Anything helps... however, I still have to desensitize in the first method for things like ropes because my horses are expected to handle being roped off of.


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## 4horses (Nov 26, 2012)

My Paso reacted very poorly with any type of desensitization. My other horses all respond well to Clinton Anderson but they probably aren't truly scared. The paso was abused. The others all have trust in people and view desensitization as more of a game. Harmony thought plastic bags and pool noodles were the coolest toys ever. "Oh you brought me toys!"

I completely skipped desensitization with my Paso. Any attempt to show him objects only traumatized him further. The problem with him is objects are only scary if you are holding them. If it's on the ground, it is ignored. I will probably offer treats while holding the scary object. 

I think simply walking past the paso and ignoring him, is the best way to introduce scary objects to him. His problem is he panics first, thinks later. Once he panics, he no longer thinks and you can't train him because he isn't thinking. He won't retain anything.


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

4horses said:


> My Paso reacted very poorly with any type of desensitization. My other horses all respond well to Clinton Anderson but they probably aren't truly scared. The paso was abused. The others all have trust in people and view desensitization as more of a game. Harmony thought plastic bags and pool noodles were the coolest toys ever. "Oh you brought me toys!"
> 
> I completely skipped desensitization with my Paso. Any attempt to show him objects only traumatized him further. The problem with him is objects are only scary if you are holding them. If it's on the ground, it is ignored. I will probably offer treats while holding the scary object.
> 
> I think simply walking past the paso and ignoring him, is the best way to introduce scary objects to him. His problem is he panics first, thinks later. Once he panics, he no longer thinks and you can't train him because he isn't thinking. He won't retain anything.


Desensitization is the act of changing a response to rational or irrational fears. 

If the horse(s) are not fearful of the objects, then they couldn't have been desensitized unless the objects first were turned into objects of fear. 

A horse in a state of panic can't learn. Extremely fearful horses need to be gently taught how to respond IMO


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

I never set about desensitising a horse by waving a plastic bag at them. I just get on and do things without a care in the world! 

Horses will spook at an empty feed bag laying on the ground but leave them with that bag and they will destroy it in seconds. 

I never sheltered my horses from anything, when the youngsters were in the loose shed and big tractors were delivering the hay or removing the muck heap, they might move away to start and then stand with their noses practically touching the monster. 

The ATV was meals on wheels, children on bicycles, skateboards and mini ATV were an entertainment to them. 

I would stand horses I was clipping in the aisle and the youngsters would come to sniff and watch over the barrier between them. Any of them that stood there had the clippers lifted to their faces, they rarely moved. They also watched the farrier working showing the working horses and when their turn came, never gave a hoot about it. 

We even had a helicopter land in the field and the horses in the adjoining field immediately rushed to the fence to look see. 

I was never 'nice' when it came to them learning to accept things, if they spooked and moved away, I continued. The dogs helped by always running around them. Me, kicking a ball in the loose shed, was accepted as the norm. 

When something new occurred they would blame me for it, often look at each other as if the say "What the heck is she up to now?"

It worked for me.

Often when a horse has the chance and something happens they will use that something as an excuse to have a charge around, not really being frightened of it, just having fun.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

These two are totally nuts - the things they get up to yet I would bet they never desensitised a horse in their lives!


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

mmshiro said:


> The first scenario is classic Clinton Anderson: You grab the horse by the lead rope, and you start to put on some pressure - say you wiggle a stick with a flag or plastic bag. As the horse moves away, you follow, neither increasing nor decreasing the pressure. As the horse understands it's not dangerous, it'll stop and chill, at which point you release the pressure.


_
IF_ you introduce the 'scary' stimulus at a level that is NOT seriously frightening to the horse (ie _not _'classic CA style'), then I don't have a problem with that method. The trouble with 'flooding'(behavioural term I reckon you're familiar with) when you 'overface' the horse - just do whatever until the horse quits reacting is that it may well *appear to* 'chill' NOT because it understands anything, but because it is 'shell shocked', given up, 'broken'. I've heard CA say 'the more you frighten him, the quieter he will get'. But it's not the kind of 'quiet' I want. It also causes mistrust/fear of the handler, with a 'learned helplessness' that can also cause horses who are generally quiet but 'suddenly, without warning, out of the blue' explode with over the top reactions to little things.



> Last Wednesday, they were standing in the close half of the pasture as I passed, and only one of them looked at me as I passed - the others kept on enjoying their grass. None moved.


The horses got to 'high tail' away & then get used to your bike from a distance that didn't blow their minds, so they could *think* about it & get over it.


> > Would this indicate that carefully timed release isn't super critical when desensitizing,
> 
> 
> Hmm, haven't actually thought of it in that regard. But... Yes, I think it's more about them getting used to things coming & going without consequence. So... rather than 'negatively reinforce' them for doing 'something'(standing still), where you do indeed have to be good with timing for it to be understood, my tactic for desensitising is just 'coming & going' repeatedly, regardless(often ignoring the horse) how they behave, at a low enough level to not freak them out & provoke big reactions.


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

That 'woller blading' vid... I used to ride my horse while my 'woller blading' mate hung onto my horse's tail when we went up hills. I don't recall ever desensitising... was my first horse & I wasn't cluey about training. Just assumed he'd be ok with it. 

And when I first got him, a guy I knew who was short, big beer belly & old(well, he was in his 40's when I thought that was way over the hill...) could vault onto his horse over the horse's rump! I thought if he could do that, I definitely needed to be able to! So I did. Took a lot of practice to not end up just... faceplanting my horse's rump, if I recall! And probably just lucky I didn't get kicked in the guts, but my horse put up with me without desensitisation. He also coped with my kelpie jumping on his back for a ride when we were older... and all manner of other stuff. He was a bit special too, that horse.


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## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

loosie said:


> _
> IF_ you introduce the 'scary' stimulus at a level that is NOT seriously frightening to the horse (ie _not _'classic CA style'), then I don't have a problem with that method.


I don't think CA is advocating "flooding" - especially when you watch his videos on desensitizing. (My reference is "Training a Rescue Horse".) He also says that you want to provoke a "response" from the horse, rather than a "reaction". To him, it is important that the horse still think about what is going on rather than go into fight-or-flight, which he knows does not allow for learning to take place. I am mostly thinking about his "desensitizing to training aids", where he rubs his stick all over the horse or drapes the rope all over the horse. The horse gets nervous about it for a while, but never freaks out.

I do know that he says, "Heart attacks are free, so give your horse one!", and I do agree that this is irresponsible because most people don't look at the nuances of how he implements those slogans.


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## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

I agree with what everyone has said, however, horses can be SO unique. I had a big appaloosa mare that I did theatrical jousting on. She just hated an object that we rode at called a quintain. The quintain consists of a dummy knight in armor on one side and a heavy bag of sand on the other side. When the rider strikes the dummy knight directly on the shield, the dummy swings around and the bag of sand will have a go at the rider . . . unless the rider is fast, accurate, and gallops away.

Although my mare did everything in the joust shows that she was supposed to do, she hated and despised that quintain. I kept it in her stall so she would get used to it. Although she was happy to go in her stall and eat her food, she never ever EVER got used to the quintain. I think I jousted with her for about 6 years. Hated the quintain with a passion no matter how many practices, no matter how long it lived in her stall, no matter how we desensitized her. We took off the bag of sand and had her joust at a ring on the knight's shield. She didn't care. She said, "I don't like doing that stunt, Mom. I'll do everything else, but not THAT creepy man."
@bsms, thank you for posting my all time favorite story about the bullock cart. I love that story and wish everyone who rides would read it and heed it.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

Something I believe, although I cannot prove: While horses may spook at something they see, they also rely strongly on hearing and smell. Bandit to this day will stroll past a dozen garbage cans, then become very concerned over #13 - or #33. There are garbage days where he doesn't care (much) about any of them, but then a day will come where ONE is a problem. MY explanation is that the scary one smells different to him. Maybe some rotting meat inside? 

I can't smell it and Bandit now KNOWS I cannot smell it. He has also become aware that he hears things long before I hear them. People say the horse should just trust the rider, but what do you do when the horse KNOWS the rider can't smell or hear well enough to assess the threat? I'm pretty sure Bandit views me as a badly handicapped rider incapable of early detection of possible threats. OTOH, once I view and think about a threat, he knows I'm pretty good - based on a long track record - of deciding how much a threat that thing is and how to handle it.

Jet fighters have a RWR - Radar Warning Receiver. A simplified display (pulled off the Internet) would look like this:








That would tell you the plane is heading toward an SA-2, 3, and 6, with the SA-2 (surface-to-air missile 2) being the primary danger at the moment. I think Bandit has assumed the role of an equine RWR. When he hears or smells something of concern, he gives indications of increasing discomfort about something. Like an RWR, he tries to give azimuth and approximate range (where he looks and degree of discomfort). If I can spot it, look at it and decide how to proceed, he usually (not 100%!) accepts my judgment. But since he knows this particular monkey on his back isn't good at detecting threats, he may become pretty agitated over...something...at the 2 o'clock position (for those old enough to remember analog clocks). And if I cannot detect and properly assess "the threat" before it enters the "lethal range", then Bandit may choose to take evasive action.

From his perspective, trail rides are where he leads his herd through bad guy territory with assistance from the staff officer he carries on his back. Only HIS staff officer has a broken threat detection system, so Bandit needs to feed his staff officer information.

I don't know if any other horses are like that. Bandit is a bit of a character. My description seems a good fit for how he behaves on a trail ride. And I have no idea how one would "desensitize" him apart from just riding him, listening to him and making good decisions. My whacking him with a carrot stick or pool noodle in a corral would be SOOOOOOO unhelpful! It would just mean his staff officer was BOTH handicapped AND psychotic!


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## Filou (Jan 16, 2014)

I'm going to go with this,

It depends on the learning style of the horse. 

I have one who hasn't a care in the world. Another who is deathly afraid of the tarp, unless it's in his stall, then it's food. The ATV is parked next to him, for 10 months now, and he still gets extremely nervous and panicked when they start it up and drive it out, every day... He can go outside away from it if he wants, but he is still afraid. He was originally trained CA. With this guy, neither works. 

What I try now I'll bring my scary stuff in, he runs away, and I wait until he gets brave enough to check it out on his own. Lot less running around for me, more running away for him than CA allows for. Takes a long time.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

I like this description bsms. _Very much like this description._
Working with your equestrian partner, each with strength and weakness combining to make a strong relationship of togetherness.
You listen, you talk...you communicate with and to each other...
Isn't this in the end what you want...a partnership!

I also fully agree with knightrider...
Sometimes no matter what you do, no matter how long you do it the horse will not accept certain things...just will not.
At that point, you the rider must take a different tactic and stop continually desensitizing exposure cause it isn't working.
Now the onus is on you, the human, to figure out another way as knightrider did...
We have a much greater brain power when harnessed and used optimally than our horses....

Filou...this...
_"I have one who hasn't a care in the world. Another who is deathly afraid of the tarp, unless it's in his stall, then it's food. The ATV is parked next to him, for 10 months now, and he still gets extremely nervous and panicked when they start it up and drive it out, every day..."_
Again, it is environmental outside influence to me.
Tarp outside looks different than inside in his stall...the stall is the horses dominant place of home.
The ATV once is makes noise or moves is far different a thing than the object that not move, breathe or make noise...
Run that thing, ride it and move it for hours a day all over the place in his sight...he will get who-cares about it too...
However, take that same thing to a new location and you will again have the same reaction.
Location, location, location has much to do with reaction, reaction, reaction.

"Desensitizing" to me is a each horse time and place individual thing.
Riders reaction to, horses perception of...makes it a issue or not.
The horse has a brain and uses it...that keeps us on our toes!!
Mine will not often spook at anything...that one time caught off guard in a different anything and yup, we have a dance and stupid come to be...:icon_rolleyes:
They're horses...they have a brain and think, period. :|
:runninghorse2:...
_jmo..._


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Except as a tool to build trust I really don't agree with desensitizing (CA) per se. If you can't read a horse well enough to tell the difference between flooding and shutting down and accepting and trusting then you don't need to be doing that. IMO it is all about trust first and the individual's getting over his dislikes (no fear) and being a partner - doing what you ask and trusting he'll be safe. That builds with everything you do and expose them to overtime. With drafts that work the streets you pony them and they figure it out as if they don't trust you they do trust mom or their buddy. The learning (desensitizing) is is directly passed from horse to horse. Same applies with other others. If they are with horses (or you) they trust they get over things much quicker. 



Just an interesting note. There were auto waterers put out in all the fields this spring. The horses that had been exposed prior (in their stalls in the barn) and knew what they were and the sounds they made had no problems. Those that had never seen them wouldn't drink until they came in for their meal where the one non auto was located and they'd drain it. Adding salt to the feed and not filling the non auto tank made most desperate enough to figure out that was the source and they had to use it. One of the horses would go up to the tank in his pasture and lick and chew as if submitting, then dip his nose and dance back, still licking and chewing. His buddy would shoulder him as far away from it as he could. This horse just flat out refused to have anything to do with it and wsn't going to let buddy get eaten by the thing either. There was enough dew on and in the grass that it took about three days for him to get over it. Now, no biggie for any of them.


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

Filou said:


> I'm going to go with this,
> 
> It depends on the learning style of the horse.
> 
> ...


The training this horse had CA style, may have turned him into a horse that reacts at every single thing, especially if humans are around the item. 

It could be that things are only scary if a human is holding them, because that was how he interpreted the CA style training. "Humans want to scare you" may be the "training" he received. 

You will have to change his thinking in relation to humans to have any long lasting results IMO.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

I have a mare that chases the 4 wheeler when delivering hay to them and then as soon as they are eating and I take off in it, it is suddenly something to spook at again.
:runpony:


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

In most cases my method is to get the grandkids, their puppy, some toys, crank up the music, yell at the grandkids to not climb into the rafters (again, and loud enough so they can hear me), tell the horses corny jokes, feed the grandkids (again), take a horse or two with the grandkids and their puppy to check it change gates, call to the grandkids to stay out of the creek (again), wash barn windows or a piece of equipment while holding a horse with the pressure washer, tell the grandkids not to keep turning it off (again). 

By the time horses that I work with get to a ranch work or the polo field, it's nothing.


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## Knave (Dec 16, 2015)

@boots kids are the best for it right?! I have the funniest video of my littlest desensitizing her colt in the most random ways and he’s just goofing off along with her. She’s jumping off panels and crashing into things. Lol

I think there is a noticeable difference of horses raised where kids are to those in grown up households. Things my horses wouldn’t bat an eye might run my parents’ through a fence. They just get used to the ruckus I guess. 

I have geese and chickens to add extra help too. The dang dog herds the geese all around, and often under whatever colt you are riding’s belly. Then he gets the goose running and honking and flapping wings with me yelling at the dang dog combined. Lol


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

Knave said:


> @boots kids are the best for it right?! I have the funniest video of my littlest desensitizing her colt in the most random ways and he’s just goofing off along with her. She’s jumping off panels and crashing into things. Lol
> 
> l


I think you're right about being around kids vs not. I have people offer to rent these little guys! I've always had lots of children around. 

Even when get a horse in that is said to be "spooky" they don't get much of a break. The music is on. Equipment is running. Any kids are farther away, but close enough that I can hear and see them. 

And life goes on.


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

mmshiro said:


> I don't think CA is advocating "flooding" - especially when you


I dont know I've seen any specific desensitising vids of his. I've seen him working terrified horses in a round yard - Inc a fresh caught brumby, trying to escape for its life... and he just kept pushing.... didn't show any reticence about 'provoking' MAJOR reactions.

And comments like 'the more you frighten him the quieter he will get' is indeed the philosophy of flooding. If that's not what he MEANS by it, yeah, irresponsible, as with your comment about his heart attack 'slogan' is one word that could fit...


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## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

With new and exciting (portable) objects, like a long piece of plastic wrap or a beach ball, I tend to take the following approach.

- At first, I bring the object to the pasture and carry it around, overall ignoring the horses and just doing my thing, but alternating between getting closer and farther to the horses (Hamlet plus two minis), trying to "retreat" before they respond by moving away on their own accord. This way, I can usually get all of them to at least sniff it briefly. I let them give it a sniff and take it away immediately.

- Second phase, Hamlet goes on halter and lead rope. Then it's time to introduce the object in motion, but instead of moving it towards him, I arrange it so it moves away from him and he follows. So I give him plenty of rope so he can stay a little behind, and I drag the plastic or move the ball and we just follow it. (He's quite "brave" following scary objects - he had no issues following a big dump truck after we let it pass us on the road; even trotted after it.)

- Third phase then is more CA-esque. He should also be okay with something coming at him not just from the front, but also from the side. We do that in the outdoor arena, on halter and lead rope. Having established that he's okay with the object from the front (recall the "sniffing the object" at liberty), I slowly work my way towards his flanks. He'll probably evade, but since I have a baseline where he's okay with the object, I can control the strength of the response. As soon as he moves away slowly, I hold position relative to him until he stops, then I step back and reward. Then the other side.

The ultimate goal is for him to be as accepting of being touched by any of these objects as though they were mutated grooming brushes. For example, with the 30-foot piece of plastic wrap, he's now okay with being rubbed with it all bunched up, and he's okay with stepping over it and stopping with it between his legs. Ultimately, I want to pick it up and put it around his torso like a bow on a Christmas present.

The minis are okay with anything I introduce long before Hamlet is, even though the minis are just incidentally present during my efforts. I could rest a hula-hoop on one of the mini's butt while Hamlet was still all snorty about it. Yup, he's not a police horse candidate by any measure. What I'm hoping for, however, is that he gets desensitized to the process of desensitization, if that makes any sense, so that he gets accustomed to seeing unfamiliar stimuli all the time (it's a very quiet farm, even if nobody makes any effort to tippy-toe around the horses) and he learns to go through the entire process, from initial anxiety and caution to "Oh, this is no big deal!" faster.

I took him out on the trail today - along the road, because the rains have made the fields soggy again. He "spooked" at a sparrow fluttering up by barely twitching a muscle in his flank (I could feel it in my leg). Three bicycles passed us from behind (they were kind and announced themselves), and - the scariest issue by far today - we rode between a parked semi with a flatbed trailer holding a bunch of white barrels and a huge tractor standing in the field. No, he didn't walk calmly between them, but as long as he didn't try to bolt, I let him choose his own path between the two objects (they were probably parked 50-60 m apart from one another). He also needed to trot for a bit afterwards to release tension, but I let him do that for as long as he wanted, as long as he kept his speed at the trot. After a while, without interference from me, he calmed and walked again, all the way home.

Now, he _is_ on a valerian calming supplement (at half the recommended dosage), but three weeks ago he also tried to _bolt_ at the mere sight of a plastic cow quite some distance away...not just "I'd rather not get any closer than this!", but "I need to get the hell out of here, now!"


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## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

In order for a horse to become desensitized to a certain object, the horse has to have the ability to see that object as the same or similar thing each time.

Some horses do not seem to have this ability, or rather, they seem to have the ability to see something about an object that makes it appear different each time. 
For these horses, you could work on desensitization every day and still have them remain spooky all the time.

One horse might get exposed to a red bucket and learn that red buckets are safe. Another horse might see a red bucket two inches to the left of where it was yesterday as threatening, or upside down as threatening, or with a shadow coming off of it as threatening, or with the sun glaring off it as threatening. 

One horse might see all motorcycles as the same, another horse might see every motorcycle as different because of having different sounds at different speeds, or over dry or wet ground, or because of the exhaust smelling different, or because of different colors and differently sized riders.

The easy horses can see one plastic bag, tarp or clippers and be good with all of them. For more difficult horses, you'll never convince them that any two objects are the same. For this type, desensitization is a waste of time. They may learn that loud objects going by their field like cars or tractors will not enter the field and harm them, but that does not mean they will feel safe being passed by a car when they are out of the field.

In my opinion, horses that can't be desensitized need a different type of handling. The handler/rider can teach the horse that when they spook, they should react a certain way, such as following the rein and steering safely, only moving for a short distance, and with this type of practice they can learn to become calm faster and with less of a dramatic reaction.
Rather than trying to get the horse to stop reacting to things, the focus should be on how the horse reacts, and making that less severe over time.


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

^I have no more than some anecdotal evidence, and I'm sure it's not ALL to do with this, but horses who seem 'hypersensitive' such as your egs gotta, I think there is a nutritional/gut health component there. I and others I know of have found that getting the gut healthy & providing well balanced nutrition & adequate magnesium effects them mentally & causes them to be less 'spooky'. It has also been found that gut & nutritional health in people is linked quite strongly with mental 'disorders' too.


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## Countrylovingmamma (Feb 27, 2019)

This is a great question that has really got me thinking about how I think of Desensitizing and how I would do it. I think i agree with BSMS's thinking on this. 

I have read a lot of articles on the subject and I feel like really before anything you need to be able to have a conversation with your horse. I am not a big fan of the CA type training. For me, I think I choose the latter choosing to Desensitize at liberty so to speak so that they can get used to something at there own pace rather than being forced or broken to that stimuli. 

My mare for example never spooks she is super curious and loves to check out new things. She is cautious so if there is something she is unsure of she will shy (give a few extra feet around something) a little but never freaks out I think with her either method would work as long as the CA one was done correctly but why risk it.. If you give her time to think without forcing she will quickly get over shying fast. 
Our Gelding, on the other hand, is very spooky, If there is something new a sound a sight a smell he goes straight in to flight mode. For him the CA way would not work in my Opinion. Using more of a liberty method works best for him. When he is exposed to a stimuli enough with him being able to flee as often as needed it takes longer with him but it works and as he gets used to all on his own I can add in a new element me so that he learns that that object didn't hurt him before and he can learn that this object will not be harmful when im holding it. Its taken a lot of time to gain trust with him and get him to the point where he is not spooking all the time and just about everything. But I have been ok with working that way with him. And he seems to be a much calmer and more trusting horse because of it. 

But most of all just learning how to truly talk with my horses have been a great help so far.


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

gottatrot said:


> In my opinion, horses that can't be desensitized need a different type of handling. The handler/rider can teach the horse that when they spook, they should react a certain way, such as following the rein and steering safely, only moving for a short distance, and with this type of practice they can learn to become calm faster and with less of a dramatic reaction.
> Rather than trying to get the horse to stop reacting to things, the focus should be on how the horse reacts, and making that less severe over time.


My concern with this line of thinking I'd that owners/riders of a certain temperment will make excuses for a horse all day long. 

Years ago if I couldn't get a horse to pass something, I would say it was scared and spend so much time getting it "desensitized." If the horse didn't give a hoof willingly, it had been abused. Avoided the bridle? Abuse. Show the whites of it's eyes when there clippers started, or when I brought tools into the stall to muck it out? More evidence of abuse. Or being sensitive. Or smart!

Then I started having the uncomfortable experience of seeing others able to get horses to do things I was unable to get them to do. Horses were positively calm when others did things to, or with them, that caused the "spooked" reaction if I tried it. 

I was setting up the reaction.

When I started modeling the actions of horsemen that treated things more matter of fact, I stopped having spooky horses. 

Now I get horses in with a laundry list of "he won't" or "he's afraid of" and generally it's because of a timid rider, or tentative handling.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

boots said:


> My concern with this line of thinking I'd that owners/riders of a certain temperment will make excuses for a horse all day long...Now I get horses in with a laundry list of "he won't" or "he's afraid of" and generally it's because of a timid rider, or tentative handling.


The problem I have with that, boots, is that it cuts both ways. There are certainly folks who always make excuses for horses. But on the flip side...

Mia was a nervous horse. The pro I eventually hired concluded Mia had never been broken to ride because she interpreted some cues differently than a trained horse would. The pro concluded Mia & I had been riding together on a lot of mutual good will but very little understanding or training.

But when I asked for help on dealing with her spookiness, what I heard over and over and over again was that she was spooky BECAUSE I was nervous. Yet I couldn't help notice many of her worst spooks came when I was totally confident. If she was spooking BECAUSE I was nervous, why were the majority of spooks coming when I was totally confident?

The other thing I heard hundreds of times was "Make her!" If I would just stop trying to figure her out, and make her mind, she'd be fine! It was on the forum that I received the advice to "Get a bigger whip!" if the one I had failed to "make her" obey.

Tried it too. When she refused to go forward, I whipped her HARD with a folded over 8' leather rein. She backed up. So I whipped her more, and the harder I whipped her, the faster she went - backwards. When we were running out of room to go backwards, I stopped whipping and she stopped backing, then turned around and looked at me as if to say, "_I don't know WHAT that thing ahead of us was, but I saved you! It hurt, but I saved you!_"

Not long after that, I read a book (1890?) by James Fillis. He wrote:



> "The impressionability of a horse can be greatly diminished and modified by breaking. Custom establishes mutual confidence between horse and rider. If the animal has not been beaten, or violently forced up to the object of his alarm, and if the presence of his rider reassures him, instead of frightening him, he will soon become steady. It is a sound principle never to flog a horse which is frightened by some external object. We should, on the contrary, try to anticipate or remove the impression by "making much" of the animal.
> 
> I have already said that a horse has but little intelligence. He cannot reason, and has only memory. If he is beaten when an object suddenly comes before him and startles him, he will connect in his mind the object and the punishment. If he again sees the same object, he will expect the same punishment, his fear will become increased, and he will naturally try to escape all the more violently....
> 
> ...My only advice about the management of nervous horses is to give them confidence by "making much of them." If we see in front of us an object which we know our horse will be afraid of, we should not force him to go up to it. Better let him at first go away from it, and then gently induce him to approach it, without bullying him too much. Work him in this way for several days, as long as may be necessary. Never bring him so close up to the object in question that he will escape or spin round ; because in this case we will be obliged to punish him ; not for his fear, but on account of his spinning round, which we should not tolerate at any time. In punishing him, we will confuse in his mind the fear of punishment and the fear caused by the object. In a word, with nervous horses we should use much gentleness, great patience, and no violence." (page 186)


That was my first encounter with someone who distinguished between types of horses and said some types need a different approach. Later, I came across the passage in Tom Roberts about the Bollock Carts in India, and giving a horse options. 

In the "sticky" on making a good trail horse, for example, I find:

"_2) Your job (as the rider) is not to let your horse look at everything new and decide it is OK. That is your job. You should NOT show him that there is nothing to be afraid of. Your job as an 'effective' rider is to teach him that he needs to trust YOU and ONLY YOU -- not his natural instincts....If you let a horse look at things, then you are teaching him to be afraid of everything that is new and telling him that things should be looked at instead of ignored. You are not telling him that it is OK to go right past it. I want a horse to ignore everything but me._"

I asked the writer about Mia in a private message years ago, and she replied that Mia was an unusual horse who would need a different approach. I'm grateful for her response. But the approach she wrote about is the one many around me teach, and it made Mia go backwards - physically, but also mentally and emotionally.

Bandit had been ridden using that approach. He was a PITA to ride when I got him! You never knew when he'd snap and suddenly race off across peoples' yards or across the desert. He'd spin and buck and I was told to just ride it out. And riding it out WAS part of the solution! I couldn't solve it in an arena! But I also needed to convince Bandit that we could work as a team, that I wouldn't try to just whip him past something!

There is a balance somewhere between, as you obviously recognize. There are people who make endless excuses and never give the horse a reason to get better. But there are also plenty of folks, both online and around where I live, who ought to give up horses and take up riding machines!

You can't give a horse courage by being afraid. But you don't give a horse confidence by ignoring its fears, either. Somewhere in between is where I want to be. I'm not Omnipotent but neither am I someone the horse can ignore. Man is God to Horse doesn't work for me. Neither does Horse is God to Man. I need to be tough enough to be worth listening to, but gentle enough to listen to my horse as well. And I still struggle to find the balance.


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

IMO it is impossible to desensitize a horse to everything in the environment, so it is a rather limited approach. 

I use more of a behavior modification approach, combined with verbal and physical cues. 

By behavior modification, things like mounting are taught. Also basic standing while I do things; brushing, cleaning hooves, etc. I recently obtained a rechargeable clipper (no electricity at barn) with the intent of partial body clipping my hairy gelding. I've owned him since 2012 and he has never had a clipper used on him. 

So, his basic trust in me and training to stand was utilized with the clipper. I was able to body clip him on the first try with very little nervousness, even though he is in general a nervous horse. 

He was rewarded with treats for his good behavior, and knew he did well. 

I have also taught him to approach things that make him very nervous, so that he can see for himself that there is no threat. 

Mildly worrisome things or sounds, he sort of asks me about, and I can verbally give him a cue that I have deemed the thing harmless and he can just carry on. 


A prior horse I had, a grade QH, was completely content to let me make decisions on anything and everything. He was absolutely the most confident horse I have ever owned and probably ever will. Nothing scared that horse! Seriously nothing at all. 

He was mainly my Dressage horse, but I could ride him on the trails or in a parade. He was the same horse every time. Simply amazing animal. He was not by any means a dead-head though, he was forward, and willing, and had absolute trust in his rider. Plus very affectionate. He was my heart horse...


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

gottatrot said:


> horses that can't be desensitized need a different type of handling. The handler/rider can teach the horse that when they spook, they should react a certain way, such as following the rein and steering safely, only moving for a short distance, and with this type of practice they can learn to become calm faster and with less of a dramatic reaction.
> Rather than trying to get the horse to stop reacting to things, the focus should be on how the horse reacts, and making that less severe over time.





boots said:


> My concern with this line of thinking I'd that owners/riders of a certain temperment will make excuses for a horse all day long.
> 
> I was setting up the reaction.
> 
> ...


My horse Phin is exactly like what @gottatrot described. I can desensitize him to a specific thing in a specific place, but if that thing happens in a different place, its brand new again. He is aware of any change, no matter how minor, in his environment - he was raised feral on a big ranch in NM, so I assume that was a good and necessary life skill there. I quickly gave up on trying to desensitize him to specific things and instead worked on getting him to look to and trust me when something worried him and to contain his reaction to a more manageable (for me) level.

I do a lot of my training with a heart rate monitor, which was a fascinating learning experience for me in this case. To start, Phin's initial spook reaction was spin and leave, stopping 20-30 feet from the monster. As we became a team, he progressed to a spook and jump sideways, to now generally a startle in place without any sideways movement. To begin with, we had to pass the monster at a distance of several yards, with him wanting to scoot away once he was beside it. We have since worked to being able to pass within a couple feet of the monster with no attempt to scoot after. This would lead one to think he was less afraid, due to his trust in me. However, looking at my heart rate monitor during these events, I can tell you his heartrate is every bit as high now dealing with a scary thing as it was back when we started. So he isn't an iota less afraid, though I have taught him a different way to react to that fear. 

Is this a reflection on myself as his rider? It may well be, as nobody else has ridden him since he's come here. I love my DH, but he is a not a problem-horse rider and I fear putting him in a situation where he might be injured. I hope to have the opportunity to put someone else on him at some point, because maybe it IS me. I don't make excuses for his behavior, but I do make some concessions (such as dismounting around traffic) to keep us both safe. Is that enabling his reactivity?



loosie said:


> horses who seem 'hypersensitive', I think there is a nutritional/gut health component there. I and others I know of have found that getting the gut healthy & providing well balanced nutrition & adequate magnesium effects them mentally & causes them to be less 'spooky'. It has also been found that gut & nutritional health in people is linked quite strongly with mental 'disorders' too.


What, specifically, is a 'healthy gut' and how do you know if a horse does or doesn't have one? Phin has had his magnesium (other electrolytes, vitamin E, selenium, and basic CBC/chem values) all checked and shown to be in the normal range. If there is something else I can be doing to help address his reactivity, I am all ears!


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

Would be interesting to use a heart monitor on a horse going thru the CA style training; might show how they are reacting to the stress


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## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

bsms said:


> But when I asked for help on dealing with her spookiness, what I heard over and over and over again was that she was spooky BECAUSE I was nervous. Yet I couldn't help notice many of her worst spooks came when I was totally confident. If she was spooking BECAUSE I was nervous, why were the majority of spooks coming when I was totally confident?


Ha, ha! I know those. Those are the, "Whoa! What did I miss???" spooks... If the rider isn't even aware of anything potentially spooky, there is no way the rider's nervousness could have induced the spook.


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## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

loosie said:


> I dont know I've seen any specific desensitising vids of his.


Here's one specifically dedicated to desensitizing. I'd be interested in opinions...


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

Some horses are just naturally more reactive than others; yes, the rider can *at times* make it better or worse, but a rider isn't the whole problem! 


After a time, with lots of shared experiences, a horse and rider team do get better at predicting each other's actions. 


For instance, I know when we go to a ride I have to lead my gelding around the grounds first. It is the way we both find out what he finds tolerable and what he finds terrifying and everything in between. 


Recently at the Witchdance we discovered that pink flagging is terrifying when blowing in the wind, whereas he has gone past white flagging blowing without a second look...once out on actual trails, he settles in fine. It's the getting there that is sometimes quite challenging


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

mmshiro, yes, that horse wasn't very reactive at all, and I do agree that it depends on how the horse reacts as to what you'd do, and with THIS horse, I'd probably do very similar... If there's not much fear in the horse, they're not very reactive, then keeping something up and then negatively reinforcing for 'right' behaviour is fine IME. 

This is _NOT _classic 'approach & retreat' as I understand it. Albeit it is what a lot of 'natural horsemen' call it. It is approach approach approach approach, until the horse stops reacting. Aka 'flooding'. He explains that if she were to get frightened & reactive, he'd just keep it up for as long as it took for her to stop moving. 

Regardless of whether it's too much for the horse, it _does_ tend to get them *quiet* about stuff. But IME this may be very different from *confident & relaxed*. Trouble is, when a horse is too frightened, it can be a 'shell shocked' or a 'shut down' kind of quiet, a terrible experience that impacts on everything else you do with the horse. A horse who is 'broken in'... of spirit. I don't know if you noticed, but that horse did _not _look very relaxed to me, she was still on edge(when he was explaining that she was relaxed because she was showing The Signs - I didn't watch for too long). Attention to a horse's *attitude* about stuff is as important to me as their behaviour - their outward response to those attitudes. Using more of an 'approach & retreat' method, IME, tends to get the horse *truly* relaxed with stuff, often quicker too, as there is no big fear & adrenaline rush to get over as well. 

Approach & retreat as I understand it, is like your motorbike eg - you come & go, come & go, regardless of the horse's behaviour - tho you were, and I think this is _very_ important, not being too much in your 'approaches' that you caused any real panic - the horses were able to keep at a distance they didn't feel too threatened. So you essentially were able to 'retreat' *before* any real terror/reactions from them.


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## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

boots said:


> When I started modeling the actions of horsemen that treated things more matter of fact, I stopped having spooky horses.
> 
> Now I get horses in with a laundry list of "he won't" or "he's afraid of" and generally it's because of a timid rider, or tentative handling.


Take someone like @PhantomHorse who rides many different horses in many different environments...she has video of herself riding through all kinds of spooky things like covered echoing bridges and among jumping Armadillos. Her horses Phin and Raven are not spooky because she is inexperienced, tentative, or etc. 

Nor is my mare Amore spooky because of that kind of thing. This is a horse that could race around in a stall for ten minutes because I picked a square of fabric up off the ground and stood there holding it. Even @Foxhunter who speaks of making no concessions for the horse has talked about running across horses that spooked often on every ride. She was just a bold enough rider to keep riding the horse, even if she came off sometimes.

Although I agree some people do treat these horses tentatively, and that can make things worse, I've seen enough of them that are owned by experienced and confident people to know that some horses are like this and it's not the handling. Some of us don't just have a spooky horse, but have lots of experience with other horses that were green, fearful or spooky and we brought them along easily to a level of confidence. 
My OTTB is fairly hot and had some huge spooks at times this last year as I started out with him, but these are diminishing rapidly as he gains confidence. My mare Amore never had that ability to adapt.

Sometimes it can't be the diet either...some of us like @PhantomHorse and Acadianartist with her horse Kodak have done everything possible to make sure it wasn't a deficiency or diet issue. You can _still_ see a spooky horse with 24/7 turnout, a stable buddy system, a forage only diet, and balanced vitamins/minerals, magnesium added, and even "extras" tried such as raspberry leaf, chromium, valerian, chamomile etc.

For some horses, this is how their brain works.
I don't see why it would be a problem to just teach the horse to adapt their responses to things if they are unable to get over their fear, as Phantomhorse has done with Phin. This is a workable solution for those who want to use the horse even if the horse does not get better about being frequently frightened. But I also think we have to accept that these horses might not be appropriate for certain owners with confidence issues or who want to do certain things like eventing that the horse might never adapt to. 

That is my main point, that people should understand that sometimes fearfulness is a personality trait rather than something that can be trained away or that is due to abuse, management, or rider/handler error. It is something that sometimes needs to be accepted as part of who the horse is.


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## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

I took out Hamlet for some grazing today, just outside the farm. There is a bit of wetland where the grass has been growing insanely lately, so it's like taking him for pizza _and_ ice cream. Up on a hill, about _half a kilometer away_, is a house just visible from where we stood. Three cars were leaving the house, only their top halves visible. Hamlet noticed them with his face in the grass, looked up, and watched the cars go by until they disappeared from sight. 

The good news is: He doesn't need glasses. The bad news: He's ready to react, and potentially spook, at anything up to the horizon... :icon_rolleyes:


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## katatak (Jun 14, 2018)

Love your analogy BSMS!!


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## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

Thank you for all your input. If you are interested, I can now issue the final verdict on Hamlet.

I took him for a little ride today. It was 80% terrain he has become familiar with, 20% new. (There is a farm we pass that belongs to weekenders. I don't like to infringe on their privacy, so I usually stay out of sight when riding on the weekend. Today, I decided to go past the house and down their driveway towards the road that leads back to the farm.) 

He was extremely relaxed on the familiar path and, just like last ride with the tractor and the semi flatbead, he got nervous in the unfamiliar surroundings. Being titrated on Valerian supplement, he showed some concern and started to trot, just like the last time. And just like the last time, he reverted to a walk as soon as he recognized where he was, again without my doing anything but encouraging him to keep at a sane pace at the trot.

He's not buddy sour (even though the minis were yelling for him), and he is not barn sour (because he was content to _stroll_ home even though he was at the trot just before). He gets nervous with unfamiliar environments, and I think the supplement takes the edge off to a degree that my letting him "run off" his nervous energy won't be dangerous to me. Also, the more we ride at the new barn, the less often we'll encounter parts of the area he doesn't know about, so in time this will all sort itself out. Hopefully we won't have occasion to move barns again.

Because he didn't short circuit under stress, today was the second ride in a row where I exercised minimal control over him - I basically pointed his nose in the direction I wanted, that's it. When I went out to the farm in the evening (with my wife, after her work), he stood with me in the pasture for a good ten minutes while I was sitting on the pasture fence. (My wife and the minis were hanging out elsewhere.) 

Thinking back, unfortunately I did have to lean on him hard when he went all crazy on me, but with a little help from the supplement industry this turned into a win-win for both of us: He's not unsafe for me to ride into surprises, but he's not so zonked out that he loses all situational awareness. He still pays attention. I wouldn't want it any other way. I need a horse that doesn't run on autopilot - neither on "fight or flight" autopilot, nor "dead inside" autopilot.


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

loosie said:


> This is _NOT _classic 'approach & retreat' as I understand it. Albeit it is what a lot of 'natural horsemen' call it. It is approach approach approach approach, until the horse stops reacting. Aka 'flooding'. He explains that if she were to get frightened & reactive, he'd just keep it up for as long as it took for her to stop moving.



Hi Loosie. Just one comment about desensitizing as it is done by Clinton Anderson. The biggest mistake people make trying to follow his examples from these stupid advertising videos is to think they can take something that absolutely terrifies a horse and just continue to menace the horse with it until the horse stops reacting. If you actually did that, you would have a better chance of giving the horse a heart attack and getting yourself killed than doing any desensitizing.


If you watched an actual Clinton Anderson training video on something like desensitizing to having the horse's ears clipped, you would see that he starts with clippers that are not running, starts with them nowhere near the horse's ears and very gradually works up to being comfortable around the ears, moves on to running clippers, again starting away from the horse's head and working back up to the head with clippers on their side so the horse gets used to the vibration and sound without the cutting head, then moves on to actually doing any clipping. A video of the whole thing would very long and deadly boring. 



Clinton likes to put instant fixes in his advertising videos, and people just tune out his constant reminders that he is showing an abbreviated version of his normal approach. You can say it's his own fault that people misunderstand his approach, and to some extent I agree, but like I've said a dozen time on this forum, what he does in an hour on his advertising videos would takes weeks in his actual program.


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## SteadyOn (Mar 5, 2017)

Probably my favourite desensitizing video of all time:






Schiller has actually changed his method quite a bit since making this, and takes a more gradual approach where he deals with the horse's baseline anxieties first... but... as far as desensitizing to a specific stimulus... this is fantastic!!


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## SteadyOn (Mar 5, 2017)

Another extremely simple Schiller one that WORKS -- I've done it (and actually, I've done the bag one too) -- but a surprising number of people don't ever get their horses "okay" with fly spray.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

SteadyOn said:


> Probably my favourite desensitizing video of all time:
> 
> https://youtu.be/6CDwc4s1LAQ
> 
> Schiller has actually changed his method quite a bit since making this, and takes a more gradual approach where he deals with the horse's baseline anxieties first... but... as far as desensitizing to a specific stimulus... this is fantastic!!





I think it's interesting how even a well established trainer continues to evolve and change his approach. I have seen some of his recent videos, and he has moved much more toward , as you said, a way that incorporates the horse's emotional state and needs.


Also, not mentioned, is that the smacking of the bag is done in a rhythmic fashion. This helps it to become background stimulus. If he were randomly smacking or waving the bag, it would be harder for the horse to accept.


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## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

mmshiro said:


> I'll give you two scenarios. I'd be curious how you feel about either in the context of desensitizing.
> 
> The first scenario is classic Clinton Anderson: You grab the horse by the lead rope, and you start to put on some pressure - say you wiggle a stick with a flag or plastic bag. As the horse moves away, you follow, neither increasing nor decreasing the pressure. As the horse understands it's not dangerous, it'll stop and chill, at which point you release the pressure.
> 
> ...



I will say that your two scenarios are not equal. A person holding a "horse-eating-stick-with-a-bag-on-it" only 4 feet away from the horse is different than someone driving by on a motorcycle 100 feet away.


Plus it took 3 weeks to get the horses used to the motorcycle (hypothetically without proper timing), when it probably would only take 3 minutes to get them used to the bag-with-a-stick (with proper timing).


Plus .... a motorcycle is WAY scarier than a bag-on-a-stick. 


As with anything, there is a correct way to do things and a wrong way to do things. It all comes down to presentation, timing, and reading the horse in front of you.


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

I think it depends on the horse, honestly. Some are worried more easily than others. It can take awhile for some to adjust to things.

For example, my young mare isn't spooked easily. Not a lot bothers her. At my old barn, they had put up about 45 new outdoor lawn chairs near the arena. At first, she was a bit hesitant to go up to them. But I walked her up calmly, and let her snort/sniff them. After that, she had no issues with them. I praised her heavily for it.

I know some other horses are 'easily' spooked, and some take longer to desensitize than others. Which is OK. Some horses just aren't as bold, or they need more confidence.

I am not a fan of CA.

But my horse is what I'd like to call 'easy' to desensitize. I expose her to what bothers her, then she's fine. Really, she just snorts a bit, sniffs then it's no big deal after that. I just expose her to whatever I can. I remember taking her on her first trail ride - she sniffed water, then went right over it, no big deal. My friend's horse was out about 10x total, and was still wary near the water. Depends on the horse. It took her about a few more times out to get him over it and OK with it.


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

Joel Reiter said:


> Clinton likes to put instant fixes in his advertising videos, and people just tune out his constant reminders that he is showing an abbreviated version.


Maybe I too have 'tuned out' to that, as I don't remember hearing him say that, let alone constantly. But then, doesn't really matter IMO. I naturally analyse what is being said & done in a vid, and yes, if it's not an accurate 'view' of his philosophy/practice, then how stupid, to put that out there. I've seen him get after horses that were terrified, keep at them despite their terror, I've heard him say things like 'the more you frighten them the quieter they get... and quite frankly, it doesn't matter whether he only does it on Youtube or not, but that's what he puts out there.


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## bayleysours (Apr 1, 2019)

I think both can be useful. I've always used the CA way, keep the pressure the same until the horse is done reacting.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

the idea of desensitizing should be to face the horse with the 'scary thing only so much that he doesn't totally shut down mentally and go into utter panic mode. You want the horse to have enough mental presence to be able to look for , to think about, a 'way out' of his predicament. In fact, what you really want is for him to look to YOU for a way out. The more the horse is trained to look to you for his 'way out' of something that troubles him, the more likely he will do this , even when faced with some pressure that you are not putting on him yourself.


If a trainer puts on so much pressure that the horse leaves the thinking part of his brain and goes into total panic, then the horse no longer even 'sees' the human .


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

Some years back, my Arabian mare Mia spooked hard going down a trail we had been down a couple hundred times. The only thing I could figure triggered it was a Palo Verde tree had blossomed, covering it in yellow flowers that hadn't been there before. Internet picture of a Palo Verde in blossom:








Sure enough, two weeks later, she spooked again. The yellow blossoms had fallen off!

Aliens! What else could explain it?

Now...how does one desensitize a horse to trees that blossom? Particularly when there are trees just like it next to her corral, and had been for years! And a year later, she did it again. Same type of tree. Different location.

"*what you really want is for him to look to YOU for a way out*" - @tinyliny

This!

The only way I know to do it is to ride them out, face some tough spots, hang on, try to listen to the horse BEFORE the explosion - and eventually teach them your ideas on what to do when something scary happens are ideas that work well. 

A few years ago, I was riding Cowboy when some idiots started testing their pistols without bothering to use a backstop or even looking to see if there was a trail going away just behind their target. Bullets started whipping around us. The other guy said he could see the bullets cutting vegetation next to Cowboy's legs. With no practical way to turn around and get out of the field of fire, we decided to race TOWARD the guns. Trooper and Cowboy, both experienced horses, were afraid. They had no idea what to do, but they were willing to listen to OUR idea. Which worked.

There is no sane way to prepare a horse for that specific scenario. But if they have learned you have good ideas, then they may startle hard...but then they will listen. Because they WANT to know what you think, and they WANT to obey you!


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## kiwigirl (Sep 30, 2009)

I like to desensitize by attrition. I currently have a 2 year old filly I am slowly bringing on to be ready for backing and riding next year. I expose her to the things I want her to become familiar with in a yard and she can run and snort and fart to her hearts content but very quickly her natural curiosity and desire to be with me kicks in and then things quickly become toys. A classic example was the first time I went out to her paddock to pick up her poo using a 25lt plastic feed bag. What a kerfuffle as I dragged the bag around the paddock! Now it's all I can do to get poo in the bag as every day is tug of war day and the best day ever is the one where she can get it off me altogether and throw it around the paddock.

I honestly believe that regardless of how well intentioned we are regarding desensitization - it is our own feelings and attitudes that will ultimately decide what a horse can and can't accept. It is very easy to teach a horse that something is frightening just through our own belief that a horse will find something difficult to cope with.

A great example of this was shown to me a few years back. A friend and I were both riding green young horses - not together - just working along a similar timeline if you know what I mean. Anyway, we both went about dealing with road traffic in our own ways. The road we lived on was actually perfect – some traffic, mainly farm vehicles – and 90% of it, people that we knew. My approach with my young horse when a vehicle approached was to keep him in the middle of the road and not react at all, on-coming traffic had no choice but to slow down as I wasn’t moving out of the way until they did so. The driver and I would then usually have a brief chat (or a good gossip). This gave my horse time to analyse what was coming his way and I never made a fuss, just kept him moving forward and past the now stationary vehicle – I know it sounds very arrogant and cheeky but I couldn’t give a crap and will do it again with the next one.

In the meantime my friend would get her horse as far off the road as possible, as quickly as possible, making him “face up” to the danger, while hanging on to him as tightly as possible to curb any reactions and constantly reassuring him in the face of imminent threat. 

Interestingly my horse never had issues with traffic at all (as far as he was concerned he was the god of cars and could make them stop at his will) and her horse became so neurotic around traffic that he became dangerous. The more she tried to reassure him the worse he got. I honestly believe that her belief that her horse would find traffic scary created a problem, whereas my lack of reaction around traffic allowed my horse to draw his own conclusions.

Horses are so damned smart and sensitive to our nuances. If you believe that something is going to be scary for the horse that horse will believe it too. If you can remain indifferent and non-emotive as you bring something new into the horse’s environment they will take their cue from you. Either method of desensitization works when your horse can understand your body language and we can communicate with the horse clearly using our body language when our intentions are very clear.


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