Bomb proofing horses… or not
Feb 19th, 2009 by Carolyn Resnick Method
I have never spent much time bomb proofing horses because with the Waterhole Rituals I provide a horse a feeling of safety in my charge and to follow my lead without question from the relationship I can establish with them. Before you consider bomb proofing a horse I would advise that you to get the go and stop buttons on your horse first at liberty, as well as teaching a horse to be polite, respectful and willing to work with you creatively in any given moment. What your horse is lacking is an understanding in how to respond creatively and with interest.
It is a good idea while bomb proofing your horse to ask your horse to leave the area at a quick trot as well as to stand still, working between these two requests. Horses are capable of giving many different responses to the same thing if you train them through a combination of routines and creative spontaneous interactions.
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Hi Stina,
Yes , I could see how a lameness problem could led to a behavioral problem. Thank you for your insight
another opinion on the breed, certain gaited horses are from the beginning trained “against” their nature and their natural gaites, this can cause behavior issues as well.
Hi Nancy,
I would like to give an opinion on the shoe question. Some horses get crippeled by wearing shoes and develop certain behavior due to health issues. Wearing shoes too long time, getting shoes on at young age before the hoof (coffinbone) is fully developed, or wrong trim, can affect your horse behavior.
and i have an opinion on the breed, my experience is some breeds can have certain common behavior. draft horses, arabic horses or quarter horses can have similarities in their behavior.
Stina
with a a small bunch of unknown mix horses
Hi Carolyn,
I’m curious on why the shoeing would make a difference with Dee’s horse. Could you elaborate on that when you address Darynne’s question on why the breed matters? I enjoy your experience . Thank you so much for sharing.
Nancy
Thank you Carolyn for the ideas on hand walking a horse that gets upset. My situation is very similar to Dee’s. I read with much interest (as always).
Pam,
Why do you ask!
Carolyn, Just curious about why the breed of horse matters in Dee’s
situation.
Thank You,
Pam
Dear Carolyn,
Thank you for giving me hope. I am looking forward to trying your suggestions and I like the idea of being sensitive to Lucky’s needs not mine. You don’t hear too many people giving that kind of advice in the horse world. I may have just found my purpose in life. You are awesome! Take care. Dee
Dear Dee,
Thank you for our answers. From you answeres I feel your horse will not be impossible for you to fix. But you will need to enjoy the fix and if you do I think you can fix him.
You will need to be very sensitive to his needs and not yours. If you do this he will come around. If you do not what to take the trouble to fix him I think you should get yourself another riding horses.
I hope you do the tarp exercise. I know it will help you.
I would suggest you take him on hand walks. Have a place that you will take him to that you know you could get him to go comfortably and have food for him there. Give him his food and stay there for a while. Enjoy the process. If you enjoy the process he will pick up on that and it will help him to feel safe in your hands. Before you start out with him stay with him at least 10 minuets to let the connection take place between you.
Make the hand walking longer each time according to his tolarence.
When he gets up set lead him to when he feels safe. Wait for him to become completly relaxed and then lead him back to a place that would case him to relax. stay untill he becomes completly relaxed and then see if you can then lead him further, if not take him back again. Always make him stand still when he get upset and get him to loweres his head on a droped line and becomes tolerent before you take him away for the place that up sets him. This way you stay in chage of him and keep the control and then you are his savior when you take him from the area that is upsetting him. This way he will begen to trust and depend up you.
Teach him to lowere his head and stand on a drop line befor taking him out and expecting him to drop his head when he is nervise.
Work on this alot.
You may have a long journey with him, I do not think you will, if you do not get in a hurry about it, you can develop a more dependable horse.
Any time he should slip back to bolting do thes exercise for a while and build your training and connection back.
Once you can have a good relationship on the hand walking path you can try riding him on this say loop once your horse understands tha the path is relaxing to him and he his enjoying your company.
Let me know if you tray any of these experices I have chosen for you and how it should work out for you if it does.
Regards,
Carolyn
Dear Carolyn,
Thank you so much for responding to me. I feel so honored.
Here are my answers to your questions:
How old is your horse? Lucky is eight years old (I’ve had him since he was six)
The previous owner bought Lucky for $10,000 when Lucky was four years old, but gave him back to the trainer he bought him from for a dollar because he didn’t want to be responsible for anyone getting hurt or killed. I guess Lucky didn’t want to go up this hill, so he kept backing and backing down the hill until they fell over backwards. (The trainer who sold him to me did not mention this to me).
What breed is he? Tennessee Walker
How well is he trained? The trainer kept him for a year and trained him before she sold him to me. He is well trained. He is a very smart horse.
Is he green or a seasoned horse? I don’t think he has had a lot of riding time outside the arena. I think he may have been in a show or two when he was a four year old.
What is your experience? When I was young, I rode at the local stables on the weekends until I went to high school. Lucky is my first horse.
Does he behave this way when loose in a large field with other horses? No, if he sees something in the distance he watches it for a long time. The other horses look up and then go back to eating. Another interesting thing about Lucky is that he never rolls in the dirt. He is always very clean. Even after a bath, he never tries to roll.
How long have you had him? I have had him for two years. I used to pay someone to ride him because I thought he needed more miles, but I think I’m the one that needs more miles. Lucky is making me a better rider. But I’m still pretty green.
Is he jumpy with all people? He is busy and he is a handful, but my trainer thinks he is just fine. The man that I paid to ride him liked him because he was so animated. He would try to bolt, but he could stop it.
Is he shy with other horses or dominant? I think he is more of what you refer to as a lead horse. When we first put him in the pasture, the most dominant mare took a liking to him. He is probably the number three horse in a pasture of seven. He isn’t very pushy, he will just go up to another mare’s pile of hay and share it with them.
Where does he feel the safest? Probably in the barn stall w/paddock where he used to live. All the pasture horses used to hang out by his paddock. I think that is why the transition to the pasture was so easy.
How do you warm him up? I don’t any more because I really dislike round pens.
Does he get worked up or does he settle down? He acts like he is afraid of being in the round pen. The walls are really high and he always cuts in toward the middle when I used to use the round pen.
What kind of shoes does he wear? No shoes since October when he went into the pasture.
Have you had his eyes tested? Only when I had the pre-purchase vet check. He only looked in his eyes with a light. When I walk out to the pasture, Lucky looks up, and when I get close enough for him to recognize me he walks right over to me and follows me to the gate.
How much exercise does he get? Not much lately because the arena is too wet and the pasture is too hilly and slippery.
How often do you see him? I try to go up everyday and I probably spend two to three hours a day with him, but I usually just hang out with him, groom him, feed him grain and let him graze lately due to the weather.
What do you want him to do for you in the riding department? Well, first of all, I don’t want to frustrate him. I want to learn the cues that he understands. I want to be able to ride him anywhere. Maybe go on a wine tasting ride with friends. I want to be able to maneuver over logs, walk through water, ride along the road without fearing for my life if a truck goes by.
Thank you again for your incredible advice. I can’t wait to roll the apple and see what happens. And I will do more leading from behind and more eye contact. I have been doing the “carrots on the other side of the fence” and he is really getting it. He stands back about six feet and will wait for the carrot. Sorry to take up so much of your time. You don’t know how much I appreciate this. Take care. Dee
Dear Dee,
How old is your horse and what breed is he? How well is he trained? Is he green or a seasoned horse? What is your experiance? Does he behave this way when loose in a large field with other horses? How long have you had him? Is he jumpy with all people? Is he shy with other horses or dominant? Where does he feel the safest? How do you warm him up? Does he get worked up of does he settle down?
What kind of shoes does he ware? Have you had his eyes tested?
How much expercise does he get? How often to you see him?
What do you want him to do for you in the riding department?
Leading from behind and eye contact can help alot along with the rest of the rituals.
A way to test his vision along with a way that might fix him.
Role and apple on the ground at the angle and distance that he shys at liberty to check his vision. If you do this enough it might fix his problem. He might take this new information and decide that quick suprising things at a distance is something good to eat. It might lesson his fear.
Put his favorit treat on a tarp have a friend drag the tarp and you follow leading your horse when you get close enough to the tarp have the friend stop and let your horse eat the treat. Then walk him away from the tarp and repeat. The idea is that the closer he gets to the scary target the sooner he gets the treat. If done properly the horses love this game. If he is too afraid to eat the food on the tarp help him out and get him as close as he is comfortable and take the food of the tarp and let him eat it.
After a while he should get more secure and eat the food off the tarp.
Let me know if this helps.
Hi Carolyn,
I have a horse that gets startled very easily when I am riding him….or if he is just standing in the barn and he catches a glimpse of something move he just about jumps out of his skin. He has bolted with me at least five times and last week he saw something move when I was riding him in the arena and jumped sideways about five feet and I fell off. He is not afraid of things, it just seems to be the sudden movements. Although we are making progress, I’m not sure when to admit that we are not a good match or if I should not give up on him or me. He is very talented and doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. I can tell he really feels bad after he has bolted and when I fell off of him. The problem is my inexperience and I’m not young. He is extremely aware of his surroundings. I still wonder if he just doesn’t see as well as other horses so he has to be more vigilant. I will continue to work on the Waterhole Rituals and I have ordered the special package from the Teleseminar which was amazing. Thank you for all you do to make this a better place for our horses. Dee
Debra, I completely relate to what you are saying! I look for that back and forth interaction/conversataion with my horse too and as it turns out he is a very opinionated, funny, & intelligent fellow, like you describe your horse to be.
Dear Carolyn and fellow readers,
I think this post addresses one of the most important elements of the equine-human partnership: the connection. After reading Carolyn’s insightful description of to bomb proof or not to bomb proof, it occured to me that when we de-sensitize our horses we’re in essence asking them to turn off their curiosity and desire to interact. We bumb them down. That’s not to say that having a safe, smart and responsive horse isn’t a good thing! As I was grazing with Romeo (he was doing the eating, I was standing by peacefully!) yesterday and reflecting upon this subject, I thought of all the de-senstizing he had probably experienced in his life before I bought him. And it saddend me. I have come to know him, using the Waterhole Rituals, as a lively, opinionated, funny and highly intelligent boy who loves to express himself and thrives on our healthy back-and-forth interactions. He’s a “bombproof” horse if there ever was one and yet one of the delights of working with him in Carolyn’s methods has been a blossoming of his real self…..he is far more “reactive” now, but in a good way. At first this new Romeo made me nervous until I realized I was finally bringing out the true horse that lived inside his overly conditioned self. Now when something makes him spook or alarmed, we have a completely solid understanding between each other that allows me to act in the moment to help him through it. Because of the attitudes I have adopted from Carolyn’s methods, I am able to reach into that wonderful mind of his and assist him in becoming a smarter horse; giving him far more confidence than if I’d tried to “bomb proof” or de-sensitize. Interesting word, isn’t it? Why in the world would I want to take the sensitivity out of my horse? Isn’t that the very thing we are all striving to create in our relatiionships with our horses? Sensitivity, creativity, connection.
Much love,
Debra
What you say about about how you can crack your whip around the horse with no response and then send him off with very little is so interesting. It seems that it is all about learning to bring your own body’s energy up and down to influence the horse. I find that I have a naturally very strong drive and find it too easy to send my horse away. What is really helping me learn to close this down is the ritual you described for re-connecting with your horse, walking around them and sending them off just a few steps.
I love what you are saying about bomb-proofing, it makes so much sense. Thank you for all your generous sharing through this blog. The waterhole rituals have such clarity and simplicity and yet enormous depth. I have a new horse and pony at home, both very different, and I love the communication that these rituals are opening up between us.
I guess that when a horse is confident and at ease with your leadership, it doesn’t need to be desensitised. I think (based on what I know about the science of learning) that desensitisation will only go as far as the original situation and that in every new situation the horse will have a stress response because it’s in a different context. Is this true (I don’t have much experience with it myself)? So using Carolyn’s philosophy, you can get around this problem. Now just putting it in practice.
I have been conflicted about bombproofing/desensitizing in the past. I now see it as a case by case basis. I’ve thrown the book away!
Diane,
What part of the country are you from? Thank you for connecting.
What are your clinics like?
Terrific! Great timing…. We’ve been having difficulty with one our young ones going forward. She is lovely, but may easily be mistaken for being 105 years old. Love your ideas.
This is so good to read. I have been asked so many times to do “bomb proofing” clinics but just had to say…..well, I can do a clinic that shows how to work with the horse and make them confident……thanks for this