Training Tip D-Desensitize

When my former horse trainer began speaking to me about desensitizing my horse, I'll admit I was a bit leary. I was not familiar with the process and it sounded a bit odd. Why would we want to desensitize a horse? Isn't it good for a horse to be sensitive?

Horses can keep their sensitivity and be desensitized to things around them at the same time. I'll paint a little picture of what I did with Scottie.

First, complete some ground work, making sure to end on a good note. My mission was to desensitize him to the lead rope, which he thought was a huge threat at the time. I would stand by his shoulder, and bunch the rope up in my hand. I recommend using at least a 12-14 ft rope for this. I would rub him all over with the bunched up rope. Then I would do the same on the other side. After that, I would lightly toss the last few feet of rope up onto his back. If he spooked, or moved, I would continue this light flinging motion until he stopped his feet. Then I would stop immediately, timing is important here, and looking down, I would rub his nose.

This would progress very quickly and within a few days he would no longer be afraid of that end of flinging rope. Time to move to the next part.

• Stand in front of the horse, in a relaxed manner. Cock your own leg, keep your gaze down. Holding the end of the lead rope swing it back and forth gently, in a jump rope-like manner. When he gets used to this, progress so the rope is swinging up as high as it will go. Next, actually toss it over his head. Get a good fling, and back over again. At any time during this, if he moves away, simply follow him as best you can while continuing the motions. You stop when he stops. Keep in mind it is ok to make mistakes. If you get caught up in the rope or don't know when to start again, just start over.

This was hard for Scottie as he is ear shy. Every time that rope would go up and over it would touch an ear. When your horse stands there with his head low looking very bored, you know you can move on.

• Similar to what you did before, you will fling the entire rope up and over his back. Stand off to the side of the horse, and like a cowboy just throw that rope! Pull it back to your hand, and throw it again. You can toss the rope up there in a light enough manner so he should not be thinking you are hitting him with it. When he is comfortable here, proceed to throwing it around his back end. Again, make sure you do this from both sides of the horse. Please remember to give him lots of praise and rubs on the nose when he does the right thing.
  

• Once you have achieved all of the above, try standing to the side of the horse, and smack the ground to the side of you in a circular motion. A benefit of a longer rope on this exercise is that you can move away from the horse's body as much as you need to depending on his comfort zone. The rope will make a pretty loud crack, and the circle is large, so he may be startled by this. Again, make sure to do this on both sides of him. You may have noticed by now that he reacts differently on one side. Most horses are accustomed to being worked on one side (left) more than the other. Another thing to remember is that they are viewing you and that rope from a different eye when you change sides. Things may look totally different to him.

• The next thing to do is to take the lead rope and fling the last few feet of it around his feet. Start by his shoulder and fling that rope around his left front leg and hoof. When you become handy with that rope you can actually get it to wrap around. This is a good exercise because it will help the horse to learn to stand still if he gets caught up in something. Remember to move on to the next leg when there is no reaction from the last one. Of course you will do this exercise on both sides of him too.

• Once you and your horse are familiar with these, you can go through a series of them to keep it fresh in his mind. It is also fun to get creative. Try having the rope flip to his belly, or around his hind end. A huge benefit of all of this is that if something touches him quickly he most likely will not have a huge reaction to it. Or say you are out trail riding and you have to walk through brush. He'll know what it feels like to have things around his legs. By then he'll know he does not have to fear for his life just because something is wrapped around his foot.

• Now you can get really creative! You can take this exercise and do it with just about anything in place of the lead rope. Try a plastic bag. You can tie the bag to the end of a crop. Or, one of your kids toys. How about paper? Or a jacket? Remember to take it slowly. Sense how much your horse can take in one day. And give lots of praise when he does the right thing.
  

One more often overlooked benefit of this is that it is time well spent with your horse, not riding time. Often we get caught up in our busy lives, where it is already hard to fit in horse time. So we catch him, and ride. Don't get me wrong, riding is great and I love it! But in my opinion, it is good for both of you to do something else together. It will strengthen your relationship, it keeps him fresh and interested in you, and he'll know you enjoy being with him, simply to be with him.


Loretta
20/20 Horsemanship