Fear Factor

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Permalink Reply by Anni on November 13, 2009 at 12:17am

Hi Kathi, I just wanted to share with you what has really helped me out. I had a bad fall where I broke my tail bone coming off of a spooky pony when I was 11. So although misbehavior and little tantrums don't bother me, spooks really tense me up. All the sitting deep, breathing, and visualizing in the world wasn't actually relaxing me enough, so I declared a saddle moratorium for awhile and just rode bareback. Not only does it allow you to be more in tune with your horse without that extra leather, but it also whips your seat into shape. Muscle memory is helpful, so if you can train away some of your bad habits just by practicing bareback, you'll find you're much more secure in the saddle, too!

Since I'm a bit of a wuss and don't post bareback anymore, I got a little bored trotting circles, and my trainer set up a little "course" for me of barrels and cavelletti. Let me tell you, as a English girl all my life, I never realized how fun barrels can be! And great for making sure that your seat is independent. :)

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Permalink Reply by Becky on November 29, 2009 at 6:48pm

I have used "Rescue Remedy" occasionally for my shaken confidence. It is all natural, no side effects, and can be found in most drug stores. I find it takes the 'edge' off and I am not 'looking for the spooky thing'.
Becky

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Permalink Reply by slc2 on November 30, 2009 at 6:41am

Hard to say for sure without knowing the horse and rider well, but I am sure of one thing - how one rides can avoid an awful lot of spooks. Why sure, sometimes it's going to happen.

But...how about the many times when it doesn't have to? How come horses spook so infrequently with the professional riders onboard if it's always so 'inevitable'?

Horses have to slow down to spook - the rhythm of their gait changes, and if you learn to feel for that, you'll learn to feel that the horse starts slowing down and 'holding his breath' for some number of strides before he actually spooks, sense it when the rhythm first starts to change and send the horse forward. Too, they have to go 'through' your aids to spook(it's the sideways spook that is really a hazard to self and others, honestly I don't worry too much if the horse squirts forward for a few strides). Learn to feel long before the spook, that the horse is going more and more 'through' the rider's leg aids on the rider's weak side. Get him moving and responding to that weak leg better long before the spook.

Generally that means that he has to go against your leg and 'run through it' rather than give to it and move away from it....unless you didn't give a leg aid...

Too, most spooking isn't really about 'fear' of some sight or sound. I know...I know...everyone's going to tell me I'm wrong. I know. But what I've found over the years is that it's quite true -- spooking is about how we ride.

I can watch a good pro ride anyone's horses, and they simply doesn't spook at 99% of the tings they at when the owner is riding it. Why do pros horses spook so much less? Because pros ride differently. They keep the horse more focused, more busy, more connected in the bridle, and its muscles looser and more flexible.

It isn't about fear so much as the horse is not working into the bridle and relaxed - I don't mean 'relaxed' sitting in a recliner with a beer, I don't mean the horse is not alert and keen, I mean his muscles are loose and supple enough that he can respond well to your aids.

Much of spooking can come from a basic dressage training problem - 'the head set'. The rider uses his reins to get the horse's head down, working one rein then the other (however delicately or subtly, still the same problem) but he doesn't have his horse going forward to the bit. The horse is 'short in neck', not going forward to the bit. This is the classic recipe for the situation where the horse spooks every time he trots past some familiar object like a mounting block.

Often we ourselves are tense and distracted, such as at a clinic or show. 99% of the time, we don't realize we are riding differently, but we are. We use our legs less and our reins more, we sit stiffer and less active in the saddle, we grip more tightly with our legs and especially upper thigh, our seat muscles are tightened up - yes, without even realizing it. All we feel is the horse is different. We have no idea we are riding different. As Casey Stengel 'Boy did I coach good, and boy did they play bad'.

One person might say the rider 'communicates fear to the horse', another that the rider 'communicates lack of leadership'.

A dressage rider might say the rider isn't suppling up and loosening the horse's back, and how his back is, is how his brain is - tight and tense. The brain and back are connected by a magic string. Loosen up the back, the tension in the behavior fades. They might also say that horses almost always spook into the rider's weak leg, the side he gets less of a response on, they might say the better the horse responds to that leg the less he will spook, and the less he will constantly be leaning his weight on one side - making it all too natural to spook.

It's VERY important to know that 'when you have his back, you have his mind', and that suppling (not exaggerated 'necking', but really good suppling work, correct bending, leg yields, spiraling in and out) can really get your horse loosened up, connected and reaching for the bit yet with his muscles loose and supple.

So can going forward. Since a horse has to slow down to spook, going diligently forward helps prevent it. It also loosens up the tension both in the back and mind. The horse thinks he isn't being tightly restrained, so he thinks, 'if something scares me, i can escape, so no problem,, i can relax'. It isn't about dropping the rein contact with the horse's mouth, it's about having a steady contact and rein length of course, but not a 'oh dear god' hold on the reins.

Distracting a horse helps too. Give him something to do and keep him busy. But for sure, DON'T encourage him to push himself against that 'weak' side of the rider or go 'through' the weak leg. For example, if the horse is spooking to the left, don't circle if it means falling into the left - you can circle left, but always be pushing the horse a little away from the left (inside) leg, and even better, try a leg yield right, so the left leg is telling the horse not to fall in on it.

And the old timers might say, 'You just stop riding the horse'. However you want to look at it, leadership, fear or technique, we usually don't ride the same when we are at a clinic or show. We're more hesitant. If we really got our brain into the ride, and nothing else, we'd see a whole lot fewer spooks. That's awfully hard at a new place with a new trainer, but it gets easier with practice.

MOST of spooking is mental - the rider's mental. What we are thinking has a huge influence on how we ride. We usually don't even realize it.

Years and years ago, as a very average very UNcourageous amateur on a very average naughty pony, I was at a spring show where we had a sudden cold snap. The wind howled, snow swirled and horses in the warmup were leaping, jumping, rearing, running off and throwing their riders. Even the professionals had their hands full. And there I was on my little pony. Suddenly, my trainer started shouting 'LOOK AT ME' and 'DON'T LOOK ANYWHERE ELSE', and started peppering me with orders, and had me go in a very forward trot around her, bending the horse and spiraling in and out, then quickly going from trot to canter and back, demanding an immediate response each time and staying VERY forward. Every time I even turned my head a fraction I heard the same shout.

I went in and rode my test, exited the ring and dismounted, patting my pony. To my amazement, a little gaggle of spectators scurried up to me and wanted to know HOW I had kept my pony under control, and that it was AMAZING. Then one dropped the bombshell, 'Didn't you see that horse right behind you, rearing and slamming into the fence? He almost hit you! Didn't you hear the other riders yelling?'

I swear I saw and heard nothing and my pony never even flinched. He never paid the slightest attention, because I never paid the slightest attention.

We really do not realize or feel how anxiety and distraction and loss of focus affect us. We really don't. We have to learn to feel that and make that decision, every second to feel for that moment's indecision and distraction that affects how we ride our horse at every step.

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