Building Your Horse’s Trust

How staying present and performing a gentle acupressure session on your horse can help deepen his trust in you.

By Amy Snow and Nancy Zidonis

If you think your horse knows exactly what you’re thinking and feeling when you’re riding, you are absolutely right! Horses are incredibly sensitive to human thoughts and emotions, so his level of trust – and ultimately his behavior – depends a lot on your mental state during a ride. Because horses are prey animals, their safety requires that they are constantly alert. They rely on their keen ability to read everything in their environment – including you – and the ambient emotional tenor of their surroundings directly impacts their emotional stability.

The importance of being present

When you’re with your horse, staying present is one of the best ways to earn his trust. If you get mentally distracted by what you’re going to make for dinner or what you need to buy at the grocery store, your horse may spook or bolt before you realize what’s happening. He’ll pick up on the fact that you aren’t present, and will overreact to the snap of a broken twig because he thinks he has to protect himself. Even the most “pushbutton” horses experience the “fight or flight” instinct when they suspect they aren’t safe.

A Chinese medicine perspective

In Chinese medicine the spirit of the animal is important. Emotions such as fear and anxiety can seriously disrupt the health and well-being of an animal – especially a prey animal. When faced with a fearful situation, horses want to run away as fast as they can. If the horse can’t get away, anxiety builds, and at an extreme level of stress, horses can become selfdestructive, which is not a good survival strategy. Your job as a rider is to help allay your horse’s fears and provide a sense of security. Building trust between you and your horse is essential, even before mounting to ride. Being present while riding lets your horse know you are alert and want to protect him. Trainers tell you to look where you want the horse to go because the horse knows where you are looking. It’s a good motto.

An acupressure session to build trust

Acupressure is based on Chinese medicine and can help build the bond between you and your horse. There are specific acupressure points, also called “acupoints,” that are known to promote a sense of trust. Just by offering your horse this acupressure session every fourth or fifth day as part of your grooming regimen, you will enhance your connection. When your horse trusts you and you both feel a strong sense of being bonded, your training and riding together takes on a whole new level of enjoyment. You become a special team!

‘Bond’ courtesy of: Agnieszka Gulczynska Fotografia https://fotogulczynska.wordpress.com

Point Location Yin Tang Located on the dorsal midline, slightly above the midpoint of the eyes. St 36 One-half inch lateral to the tibial crest on the lateral side of the tibia. Pe 6 Medial aspect of front leg, cranial to the midpoint of the chestnut. Bai Hui Found on dorsal midline at the lumbosacral space.

Tallgrass Animal Acupressure Resources Copyright 1996-2019 All Rights Reserved www.animalacupressureresources.com

Amy Snow and Nancy Zidonis are the authors of

Acu-Horse: A Guide to Equine Acupressure, Acu-Dog: A Guide to Canine Acupressure and Acu-Cat: A Guide to Feline Acupressure.

They founded Tallgrass, offering books, manuals, DVDs, apps, and meridian charts. Tallgrass also provides online training programmes worldwide. Visit: www.animalacupressureresources.com Email: amy@animalacupressure.com Facebook: AnimalAcupressure

Float loading your horse... Let’s talk about it from the horses’ perspective:

1. A float is a small, dark space. This isn’t a naturally inviting environment for them. In fact, this can be an extremely aversive place, indeed. 2. In some horses that are used to following our feet into the float.

When we leave them, there is no point of reference for them.

Horses can then panic. 3. They may have been lunged/chased/whipped/dragged into the float, creating a fearful state. Fear and pain become strongly ingrained. Worst of all, they have suffered some sort of injury in a float. It then becomes something to be avoided at all costs. 4. If someone has driven the float erratically with the horse losing his footing, or the driver has accelerated around corners (thereby leading to the horse scrambling) the horse will have an associative fear memory of this. 5. The horse has been successful in an escape trial from the float. You may have a horse that bolts as he reaches the base of the ramp. As these behaviours become more practised, they form part of a habit very quickly. 6. You are fearful. Your anxiety levels rise. You start to move quickly, furtively, and the horse doesn’t respond well to you. Your heart rate is up. The horse detects that you are anxious, and his behaviour begins to get worse too.

What do you think rewards the horse at that moment? ESCAPE!

...nightmare? or ‘thanks, or ‘thanks, maybe some maybe some other time!’ other time!’

How many of you dream of going out to a trail ride, a clinic or the beach, but don’t even dare get the float out? Or, for those of you who have moved passed the fear of hitching up the float, are you already worrying about how you are going to get the horse on? Or how he/she will go on when it’s time to come home? Some familiar clients’ experiences:

• You are moving agistment and need to be at the new property at a pre-arranged time. The stress levels are already high, and then you start the process of loading the horse. He simply will not move his feet onto the ramp. Not for anything. • The beach ride was calling. You went with the utmost dread that the last time you were there, it took 4 hours to load your horse on the return trip. Your worse fears come true, and the horse will not load once you’ve ridden. • It’s dark, you’ve been to an evening clinic until 7.30 pm. You are both tired, and you really want to go home. The horse slips on the float – there is dew on the ramp. The horse gets a fright and won’t load in the dark. These are all issues I have been called to help with. I bet these experiences will resonate with many of you. Hopefully, once you have read this article, you will have a clearer idea of how to go about loading safely and, vitally, what it is you are doing right and wrong in float loading your horse.

From our perspective: It’s no big deal! 1. He always loaded well at the old place. (Your horse cannot reason, so forget trying to explain this one) 2. It isn’t a big deal, I promise. (Your horse cannot reason.) 3. It is only down the road, and he’s been there loads of times. (Your horse cannot reason). 4. He’ll love it when you get there (Guess what? Yes, you’ve got it….) 5. You loved it last time! (Finally, your horse cannot reason!) And, so on and so forth until you slump down on the float ramp, your bottom landing heavily and begin to sob with frustration. Or, if you are really unlucky, someone unhelpful arrives and suggests you lunge, chase, hit, shout or, “show him whose boss!” So, how do we go about float loading carefully and safely?

Take Your Time!

Allow plenty of time to get to your destination. Double the amount of time it usually takes you. That way, you will not feel rushed and anxious. Importantly, you will both feel calmer when loading.

The Training Part

Remember this saying,

“Float Loading is simply a line of well-trained responses”.

Here we go:

Equipment:

• Helmet • Schooling whip • Gloves • Float Boots (not compulsory, but nice to have) • Rope Head-collar and a lead rope/rein. Preferably 2m plus long. • Rubber-coated anti-rearing bit if your horse has a habit of bolting or rearing from the ramp.

The fear of the float will naturally challenge your leading responses. Therefore your horse’s leading responses need to be deepened before going anywhere near the float. It is also important that the horse does not fear the whip. It should only really be an extension of your arm and NEVER used for punishment.

TRAINING NOTES:

• It is vital that you stop the pressure (with either rein or whip taps) when the horse is offering the correct response. • It is equally vital that you do not stop the lead pressure and tapping when the horse is offering the incorrect response of running back. • It is essential that Negative Reinforcement (Pressure/Release) is combined with Positive Reinforcement by using a wither rub. Choose a day you feel calm, and there is nowhere you need to float your horse to. Park your float on a flat area with a good, non-slip surface around the float.

Horses learn by Trial and Error. This means that the behaviour that comes BEFORE the pressure is the one that is reinforced. TAKE SEVERAL LONG, DEEP BREATHS

Start with giving your horse a nice long wither rub. This helps to lower their heart-rate and blood pressure. It is also a great way to reward a horse.

1. Have the partition wide as this will be Part A. The partition can be slowly re-positioned as the float training moves forward. 2. Ask the horse to move towards the float ramp and stand facing the horse’s rear.

3. Facing the horse’s rear is important because if he/she starts to run backwards, you can run with them, whip tapping the shoulder with lead-rein pressure saying move forward. 4. Aim for one step onto the float ramp. Reward with release of your rein pressure, your voice and that all-important wither rub. 5. Ask for a slow step off the ramp by using the lead-rein pressure back towards the chest. Once the horse offers a step back with each front leg, then remove any rein pressure. 6. Your horse needs to learn to step on and off the float ramp calmly and with light pressure. 7. At this point, I like to train them to take as many steps as I want onto the ramp and then move back off the ramp when I ask. This is deepening your ‘stop’ and ‘go’ responses before heading into the more aversive area.

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8. Don’t worry too much if the horse is stepping onto the ramp from the side. Once you have a light pressure to the ‘go’ forward, you can straighten them with gentle whip taps to the hindquarters – near the hocks, which is a yield of the hindquarters. 9. Train your horse to walk up and back all over the ramp. 10. Ask for your horse to take one step inside the float. Wait, then ask for one step back – you are beginning to gradually ‘shape’ the behaviour you want whilst your horse is calm. 11. When you ask for a step forward or back – ensure that your horse stays put without pressure until you ask for the next step. 12. When your horse leads calmly into the float and reverses calmly out of the float, then it is time to teach them to move into the float without you.

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Equestrian Bridle fits a 14hh Pony to a 16.2 hh Horse. Will be the same as Part A, with the movement of steps but now, gradually move the float partition in towards the centre and keep training the horse to walk up and backwards off the float.

Self-Loading

Walk towards the float calmly and with a good rhythm. As you stop your feet moving, keep asking for forwards, put the lead rein over their neck, and, if necessary, gently apply a light whip tap to the top of the rump to encourage them to keep moving forward. Be ready to tap faster if the horse tries to reverse out.

This will quickly become a horse that self-loads.

Once loaded, and calmly standing. You can train the horse to reverse when you ask by giving a signal that tells him that you want him to start reversing. I remove the bum bar first. Then I give my horse a tap on the top of the tail and one very gentle tail pull to say move backwards – I also say “back” just before I do the tail pull. The horse will learn to back out on my voice cue without having to do anything else. The important thing to note is that he only moves backwards when I give him the cue.

Common problems & Simple Solutions.

Turning away:

Some horses want to turn their heads away (to make the aversive thing go-away), followed by a turn with the shoulders and then the hindquarters. There is usually an attempt at bolting as the shoulders begin to turn. This needs to be addressed quickly at the start of the head turn. The horse needs to keep his head facing in the direction of the float. The thing to take note of is, do not turn your horse away in a circle then re-present him to start float loading again. This is reinforcing the wrong thing by turning his head and body away from the float.

Running/jumping on:

This should not be encouraged as it is part of the flight response. See if you can slow the walk down before you get near the float. On a different day to train - Try practising over a pole, slowing the front leg as the horse moves his leg over the pole. If you practise this, you will find you have much more control over the front legs when the horse begins to step onto the float.

Not staying on:

This is a problem with your ‘go’ button. The horse steps back and feels the pressure on the lead rein. He should move forward to release the tension on the lead rein. Try gentle whip taps on the rump if the horse attempts to move backwards out of the float without being asked.

Rearing:

If the horse rears to prevent loading; keep tapping with the whip until the horse lands and steps forwards. The horse may try this again – repeat. You will find that very soon, the horse no longer trials rearing. If you stop tapping when the horse rears, then both the flight response and head-tossing are reinforced (i.e. more likely to be trialled again) If you are worried about your horse hitting his/her head on the trailer roof – there are various poll guards on the market to help. With correct training, however, the horse learns to lower the head to avoid the roof.

TRAINING TIPS:

• Ensure that the timing of your release of pressure is good. • Use lots of wither rubs (Positive Reinforcement) • Ensure you are not rushing. Take your time. Slow is best. • A shorter session is far preferable to a long one. • Your horse’s ability to learn and concentrate is short and takes a lot of mental energy. • If things go wrong. Finish on a good note, then go and make yourself a cup of tea.