Do  you ever wonder why horses continue to spook at things they have seen a hundred times before? It’s because they have a hard time generalizing objects. Just because a large, pink floral arrangement by the dressage arena didn’t eat your horse last week, it doesn’t necessarily mean that a small, yellow one might not do it on Saturday.
Horses are inherently skeptical of new things – we all know that. But a rider could be forgiven for thinking the horse might be “doing it on purpose” when for the umpteenth time, a dressage test or showjumping round is ruined by inappropriate displays of avoidance behaviour.  When it seems as if the horse is “making up reasons” to spook during training or competition, the true explanation is much simpler than you might think. Those objects and experiences, which you assume are all the same as the ones your horse has encountered many times before, are actually not the same to your horse. They are completely different, new things for him to deal with, because even small changes to his environment matter to a horse.

HORSES DON’T GENERALIZE “SPOOKY” OBJECTS

Danish behavioural scientist, Dr. Janne Winther-Christensen, has experimented on horses to find out whether teaching them not to be afraid of five different objects will make it easier or quicker to train the horses not to be afraid of a sixth object. The answer is, it doesn’t. Every new object is viewed with the same suspicion – the horse evolved in this way to survive in the wild. There could be a predator lurking behind every rock, and the day the horse assumes that the coast is clear, may well be the day he gets eaten.
“My research shows that you can’t necessarily avoid spooking by showing your horse a lot of different things. Because you can’t show it everything in the world. There will always be something in the environment which is different or unknown, and which may cause the horse to spook,” explains Dr. Winther-Christensen.

LEARN TO NIP SPOOKING IN THE BUD

Instead, the emphasis should be on the ability of the rider to handle the horse’s reactions correctly. You can practice this at home by making changes to the environment which are likely to motivate your horse to show mild avoidance behavior. Hang a blanket in an unusual place on the arena fence, put a tarpaulin on the ground, decorate with streamers or balloons, leave an open umbrella lying around – whatever you can think of. And then practice getting your horse to keep its line and speed in spite of all the lurking dangers. “At first, you may find that the horse’s motivation to avoid the novel objects will overshadow your aids, and cause the horse to take its own line, possibly at its own speed,” warns Dr. Winther Christensen. “So it’s always a good idea to start by checking how the horse reacts in hand, before you proceed to ride past the scary objects.”  As your training progresses, you should find that your aids start to overshadow the influence of the strange objects, allowing you to proceed with any figure or exercise you choose, regardless of the environment. You may have to use stronger pressures at times, but remember to release for any try and aim to reduce the amount of pressure needed to a very light touch.

DON’T FREAK HIM OUT!

If the horse becomes very frightened, you have to start with fewer, less scary objects. “The last thing you want is a flight response, where the horse learns to increase the distance between itself and the object by performing a reactive behaviour such as shying or running away,” says Dr. Winther-Christensen. “This confirms the horse’s suspicion that the object is something to flee from, and makes flight reactions to novel objects more likely to occur in the future. So don’t ask for more than the horse can comfortably handle. Depending on how well it has been trained to respond to the basic signals to stop, back up, go forward and turn, this may be very little at first.” The point of the exercise is not just to habituate the horse to the various objects – after all, you will rarely encounter a tarpaulin during your dressage test. But to train yourself to remain in control of your horse’s line and speed in spite of scary objects telling him to run for his life or at the very least go crooked. “When you can remain in control of your horse in the presence of traffic cones, tarpaulin, open umbrellas and streamers, you’ll be able to ride straight past any floral arrangement or judge’s hut at the dressage show as well.”

BASIC OBEDIENCE IS PARAMOUNT

Obviously, the better your horse responds to your aids when there are no scary objects present, the better he will be once he feels he has cause to be suspicious. If your horse can’t stay on a straight line in an even rhythm at the best of times, you’re likely to have even bigger problems when you find yourself in hot water. You may find that you have to start by establishing clear, basic signals without the presence of environmental challenges and only then introduce the scary objects. Your horse has to respond to light aids. This shows that he understands the signals you are giving him. And you need him to understand if you are to use those same aids to stay in control when he feels like running away.

DON’T PUNISH

Spooking is basically about fear. Irrational to you, maybe, but very appropriate as far as your horse is concerned. So punishing him for shying is likely to make the problem worse. The calmer your horse is, the less likely he is to spook. So make sure you correct any mistakes by simply asking again for the desired behaviour. Telling him what to do is a lot less confusing for him than telling him what not to do. Also make sure that any tendency to spook is not caused by an underlying problem such as physical pain or insufficient turn out time or opportunity for social interaction with other horses.

If you liked this article you might also be interested in the Overshadowing Training article. Click here to read