Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2011/January 2012 | Page 89

EQUESTRIAN

The spooky horse
Equine trainer - Robert Booth BHSI from Rodgebrook Horses

Horse allowed to shy away

Being obedient to riders aid

Whether taking your horse out for
a hack, competing in dressage or
jumping we have all experienced
spooking or shying in a horse at some
time.
He appears nervous, tries to deviate
from the straight or turn around,
sometimes at speed which can be quite
unseating for the rider.
When thinking how to deal with
this problem first consider the
horse’s natural instinct to be a flight
animal. Secondly the horse is a herd
animal and feels more secure in the
company of other horses. A young and
insecure horse that is reluctant to pass
something that looks strange will be
more inclined to follow another horse
past.
Thirdly all horses are individual
and just like people some are bold,
unflappable and take things in their
stride, others are nervous, timid
worriers. An example of this is when
a neighbour’s pig escaped through a
hedge into one of our fields containing
two young horses. One of them bolted
for the gate and looked for a moment
like he would go straight through it.
The other after a moment’s surprise
trotted after the pig and chased it back
through the hedge.

Spooky behaviour in a horse is
exaggerated with outside influences
such as loud noises, sudden
movements and general fuss and
excitement. Correct training from the
beginning will help to establish the
horse always to move forward from the
rider’s leg and except the rein contact.
So when he becomes unsure of
something he has learnt the control, so
if you like he is made to face his fear
and not run from it. At this point it is
the rider’s responsibility to reward and
relax the horse so he realises there is
no danger.
The more obedient your horse is to
ride you can use movements such as
leg yield or shoulder in (where the
horse is bent around one of the riders
legs) to prevent a shy by keeping him
looking a little away from his fear,
but still moving towards it from the
riders leg. The horse cannot shy in the
direction he is looking.
Very often you see a young horse in
the showjumping arena a little afraid
of bright jumps and the rider allows
him to walk up to them on a long
rein and sniff them. To my thinking
this is more likely to cause a problem
than help, as the horse sniffs the jump
he often kicks a bit of dirt that hits

Nothing to fear

the jump and makes a noise and just
spooks him further.
The long reins cannot then prevent
the horse spinning away and all that
has happened is you have reinforced
his fear of the jump. Better to ride
alongside the jump into a rein contact
from the leg, bending the horse
slightly v