My gelding, Magnum, has been the perfect horse for me to learn from! He was 5 years old when I met him & he had (& still has!) quite a few 'quirks' to work on. Before I got him, out in the pasture with the other geldings, he was clearly the 'head of the herd'. (So as not to intimidate me further, it was years before Jake told me that the darkest horses are the herd leaders, &, wouldn't you know, I picked the darkest color!) Magnum controlled the feeding by pushing the others out of the way to get their food, he'd kick the other horses if they pestered him, he'd stand back while the other geldings galloped around in play, and, as a lesson horse before I bought him, he seemed to intimidate some riders who became down right afraid to ride him. But, from the beginning, I felt that, like me, he just had some things to learn.
Unfortunately, for the first 2 years after I bought him, not knowing much of anything about horse behavior or training myself, Magnum had pretty much free reign (pun intended!) to get 'set-in-his-ways', so to speak, & TOTALLY have me buffaloed! He could sense that I knew nothing, so he couldn't count on me to be his leader, let alone be his partner, which IS the ultimate goal!
But I digress. Let me show y'all how I've learned to "sack out" my horse. I do this with any new object I bring around him.
# 2.
In picture # 1, I'm letting Magnum sniff, lick, or even chew on my baseball cap. Can you see from his stance that he's a little leery? In # 2, with the catch rope in one hand, I shake the ball cap on his whithers. If he moves away, I stay/walk with him, continuing to shake the cap until he's used to it & stands still.
# 4.
Next, I work my way to his rump, continuing to shake the ball cap across his back, as in picture #3. If at anytime he balks & gets too excited, I'll start again at his whithers. From his rump, I go over his tail & down his hind legs to his hooves, back up to his belly, shaking the cap under his belly toward his front legs, down one side of his front legs to his front hooves & back up his front legs to his chest, as shown in #4.
Once he's copasetic on one side, I move to his other side & repeat the process. Remember to stop anytime he gets too excited, & begin again at his whithers.
His reward at the end of a successful session is a rub on the forehead. By 'successful', I mean when he has tried his best & we've stopped on a good note! If I get impatient or disgusted or mad at ANY point while working with my horse, & leave the area, Magnum will only assume that where I left off was the correct result, & it will take me 10 times longer to get it right in the future. And, believe me, I've made that mistake too often, even when I was unaware at the time that I'd stopped too soon!
If you try this method with your own horse, please e-mail me to let me know how it went! I've used this process with every new item I've brought out to the roundpen, including the lead rope, halter, saddle & blanket, jackets, saddlebags, etc.....anything you want your horse NOT to be afraid of. FEAR is one of the 3 F's of survival that you want to help your horse control.
