Training Tips

QUESTION: Hi Sylvia – I have a Morgan that is 5 and is well trained, but is here at my training center for “summer camp” as his owner puts it while she is recovering from a knee replacement. This horse does great, but is very sensitive to the rope over his body, with excessive flinching, butt-tucking and what appears to be over-sensitivity. I have checked for pain in the back, ribs, flank, hips, etc., but no indications. I had another Morgan a couple months ago acting the same and never did get over it during his short 30 day stint here. Do you find some breeds more sensitive than others such as Morgans? The slapping of the macate seems to hurt him. Most all horses in training become nonchalant about it and stop flinching after the first session, but it seems to hurt him and I don’t want to torture him. Otherwise he is great in every aspect and he doesn’t freak out, just anticipates, tucks his butt, flinches and looks at me like “why are you torturing me?” What are your thoughts and experience about this type of horse? Thank you.

REPLY: No, Morgan's aren't any more prone or sensitive to ropes than any other breed. What you are seeing there are horses who have been abused with ropes or whips in the past and they now have a "sensory memory" they are having a hard time letting go of. But they're fixable! I get these types all the time. Here's what I've found works:

Have them in the natural horsemanship halter/12' lead (no clips; lead tied on). After rubbing the horse all over with the lead rope -- basic first desensitizing...

Stand on the left side. Choke up a little on the lead with your left hand (no slack) so you can keep control of the horse's head and able to pull the horse's head into you in a pinch (and his more dangerous hind quarters away from you) if/when needed during this exercise, if he moves too much at first.

Now, with the right hand with the rest of the lead in it, grab the lead about half-way distance down the rest of that rope. You're going to have a long extension of the lead still dangling there. Throw the lead high and over the horse's back. It'll land on the other side. And yes, the popper end might swing underneath the belly and slap a little, but just ignore that. The horse can and will get used to it. But just as quickly after the toss-over, slide the lead off like a snake, let it slap the ground on your far right and toss it again. Toss high, don't tip-toe here.

You're not going to tip toe around this, you're just going to keep throwing the rope over the horse, sliding it back off, slap the ground with the end (helps you build the momentum for this exercise), throw it again. And again. And again. At first the horse is going to tuck the tail, do all the things you're seeing there, but do it a hundred times just on that one side. Don't look at the horse's face/eye, have your left shoulder to the horse, your body facing the horse's back or the rear of the horse. Just keep throwing. First start in the saddle area and as the horse stops moving/ignores it more as you progress there, start moving out of that saddle area for the toss. Toss across the shoulders. Dozens of times. Toss it across the hip. A hundred times. Then the neck. Toss it high, let it land there, settle there briefly, then slide it off, slap the ground.

Tip: if the horse is very, very fearful about this, explosively, etc., I'll break it down a little at first by having my left hand (which is also holding the lead closest to the horse's face) be stroking the horse's neck at the same time I'm tossing the lead with my right hand. A soothing, stroking hand (never pat!) on the horse can speed along desensitizing exercises because it tells the horse silently, "I'm not asking anything of you, only tossing a rope here, not to worry!" But I do work to wean them off my stroking hand when I think the horse can handle it, so that they get used to the rope flying up and over them.

This is a very rhythmic thing with no real pauses. Do it on just one side, as many times as it takes (take your watch off, ignore the time -- I sit there and have long conversations with a client to pass the time when I'm doing this particular one to a too-rope-sensitive horse -- had one just this past Monday with this problem, but got him past it in one session, to the astonishment of the owners). Ignore the horse's reactions, keep your body language nonthreatening, nonchalant, even distracted-like, just do this rotely, repetitively. After you've done it a hundred times on one side, and the horse can handle it well (via you reading the body language, but even keep doing it long past his handling-it point), now switch over and do it the same way on the other side.

I also work on tossing the lead over the horse's head multi times and then work up to facing the horse in front (but no eye-to-eye contact; look high up at the top of the horse's head) and swinging my rope so it wraps around & around the horse's head, then unravel it. Many times until it's no big deal to the horse at all.

Trust me, if you grasp what I'm saying here, how to do all this, it will get those horses past this rope over-sensitivity issue. This rope tossing exercise works wonders to fix rope-squeamish horses. And totally raises their fear/sensitivity bar there to a nonexistent issue after that. Do this both sides in a one-day lesson, do it a lot, then put the horse away so it's the last thing he remembers. Next time you come back, do it again and he'll be farther than where you left him. Couple of times of that and the issue will be gone. Repeat: don't tip-toe around this. The horse will get used to anything you ask of him there, just keep doing it.

All of the above (and much, much more) is taught in my Whispering Way 12-Step Total Training System DVD set. Usually it helps to see this natural horsemanship art taught visually, to really understand how it is all done. You can get that DVD set here: CLICK HERE

And incidentally...my Whispering Way Complete Training Package contains all my videos and training tools that you need to train or retrain your horse yourself the natural horsemanship Whispering Way. You can check out/order the Whispering Way Complete Training Package on my web site here: CLICK HERE

Give it a shot! Works! You might try practicing this particular rhythmic rope toss on a fenceline first to get the hang of what I'm talking about.