Training Tips

QUESTION: Hi. I live in the U.K. and have been benefiting from many of your training tips, thank you. I bought my boy (an English thoroughbred ex-racehorse) almost a year ago and have been re-training him, fairly successfully. One thing he has always been is one hundred percent traffic proof…until two weeks ago when we were out riding and were hit on a narrow lane by a farm tractor and trailer. The driver was going too fast on a bend and swerved, his trailer hitting my poor horse who suffered swelling, bruising and tail hair ripped out at the roots. Thankfully, nothing was broken and I managed to stay on and get him to safety. For three days, he would only eat when I stood by him in the stable, and then when reintroduced to grass. He is now grazing comfortably with his companion horse.

Naturally, he is now petrified of all vehicles, even the smallest, slow-moving car. I have led him, with a friend on the other side of him, on the lane, but he is very strong, and very frightened. I feel that it might be better to be on top and riding him, therefore having both more authority and more control, plus it is what he is more used to, so may be less distressing for him. He is a very sweet-natured horse, although he is a thoroughbred and naturally sensitive and temperamental. I hate that he has been so hurt and want to do all I can to rehabilitate him as quickly and painlessly as possible.

REPLY: Thanks for writing. This is a tough one in that your horse indeed did get injured ("attacked" in his mind!) by a vehicle, so it's a "sensory memory" now. I want to direct you to a link on my web site that talks about how to get your horse over a vehicle fear, but know: it's going to be a little tough because your horse was indeed hit by one, so take your time and break this all down into small baby steps!: http://www.naturalhorsetraining.com/TrainingTips90.html

I wanted to add, however, that I don't quite agree that it would be better to work on this problem in saddle, because in truth, that is potentially far more dangerous to you (or anyone riding this horse for that purpose). It is always much better and wiser to work out these kinds of fears safely on the ground first. Not until the horse is past this issue on the ground should you think about then tackling it in saddle, in my opinion. To start with, plant this into your horse's foundation on the ground right away, so that you have far better control there in general as you start to work on this problem on the ground: http://www.naturalhorsetraining.com/TrainingTips31.html

That will keep you safer and the horse progressing more positively there if you well-plant that into the horse's foundation first, and after that, begin to work on desensitizing the horse to vehicles like I show in the above link.

Hope this helps and good luck to you there!