Whenever you are in contact with your horse, you are teaching him something. This may be consciously, or unconsciously. He might be learning that he can rub his nose on you when he likes, or, that if he stomps his foot you feed him, or, that if he puts his head down low you will stop pulling on his leadrope. Some things we want to teach him, some things we dont realise we have, until it gets out of hand.
You may not know it, but letting your horse rub against you when he feels like it, tells him that he is in charge of your personal space. Over time, it will turn into giving you a shove, pushing in front of you when you are trying to lead him, barging you to get to his food, and will end up with a horse who does not respect you as the "herd leader".
I often find people are sensitising, when they want to be desensitising, and desensitising when they want to be sensitising.
Sensitising - is when you want your horse to respond to a stimulus. eg, move off the leg.
Desensitising - when you want the horse not to respond to a stimulus, eg fiddling about his head to get the bridle on.
How can we get this wrong?
Horses are fast learners. You may think you are doing one thing, when in fact, the horse sees something different.
To sensitise a horse, you give a stimulus, then stop when you get a response, that is his reward. To desensitise, you give a stimulus, and KEEP giving it till the horse STOPS responding, then you stop, that is his reward.
To use the above examples, if I want my horse to be sensitive to the leg, then I need to use it and increase the intensity till a response happens. As SOON as a response is given, preferably at the same time as the response is given, then STOP using the leg. It is very easy to find your self kick kick kicking with your leg if your horse is lazy, or doesnt move forward easily.
However, this is the worst thing you can do. If you kick, and kick , and kick and kick, and get no response or little response, then give up because your legs are tired, then your horse has become or is becoming, desensitised, not sensitised. The more you keep doing it, the more desensitised he will become.
If you are going over a jump, and you tap on the shoulder with the whip every time, regardless of what the horse was doing, then, your horse will stop having a response to the whip at all, and you will need to find another way of making your horse go forward. If not, you will end up with a horse that gets slower and slower and slower, and eventually becomes a "stopper". They really are not a "stopper" but they have been so desensitised, there is no longer a forward response.
A horse like this can be retrained, but it takes good timing, and an understanding of how to re-sensitise the horse to your forward aids.
An example of sensitising when you want to desensitise, is the horse that is difficult to bridle. You try and put the bridle on, the horse moves his head up slightly, you may not even have noticed, but you bring the bridle down to re-arrange it. The second time, he takes his head a little higher, and you turn to your friend and say something, not realising, you moved the bridle away again.
Now his head is high enough you have to stand on your tip toes, and he moves his head slightly, you get off balance, and again, drop the bridle. you have now taught your horse to put his head up when you want to put his bridle on. This is a difficult one if you have a tall horse, because he will always win, you have rewarded him for putting his head up.
Once this has happened, you HAVE to follow him, no matter how high his head goes, CONSISTENTLY, to teach him that you will quit once the bridle is on, and not before. Once a horse has had a few wins like this, it will take a while to retrain, and every time you get lazy and let him move his head up without following it, you will reinforce the bad behaviour.
When you are teaching your horse, which is all the time, think about what you are trying to do, what is the behaviour you want to reward? Can you think of other situations and work out whether you want to sensitise or desensitise? How would you do that? Here are a few to think about
* washing his face
* picking up his feet
* pulling his mane
* walking past barking dogs
* going through water
Have a think about each one, are you trying to get a response or stop a response? So, would you keep giving the stimulus? or give it once and stop as soon as there is a response?
Then, pick something you have trouble with, and practice it. You might be surprised how fast you can change a behaviour.
