calm down a spooky horse

Question

spooky horse   QUESTION: hello ma'am. today in the morning, i had been to racecouse to see my horse. i saw a 2 year old horse being led by the groom with stable lad sitting astride to the backyard. this baby horse got spooked and tried to rear. so, to calm down the horse, i started making a kissing sound and a small whistle. it got more spooked and turned in a circle. the groom started scolding me why did i make the kissing sound, it would spook baby horses more. i was really upset and left home.

so ma'am, what should i do when the horse spooks and tries to rear or turn in a circle?

ANSWER: Hello Rohit,

In this situation the groom may have been correct.

The horse did not know you,
and a kissing noise might have been interpreted by him as a signal to move even more.
You have no way of knowing what verbal cues they may use to influence this horse for certain behaviors.

Many people "cluck" to their horses to move over in the stall, or to move forward. Some may use a kissing sound.

It is also possible that the the noise you made made no difference one way or the other. The horse was already in "flight" mode, so you may not have had any influence at all.

The horses that I work with know that I have a two- tone whistle that I use to calm them. They get used to it and it certainly helps. So your first instinct to calm the horse with a sound was based on good intent...it is just that the horse did not know you and the groom blamed you for the worse behavior.

Many people, maybe more dressage trainers with European influence, have a wonderful B-r-r-r-rt noise that they make to praise the horse. I have trouble making this noise, so that is why I have my whistle sound.  

The best thing to do in learning is to watch, decide what you like and dislike about training methods and the way horse handlers react to their horse's behavior. Keep your ego low, and ask questions. Be respectful and listen even if you do not agree. Usually horse people LOVE to give advice, (ha, h,a what I am doing), and you will gain from their years of experience.

You are very astute, and you ask quesitons about things that most people learning would take for granted, so I applaud you. If something like this happens again, shrug it off, apologize, and maybe ask a quesiton if the person has time. You may gain some new insights.

I really like your illustrations.

Mitzi Summers
www.MitziSummers.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thanks a lot for your advice.
so ma'am, our grooms shout by saying

"hey . . . bloody . . . . make a move . . . "

and abuse the horse by hitting with the tip of the lead rope on its haunches if it gets spooked and tries to rear.

they in turn tell me that until and unless they hit the horse, they wont be in their control as they are growing older. i still dont accept this method. its an animal, why it should be abused for every silly reason.

there is a common trick used at our racecourse.
whenever our horses act mean, they receive 2 cracks from the groom with lead rope. ma'am, you would be wondering, those type of horses would stay quiet after receiving 2 cracks.

i practically saw it. my friend, a stable head, made the horse stand still by holding the lead rope while the groom was giving a bath to the horse. the horse was so mean, it was nibbling his fingers, shaking its head, trying to bite him. he calmly walked upto the horse back, gave 2 cracks with the tip of the lead rope on the horse haunches, it stayed quiet. i really wondered. after few seconds, it started sniffing his head. then, he was trying to talk to the horse,

"hey CHAMP, wanna eat oats and barley ? ?"

NOW, WHAT IS YOUR COMMENT ON THIS TRICK OF MAKING A HORSE STAY CALM?

Answer
Hello Rohit,

Every situation with a horse is different- even if it is the same horse.
For example, a horse may be genuinely startled by something. Remember they are prey animals.
The only reason they survuved as a species was their ability to flee from danger immediately.

If something genuinely "spooks" him, he cannot help but react. If his nature tells him to flee for his life and he is held back by a rope, then he will rear or turn in circles-anything to get away.

Think if you were a child and crossing the street and suddently a car horn blasts at you loudly and you react by jumping.Does it make sense that your parent would then immediately strike you? Of course not. It was an involuntary action.

If a horse is really startled he has no choice in his reaction. It is quite incorrect to hit him. He will become frightened of his handler and lose trust. If you mistreat an animal enough, they will fear you more than anything and may not react to something, but who wants to
take the "essence of the horse" away?

You can train a horse to trust you, and look to you for guidance, and then he is much less likely to be afraid.  

If , however, the horse just really feels good and wants to "let off steam", and ignores his handler, and gets into his space and puts him in danger, then the groom may speak sharply to him or even yank on the lead rope. I would back the horse away from me and cause him to side step on purpose-I would still hardly ever hit him.

You will see a lot of abuse going on in the handling of horses almost wherever you go. It is just a sad fact of working with horses.

Mitzi Summers
www.MitziSummers.com