Scary bottles

Question
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Followup To
Question -
I just discovered my 8 year old Quarter Horse gelding is afraid of spray bottles, even if I take the sprayer part off, its still scary. He is a little spooky on the ground in general, so when I'm grooming him I do it in the round pen without him tied. This generally keeps both of us from getting hurt. His mane was a mess and I was trying some detangler and couldn't get within 10 feet of him. ? Do you have a suggestion to help me teach him that, this bottle and other new things are not scary?
Answer -
Hi Nicky,
         Have you first checked for a physical cause for the spooking? I:e poor vision? If there is no physical cause then I would be your guy in the round pen and rub whatever he is cared of all over him until he is used to it. When you brush him keep the bottle in your other hand and just rub him with it. Let him sniff it, put it on the ground and let him play with it. When he is able to tolerate that without spooking I would pretend to spray him and make a hissing noise. When he stands for that then I usually then take the spray bottle and while being very close to his neck I spray it on the horse. I will then tell them they are a good boy or girl if they cooperate and give them a small treat.  The horse eventually sees the item that they previously spooked at as something nice. If it is a tarp they are spooking at then I put the tarp in the round pen and let them play with it. I will tie a bag to the side of the round pen so that they get used to it. The more a horse sees something and associates it with something pleasant then they will be more willing to tolerate new items.

Lisa


Thanks, a lot of that will help, once I get him to let me close to him with it. Do I just leave him in the round pen with it? Do I stall him with the bottle? Right now, he won't let me near him if I have it in my hand. I think if I put it in the round pen with him, he'd just ignore it?
How do I introduce it?

Answer
If you keep him in a stall then I would tie a hay string to the neck of his bottle and hang it near where you hay or grain him in the stall. You want him to get desensitized to it. Put it in a bucket and let him play with it. This way he will realize that the big scary bottle is harmless.


Lisa