Approach/Retreat, Visualization, Anticipation
by Rhett Russell Natural Horse Supply
This is a technique used to introduce new situations or stimulus to a horse. The main point to remember with this method is that you don’t go for everything all at once, this is a building block method of introducing something to the horse. Approach or gradually introduce new stimulus to the horse in small steps and retreat or remove the stimulus before it becomes unpleasant, keep working until you get to your goal. Be patient, depending on what you are trying to do, this may take some time – 20 minutes, 2 hours, 3 days, 2 weeks, etc. You need to make sure that this is a good experience for the horse. And most importantly, reward the horse for appropriate behavior.
By gradually introducing stimulus or a tool to the horse you not only get the horse to respond the way you want, but you can predict what the outcome of a situation will be. Instead of just flopping a saddle pad on a green horse, a better method would be:
Show the horse the pad, let him smell it.. REWARD for appropriate behavior.
Touch the horse with the pad on the side, legs, back, and belly. REWARD for appropriate behavior. When the horse is calm and can stand still, move on to the next step.
Place the saddle pad on the horse. Move it around the horses back. REWARD for appropriate behavior. When the horse is calm and can stand still, move on to the next step.
Throw the pad on the horse’s back. Take it off, and throw it back on. REWARD for appropriate behavior.
This process may take 10 minutes on one horse and 4 days on another. Don't give yourself a time limit. Take what the horse will give and work with it. If everything goes well, you have introduced something new to your horse with minimal risk for failure at each step in the process. You can do this with fly spray, plastic bags, flags, balloons, or just about anything.
We have a young horse that was ear twitched by the previous owner in order to get a saddle on. As you can probably guess, this horse wouldn’t allow anyone to touch her ears for fear that they would get twitched again. This was kind of important because we figured that someday we would want to put a bridle on this horse.
The approach & retreat method worked very well in this instance. We started by rubbing her head. When we were able to do this reliably, we worked up to rubbing the base of her ear using a stroking motion. It’s important not to move fast with your hands here. After we were comfortable with the base of her ear we tried a long slow stroking motion on the entire ear. At first the horse would quickly move it’s head away. After a while the horse tolerated this contact. The next step was to introduce my thumb on the inside of her ear. Again, the horse would quickly move it’s head away. Eventually, we have gotten to the point where the horse likes to have it’s ears rubbed.
It only took two minutes for the original owner to screw this horse up and it took us two weeks of 15 minute sessions per day to get this horse back. Remember to constantly reward the horse for appropriate behavior.
Tiny steps toward the big picture… Think about where you want to end up and how you are going to get there. A good way to do this is through visualization, think about this in your mind and get a "visual picture" of what you want to do.
A good example of this is "hooking on", Monty Roberts calls this "Join Up". What good is it to have a horse that follows you around? What do you accomplish by this? The end result from the hooking on is that your horse should have enough respect that it will respond to you at liberty. How are you going to get to this point?
Visualize your horse hooking on with you at the end of a lead rope.
Then visualize your horse hooking on with you in a round pen.
Then visualize your horse hooking on with you in an arena.
Then visualize your horse hooking on with you in a 100’ by 300’ paddock.
Then visualize your horse hooking on with you in a 1-acre turn out.
Then visualize your horse hooking on with you in a 5-acre pasture.
Then visualize your horse hooking on with you in a 5-acre pasture with 10 other horses.
Then visualize your horse hooking on with you in open rangeland.
And your still not done…
Now visualize yielding your horse in each of these situations, just like the lead mare in a herd would do.
Thinking ahead of your horse is a skill that will help your training. When you are working with your horse and you see or feel something that might cause an impending reaction (positive or negative) you should cue into this so that you can be ready to take advantage of the situation. If you are the kind of person who drives through town and can speed up or slow down your car to match the traffic lights (assuming your town has a traffic light!) you already know how to anticipate a situation.
For example, if you were walking down a trail that had a large puddle of water in it, think about what options the young or green horse has:
1). Walk through the puddle of water.
2). Jump over the water.
3). Walk around the water.
4). Spin and go the other direction.
5.) Stop.
6). None of the above.
And you as the leader have these options:
1). Anticipate the puddle and support your horse through the situation.
2). Get nervous, pull back on the reins and make a big deal out of the situation.
3). Let the horse walk around the water.
4). Just sit there and let the horse decide what to do.
5). None of the above.
As you know, the correct answers would be: Walk through the puddle of water, anticipate the puddle and support your horse through the situation. The point being, you just never know what the young horse is going to do in every situation. Every experience that you have with your horse has options for both you and the horse. You need to be able to consider (anticipate) what those options are, think about possible outcomes and then support your horse to the desired outcome. Know what you want to do before you get into a situation where you have to make split second decisions.
Even a calm horse that is dead broke will falter once in a while. You need to anticipate when these types of things are likely to occur and be ready. We were out trail riding near Mt. St. Helens and my horse stepped on a bees nest. I was riding in a rope halter with a very loose rein. The bees started stinging my horse on the legs and face. The horse’s first reaction was to spin and get the heck out of there. My reaction was to drive her forward (and get the heck out of there). This was a bad situation in a good place, the trail was wide and there was plenty of room to maneuver safely. We had just come off a trail that had a 200 foot drop off the side. My first reaction, not to over react and support the horse through the situation made a potential big deal into something smaller.
Don’t dwell on negative things – turn them into something positive. If you never do something because your afraid or nervous, you’ll never get the horse to experience those things that will help them through their fear. If your horse is afraid of cows (we see this a lot with "city horses") and you won’t go near a cow because of this, what are you going to do if you come across a cow and absolutely have to go by it. You need to challenge your horse and support him through these types of situations. If you know what your horse’s weaknesses are, work on them. A brave horse is a predictable horse.
Your horse wants you to be predictable and consistent too. You don’t want to be uncertain or inconsistent and cause your horse to question what you’re asking. For example, if you get into a situation such as the example of the puddle of water above and let the horse spin and get out of the job. And the next time that you come across the puddle you get the horse to go forward but let him go around the puddle of water. What’s going to happen when you come across a puddle of water in the future? You wouldn’t know because you’ve been inconsistent with your responses in each of these situations. With training and experience, you can make situations such as the puddle reliable. Your job is to be consistent and support your horse through these experiences. You have the option to either think about what’s happening or just bounce along and let the horse take you for a ride – your choice! (c) 1999 Natural Horse Supply, Cloudburst Farm, and Rhett & Marilou Russell. Reposted with permission.
