JULY 2022 THE RIDER /29


Horse-Eating Monsters: 4 Steps To Controlling The Spook


By Kathy Farrokhzad. You’re probably famil-


iar with that horse-eating monster in the corner of the arena. You know - the invis- ible one that pops up even after passing that spot for the 100th time! Or it might get even


better. After going by with- out a thought for the past fif- teen minutes, your horse suddenly decides that the in- visible monster just showed up this moment! And you’re stuck riding the spook rather than riding your plan (hope- fully, you are riding and not on the ground). In any case, your horse


might spook at imaginary objects. He might spook at real objects - as in, the jumps that were moved around and put back differently than the day before. Or he might spook at a sound - no object needed! The spook can be a


problem not only in terms of the potential danger it might cause to you and your horse. Even if it is just a mild side- step or a dropped shoulder to the inside of the ring, your ride can be affected as well. Your horse will likely


drop his back and increase in tension through the body. He might lift his head and look at the offending objects, or step away without even looking. The tempo might be affected and you might find yourself becoming more of a reactive rider than you would like, waiting to see what happens and then


trying to fix it after the spook.


What to do? *Always be safe! If


you feel that you or your horse are not in a safe situa- tion, take steps to de-esca- late the situation. Tone down the ride, avoid the area, get off and work from the ground. Always be super- vigilant about safety for both of you. The solution below might not work for everyone in every scenario. Use your common sense or get help from a professional.* The following solution


is a long-term “fix”. It is not intended to give you a one- off, on-the-spot result. The horse’s response will take time to develop, but if you stick with this routine in every spook situation (as- suming you are safe


enough), you will actually be able to teach your horse what to do when he feels like he should scoot, balk or deke sideways.


Step 1. Do not look at the offend- ing corner or object! Most of us tend to have


our attention attracted to whatever the horse is look- ing at. Your horse says, let’s get outta here! And your body says, wow that is a scary horse-eating monster! And you both end up feed- ing each other’s spook. So first off, assuming


you know what your horse is looking at, look the other way - preferably to the mid- dle of the ring, where there is absolutely nothing to gawk at and everything ap- pears to be calm and boring.


Horse Day returns to Grey Bruce Farmers’ Week Grey Bruce Farmers’ Week (GBFW) is pleased to


announce that its 57th annual event will be back to running in-person at the Elmwood Community Centre in January 2023.


After COVID-19 forced a two year hiatus of in-per-


son gathering, and lowered virtual attendance caused a one year cancellation of GBFW Horse Day, we are thrilled to tell the community that Horse Day will return on Sunday January 8th 2023, from 10 am to 4 pm. Audience members can expect the same high caliber


speakers and tradeshow as ever, not to mention look for- ward to the excellent hot beef on a bun lunch. For those further afield, the conference will be livestreamed and available for watching online as well. New in 2023 will be an option to access presentation


recordings for 30 days after the event. This is done through an online platform and comes as a legacy of our virtual conference years. Along with recordings of the live Horse Day presentations, there will be two on-demand presenta- tions available for those 30 days. This adds additional con- tent to the program without needing to lengthen the daily schedule. This year’s GBFW Horse Day program will include:


• Dr. Wendy Pearson from the University of Guelph • Saddle Fitting for the Good of the Horse with Britt


Blakely and Joyce Cameron • The Top Five Things You Wouldn’t Want to Live


Without In Your Barn with Jason Irwin, Dahna LaChance and Dr. John McKnight • Looking Through the Eyes of a Horse: What Do


They See? with Dr. Chantale Pinard • Sampling Forages with Christine O’Reilly • Dealing with Mud with Dwayne Job More speakers and presentation topics will be an-


nounced as they are confirmed. GBFW Horse Day is part of a weeklong program in-


cluding Beef, Dairy, Goat, Sheep, Ecological and Crops Days. Programs are compiled by local commodity groups, truly making it a farmer’s conference run by farmers. Stay tuned to our website, which will be updated continually with program content, speaker biographies and more in- formation as we move closer to the event: www.gbfw.ca. GBFW is coordinated by Grey Agricultural Serv-


ices, please contact us if you would like more details. Phone: 519-986-3756 Email: info@greyagservices.ca.


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Step 2. Encourage your horse to do the same. This is where your


bend aids come handy. Turn your own body to the inside. Use your inside seat bone and leg to ask for the bend. You can even do a small leg yield out (yes, in the direc- tion of the monster) assum- ing that your horse is looking to the inside away from what he is scared of. Take up just enough


contact so that you have clear communication, and so that you can stop any dan- gerous movements. Try not to pull back. Stabilize your elbows so you don’t pull, and keep your rein length consistent as you bend your horse.


Use your inside rein to help with flexion and get the


horse’s eyes looking toward the middle of the ring. Use your outside rein as a neck rein to prevent the horse from drifting too far out.


Step 3. Go straight. Well, straight on the


turn or bend. So the body stays bent, but the front legs should only go straight for- ward. The hind legs should track right behind the front legs. No side stepping. No stopping. Just GO! Give the horse a way


out - straight ahead. You can give an inch in


your elbows to free the horse’s front end slightly (not a lot, especially if he feels like he is going to fly sideways) to encourage the forward movement.


Step 4. Half-halt. Here comes the half-


halt! Just as in any other movement or transition, use the half-halt after the “go” to control the amount of leg speed and impulsion. Make sure you are committed to the horse’s movement. If the horse lurches forward, go


with him and then control through the half-halts. Do everything you can to not pull on the mouth or jerk the reins or in any way cause discomfort to the horse’s tongue or bars of the mouth. The resulting picture


should be that the horse stays on the path you sent him on. He might spook up a storm, but his legs keep going exactly where they were going in the first place. The horse might tense a bit but as you bend him toward the middle of the ring, he should calm down and settle in his gait. If he learns to go when you ask him to, his rhythm should stay even and his pace should stay unhur- ried.


And then it looks like


there was no spook at all. In the long run, your horse might even learn to not spook because there is noth- ing to spook at in the first place.


Remember that this is a


lesson - it’s a learning process that will take many repetitions for both of you to master, especially if your horse is used to spooking fairly regularly. It’s not a


quick fix and there is a fair amount of learning that must take place on your part until you can communicate it ef- fectively to your horse. At the beginning, ac-


cept any reduction in the spook as an improvement. Over time, you can expect less and less evidence of a spook. Always encourage your horse with your voice, a light pat with your inside hand, or a change of topic after passing the spooky area.


Good luck and remem- ber to be safe!


Bio: Kathy Farrokhzad is an EC coach and author of the Horse Listening book col- lection, Goal Setting For The Equestrian: A Personal Workbook, and the creator of the Practice Sessions on- line program. If you liked what you read here, check out her blog at HorseListen- ing.com for many more arti- cles about horses, riding and life in general. She is also a private online tutor for K- Gr. 6 children at SchoolSuc- cessMastery.com.


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