This is Ally, a 17 year old Dartmoor cross mare
who was sent to us for an assessment and training. One of the problems she had was
a fear of Alpacas.
At home, she was going past them when she panicked,
leaping and jumping into the air and later on
in her stable, sweating and shaking.
A vet visiting her owner's yard sedated her because she was in such a state.
Today we have brought Ally to a field where some alpacas live.
Although her owner was concerned that training her to cope with alpacas
would bring out the same reaction, in our opinion if a pony has a fear of something
it needs to be worked on, because you do not know when it may manifest itself.
It could also
grow into a bigger problem; for example if Ally was afraid of driving past a
field of alpacas,
she could lose her confidence going past a field of
cows or sheep. This could potentially cause a big accident
if her owner was taking her out somewhere and sheep
had been put in a field that she had to go past. A lack of confidence in one area
can lead to problems showing up in another area, for example
a horse frightened of motorbikes might then take fright
if a car with a similar-sounding revving engine
comes past, or it could start shying at
cyclists.
For this reason we believe it is best
to make horses safe, confident and happy
wherever they are driven and whatever they encounter
and this is why we believe in exposing
horses that we train to lots of different situations
and hazards.
You are not only training them for
when things go right but for anything that could go
wrong as this makes them better prepared.
Just as horses that are frightened of lorries
should be trained to be happy around them, so horses that are frightened of alpacas
or cows, or donkeys or pigs
should also be changed to accept them happily.
Not only will it make your
driving safer
it will also help your horse by keeping them safe
from danger because they are less likely to run away
in blind terror.
Here we have tied her up at the gate to show that she is happy watching the alpacas
with no driver on the reins to restrain her
and nobody to put their foot on the brake. This shows she is happy to stand still
simply because she has been asked to, and she is relaxed even with the alpacas
nearby.
Bear in mind we do not have control over
the alpacas' movements as they are loose in the field. This shows the level of
confidence we have
in the training we have done with Ally and that we know she will not panic
even if the alpacas move.
Notice how she is standing with her leg at rest
and is even confident enough to put her head down and graze.
Although she is tied up she is on a loose rope
which means that if she was afraid she could pull away
or dive forwards or backwards. However we know that she will not do this.
We have always believed that horses should be able to be driven happily
around other animals. We have heard for example
of people refusing to drive their horses at certain shows
because there will be donkeys present and they think that horse may panic.
In our opinion that shows a lack of training
or confidence and skill on the part of the driver
and that the horse in question should be exposed to donkeys
and be trained to accept them happily rather than having his fear indulged.
Trying to keep your horse away from everything that might frighten it
is not always practical or indeed possible.
For example a donkey owner could have bought that empty field that you drive
past.
One day you go past, there is no donkey as usual
and the next day one has suddenly appeared in the field.
If this is your only route out of your yard
your horse either has to cope happily and go past it or you will be unable to drive
out safely
until you have trained it further.
if the driver is worried about how the horse will behave and needs to sedate it
or put it in a stronger bit so they think they have hold of it if it panics,
more training should be done.
Ally's owner
was also feeding her a calming supplement but we are not giving it to her
as we do not think this is the right thing to do because she does not need it.
There are some people who sedate their horses
before going in the show ring in order to control them better
as they cannot then react to the excitement, but we feel that the key to
better control with any horse or pony
is training and not chemical sedation.
As you can see we are driving Ally in a soft
flexible rubber snaffle and not a strong curb bit
that amplifies the amount of pressure the driver puts on the reins.
People are often willing to accept different levels of fear from their
horses, for example some people refuse to drive out on bin day
because their horse is frightened of the dustbin lorry or shies
at the bins left standing on the side of the road.
Rather than accept this as
normal behavior
we think it's a good idea to train your horse to be used to dustbin lorries
and bins so that if anybody ever put the bin out on the wrong day
or you did not realize that the council had changed the day that the
dustbin lorry would be collecting them,
you are not taken by surprise and end up causing an accident
because the horse panics, all for the sake of doing a bit of training beforehand.
If your horse was frightened of its feed bucket
or water trough, you would not stand by and watch him starve
but do your utmost to convince him that the bucket and troughs are safe.
This should surely be the same for anything that frightens your horse out on
the roads
and it will also help you have a better partnership with your horse
because the more things you can do together, the more your horse will trust
you
and the more you will trust your horse.
We consider it
a standard part of every horse's training to get used to being caught
and having a headcollar passed over their nose and behind their ears,
just as we ensure we spend time teaching horses to lead on a leadrope properly
from their field up to their stable, to pick its feet up for the farrier,
or to be picked out, regardless of whether you drive
barefoot or shod, to accept rugs going over its back,
all which can be very frightening for a horse
the first time it is done. Yet we persevere
because we consider this as "the basics" - the absolute minimum
that a horse should be able to do, for example
if it needed emergency handling or care.
Therefore why is it
not the same to consider traffic training, or getting them used donkeys
as a vital part of their basic education? We need to raise the standards
of what we consider to be "a good safe horse" and to widen
their basic training curriculum so they are better prepared for life ahead.
And just because the horse is young does not mean that this training cannot be
done with them.
With all these things mentioned
over time we accept that the horse will be able to cope with it,
for example having a headcollar put on without moving their head away,
having a rug put on without flinching and having their feet picked
up
without resisting. They become part of the horse's daily routine
and nothing to be frightened of. We feel this should be the same
with encountering large lorries or alpacas, or driving over motorway
bridges,
or going into puddles.
Horses can be taught to overcome their fears; we do not expect
Ally to be frightened of this man-made post and rail fence but in this case
it's not a "natural" object and not one she would encounter
out in the wild you would therefore expect it to be more frightened of this
than you would another animal such as a pig for example.
Next, we drive Ally along the fence and move her closer to this alpaca.
Notice how Barry doesn't have his foot on the brake. When we ask her to move
forwards,
she does not shy, jump in the air or swing around to try and run off
the other way.
Notice as well
how she is not sweating in fear, or from exertion.
Even when the alpacas
I'm are moving about
you can see that Ally is happy to stand still on a loose rein
with n-oone at her head to calm her.
Often, a horse
can learn fear from its handler or driver. For example,
many people who send horses to us for traffic retraining are actually
themselves scared of driving out in traffic.
This means they are not capable of giving the horse the reassurance
or confidence it needs in testing circumstances. Ally has confidence in us
on the reins
which means that when we introduce her to the alpacas she listens to us
and as we are behaving as if there's nothing to be frightened of,
she is not frightened either. As you can see here
she has her leg at rest again and is standing still on a loose rein.
This attitude is also important when retraining horses that are frightened of
traffic. As we consider driving in traffic to be normal
and are ourselves not frightened of it, so the horses become confident too.
W then turn Ally around
and ask her to face that alpacas from a different angle. Notice she is happy
to go right up to the fence
and stand still on a loose rein again. We are also asking Ally to face the
alpacas head-on
to show that it is not the fact that the blinkers are preventing her from looking
at them
as she walks past the field, but that she is happy to remain calm and relaxed
even when she has a clear view of them right in front of her.
We also take Ally past the field at different speeds
to show that she is not trying to run away from them even when she is working
at a faster pace and that she can be driven past them
just as easily at the trot as she can at the walk.
More videos showing the other
work we have done with Ally and her owner on the reins can be viewed on her
playlist