At Horse Drawn Promotions we believe in training
horses to be safe, confident and happy in any sphere of harness work.
Part of our training therefore involves teaching horses to cope with potentially
frightening situations,
to show that with confidence in themselves and their driver
they will remain calm even when faced with things such as large lorries
or unusual noises. This film shows one of the ways in which we train
horses to cope with noise and explains how this relates to their reactions to any other
noise
they may encounter, and why we feel it is an important
part of every harness horse's education.
When an accident occurs it is often an unusual noise,
sensation or sight that frightens the horse, who then utilizes his flight
instinct to get away from it.
Carriages themselves can make a lot of noise which the horse gets used to
and is happy with but if it makes an unusual or unexpected noise,
for example something breaks or gets caught up and dragged along,
this can unnerve even an experienced driving horse.
Doing things like running our car along the hedge behind the horse during
training
also relates to real life situations - for example here
when a passing lorry overtakes, brushing the hedge.
No brake, slack rein.
Clinking this chain as we go along
can help ensure the horse doesn't panic when driving over a
discarded can in the verge for example.
Going to put this right in front of the wheel; the idea is she walks over it.
The aim is not to do this with the horse and control him by pulling on his mouth
with a severe bit,
to force him to accept the noise, but rather
to introduce the noise to him and build his confidence using a soft bit
to show that he is accepting things because he is happy to
and because he trusts us.
Here we are using a metal plate suspended on a rope
which we lower behind the horse so that it drags and bounces on the road.
Having it hang down in the middle allows us to run it closer or further away from the horse
without the risk of it getting caught around the wheels,
snagging on the hedge or interfering with passing traffic.
We can also leave it down to make a scraping noise, or lift and drop it
at will to make a more random bouncing noise.
This can help prepare the horse for things that could happen, such as the shafts detaching from the vehicle.
Notice how Barry is holding the horse on a loose rein
to show that he is not being held back to prevent him from running away from
the noise.
In our opinion, there is no point doing this
if you need a severe bit to control the horse and prevent him from running away. The horse must cope with the noise
calmly and happily in a soft bit, which shows that he is listening
to the driver and is confident in what is going on around him.
Having the metal plate on a rope enables us to lift it up
and make everything go quiet again, before dropping it down randomly.
This can also be unnerving for a horse
because the noise is not constant
however you can see he is still going on a loose rein and not shooting forwards when he
hears the sudden
banging and clanking behind him.
We also use the sheet from the car which helps them get used to different noises
from vehicles
passing them, as you saw earlier on the film with the big lorry passing.
This is the first time we have done this particular exercise with this horse.
You can see that although he has heard the noise, he is unsure about the sight of me
holding the metal sheet out the window of the car. Notice however that he still listens to Sam and will go past
the car when asked without napping or shooting forwards. He is only being driven in a soft rubber bit
and doing this will build his confidence in himself and in us,
which prepares him better for the future.