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Horse Desensitization Training
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Greg Sokoloski, our instructor, coached us through learning to be leaders for our horses. |
Day One - We started first with a session without horses, then a session with our horses in string halters. |
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We led our horses up to a series of obstacles and let them smell them and learn to investigate new objects. Here is Lakota calmly walking over a tarp on the ground covered with cans, plastic bottles, and other normally scary things. |
Greg had set up different toys for the horses to puzzle out. |
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During the Clinic we exposed our horses to a variety of interesting objects to encourage left brain thinking. You could almost see the horses "processing" information. |
Fun with the "big ball." |
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We had a number of beautiful paint horses in our clinic. Here is one playing with the ball. |
Some of the horses got so comfortable with the ball they would rest their heads on it. |
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The horses seemed to really enjoy the mental stimulation. Ears were perked forward and they were very interested in all the activity. |
Here is brave Chance looking very relaxed. |
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Some of the participants on a break. |
Here's Pam backing her horse teaching it to maintain a respectful distance. |
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Since many of us ride in public parks it is important that our horses don't freak out at bikes. Pam helped out by riding around on a bike. |
Some of the new toys made a lot of noise. Here Diane's Peruvian is displaying confidence despite the jug of rocks Diane is shaking. |
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Here's a warmblood cross confidently dragging a crackly plastic tarp. We dragged around a variety of toys including old feed sacks and noisy bags. |
The warmblood looks at the plastic sheet blowing in the wind, but doesn't over react. |
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Many of the horses met a new friend - Mr Deer. |
Groundwork is essential to a successful horse-human relationship. |
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A real confidence builder was the bridge. On day one it was a flat platform. On Day Two Greg and Pam and inserted a rail under the platform so it turned into a teeter-totter. |
The rocking bridge turned it into a whole new obstacle to explore and conquer. |
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Our Field-of-toys. In the back ground you can see the tunnel. That was especially fun when the wind blew and the plastic rattled. |
Horses are naturally claustrophobic so we practiced going through tight places. |
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When the wind blew, the hanging tarp could be very intimidating at first. |
After introducing new obstacles to horses from the ground we explored them on their backs. |
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The ditch was one of the most difficult obstacles. This paint got a bit too close for comfort. |
Here the same paint after it has learned respect and is comfortably crossing the water ditch. |
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At the end of each day we all were treated to a relaxing trail ride in the Grasslands preserve. |
Pam and her dog on Sunset Hill. |