Correcting Behaviour in Horses

Recently I was called to go and see one of the horses that belonged to the horse whisperer who I have been working with.
The horse had had a visit from the vet who was attempting to file down her teeth, a task which must be done every 6 months to a year. This occurs as nowadays we let horses graze on grass whereas when wild they would consume more rough coarse foods which would naturally wear the teeth down.

When the vet arrived, the mare ran away and it was extremely difficult to catch her in order to apply the brace and begin filing. This was, as the horse whisperer said, entirely his own fault as he had not been applying the dualy regularly, so that as a result the horse had come to associate this with being caught.
Once she had been caught, the vet was unable to finish his work as she reared up twice. At this point the vet was asked of he could stop and come back another day to finish her teeth. This was due to the fact, as I have said previously, that it only takes three repetitions of that behaviour for it to become learned.

The following weekend I attended with the Horse Whisperer to attempt to correct her behaviour so that she would not run off when approached with the dualy.


My first step was to go into the field with her with the dualy, attempting to approach her. Immediately it was clear that she was uncomfortable and she moved away from me. Geoff then told me that when I approached again I must keep up with her, walking briskly alongside. When she stopped I stopped too, holding the position for a short time, not making eye contact, before backing away. This method is known as pressure and release and I have talked about this briefly in previous posts. The process is then repeated. If the horse turns and walks away again, it is important to again keep in stride stopping immediately when the horse stops.
The reason that we back away from the horse is that this is a action that a predator would not do, and so by doing so we show the horse that we do not mean any harm and are not a predator.
With time the horse will become used to the human presence and will not walk away. At this point, we approach slowly in a relaxed manner stroking the horse with the dualy and moving away. This can be done several times, until the trainer feels that the horse is comfortable with the sensation of the collar on its neck.
As we progress, dualy is placed over the horses nose, held in position for a short time and then removed. if this stage of the process proceeds well then the dualy is fitted. At this point it is important to monitor the body language of the horse. Is it comfortable in this situation? If so the lower lip may stick out, and the head will be slightly bowed.
Leading work can then be performed to ensure that the horse will be ready for the visit of the vet.
This is often a long and slow process, but the rewards when you manage to correct behaviour from disliking the head collar to eventually walking with head collar and leading without a rope are amazing.
All this showing that the majority of the time we can be calm and gentle with large animals achieving the results we want, without unnecessary force or strength.