Scared Horse? Try Counter-Conditioning

Learn how to teach your horse an alternate response to triggering stimuli.
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Scared horse
If a horse has had a bad experience while tied, counter-condition him to step forward and stand still when you apply poll pressure. | Photo: iStock

Q: One of our horses spooked when she was tied up, and now she explodes if we try to tie her at all. How can we overcome this behavior? — Patricia, Maple Valley, Washington

A: First of all, let me say that I find this a particularly challenging problem to rehab to the point that I trust the horse to be safe and comfortable tying. That’s because this type of unfortunate experience is one that tends to leave a very strong and long-lasting impression on a horse, particularly if the horse actually breaks free. Not only does the horse now have a high-level conditioned fear and an almost reflexive panic at any indication of being tied, but the release of pressure she felt when she broke free strongly reinforced the explosive reaction. The panic and the reaction that led to release in the first event appears to become almost hard-wired. A similar situation that is equally dangerous and difficult to rehab is the horse that rushes backward when backing off a trailer for the first time.

A strategy that works fairly well for most horses, and probably has the best chance of successfully helping a horse become safely comfortable when tied, is counter-conditioning. This is teaching an alternate response to triggering stimuli. For instance, if pulling back is the response that gets the horse in trouble, counter-conditioning would be teaching the horse to step forward and then to stand still to any poll pressure

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Sue M. McDonnell, PhD, is a certified applied animal behaviorist and the founding head of the equine behavior program at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine. She is also the author of numerous books and articles about horse behavior and management.

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