How to start a horse.... not!

[monica1979]

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They sure did a hell of a job to teach the pony to buck like a bronco when introduced to new things.
Then again, pony might have settled sooner if they had just STOPPED THE DAMN SQUEALING!
However, in spite of the video description, something tells me they didn't do proper ground work prior to this.

Thoughts?

Comments

[ernestinewalker]

Well, looking at the user's YouTube channel, I see a lot of important steps in the process documented along the way. They appear to all have been uploaded one month ago, so that doesn't really tell us much, but I'm not entirely mad at what I watched. FULL DISCLOSURE: I didn't watch every single video. It also looks like the person doing all the whooping and hollering isn't the actually trainer/owner, so while I agree that is distracting, it doesn't seem that the person in charge is the source of the noise.

[monica1979]

Looking at this video, it's good to see that they did do some steps to get the pony used to new tack

But some lunging with the new saddle instead of setting her off might have avoided the bucking spree, no?

[wastedrock]

Some horses buck when they're saddled for the first time. Hell some horses keep on bucking! That's why you do ground work first , which they did. What do you suppose they do? Wait for the horse to magically be perfect? Sometimes three ate fireworks no matter how much ground work you do. Better on the line than on their back!

[monica1979]

True enough.
The squealing was definitely unnecessary, though. Maybe my headache made me judge them too harshly.

[is_it_tru]

Perhaps the girth was too tight or not comfortable, who knows.

But holy crap, that is saddle is like, really flappy. That probably didn't help.

[ninjafingers]

Honestly, the screaming and swearing is the real problem here. And I don't care if that was not the trainer, the trainer at NO point told her to shut up.

If I'm working a horse and anyone, anyone starts making a noise like that, they get told to shut up. Or to shut their child up. And I suspect the trainer didn't really explain that, yes, some horses do that the first time you put a saddle on them and it's not alarming or unusual.

[suraineko]

I don't think the screaming or squealing really mattered for the horse. I would rather my horse in training get used to all aspects of random human behavior than have everyone tiptoe and whisper around it. Besides being obnoxious for the viewer (who heard it much louder than the horse being that the squealer was right next to the camera) I don't think it made that big of a difference.

[ninjafingers]

That's true, but loud squealing combined with first time a saddle is put on escalated the situation. I don't think you should be working on new stuff *and* desensitization at the same time...

[suraineko]

Putting a saddle on is desensitization. Almost all "new stuff" is desensitization. You can't say it escalated the situation if you don't know how the pony would've reacted in a quiet atmosphere - and who cares?

They wouldn't take this pony to her first show as a non-compete and ask everyone "shut their child up" (your words) because "[you] don't think you should (which implies morality) be working on new stuff *and* desensitization at the same time"

[poniesandphotos]

Honestly, I've done this with greenies and never seen it create a bucking problem. Even after proper groundwork/ hand walking with a saddle on they occasionally need to get the kinks out. Normally I've confined them to a round pen and waited for them to decide that bucking did nothing to rid them of the saddle, when they were calm untacked, retacked just to make sure the lesson stuck. Most of the ones I worked with did one or two crow hops at most before ignoring it. One bucked for a good twenty minutes- but after that never bucked under saddle again as far as I know. As long as the saddle stays in place and the lesson is allowed to go on (safely) until the horse settles and learns that misbehavior will not gain any advantage I don't see an issue with this sort of lesson. I doubt the pony learned that bucking was the answer to new things. I agree the squealing didn't help.

[harnessphoto]

If the horse is going to be dealing with them long term, he should get used to the squealing early on :-P

[suraineko]

Yes. This. There's a local park that has a nice riding trail going through it and at one point the trail passes a random playground that you can hear before you can see. When my horse hears kids squealing, screaming, and laughing he processes it as "Human Children" that might have candy and not "Strange Unknown Monsters" to be balked at. Now if only I could borrow some screaming children to play around my baby horse... (not underfoot "around", but on the other side of the fence "around")