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Horse Desensitization
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Horses have a number of very in tune senses, which send sensory information to the brain as to how to react or respond. All of the senses (touch, smell, hearing, sight, taste) come into play when desensitizing the horse. Horses skin is very sensitive and can feel the slightest of touch, take for example when you see a fly land on your horse and they flinch. They may be large animals but are able to feel the lightest of touch meaning we, as handlers don’t need to be overly harsh or rough when working with them. When a horse feels something whether it is by touch or just a feeling and they feel frightened their natural reaction is to fun and flee from the object or feeling. Should a horse feel a sense of confinement their reaction will be to fight and protect themselves from the object.
In step one “establishing leadership” we were able to gain our horses trust and became the leader of the herd. We are now able to begin to desensitize meaning to familiarize the horse with different things to which they become comfortable with.
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We want the horses to stand quietly and allow different situations and objects to become a part of its' life and not something for the horse to fear.
Using many different objects that can create fear or anxiety such as tarps, stick and string, slickers, noisemakers, brushes, blankets, my hands and the feel of my body and its weight are all different things that are used to desensitize the horse.
The more we familiarize the horse to different sounds and objects the calmer and respectful they will become. It is my goal to have each horse calmly accept these different objects while standing quietly and respectfully in the arena without being tied.
Please feel free to contact me regarding any further questions you may have concerning desensitization techniques. Thank you for visiting Trusted Training. |
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