Retraining Spooky Horses
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Since one of Pequiño's phobias involved plastic we needed him to process this stress through a variety of perceputal means. One fairly reliable approach is to have a horse investigate, stand and walk on plastic. The "set up" for approaching this obstacle involved the labyrinth. Pequiño needed to be thinking about his feet and what he was doing. Pequiño would be led through the labyrinth, then through the plastic, then back through the labyrinth, then through a more difficult pass over the plastic. If he showed a tendency to become disturbed by the plastic the encounter would be short and interspersed with another routine that was more familiar. This is not much different than approach and retreat, with the horse "retreating" to a familiar pattern in between attempts at the more difficult objective.
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Going through the labyrinth
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| At this point the ends of the sheets of plastic are joined together to the point that the horse has to either step on it or jump it. It is up to the handler to keep the horse quiet and encourage him to walk over it. When the horse first does this, the plastic makes a noise so the handler then brings the horse back to the plastic to investigate it more closely. In this instance, a couple of carrot bits dropped on the plastic encourages Pequiño to spend some time checking out the plastic. | |||
Stepping onto the point
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Pequiño mastered the plastic monster without ever getting upset or breaking a sweat.
The whole process lasted less than an hour.
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