2007 Congress News
Desensitize Your Horse with Clinton Anderson
Photos and Article by Carly Williams
Clinton Anderson presented his final demonstration for the All American Quarter Horse Congress on Friday, October 19. This demonstration focused on “Desensitizing your Horse to Spooky Objects.”
In his demonstration, Anderson gave informative help to show attendees methods to develop the “thinking side” of their horses’ brains.
Many times, according to Anderson, a horse is not spooky, but is disrespectful or full of fear. The techniques he presented will work on a horse that is fearful or spooky. If a horse is disrespectful, Anderson presented several other clinics that will help to teach a horse respect.
Anderson recommends using objects for no less than 15 seconds. He uses an object on the horse until the horse stands still and relaxed. The horse can show this by simply standing still for 15 or more seconds, taking a deep breath, licking his lips, or cocking a hind leg.
Anderson “despooks” the horse by starting with a familiar object and then gradually moving to more “scary” objects.
For this demonstration, Anderson started by swinging a lead rope next to the horse. The horse will begin by backing away and moving to the side to get away from the rope. A
nderson keeps swinging the rope in the same fashion and the same place until the horse stands still and/or becomes relaxed.
Anderson then repeats the action with the rope again, and again, until the horse becomes accustomed to the object. The most important action is to never take the object away when the horse spooks, or sneak around and hide the object. Anderson explained that if you act scared or nervous around the object, so will the horse.
Anderson then repeated this demonstration with the stick, a bottle of fly spray, and a stick with a bag.
For more information on Clinton Anderson, or more tips, please visit his website at www.DownUnderHorsemanship.com.
