Desensitization to normal things

I was watching a Clinton Anderson (ugh) video about him training a rescue horse and he was desensitizing the horse and he pulled out a bottle of fly spray. I never really thought about desensitizing a horse to fly spray. Huh, for once, Clinton Anderson taught me something. In case you can't tell, I don't like Clinton Anderson. "Look at me, my horse is flexible enough to let me FORCE ITS HEAD TO IT CHEST!"

My gelding used to flip out at fly spray (which is weird, considering his background as a racehorse... they're exposed to freaking EVERYTHING). Yeah, totally fine with backfiring cars, motorcycle gangs, and gunfire out of season... but fly spray? NOPE. He's fine now though.

And yeah, I can't take anyone seriously who thinks riding overbent is normal or okay, let alone someone who pins a head to a chest/shoulder...

I personally like (most of) the Clinton Anderson methods, but that's just me :p

But yeah, a horse has to be desensitized to nearly everything lol.

Me and my sister bough our ponies directly from the breeder so we basically just picked them out of the field and they had been exposed to nothing! It was the little things that we never realized could be scary because its a "normal" thing! It took us about 3-4 months before we could get them to stand still for a full body spray with flyspray! And ribbons from horse shows? My sisters pony was NOT very happy with those c; They hadn't ever even be lunged when we got them, and still to this day my pony is very wary around the lunge whip.. as soon as you take it out she goes leaping in the air!

Spray is one of the first things I desensitized horses to. Then again, I also had a horse who was terrified of everything so..Shrug.

Sorry that you can't appreciate some one with some skill, Dark Lady.

Horses need a LOT of desensitization to make them safe and trustworthy to be around. I see a lot of horses get into trouble over simple things that could have been prevented had the horse been given the opportunity to learn about troublesome things.

Example, my colt, for who knows what reason thought tangling himself up in the fence was a genus idea. But instead of freaking out (giving into the flight or foght instinct which would be natural being the horse is a prety animal and he is trapped in a fence), tearing up the fence, or worst, potentially severely hurting himself, he simply laid down and waited for me to cut him out of the wire. He could have been horribly injured but instead was relatively unharmed because I have spent countless hours DESENSITING my horse. Yes, it was the desensitizing to fly spray that saved him, but there are so many things a person can practice desensitizing their horse to.

I am not on the Clinton bandwagon. And I don't think Desensitizing is an "all things holy" deal. However, I do think a)Clinton is an incredible horseman and has something to offer a lot of people, even if it is just a piece here or there. and b)desensitizing is a great tool when training a horse in combination with other things. It builds a solid foundation and also allows (when done correctly) the horse to build a lot of trust and confidence.


My colt, Ronan


Desensitizing a horse to ropes is a great way to get a horse prepared for going over obstacles, for when the farrier visits, wrapping legs, grooming, list goes on and on...


-nyx