Spook busting with youngsters?

[pearlieking1977]

Hi All,

I'm pretty good at working with my young Arab to help him to be brave. Are there any (gentle) spook busting things you've found really useful when starting to do little bits with youngsters?

I've gradually introduced him to poles and the mounting block which he's now fine with. But any groundwork exercise pointers would be great

[kas]

How old is he now? 2?
I'd just take him out for walks in hand probably, and boost spooks as they happen.

[pearlieking1977]

He'll be 3 in June- however, I'm not in too much of a rush to do so much, just the fun stuff - he's fab in traffic/even with buses and lorries. He's pretty sound and sane

[snigsby]

I would say the same as Kas. Learn "on the job",as it were. You can never predict what a horse might decide to spook at so its all about the response you give him when he is upset,isn't it. The more you are there for him when something scares him,the better he will trust you to "save" him and the less he will feel the need to react strongly when something horrifies him. and the way to see life is to go for long hacks/walks in hand.

Also, everything is ordinary - that's what I try to keep in my head. Just because I have never seen a bin lorry accidentally reverse into a row of bins, knocking them over, doesn't mean I should think "oh goodness, what a strange and potentially upsetting thing to happen". And then my horse will think "oh, that's an ordinary thing, nothing to worry about". (Well, thats the theory!)

[kas]

I'd just gently build in yields without him even noticing. Soft lateral flexion (ears level), moving away from pressure where your feet go, a little bit of disengaging from the feel on the rope, soft backup...