Yesterday Mom and I had to go out to the barn to disinfect the stall walls because they had mold on them from the hay (long story, but gladly now we have good quality hay). Afterwards, I stayed out to play with Teddy. He has been increasingly difficult to catch, which is strange, and today was no different. Since I had time and was not rushed, I decided to work on the problem right then and there. I would approach him calmly but not sneaky, and would start rubbing him. If he would leave (which he did), I would allow him to, step back a bit, then reapproach him the same way. Though I had the halter in my hand with my lead rope, I was not trying to halter him. I was only focusing on rubbing on him. I was very pleased with how much emotional fitness I had. I was not getting frustrated or annoyed, but I took the time it took. Eventually he was fine with me rubbing him, then I played with throwing the rope over his back. Using the same approach and retreat I got him ok with that, and then with the halter.
After he was haltered we hung out a bit, then I took him to groom him a bit. He had a couple good releases of snorting and sighing, and he stood still to be brushed. I then sat down and worked on Yo-Yoing him back and forth to give him something to do. He would go back, and have a release, then come forward and get petted, then back again. He did good and I felt that was a good ending place, so I stopped. I let him go and left.
I'm not sure the reason for his skepticism returning along with his fearfulness. But I plan on addressing things as they come up and making sure he is truly confident with stuff and not just "stuffing it."
~Eden
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Hi Eden, sounds like you were successful with Teddy as well as yourself!!
Something you wrote stood out to me: "I would approach him calmly but not sneaky, and would start rubbing him. If he would leave (which he did), I would allow him to, step back a bit, then reapproach him the same way."
In his leaving, isn't he removing the pressure of you? For whatever reason he needs to leave, and you are not critizing that, which is good. But as you step back you are removing the pressure as well. In a way you are teaching him that leaving removes the pressure. So rather than waiting till he needs to leave, can you LEAVE FIRST? Before he feels like he has to move away, you take the pressure off of him by moving yourself away thus rewarding him for staying as long as he did. He can figure out that you are acknowledging his feelings of pressure and you are removing it before it gets to be too much.
Where is his space bubble? How large an area does he need between you and him so that he does not feel this pressure?
I have played around with this and found that by staying on the outside of the bubble I can encourage the horse to draw into me and make the bubble smaller on its own. It is a fun thing to experiment with you have time.
Cheers,
Kathy
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