I'm gonna keep this as short as possible, I have a pretty spooky, 12 year old, Appendix QH who has been boarded at the barn I keep him at for nearly a year now. He used to be explosive with his spooks, but with time, patience, repetition, and some MAJOR help from my trainer [along with a nightly calming supplement] my horse hardly spooks at anything anymore, and when he does they're usually little jumps to the side, and on a rare occasion he'll run off the rail and crow hop.
I've gotten him to be calm around his biggest fears: The corner of the indoor arena, the big pine tree in the small outdoor arena, small children, sudden appearances of various things [people, tractors, dogs etc]
But I still have one issue with him: Wind! On any particular gusty day [such as today] My horse likes to pretend like the wind is blowing him away [lol, a funny way to put it] He used to completely bomb and gallop, and he's gotten SO much better with his reactions, but it is still difficult, and I only have issues in the lower dressage ring by the forest. The wind will pick up, and if we're approaching the A end [where the forest is] at any gait, he'll ***** his head up and king of stop paying attention to me.
When this happens I hold him on my outside rein and keep his bend to the inside and give him a nudge to tell him to go forward, however he'll still kind of duck off the rail approaching the forest if it's windy, almost like the wind is blowing him away haha. I'll give him a kick with my inside leg to push him to the rail and correct him when he does this, but I'd like for him to calmly go where it's scary to begin with. He only acts this way when it's very windy out.
So how can I desensitize him to wind? I circled him around the area's he was giving trouble, but couldn't get him to relax, put his head down, or go through without a fight. help?
I've gotten him to be calm around his biggest fears: The corner of the indoor arena, the big pine tree in the small outdoor arena, small children, sudden appearances of various things [people, tractors, dogs etc]
But I still have one issue with him: Wind! On any particular gusty day [such as today] My horse likes to pretend like the wind is blowing him away [lol, a funny way to put it] He used to completely bomb and gallop, and he's gotten SO much better with his reactions, but it is still difficult, and I only have issues in the lower dressage ring by the forest. The wind will pick up, and if we're approaching the A end [where the forest is] at any gait, he'll ***** his head up and king of stop paying attention to me.
When this happens I hold him on my outside rein and keep his bend to the inside and give him a nudge to tell him to go forward, however he'll still kind of duck off the rail approaching the forest if it's windy, almost like the wind is blowing him away haha. I'll give him a kick with my inside leg to push him to the rail and correct him when he does this, but I'd like for him to calmly go where it's scary to begin with. He only acts this way when it's very windy out.
So how can I desensitize him to wind? I circled him around the area's he was giving trouble, but couldn't get him to relax, put his head down, or go through without a fight. help?