Hey guys! Going to apologize in advance for the length of this, but I'm going to try to cover every aspect of the problem that I can. Any advice would be appreciated!
So I bought my mare, Clover, as a two year-old. She is now 9, and a two-time Florida state champion, and we have traveled over the SE U.S. for competitions, so she is no stranger to being tied. We moved on to our own property a little less than two years ago and have built our barn and all ourselves, but have not gotten around to building a wash rack/tie station yet, so we just tie to our trailer. It's just my mare and my older, retired gelding, so it hasn't been a problem. A few weeks ago, a daughter of a friend came out to ride Clover. She's been riding her pretty frequently and is still new, but pretty good with horses for a 10 year old. She went to groom her and set the tack box on the metal fender of the trailer and slid it down closer to her, and it made a loud scraping noise, which spooked Clover and caused her to set back. This was right after the bad hurricane came through, so I chalked it up to nervous energy, because it was pretty unlike her. I kept a close eye on her after that, and she was fine. The girl continued to groom and tack up without further issues.
A few days later, Clover did it again, and again the day after that. The same incident with the tack box. Both of these days, I untied her, and put her in the round pen to move her feet MY directions, at my speed. Clover is a pretty high-strung, reactive horse, and this method usually works for her and gets her thinking instead of reacting. However, it did not seem to for this situation. If anything, it made her MORE reactive and jumpy. She started not only setting back, but at every little noise spreading her feet and bracing backwards as a threat to pull back when I made a noise or moved too fast. This is when I really started to get annoyed by it.
So the next day I took a different approach. I used treats (which I HATE doing) to try to make the trailer a "happy place." I gave her one as soon as I tied her up while she was relaxed. Then I got the tack box out and set it on the fender, and put a treat next to it. She did the whole, bracing backwards if-you-don't-stop-what-you're-doing-I'm-going-to-set-back thing, until she saw the treat. Conveniently the tack box was no longer scary and she walked up and grabbed the treat. I moved the box and it was scary again. I could then see that this technique was about as effective as giving a screaming toddler a candy bar in a store to get them to stop- only teaching them to throw a temper tantrum to get what they want. So I quickly threw this method out the window as I'm not going to make my horse dependent on treats to stand quietly while tied.
So yesterday, I tried the last thing I knew to do when she started bracing backwards and setting back at EVERYTHING I did. I basically treated her like a two year-old again. With a little catch- I have a rope halter that tightens under their chin when they pull on it to make them uncomfortable. I tied her up with this halter, got as many empty, crinkly feed bags as I could find and put them all around her feet. I got a tarp and put it over her neck/head, sprayed her and all the noisy things, including the side of the trailer, with a water hose, and just let her fight it out. I got the tack box out and banged it around as much as I could, along with any other noisy thing I could find. I left her there for about two and a half hours. After the initial "scary treatment," I left her standing with no attention as I rode my gelding and did chores. She set back 4 times total in that time, along with plenty of the bracing backwards threat. She stopped and just stood in the last 30-45 minutes. I'm hoping this made a difference, but the girl won't be handling her anymore until I'm sure she's over this mess. Has anyone experienced this before? It's not like she's a green horse that's never been tied or heard something banging against the trailer before. This is where she's tied EVERY TIME I ride her. I feel like it's because I didn't do anything about it the first time she did it thinking it was just a collection of bad circumstances that caused it, so now she literally finds any excuse she can to do it. She HAS to be tied here, so I have to get her over this for her and everyone else's safety.
So I bought my mare, Clover, as a two year-old. She is now 9, and a two-time Florida state champion, and we have traveled over the SE U.S. for competitions, so she is no stranger to being tied. We moved on to our own property a little less than two years ago and have built our barn and all ourselves, but have not gotten around to building a wash rack/tie station yet, so we just tie to our trailer. It's just my mare and my older, retired gelding, so it hasn't been a problem. A few weeks ago, a daughter of a friend came out to ride Clover. She's been riding her pretty frequently and is still new, but pretty good with horses for a 10 year old. She went to groom her and set the tack box on the metal fender of the trailer and slid it down closer to her, and it made a loud scraping noise, which spooked Clover and caused her to set back. This was right after the bad hurricane came through, so I chalked it up to nervous energy, because it was pretty unlike her. I kept a close eye on her after that, and she was fine. The girl continued to groom and tack up without further issues.
A few days later, Clover did it again, and again the day after that. The same incident with the tack box. Both of these days, I untied her, and put her in the round pen to move her feet MY directions, at my speed. Clover is a pretty high-strung, reactive horse, and this method usually works for her and gets her thinking instead of reacting. However, it did not seem to for this situation. If anything, it made her MORE reactive and jumpy. She started not only setting back, but at every little noise spreading her feet and bracing backwards as a threat to pull back when I made a noise or moved too fast. This is when I really started to get annoyed by it.
So the next day I took a different approach. I used treats (which I HATE doing) to try to make the trailer a "happy place." I gave her one as soon as I tied her up while she was relaxed. Then I got the tack box out and set it on the fender, and put a treat next to it. She did the whole, bracing backwards if-you-don't-stop-what-you're-doing-I'm-going-to-set-back thing, until she saw the treat. Conveniently the tack box was no longer scary and she walked up and grabbed the treat. I moved the box and it was scary again. I could then see that this technique was about as effective as giving a screaming toddler a candy bar in a store to get them to stop- only teaching them to throw a temper tantrum to get what they want. So I quickly threw this method out the window as I'm not going to make my horse dependent on treats to stand quietly while tied.
So yesterday, I tried the last thing I knew to do when she started bracing backwards and setting back at EVERYTHING I did. I basically treated her like a two year-old again. With a little catch- I have a rope halter that tightens under their chin when they pull on it to make them uncomfortable. I tied her up with this halter, got as many empty, crinkly feed bags as I could find and put them all around her feet. I got a tarp and put it over her neck/head, sprayed her and all the noisy things, including the side of the trailer, with a water hose, and just let her fight it out. I got the tack box out and banged it around as much as I could, along with any other noisy thing I could find. I left her there for about two and a half hours. After the initial "scary treatment," I left her standing with no attention as I rode my gelding and did chores. She set back 4 times total in that time, along with plenty of the bracing backwards threat. She stopped and just stood in the last 30-45 minutes. I'm hoping this made a difference, but the girl won't be handling her anymore until I'm sure she's over this mess. Has anyone experienced this before? It's not like she's a green horse that's never been tied or heard something banging against the trailer before. This is where she's tied EVERY TIME I ride her. I feel like it's because I didn't do anything about it the first time she did it thinking it was just a collection of bad circumstances that caused it, so now she literally finds any excuse she can to do it. She HAS to be tied here, so I have to get her over this for her and everyone else's safety.