Bomb Proofing

Bomb Proofing

The bomb proof horse.  We have all heard of that term, but does that horse really exist? I was reminded of some old friends that adopted a couple retired police horses.  Desensitization to sights and sounds are a big part of their training.  My father was a policeman, and he told me how they would get a bunch of police together to be a crowd--to teach the horses to stay calm in chaos.  Those horses have to learn so much to patrol the streets in the big city.  My friends' horses were afraid of trees, rocks, grass...  (Of course, their horses may do well with bombs.)

We try to expose our horses to all sorts of things and to teach them to stay calm in difficult situations.  It is never ending.  The trails that we ride on are particularly tough because we ride in an urban area and have to share the trails with so many other types of users.  Plus, we are always fairly close to the street, so there is traffic to consider, too.  For all our work, they all will spook at something.

With Dante, it is airplanes.  He is getting much better, but he still isn't trustworthy.  We ride very close to the airport, and when the airplanes land, it often looks like they will hit the tops of the trees.  This has caused more than a few Dante spooks.  Ellen has learned to ask him to stand and turn his head to the side.  (Lowering his head was not consistently effective.)  The direction she tells him to turn is head is the opposite from the direction he likes to spin.  This has been working very well, and it seems that Ellen is more nervous than Dante, now.

Cole is most likely to jump when he hear loud cars or motorcycles.  The worst motorcycles are the ones that backfire.  That can set him off running.  When I hear a loud one, I just ask him to stop until it passes--or at least walk.  If we are trotting or cantering, he is much more likely to run off.

Bella seems to be afraid of nearly everything, but not all the time.  It all depends on her mood.  Anything out of the ordinary can really get her going.  One day, I bike with a flag went by, and she spun on a dime.  Good thing Shari spun with her!

Starry seems to be afraid of nothing at all--except turkeys fanning out their feathers.  That strikes terror into his heart!

There is one other thing that spooked Starry, once.  And here is the reason you can't bombproof your horse for everything.  Kevin and I were trotting on the trail in a spot that parallels the street.  The only thing between us was a fence and the all purpose trail.  In the middle of the street was a pizza box.  I was looking that way when a car hit the box.  It flew up 10 feet in the air, spun around and landed.  Cole also flew up 10 feet in the air, spun around and landed.  Unlike the box, though, he hit the ground running.  Inexplicably, when he got to the end of the fence, he went around it and started heading for the street towards the killer box!  I got hem to stop before we reached the pavement.  Starry also jumped when he saw the pizza box go flying.  We just can't prepare for everything.