I recently went to Texas to help a client with her horses. On the list of things she wanted help with was blanketing a horse that would strike at her with some aggression when she went to put his blanket on. He would either walk away if he could, or let her know he didn’t want it by striking out.
The great thing about this client was that she listened to her horses. This particular horse had a long coat, and she thought perhaps he was just really expressing that he did not want his blanket on, so she left it off. She still wanted to be able to do it, though, in case he ever needed it. She had tried on several occasions to blanket him, but the answer was always a definite aggressive “no” by either striking with a front hoof when he was held, or walking off on her if he was free.
The first thing I did when I started working with the horse was to just stand with him, in a very present and aware state, letting him know I saw him, saw his concerns. I just took the time to let him feel that I was aware of him and the environment. This kind of presence allows a horse to relax and connect. The horse quickly becomes aware that you are an ally, offering the security of a vigilant, confident herd mate.
This kind of seeing the being brings the horse down into a nice state of relaxation. When horses are in a relaxed state, they can judge their relative safety much more accurately. There is more wiggle room before the fight-or-flight state becomes too activated.
I took my time. Just being with and noticing this horse. About a half hour later, after both the client and I had stood relaxing with the horse, I asked her to go fetch his blanket. I told her to stop as she walked towards him with it, the moment she saw his concern increase as she approached with the blanket.
The client stopped on the other side of the fence, about 20 feet from her horse, when she saw his neck stiffen, raise and arch with pricked ears.
This is called an orienting response, and it is a very important moment. It is a tipping point at which the horse is deciding on his safety. Does he need to leave, or can he stay and observe? It’s the moment between engagement and disengagement. It is an important point of influence to get right. It’s a good time to ask yourself how you can help the horse to stay?
To help the horse to stay, I told the client to shift her gaze, intention and focus on to the gate, which was just left of where the horse was standing. I wanted her to take her eyes, her intention and her focus off the horse as this energy could quickly raise the horse’s level of concern, especially if the client was harboring any negative thoughts about how the blanketing would go.
I asked the client to arrive at the gate with the intention and task of carefully unfolding and laying the blanket over the fence, as if she were putting it on a skinny horse.
I was on the other side of the fence, standing with the horse at liberty. I, too, put my concentration on the gate. We started unfolding the blanket and putting it on the gate together. No sooner had the client and I shifted our attention to putting the blanket on the gate than the horse also came over and got involved, nuzzling and sniffing the blanket.
It was clear to me that he wanted to be engaged in the process with us, so I started to rub his face with the blanket. Then I asked for permission to rub his neck with the blanket. Then I asked for permission to drop some of the blanket over to the other side of his neck. Then I asked for permission to spread the blanket over his back, to do up the straps at the neck, and then at the belly.
At no point did any sign of increasing worry arrive. He was totally and happily engaged in the process with me. No tension of any kind. I got permission at every step. When the blanket was on him. I praised him, telling him what a good boy he was and gave his neck a few nice, gentle strokes. I then invited him to come for a victory walk with me around his pasture wearing his blanket, which he did at liberty.
We went back to the fence, and I carefully took the blanket off him so he would not get a static shock or be frightened by any sudden moves he did not expect. I wanted him to be left with a new positive memory of the blanketing experience.
What worked was the initial downregulation in the client’s, the horse’s, and my energy, just by hanging out together and being present and aware of each other. Then the awareness of the horse’s orienting response when the client first approached with the blanket helped us know that this was an important moment to help him to stay engaged by shifting some energy off of him and onto the gate.
The client’s focus on the gate rather than the horse also helped keep any negative or nervous feelings she might have about blanketing her horse from affecting him as she approached with the blanket.
The point of this post is to highlight how important it is to be aware of your energy when working with horses, because when the energy is right, the problems can just disappear, and you might find yourself taking a nice victory walk with your horse instead.
