My Horse is a Nervous Nelly in the Wash Bay!
February 11, 2012 by Shawna Karrasch
Filed under Ask Shawna, Husbandry Behaviors, On Target Training, On The Ground
I imagine that this wash stall reminds him of something from his past. Maybe he had some medical procedure or wound tended to while in a similar wash stall and he associates this situation with an unpleasant experience. We will be working toward building a new reinforcement history with this wash stall, one that has a good association. Before you begin think of what you can do to help set him up for success. Anything that may help him out for now. For example, maybe turn him out before hand so he has a chance to burn off some extra energy. What ever you think may help him out. We will fade these things out later as he gets more comfortable but for now they may serve him well. There is also more than one reinforcer, or even two reinforcers at work here. One is the use of food as a positive reinforcement for relaxed behavior. The second is your presence (since he seems to get worried when he is left alone) and the third is taking him out of the wash stall. So be aware what he is doing when any of these reinforcers happen.
I am thinking that he gets pretty worried when he is left alone. So we want to work within his comfort zone. I would suggest working his time in the wash stall as a training session for now. This will usually help to keep you focused on his behavior and not distracted by doing other tasks. You may do a little grooming but it should not really be your objective for now. The small snippets of grooming tasks will actually serve to be building blocks for the end product of standing quietly while being groomed, tacked up or bathed but more importantly standing quietly when on his own.
Since it seems he is quiet when you are in very close proximately I would suggest grooming and then stepping back a bit. It may help at first to step away to the back and sides as opposed to walking away from the front which may cause more anxiety. This part will take a little testing to determine what is the most uncomfortable and then break that down to smaller steps or things that cause less worry. Okay, so let’s say, when you step away from him in the wash stall, he is good for 30 seconds and then he starts worrying. Click and reinforce (with food) at 28 seconds, while he is still relaxed. Your presence will also serve as a reinforcement. If that goes well, move to 30 seconds, if that goes well maybe go to 32 seconds. I would then take him out of the wash stall which is another reinforcement for his good performance. Keeping the sessions short and sweet helps him to succeed. He learns that if I am good this will all be over. Slowly build and build, more time and further away. Too slow is better than too fast for this kind of issue. Again, we are looking for him to practice the correct behavior, to form new habits. As you build more and more time I would also suggest approximations that are short in duration as well as the longer ones. This helps to keep you from being too predictable. It kind of keeps them guessing and on their toes. Also you may step back up to him and sometimes work on something he knows or is learning. However, keep it simple, successful and reinforcing.
Now let’s say, you unintentionally push it too far and he gets worried, I would not approach until he settles down, at least somewhat. If you constantly come to his rescue when he acts up he will think that this is how I get comfort (or relief) and his behavior will increase in frequency. That being said, you also don’t want him, or anyone else, to get hurt, so if he gets downright panicked you will need to keep safety in mind and step in, Then take some steps back to rebuild his confidence.
Another thing that can help is if at the end of these good sessions, have his dinner or breakfast ready and let him eat his dinner in the wash stall. I would put it in a tub on the ground so you are not holding it. We want to build up a bit of independence. Pretty soon he will look forward to his time in the wash stall since good things happen there. Well Leone, these are my suggestions for tonight. I may have more thoughts later…I usually do but I think this will get you going in the right direction. Please let me know how things are going and give me some updates! :0)
Hi Shawna, Just thought I’d update you on how I’m going. My sessions have been a bit disjointed as I’ve either been away or it’s been raining! But working on basic groundwork in the washbay and keeping sessions short and positive has been working. We’re not yet to the stage where I feel ready to leave him tied up for periods where he can’t see me but I am confident we’ll get there. I’ve been able to do some grooming while he’s remained relaxed. However, one time he got spooked by I’m not sure what, a loud noise or something, I really wasn’t sure. His first instinct was to run away, but when that was prevented, he immediately resorted to his swaying. I stopped this straight away also and just got him going forward and back, head down, etc until he was calm again and ended the session there. We’ve done a few sessions since and all remained calm.
Another thing I just wanted to mention to see if this is good/bad, common or what. This horse obviously suffers from separation anxiety and although he’s quite happy to come out of the paddock and leave his paddock mate, he doesn’t like it the other way round. This doesn’t happen too often as his paddock mate is my old horse who is no longer in work and only comes out for grooming now and then. The last time I took the paddock mate out, my horse raced around and called out, etc, until I went in there about half an hour later. He was dripping with sweat, mostly emotional I think. So I didn’t want to reward that behaviour at all but I really needed to bring him out and rinse him off! So I did some clicker – no halter or rope and he was just amazing. He tried so hard to do everything I asked and he did it brilliantly. After some backing up, head down backing up and stepping forward, yielding the hindquarters, yielding the shoulder etc, I had him stand quietly before haltering and taking him out. So is that common? Should I be pleased that he wanted to please me and was no longer worried about where his paddock mate was? Or have I got a real separation anxiety problem on my hands and if so how should I handle it?
Also wanted to say that I plan to implement your de-spooking exercises as per your free video sessions. I have to say thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us in this way. I am in Australia and get the benefit of your knowledge! Amazing isn’t it!! Thank you again and again!
Hi Leone,
I absolutely love being able to share and work on training issues from half way across the world. It amazes me too!
Thank you for the update. It is reinforcing for me! It sounds like you have a wash stall plan that is working for you two and that is great. I am glad you got him settled in the wash stall after his episode. It sounds like you handled it well. Try to keep in mind the less you react to any nervous behavior the better since it may serve to reinforce him Okay, with the separation anxiety in the paddock…I would try not to react or approach when he is carrying-on. Your appearance and subsequent session is reinforcing. But we do need to increase his comfort level when he is in the paddock alone. I am imagining his excitement starts when his buddy is walking away. An idea might be to have someone help you. You stand back a bit from the paddock. So you are not right next to the paddock but he can see you. We don’t want him to go into his nervous dither but we want to approximate you out of the picture. Have your friend lead your older horse away. As he stands quietly, before he gets wound up, click and then approach and do a session. When the session is ending and he is good I recommend leaving him with the rest of his food or treats in a pile in the paddock. Then bring his buddy back while he is still quiet. Often times what happens is the horse who is gets worked up stays worked up, then here comes his buddy. They often times associate the carrying on with the return of their pasture mate. They unintentionally get reinforced for their behavior. This kind of thing often happens with horses at feeding time. The horses start banging and dancing around and here comes the food. In their minds the banging caused the food to be delivered. We want his buddy or you to approach only when he is quiet. As always, think of what you can do to set him up for success. Starting at a distance from the paddock where you are visible but not right next to it will be a good place to start. You will want to slowly start further back as he gets the hang of the routine. As you fade further back, and he is still good, you may duck out of his sight for a few seconds and then come back out. It should be quick enough that he is still calm, then click, approach and reinforce and do a session. I suggest repeating this in and out of sight and building time and duration as well as retreating and approaching within the session. Pretty soon he will look forward to his pasture mate leaving since good things happen when he is gone. A lot of times the horses get worked up when their friends are in the process of being lead away. Sometimes once they past that point they get kind of distracted and forget that they were worried. Anyway, this is a place to start addressing this paddock issue. I think the being alone in the wash stall and the paddock are part of the same issue. Working one may help the other.
Keep up the good work. I look forward to your next update!