Desensitisation to a Stick & String with Common Problems- 4 year old warmblood Stallion with Limited Handling – Day 1 – Issy

6.23 minutes – Issy is a 4 year old warmblood stallion that has had very limited handling. The owner has asked Angie and John to Start him Under Saddle and the owner hopes to do Dressage with him. Issy was actually turned out to grow and agisted at a property not far from Angie and John. However the owner doesn’t feel confident to get him to their place. Angie has gone to the property to start handling him so she can then trailer load him safely to their property.
In this video Angie introduces Issy to the stick and string for the very first time. Desensitisation is about gaining a horse’s trust and confidence with us and the different tools that we use in our daily training. It’s about the movement the object makes, the sound it makes and how it feels when it touches them. Angie explains how your body posture and life energy is completely different when you are desensitising a horse compared to when you are asking a horse to move its feet. Angie works through a few common problems. Issy moves his feet away from the stick and string and Angie explains how she just drifts with him and the moment he stands still she instantly stops. He also backs up away from the rope and Angie continues moving the rope until the moment he stands still. Issy also tries to move Angie back out of position when she tries to stand at his shoulder. This is a common problem that can lead to a lot of leadership problems with horses.