Nash - progress handling his ears - 20 Nov 2024

Nash came here on 2 Nov 2024 very very head shy - particularly NOT wanting any contact with his ears to be made. Some part, and possibly all of this, was brought on by his new owners repeatedly cornering him and ear twitching him so they could give him antibiotics he needed to overcome an infection. Ear twitching OFTEN leads to EXTREME head shy defensive behavior in horses (and yes I do know that there are exceptions.) I suggest that you do NOT ear twitch any horse which you would like to halter, bridle, or trim the ears of. It may allow you to get some needful thing done "right now" - that is true - BUT it may then require a LOT of rebuilding trust which the horse is telling you that you violated via cranking on its ear to ear twitch it. There are ways to get a horse to willingly cooperate which do not produce the too oft negative consequences of ear twitching.

Yes when Nash came he would run away if while at Liberty you tried to touch his ears OR even if he simply felt your hand was getting too close to his ear. I have used the training principle of "advance and retreat" to rebuild his trust and step by step get him to willingly allow his ears to be handled. I have also used feeding time as an opportunity to help him decide that someone gently stroking his ears (petting them) doesn't hurt and and can be tolerated - hopefully eventually getting to the point where he accepts it as a normal human greeting - pet him and stroke his ears. Yes working to change his fear that someone will ear twitch him into thinking that when someone pets his ears it is a sign of friendship. Nash came here on 2 Nov and today it is 20 Nov 2024 - this video shows progress made.

Advance means to move towards until the first sign of resistance comes - you MUST NOT push that too far - you MUST stay in contact at that point - so if you push it to the point the horse resists so big that you cannot maintain contact then YOU advanced too far too fast - so try again - this time only advancing to the point where yes there is resistance but yes you can stay in contact until that resistance is stopped by the horse choosing to stop it of its own accord. When the horse stops resisting and approximates what you actually want (ex. calmly not violently moves its head down and ever so slightly toward you) then you retreat and praise it in a way it already likes (ex. stroke or scratch its shoulder). You repeat this - over and over until you have reasoned with the horse and helped it to willingly choose to do what it previously was violently refusing to do. Advance and retreat is a powerful horse training principle if applied well - you will have to work on getting so you apply it well - that will not just instantly happen for you - you will have to learn to do it well - so get busy learning.

I have worked with Nash's ears from the ground and from horseback. When the horse is ultra head shy - as was true of Nash - it is often most productive at the start of the process to work with them from horseback (mounted on an obedient horse that will stay calm when the head shy horse is being VERY reactive) using the Advance and Retreat principle.

Training horses always involves some risk of injury (or even death) to the horse, the trainer, any spectators, equipment used, etc. - this risk is totally your own as you will be making your own judgements on what to do. As with any suggestions on any subject you must weigh them out for yourself and proceed accordingly - at your own risk.

Remember to intentionally, on purpose, learn of God each day by prayerfully reading, studying, and pondering upon God's word each day. Talk to God in prayer as your Heavenly Father who would like for you to be His friend. Find out what He would like you to do for Him as His friend and go and do it for Him as His friend. Yes very intentionally, very much on purpose, become the friend of God. And have a blessed day!!

Jack Griffes
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