bombproofing my pony

[tb_rider]

My mom has a pony party business, and my pony who is 4 needs to be bombproofed if he want to continue working. so since he's mine i have the responsibility of doing it. but im not sure where to start with him. "Teddy" is a miniature/welsh pony standing at 9 hds. he's good with people (little kids) on him but gets really antsy when he is "working". plus i just want him to be totaly bombproof.

[k8schmutz]

You need to start small and work up. Things like carrier bags can be very scary :rolleyes: so you could start by having it in one end of the school and gradually go nearer to it until he's comfy being near it. Then do the same thing but whilstt it's moving slghtly/rustling.

Just build everything up slowly and most importantly don't rush anything!

[toohorsemad]

Ok I don't know if this will help but anyway I have this book called Bombproofing your horse by sergent rick pelicano and it has good reviews but I haven't used it so I can't tell you personally if its good anyway

[Funky MeerKAT]

You could try some Parelli, especially the 'Friendly' game. Using all types of 'scary' things that you would find at partys, also get him used to the way kids may run around him, running, skipping, stumbling, falling. Try making a sound track of a party and play it around him every day, at first quietly and then louder and louder. You could throw stuff around him, not stuff that will hurt him, but tennis balls and stuff so he gets used to stuff flying around him.

[Just.Jump]

At my barn, alot of focus is put into bright colors, noise, and bags. For noise, it's pretty bovious, maybe start by playing music when grooming or riding. As for the bright colors (and partially noise), my coach uses a neon colored hoola hoop with beads in it to make a sort of maracca sound. She'll roll it on the ground, spin it around a wrist, and put it around the horses neck and have it move about. As for bags, my coach exposes the horse to it, rubs it all over the body and face as well. Also we have a rod with strips of bright plastic hanging off of one end that is lightly swept over the horses body and face. Take it one step at a time, this part of horse straining is where you can get really creative and make up fun games and whatnot. :p

[tb_rider]

i called the lady i bought him from and she said he started doing paradeswhen he was 1. so hes good with colors, and today i wraped him in a bright blue tarp and he walked around in it like it was his blanket. but i ran up to him today when he wasn't expecting it and he was so scared i thought he would die on me. :o