Training Tip: Desensitizing Success Tip

Desensitize your horse to an object when he wants to stand still — after you have worked him and he’s using the thinking side of his brain. Don’t take a horse that has been in a stall for a couple of days and is full of beans and try to desensitize him to an object he’s scared of. He’ll run around and not want any part of standing still. Set yourself up for success and desensitize your horse when he’s tired and wanting to stand still. If you just do desensitizing without having the horse’s respect and attention from groundwork, all the information you give him won’t last. It’ll go in one ear and out the other. The secret is to desensitize a horse between groundwork exercises. That way, he looks forward to being desensitized because he gets to air up and relax.