Fear, how do you fight it?

How do you live in a world where you feel constantly in danger? Where even a spring puddle can make you fly up to the stratosphere. Horses have been living this way beautifully for millions of years, and nothing has changed over time.

The animal's reaction to the sudden appearance of a "coned" in the face of various objects most often looks comical. But with strong stimulation, fear can develop into panic flight, which is not at all safe for either the horse or the rider.

What is fear and where does it come from?

Fear is an emotion for which the limbic layer of the brain is responsible. A packet flies at a horse, it "freezes" at the sight of it, the limbic brain, specifically the amygdala, triggers the "beating and running" reaction, a signal is sent to the reptilian brain and the instinct for self-preservation is triggered. And then you already know what happens - the leap into the sunset.

It happens that the fear manifests itself without any obvious stimulus. In this case, there is an opinion among equestrians that the animal does it on purpose, for evil. Why is it not so?

The horse has a perfectly developed limbic system (emotional part). But horses can't think, predict and think abstractly because of an underdeveloped neocortex (cerebral cortex). This also means that horses can't access feelings of a higher order, such as shame, guilt, or resentment.

Fear always comes with stress

Stress is the body's response to anything it considers a threat in its direction. Stress comes in:

Fast - an unexpected threat.

For example, a bird has flown from a tree, a gust of wind blew up our favorite bag or a dog jumped out from behind a corner.

Slow - anticipation.

The most common example is anticipation of food. You've probably noticed more than once the general excitement in the stable during meal distribution: some kicking, some running around the stall, and some starting to throw themselves at their neighbors. This is the effect of slow stress.

Eustress - so called positive stress

Eustress increases the body's functional reserve, its adaptation to the stressor and the elimination of the stress itself. That is, for example, a horse during a walk in the paddock itched its back, it lay down to lie down and the unpleasant itching sensation disappeared.

Distress - prolonged suffering

This could be, for example, the weaning of a foal from its mother or the adaptation to a new environment (moving to a new stable). It is because of distress that a horse can develop stereotypies such as biting or bear humping.

Therefore, in order to minimize panic reactions, we need to show the horse that he is not in danger.

Window of Tolerance

There is such a thing as a window of tolerance. Conventionally, this is the area where the horse quietly adapts to any stress. The smaller the window, the more irritable the horse will be.

If the stimulus is "out of the tolerance window," the horse will go into a state of either hypersexcitation or hyperexcitation.

Hypo-excitation is learned helplessness. The horse realizes that his actions don't make sense, and to avoid hurting himself, the psyche short-circuits. It is a pathological state;

Hyper-excitement is a "run-and-gun" reaction.

In order to keep out of these areas, you need to constantly expand the tolerance window, that is, "acquaint" the horse with his own fears. The size of the tolerance window will be influenced by the number of stimuli, the history of human-horse interaction, and the satisfaction of basic needs.

Methods of dealing with fear

All methods of dealing with fear have one foundation: relaxation. When training a fearful horse, the main thing is to replace fear with confidence. This can be done by arousing the horse's curiosity.

For example, the animal is panicky about approaching any bright barrier. If you start trying to force the horse toward it, it is likely to either lock up or turn to run away. But if you think of a little trick and put a tasty treat on the barrier (create motivation), the horse will become curious to approach the barrier himself.

It is also worth to pay attention to desensitization method - desensitization to pressure on limbs and head, as well as to objects, sounds, physical activity, etc. That is, you gradually add a stimulus, such as a spray, to the horse's life. You spray at a certain distance and watch the reaction, gradually achieving full habituation, calmness and relaxation. Never try to maximize the stimulus right away. Be patient.

During riding work to calm and relax the horse can help with flexion exercises (sideways, volts, serpentines, etc.), transitions as well as cavaletti.

When working with fear, much depends on the individual as well. It is very important to remain calm, not to get angry at the horse and not to punish it for fear. Remember that the first reaction to everything new is fear, and this is normal.