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Discussion on Separation anxiety/telegraphing ONLY in a show environment | |
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Member: Fresian |
Posted on Monday, Sep 29, 2003 - 1:58 pm: Obviously, the first answer is more exposure to the problem until increasing show experience causes it to stop. Some background on the perpetrators and situation:I am a trainer who has andalusian clients. Not sure if you guys are familiar with andalusians, but they are the Siamese Cat of the horse world. They are extremely social animals, very emotional, and telegraph back and forth constantly when separated or alone. I am working with 3 andalusians (all of the same owner, one 3 y.o. stallion and two 4 y.o. mares) who are getting their first year of show experience. They all work fine alone in their home environment. They all trailer together to the shows. They all warm up separetely fine--I try to make sure that they can't see each other as much as possible. Then, as soon as they go into the dressage ring--a COMPLETELY ALONE AND ALWAYS FOREIGN environment--they lose it completely. They telegraph and send distress calls to the others, who are not even pasturemates-they all have separate pastures at home. We have tried tough love and making them go it on their own and standing a "friend" by the ring--either way they are equally as distracted and distressed. I have to stress that this behavior runs so deep in andalusians specifically that it is not as simple to fix as just negative reinforcement (a big verbal "no!" and sending them forward into the bit and WORK when they scream out-although this is the correction I use. I also make them concentrate and work on quick movements and successions of commands they are forced to process--figure 8's, changes of tempo, etc the moment they begin the behavior--BUT YOU CAN'T DO THAT IN THE MIDDLE OF A DRESSAGE TEST.) They warm up great, the behavior only really comes out during the tests themselves. Obviously, this will just take time and exposure to the experience to fix. My client understands that he can just throw away this first year of showing for all his young horses and that this is just for exposure purposes. Here's the question, folks--we're transportation impaired for the next month or so. We're only able to get the horses to shows and back for right now. The behavior only happens at shows. Until I can get transportation to some neighboring farms to use their rings and work on correcting the telegraphing behavior, are there any temporary "right before the show" calming agents that people here have had success with? I'm hoping by calming their anxiety level a bit they won't be so distressed when they enter at A all alone.....I'm not looking for this as a crutch or a quick fix, I just want to help the horses out and help to make showing these young guys a positive experience. |
Member: Jerre |
Posted on Monday, Sep 29, 2003 - 2:28 pm: H'mmm, if this year is an experiment/training anyway, can you take just one of the horses to a show, leaving the others home? It obviously doesn't solve the group dynamic problem, but it may help the individual look toward the rider as its sole companion, and as a result, give the horse some confidence and coping skills.I know of at least one horse that is much calmer at shows when he has no stablemates there. The limited experience I've had with calming agents has been that they have little or no effect, except possibly to make the human feel like we're doing something. |
Member: Fresian |
Posted on Monday, Sep 29, 2003 - 2:53 pm: Thanks, Jerre. You're right that if we take the mares individually they do quite well by themselves. We haven't experimented with the stallion. Unfortunately, being a trainer in a training environment, I have a client who is focused on getting his horses out as much as possible with only 2 months of shows left in the season (I just saddlestarted two of them this summer, so we're getting a REALLY late start on the show season). As much as I agree (and we know from experience now) that taking only one horse to a show is the best environment for them right now, it's not an option my client wants to take. The good part is one of the mares is in training as an eventer, so there are shows in November that she is going to that the other two, who are strictly dressage horses right now, are not. At least we know of ONE show where we should have some success and bring home a ribbon or two that day!I had a feeling about the cool n calm or whatever oral agents are out there. Hoping someone was going to say--"hey! use this ______--it worked GREAT on my fruit loop!" I don't have any experience with calming agents as I'm a CORRECT trainer and usually just train the horses through their anxieties :-) *Sigh* How about feed suppliments? All of the horses in question receive high fat supplimentation of Canola oil (thanks to Dr. O's article), 11.5% protein sweet feed, free choice orchard grass hay, and high fat toasted soybeans. Their behavior is so targeted and specific that I wouldn't think a daily feed solution is necessary or will help. But maybe something to add in during the week prior to a show? I've experimented with epsom salts and high fat oils on a complete nerve case Oldenburg eventer I trained last year and it really didn't make a dent in her. She was fat and her coat was beautiful, though.... |
Member: Parfait |
Posted on Monday, Sep 29, 2003 - 2:59 pm: Lee,I've found that with newbies, the trailer ride to/from the showplace can be an extremely bonding experience in itself for even non-siamese types. Actually, there is an old study with humans that finds measured attraction is increased while standing on a high footbridge or something--can't quite recall the details. Anyway, I have noticed more bonding with rookies. I would be tempted to take the most show-ready animal and work one at a time. Kerry |
Member: Jerre |
Posted on Monday, Sep 29, 2003 - 3:17 pm: Lee, if your client defines "success" as winning, then maybe you can do the one-horse-at-a-time strategy to meet that goal. He may see more total success by taking what at first appears to be a slower route, than by insisting that the horses encounter maximum stimulus. If they're just started under saddle they're already doing "a lot" this year!If it's the trailer trip that sets up the bonding, can you arrange to haul separately? It doesn't sound like that's an option, from your post, but it might be worth an experiment. I know that on trail rides, horses that have never met each other can become fast friends in just a few minutes in the trailer or during the ride. Sorry, again, I don't personally know of any feed/supplement that will relieve the problem, although there are plenty that advertise those effects. I spent time with a very emotional Arab, so believe me, if someone had told me about something that worked, I would have jumped right on it. Jerre |