Aslan is a very special pony, who had some unfortunate experiences in his past which caused him to lose all his trust in people and especially their tools and what they will do to him. He is here for 2 months to get help with his deep fear and to find trust again. This is the very beginning of our relationship. First of all, I have to convince him of my good intentions.
In this session, I use the flag to help Aslan find a different response than flight when he is afraid. I am respecting certain points which are very important when dealing with horses like him. This helps him to finally realise that I and my tools really don’t mean any harm.
Horses are very susceptible to changes, especially environment. Until now, I worked with Aslan in his field. He has gained enough confidence in me and my tools that I took him into our outdoor arena. I wanted to see if he was only afraid of people and training in general or if he also had environmental fears.
Horses are very susceptible to changes, especially environment. Until now I worked with Aslan in his field. He has gained enough confidence in me and my tools that I took him into our outdoor arena. I wanted to see if he was only afraid of people and training in general or if he also had environmental fears.
Aslan keeps being very sceptical of the rider. With horses who already made bad experiences, it is very important to respect the horse's fears and not go further than the horse is confident with. In this session, he finally gave green lights, for the rider to sit upright and to actually start moving without panicking.
