Can an innate "spook behavior" be retrained?

[boo_boo]

Is a horses “go to” spook behavior able to be re-trained?

I’ve had my 13yr TWH for about 1 1/2 years now. He is great on trails- brave, agile, polite anywhere in the group. BUT!!! I found out the hard way that he is terrified of cows and minis. His fear behavior is to back peddle- full speed. His mind is gone- there is no re-directing etc. My MFT would just kind of sit- nothing dangerous. I love this horse to pieces- but can not afford, at this point in my life, to have a horse flip over on me. Any thoughts or similar experiences?

[Foxglove]

It appears that it can, but will take consistent training and persistence. It would seem that military and police horses and parade horses are trained to ignore (not react) to stimuli that would normally terrify a horse. There are YouTube videos about desensitizing horses that shy. They pretty much say the same thing --put the horse in a situation where it will spook, then ride the horse (keep his feet moving) until he is willing to stand still and face the scary object. Do it again, and again, and again. The length of time it takes the horse to “face his fear” becomes shorter until he no longer reacts to the stimuli. Then find another scary address and do it again, and again, and again. Eventually the horse learns to face his fear is the easiest choice. Personally, if I had a horse like yours that I loved to pieces, I’d find a clinic that offered this type of behavior modification. Be sure the clinician is well-regarded. Take yourself and your horse and learn, then keep up the practice at home.

[4LeafCloverFarm]

Yes, most horses can certainly be trained to ignore things that get them wound up. Water is a good example - some horses are scared to death of puddles, streams. creeks, etc. Desensitizing is a matter of repetition, encouragement and praise as @Foxglove said. However, in your situation, you’re going to need a mini and a cow/calf in order to work on his fear. Do you have a neighbor or friend that have either? I think I’d go for the mini first… they at least smell like a horse! LOL It requires patience, treats, calmness on your part and lots of doing it over and over again, until they don’t see the cow or mini as a threat or scary alien that will eat them. And I say “most” horses, because there is always an exception in there somewhere that just can’t wrap their brain around the scary thing.

[kande04]

It would be much easier on your horse to just borrow a mini and then put it somewhere where your horse could approach it on his own time. So maybe in a pen next to his pasture where he could get far enough away, but then could get closer as he habituated.

It’ll be harder to borrow a bovine, but maybe you could make a plywood cutout and then move it around near his pasture? Or maybe a couple of people in a cow suit? Dress up another horse as a cow?

I ride a very spooky horse who is unfazed by chickens and pigeons because we have both so he’s exposed to them all the time. He’s also unafraid of tarps on the floor for the same reason, because the hay mow is at the other end of my indoor and we put tarps under the hay so he sees them often.