Fear Issues - Part 1

Secret has been having some fear issues about the indoor lately. This is justified, I know where the fear is coming from. The indoor is a cover-all building, so it is a metal structure with a thick plastic covering. Think greenhouse but much bigger. When the wind blows and you are in the indoor it sounds like you are on the sinking Titanic. Snow sliding off the roof makes an incredible zipping noise that even I have jumped at. Shadows play on the walls. From a horse's perspective it is a potentially scary place. My goal is that she should trust me enough to recognize the fear but also believe that I will not let anything harm her. At first I tried to coddle her. I let her stop and look at whatever frightened her, told her she was a good girl and then continued. I know this is against all conventional wisdom, but I had never tried it before. It increased her fear.

Her fear got to such a point that on this past Saturday I could not get her around the indoor arena. At this point I was pretty disgusted with the whole idea of sweet talking her through her fear and I picked up the dressage whip. I rarely ride with a whip so she knew I meant business and I never had to touch her but she got around the indoor. She was not happy about it but she did it.

And then came Sunday. A side note of interest (because I have to claim responsibility for my share of the "bad rides") is that I had major upheaval in the non-equestrian parts of my life on Friday. I was not a pretty picture this weekend and probably should have avoided the barn.

When I arrived at the barn Sunday it was a full house. Three others were also riding in the indoor. Kaitlin decided to leave so that left three of us. Secret was wired as soon as I mounted. I started walking around the indoor and she immeadiately started popping up and spinning trying to avoid the far end of the indoor. Hello dressage whip. I took her up to the far end and started schooling up there in the "scary" half of the indoor. She was not happy but she was doing it. Then a chunck of snow zipped off the roof and sent Jamie (a horse) bucking down the rail and his rider fell off. Secret came unglued. "I am not the only one, there are monsters here!!" Knowing that Secret's prescense (and complete hysteria) were not going to help Jamie's young rider overcome her trepidation of remounting, I went to the outdoor arena and finished my ride there. Secret was fabulous outside, responsive, on the bit, happy and relaxed. I finished first but when they were done working Jamie, I hand walked Secret in the indoor arena. Oh boy, a serious hole has been dug, I could barely get her to walk next to me around the arena.