The beginnings of rehabilitation training
In this video you can see Thistle's handler standing in the middle of the round-pen, gently touching him with a long-handled pole. Thistle’s natural instinct is to run-away. As soon as Thistle stops running – even for a split-second – his handler will remove the pole and walk away from him as a reward.
Eventually Thistle realises that being touched with the pole is not a negative experience, so he starts to relax. He stretches his head out towards his handler, showing curiosity rather than fear.
It can take weeks, or even months, to be able to get closer to an abused or unhandled horse. The handler’s pole gets shorter and shorter, until the handler can touch the horse with his or her hand.
In this clip, you can see the handler touching Thistle with a very short stick, and then stroking Thistle with her hand. He has one ear cocked on his handler, and his head held high, meaning he is still slightly tense. However, compared to the first video, Thistle is accepting human contact with few qualms. This is a huge step forward for him!
The next step in the rehabilitation process is for the horse to learn to accept a head-collar. The handler will gently place a rope around the horse’s neck and teach the horse to yield to pressure. Once the horse has accepted this, the handler will quietly place a head-collar onto the horse’s head.
Read more about our rehabilitation techniques.
