Do horses have fear periods like dogs do?

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ServiceMini

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Hi there!
Today I was on a walk with Sodapop, and we were in the middle of the railroad tracks when suddenly the guards went down and the lights started flashing. Gave me a heart attack, but Soda didn't mind at all. šŸ¤£ It turns out someone was working on the control panel and hadn't noticed us, but it was good to see that sudden things moving/flashing/making loud noises don't bother her.

But that got me wondering; do horses go through fear periods like dogs do?

With dogs, you can expect them to go through fear periods at large life changes. Coming to their new home (8weeks), 6-12 months, 24-34 months old, and they usually last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks where dogs are suddenly fearful of things that typically wouldn't bother them. In dogs, you have to be careful with socializing through them to avoid making lasting fears, although many people don't really notice their dogs going through a fear period. Something that normally wouldn't cause a lasting fear (Say, someone accidentally tripping over them, then they develop a fear of people stepping over them).

Do horses get something like this; or will she always be so level headed? I'm certainly happy she's so mellow, but I worry that she'll change in her temperament suddenly. Is there anything special I should do if they do have fear periods? Is there a certain age when they get particularly flighty? She did go through a phase of not wanting to be touched, but now she's back to her snuggly self. She is four months old. Photo is of her on our walk today. I just re-shaved her (service horses are often kept shaved to make grooming for public access easier), and my clippers broke mid-way through so I had to re-do it with one meant for my own hair. Now have a proper set of clippers for her so she's not completely bald in the winter.
 

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As far as I know horses don't go through fear periods unless you count the first few days for some when they are very reactive. What I'd be careful of is how you interpret and react to any changes in her behaviour. Most people see fear/pain/confusion/playfulness etc. as bad and will discipline/punish/ignore push through it instead of figuring out the why and finding a solution. A little preachy there, I see a lot of it and try to educate as much as possible šŸ˜Š. It sounds like she has an amazing temperament and you're doing great with her šŸ˜€šŸ˜
 
That is great news! :) And no worries, I prefer preachy over making mistakes! I am always up to look for different opinions/views when it comes to training. I'll explain our current process for desensitizing and courage building.

In dog training we are taught to always work the dog under threshold- or in the 'BAT' zone. We look for green or blue behavior, either completely un-stressed, interested in the stimulus (noise, scent, sound, thing, ect) which is green behavior, and trying to investigate their environment calmly (sniffing the ground, interested in toys, ect); and blue behavior, where the dog is moving towards the stimulus on their own, glances at the stimulus, ears up, interested but still easily ignores the stimulus. At blue zone you create more space between the stimulus and the dog untill you're back in the green zone, as the goal is Behavior Adjustment, where the dog has learned that the stimulus isn't cause for concern through desensitization and counter conditioning (both done in the green zone where there is no stress).

Then we have the yellow zone, where the dog glances at the stimulus for over 2 seconds, where the dog is moving directly towards their trigger stimulus, they become stiffer, ears perked; and can no longer learn easily. Then you have the orange and red zones, which are where you start seeing visible fear and reactivity.

So far I've been using this method with Sodapop, but modified to my best knowledge of horse behavior. Looking for grazing, napping, resting her hoof on her 'toe', chewing, raised vs lowered head, ect. and turning anything she raises her head at/perks her ears at/stops her eating to look at into a fun game of glancing at, then looking to me and doing a few tricks, before turning her attention back to her grass or resting. So far we've only had to do this a few times, and now most of the time she has zero reaction or just turns her attention to me waiting for us to play our 'game'. Any calm reaction or voluntary movement towards the scary object un-asked is praised, and then I move her away again before she can overwhelm herself because I always air on the side of caution. šŸ˜…

Does this method seem alright; are there earlier signs of stress that I'm missing? I try to keep everything very positive while training, other than that phase where she would kick out at us for coming near her grain where I just made her take a lap around the house before feeding her one small hand of grain at a time and then the next few days stood next to her petting her and giving her pieces of orange while she ate. Now she's pretty friendly when eating. šŸ¤£ I also use pressure/release for non-scary times (she is a baby and at times throws tantrums when it's time to walk past a tasty patch of grass rather than eat it).

I'm sorry for replying with such a long post. I just know that there are so many people on here who are so knowledgeable with horse training and behavior. I've read books and watched videos, but it's nothing compared to hands on experience I know you and others have had. I've had full-sized horses before, my sister owned four of them while we lived with my mom so I've seen training first hand, but haven't done enough to be confident and know that no matter what, there are always new things to learn.
 
Well, there is that way, then there is me LOL LOLšŸ¤£

I donā€™t know about a fear period but they can be fearful at any age and at anytime. I tend to push my horses to the limit šŸ„°LOL

If mine are afraid or shy away of something, I use it as a learning experience and i try not to stop until they are completely desensitized. The latest example I have is Shadows fear of bikers. When we first started going to the parks he was deathly afraid of bikers. The first time he saw one, his flight response kicked in and he nearly knocked me over trying to flee! That day we walked 3 miles with bikers everywhere and Shadow being a big ole chicken every time we saw one, which was the entire walk. šŸ¤£ After the first time, I would specifically take him back to that EXTREMELY BUSY park but I would make sure to take him on the weekends when I knew the park would be the busiest with bikers everywhere. Now several weeks later bikers can go flying by us and he isnā€™t fazed at all.

I always try to keep my training sessions very positive!! šŸ˜

For building courage and self confidence, I donā€™t let or like when my horses walk directly behind me. I want them to use their brain, see what is coming next and take in the sights. I make them walk either beside me or I ground drive them out in front of me.

When i am walking my horses, I donā€™t let them have grass and they are disciplined if they try to grab some. They usually ask me first and my answer is always ā€œNOā€. I donā€™t want to instill that bad habit especially in my driving ponies, that would drive me crazy.

I also donā€™t feed treats out of my hand, with the exception of Stormy. I am trying to train him to be a trick horseā€¦. we have gotta get practicing LOL šŸ˜˜ I donā€™t feed treats out of my hands because I find that my horses get too nippy and aggressive. When I take them out in public, I donā€™t want them biting anyone, kids or adults.

This is just what works for me, everyone has their own way and it sounds like your way is working beautifully so far. If it doesnā€™t work one way, then itā€™ll be time to try a different way.
 
@Kelly Thank you for such a long and thorough reply! I'll have to stop allowing her to nibble on grass; someday I hope to teach her to drive someday and I don't want her trying to go off-track to nibble some grass! She already knows that when vested she can't stop to eat grass, but I'll start enforcing no grass unless told to eat. I'm sure she'll throw a few more tantrums, but we'll get there! šŸ¤£

I agree with disliking having her walk behind me- but I struggle to make her walk at my side or in front of me as she is a very very lazy horse. We were at my grandpas for two weeks without walks though, so now she has some extra pep in her step.

Does anybody have advice for teaching her to be more forward-thinking? She isn't at all swayed by the crop I have, when I tap her hind legs with it she just stands there. She responds to pressure on her lead amazingly, so I can get her to walk faster and stay by my side, but very rarely can I get her out ahead past my rollator (a walker with wheels). I'll include a video of her next to my rollator. It's from when we were in-sight of home, and she was excited to get back inside.

I have seen some of the tricks Stormy does! I love them so much! šŸ˜ I am very lucky, it was easy to teach her that she can't be pushy for treats. Her big thing though is doing all of her tricks to try and earn treats, especially 'Say hi' aka shake. She just lifts her hoof up super high and waves it a bit, so I'm trying to teach her not to do it without being asked, but boy is it hard. šŸ˜…

Speaking of tricks, have you heard of Do More With Your Dog? They do trick titles (certificates) and accept all animals. You just video them doing things off of a list, and then you'll get a certificate and ribbon in the mail and your name added to their list of animals who've completed it! I love doing it with my dogs, and I plan on doing it with Sodapop too :)


I'd love to get her used to walking ahead of me, at about this position, for when she's older can will do mobility tasks. But she almost never goes this far forwards. Instead her eye is usually in-line with my hips.

View attachment 20210727_183541.mp4
 
I don't know that they have fear stages, usually just new situations or objects, each have their own problem items/areas, and some just don't.
You may find when she hits puberty, she'll test you like a teenager.
 
That is great news! :) And no worries, I prefer preachy over making mistakes! I am always up to look for different opinions/views when it comes to training. I'll explain our current process for desensitizing and courage building.

In dog training we are taught to always work the dog under threshold- or in the 'BAT' zone. We look for green or blue behavior, either completely un-stressed, interested in the stimulus (noise, scent, sound, thing, ect) which is green behavior, and trying to investigate their environment calmly (sniffing the ground, interested in toys, ect); and blue behavior, where the dog is moving towards the stimulus on their own, glances at the stimulus, ears up, interested but still easily ignores the stimulus. At blue zone you create more space between the stimulus and the dog untill you're back in the green zone, as the goal is Behavior Adjustment, where the dog has learned that the stimulus isn't cause for concern through desensitization and counter conditioning (both done in the green zone where there is no stress).

Then we have the yellow zone, where the dog glances at the stimulus for over 2 seconds, where the dog is moving directly towards their trigger stimulus, they become stiffer, ears perked; and can no longer learn easily. Then you have the orange and red zones, which are where you start seeing visible fear and reactivity.

So far I've been using this method with Sodapop, but modified to my best knowledge of horse behavior. Looking for grazing, napping, resting her hoof on her 'toe', chewing, raised vs lowered head, ect. and turning anything she raises her head at/perks her ears at/stops her eating to look at into a fun game of glancing at, then looking to me and doing a few tricks, before turning her attention back to her grass or resting. So far we've only had to do this a few times, and now most of the time she has zero reaction or just turns her attention to me waiting for us to play our 'game'. Any calm reaction or voluntary movement towards the scary object un-asked is praised, and then I move her away again before she can overwhelm herself because I always air on the side of caution. šŸ˜…

Does this method seem alright; are there earlier signs of stress that I'm missing? I try to keep everything very positive while training, other than that phase where she would kick out at us for coming near her grain where I just made her take a lap around the house before feeding her one small hand of grain at a time and then the next few days stood next to her petting her and giving her pieces of orange while she ate. Now she's pretty friendly when eating. šŸ¤£ I also use pressure/release for non-scary times (she is a baby and at times throws tantrums when it's time to walk past a tasty patch of grass rather than eat it).

I'm sorry for replying with such a long post. I just know that there are so many people on here who are so knowledgeable with horse training and behavior. I've read books and watched videos, but it's nothing compared to hands on experience I know you and others have had. I've had full-sized horses before, my sister owned four of them while we lived with my mom so I've seen training first hand, but haven't done enough to be confident and know that no matter what, there are always new things to learn.

Don't ever apologize for long responses šŸ˜Š. What you're doing sounds good to me. They learn best under threshold, pushing her past could cause her to shut down, especially with her personality. She would look relaxed but it would only be on the outside, inside would be a freak out waiting to happen when you least expect it. The only thing I would add to look for is if you see her turn her eyes away from something but not her head, it's a small early indicator of fear. Chewing is a release of stress, so when you see that she has relaxed and is now able to learn.

Unfortunately part of her personality that is going to make her so good for you is part that makes her want to conserve energy, ie walk slow. The two things I know to try that might or might not work are 1) Slowing way down. If you go slower than she wants to she might start asking to speed up at which point she would get a reward. 2) Try to have a destination in mind. Go there and give her a reward. As she figures out you are going somewhere where she gets rewarded she will start wanting to get there more and speed up. Start with a very small distance then get longer until the reward happens at the end of where ever you're going that day, just be careful to reward once away from 'home' so she doesn't start not wanting to go away from home or rushing back.
 
There is something I've seen in riding horses, where they go along with anything and everything as a two/ three year old and then "suddenly" as a four year old they have strong fear reactions to things that didn't seem to bother them before. These horses were thrown in over their head mentally and physically and weren't as laid back as their riders thought, they just weren't strong enough to protest or display their fear until they got a little more mature. These horses were trained "by doing" and were pushed well beyond their threshold.
I can't imagine you'll have this problem, since you won't be pushing her beyond her threshold.
 
Unfortunately part of her personality that is going to make her so good for you is part that makes her want to conserve energy, ie walk slow. The two things I know to try that might or might not work are 1) Slowing way down. If you go slower than she wants to she might start asking to speed up at which point she would get a reward. 2) Try to have a destination in mind. Go there and give her a reward. As she figures out you are going somewhere where she gets rewarded she will start wanting to get there more and speed up. Start with a very small distance then get longer until the reward happens at the end of where ever you're going that day, just be careful to reward once away from 'home' so she doesn't start not wanting to go away from home or rushing back.
[/QUOTE]
This seems like a great idea!
 
@Kelly Thank you for such a long and thorough reply! I'll have to stop allowing her to nibble on grass; someday I hope to teach her to drive someday and I don't want her trying to go off-track to nibble some grass! She already knows that when vested she can't stop to eat grass, but I'll start enforcing no grass unless told to eat. I'm sure she'll throw a few more tantrums, but we'll get there! šŸ¤£

I agree with disliking having her walk behind me- but I struggle to make her walk at my side or in front of me as she is a very very lazy horse. We were at my grandpas for two weeks without walks though, so now she has some extra pep in her step.

Does anybody have advice for teaching her to be more forward-thinking? She isn't at all swayed by the crop I have, when I tap her hind legs with it she just stands there. She responds to pressure on her lead amazingly, so I can get her to walk faster and stay by my side, but very rarely can I get her out ahead past my rollator (a walker with wheels). I'll include a video of her next to my rollator.
View attachment 44612

šŸ¤©Wow! You color coordinated a red rollator with your red horse. I use a blue one with my black/roan/grey pinto.šŸ˜ I'll work on getting video of us this weekend.šŸ˜„

As to the training, you're using the best approach: patience, consistency, observation, analyzing, rewarding the desired behavior and asking questions. It's great that you're aware of the differences between dogs and horses, yet are also successfully adapting your methods to either. That says a LOT about you as a person and as a trainer. I'll have to look into that Do More With Your Dog....it sounds familiar...šŸ¤”
 
You've gotten some great responses! I'll just add a couple of tidbits:

Re: grass-eating - it's pretty easy to make it a "sometimes" sort of thing as long as you are super consistent. It might be easier not to EVER allow it while the horse is "working", but it's possible for it to be OK sometimes without torpedoing everything else you do. My horse knows he's 100% not even allowed to think about it when he's harnessed or even just bridled - he came to me knowing this and I have reinforced it. But he apparently never had the experience of being ground driven or walked anywhere very far in a halter and lead rope so at those times he feels more free to try to graze and we're still working on politely asking and accepting no for an answer. Anyway, my point is, he can be a total pissant about it on the lead rope but doesn't even think of trying when he's hitched, even if he has to stand for 10 minutes in a bunch of grass while I fiddle with things, so I don't think that hand-grazing will automatically result in problems while driving.

Re: desensitizing - I like to think of it more like you're giving the horse the room to understand the thing that is scary to them, and then decide they don't need to be afraid of it. You want them to think. What Kelly did to help her horse with the bikes is to show him that the bikes are not going away, they won't hurt him, and she is there to help him if he needs it and she's not at all worried about the bikes. I think that this is a really good way to go - you don't want the horse shut down or pretending like scary things aren't there, you want them to work to understand things and to know that you are the one they should look to for support if they need it. Give them the tools to make themselves OK with things that worry them. Especially if you'll be going out on the trail or into "people places", you can't possibly make the horse dull to every potential scary thing before you encounter it. And horses that are dull are the ones that explode - they'll seem OK until they most certainly are NOT. I've seen this a lot in horses that have been punished or made to work harder for being afraid. So the biggest thing is that we stay calm and be a reliable source of help to them. And remember that going first is harder for them than following - so when you're first asking them to go in front, short stretches and lots of breaks and praise. You got some really good suggestions for that already too!

Finally, in my experience, they do have a teenage phase. I haven't seen it manifest as much in being fearful as just the sort of behavior you'd expect out of a 13-15-year-old human. Talking back, pretending you aren't with them, flouncing. ;) It seems that this isn't as bad if they weren't overfaced when younger, as Dragon Hill said. I don't think your 4-month-old who didn't care when the railroad gates came down around her is suddenly going to start spooking at everything as a 4-year-old. :) But she could get a little ornery for a while.
 
Wow! Thank you everybody for such amazing answers and discussion! This reply will be pretty long lol.


Don't ever apologize for long responses šŸ˜Š. What you're doing sounds good to me. They learn best under threshold, pushing her past could cause her to shut down, especially with her personality. She would look relaxed but it would only be on the outside, inside would be a freak out waiting to happen when you least expect it. The only thing I would add to look for is if you see her turn her eyes away from something but not her head, it's a small early indicator of fear. Chewing is a release of stress, so when you see that she has relaxed and is now able to learn.

Unfortunately part of her personality that is going to make her so good for you is part that makes her want to conserve energy, ie walk slow. The two things I know to try that might or might not work are 1) Slowing way down. If you go slower than she wants to she might start asking to speed up at which point she would get a reward. 2) Try to have a destination in mind. Go there and give her a reward. As she figures out you are going somewhere where she gets rewarded she will start wanting to get there more and speed up. Start with a very small distance then get longer until the reward happens at the end of where ever you're going that day, just be careful to reward once away from 'home' so she doesn't start not wanting to go away from home or rushing back.

Thank you for stating the eye movement and chewing! I have heard mixed opinions on chewing, some saying it's a fear thing and others saying it's a stress-release thing. I think I believe that it's a stress-release thing, or a thinking thing. She does this quite often when learning new tricks, and not being rewarded for doing unwanted behavior (like pawing the ground instead of kissing when asked, when she knows how to kiss šŸ¤£ ). The idea of going somewhere and then treating her sounds perfect! I'll give this a try and update on how we're doing with it. :)


There is something I've seen in riding horses, where they go along with anything and everything as a two/ three year old and then "suddenly" as a four year old they have strong fear reactions to things that didn't seem to bother them before. These horses were thrown in over their head mentally and physically and weren't as laid back as their riders thought, they just weren't strong enough to protest or display their fear until they got a little more mature. These horses were trained "by doing" and were pushed well beyond their threshold.
I can't imagine you'll have this problem, since you won't be pushing her beyond her threshold.

Thank you for the warning!! I've seen this in dogs too. It's something that's got me worried with how calm she is, and it's why I take everything slow. What makes me feel better is that she seems to take no nonsense; a 'horse person' neighbor I let meet her tried dragging her forwards by her leg to look at her hoof and she hopped forwards and yanked it back then tried to back away and the person dragged her forwards by the sides of her halter before I could even speak, and she nearly got nailed in the head by a hoof when Sodapop reared on her. šŸ˜… She hasn't reared or lashed out at anyone else, but I can't really blame her for it after she was dragged forwards twice. Needless to say we avoid that neighbor now. But it comforts me to know that she will draw the line somewhere, it lets me know that she isn't shut down by doing too much.

šŸ¤©Wow! You color coordinated a red rollator with your red horse. I use a blue one with my black/roan/grey pinto.šŸ˜ I'll work on getting video of us this weekend.šŸ˜„

I didn't even notice it, but I love it! šŸ˜ She currently has a red vest too! I'll have to throw on a red shirt and do a photoshoot sometime! :D I'm looking forward to a video!

Re: grass-eating - it's pretty easy to make it a "sometimes" sort of thing as long as you are super consistent. It might be easier not to EVER allow it while the horse is "working", but it's possible for it to be OK sometimes without torpedoing everything else you do.

It's good to know they can learn the difference! So far i've been doing a 'no grazing while vested', and allowing grazing sometimes when unvested. Our biggest struggle is passing by the town green, because we usually go out to the middle of the meadow there and I let her graze for awhile there. Now she throws tantrums when we don't stop. I'll see how she behaves with being told no for awhile then being allowed to again; hopefully she grows out of her 'But i want it NOW' phase. šŸ¤£ She's still just a baby so I'm hopeful she'll outgrow some of her tantrums (at least untill she's at the teenager stage LOL).


Re: desensitizing - I like to think of it more like you're giving the horse the room to understand the thing that is scary to them, and then decide they don't need to be afraid of it.

This (and the rest of your reply) is such a perfect description of well-done desensitizing! Giving them room to learn it's not scary, while still giving them support. It leads to animals who stop and think and look for guidance, which is so much better than animals who just shut down and accept scary things, because eventually those animals snap.

And I can imagine her a teenager already. šŸ¤£ She is so sassy in the same way a toddler will be. It's funny having a baby horse in the house; they get into everything. The house is completely baby-proof luckily (I used to do baby sitting), but she still throws 'tantrums' where she'll snort and pin her ears (not at people/animals) and paw because she can't reach her grain or treats. Or today was when I put the dogfood in the closet after she decided to try opening the container it was in. šŸ¤£ She just stood by the door snorting and pawing for a few minuets before giving up. Her nickname is Sassypants. šŸ˜… She is really well behaved most of the time, just very serious when it comes to food LOL... We're still working on not begging when people eat. But she's getting better about it. And we are just now getting out of a phase where she didn't want to be touched at all, and only wanted to stand right next to people instead. Luckily she has in the past week gotten over that and even comes up asking for scratches now.
 
I have heard mixed opinions on chewing, some saying it's a fear thing and others saying it's a stress-release thing.

I know there are some trainers who look for licking and chewing as either a submission behavior or a thinking behavior and I think that it's just a release of stress. Of course it's good to release stress, but ideally I think we'd work towards our training sessions not causing the stress in the first place! Not that it isn't sometimes necessary, or the horse may just be worried about a certain thing and there isn't any way to prevent that, but I don't agree with the idea that some trainers seem to have about pushing the horse a lot in order to then get the licking and chewing in every session, and then using it as proof of some kind of success. It's sort of like beating your head on the wall because it feels so good to stop...

All that is just to say, if your horse rarely licks and chews, it could mean they are shut down but it also could mean they're just calm and you're not stressing them out. Which would seem to be a good thing to me!
 
I know there are some trainers who look for licking and chewing as either a submission behavior or a thinking behavior and I think that it's just a release of stress. Of course it's good to release stress, but ideally I think we'd work towards our training sessions not causing the stress in the first place! Not that it isn't sometimes necessary, or the horse may just be worried about a certain thing and there isn't any way to prevent that, but I don't agree with the idea that some trainers seem to have about pushing the horse a lot in order to then get the licking and chewing in every session, and then using it as proof of some kind of success. It's sort of like beating your head on the wall because it feels so good to stop...

All that is just to say, if your horse rarely licks and chews, it could mean they are shut down but it also could mean they're just calm and you're not stressing them out. Which would seem to be a good thing to me!

Thank you! I love getting so many thorough replies and ideas. :) I'm very much a type of person who likes to learn everything I can, and then find the best of most to figure out a plan of action. The minds of many are better than the one in most scenarios. :)

I mainly notice licking when I tell her no more eating grass. šŸ˜… Last night she was very upset at not being allowed to graze the entire time during a training session (standing calmly on a sidewalk for a few minuets, then grazing, then standing some more), and she was licking her lips quite a bit while we first started working on it. Yesterday I also noticed it when a large 18 wheeler gas tanker went by the road while we were on the sidewalk walking, they're not supposed to take sideroads in the village so she's unused to them. She paused and watched it go by, then licked her lips a couple times and went to grab a nibble of grass. So I feel good that she didn't spook (she kept her head not raised completely, loose lead so she could move away if she wanted to, and only watched it while it came close), but also that she's not shut down. I just need to go somewhere where there are a lot of large trucks but we can still work a good distance away from them to get her comfortable around them over time.
 
I'm liking the advice you're receiving on this topic! We have an astute bunch, by golly!

From what you're telling us, I see her licking as the stress reliever. She's not overly demonstrative....as long as it's in her best interests.

Being told "no" is NOT in her best interests! According to her anyway.šŸ˜ My stallion does exactly the same thing your girl does. Throws a fit when not allowed to graze (or other things he wants, but usually graze.) He's much better than he was when he came to me. Back then, he'd rear up and paw at his handler's head for anything he didn't want to do. If he was on the lead and wanted to run and you didn't run too, up he'd go. Turn left when he wanted to turn right, up he'd go. Tell him to move on when he wanted to graze..."weeeee...see the bottoms of my hoofies!"šŸ„³šŸ¤  He never went after anyone or into their space. He just had a temper-tantrum.

Because I wanted to be able to hand-graze and picket him out, he's had to learn "okay, graze." Until I cue his head down with the rope and say the magic words, he's only allowed to stand ground tied, or lunge, or stand there while the farrier trims him, or while I groom, or harness, or...you get my drift.

Dragon Hill brought up a good point as well, when she said some will take until they can't/won't anymore. Then they explode and it boggles the mind. "I don't know what happened. šŸ¤”They were SO easy to train. Nothing bothered them. They learned it so easy." However, if you truthfully look back (as I've had to do twice before, at least when the 1/2 Arab blew up he was kind enough to dump me in a shavings pilešŸ„°) at that animal's training track, you'll see you may have rushed through a couple steps or even skipped them. I'm not saying that happens in all cases. I'm just saying to never take things for granted and always keep your awareness up.

She's a baby and has already shown you Sassypants.šŸ˜šŸ¤© You're a fine trainer. You two will do great together. ā¤
 
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