Ferrah
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- Jul 17, 2005
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My leased 22 year old QH/Arab mare has had a terrible fear of plastic bags (or anything plastic sounding for that matter). She has had this fear for as long as I can remember (at least 5 years.) She has already broken at least five halters and six leadropes because of this problem. All the boarders at the stable I board at will yell "watch for plastic Ferrah is coming!" when they see that I am bringing Ferrah into the ring, then everyone knows not to bring out plastic or throw a blanket on a horse. As you can imagine putting a blanket on Ferrah can take me as long as half an hour.
I have tried to get her over this fear for the last five years. I would try to get her used to the plastic by rubbing her with a short stick which is her "happy" stick, until I could touch her any part of her body. Then I would put the plastic on the short crop and try to touch her with it and she would just flip out every time. I tried trying to calm her and use this method for months. I would even go all the way to other side of the arena and wait until she was comfortable and use the retreat method, as soon as she was uncomfortable I would go back to where she was comfortabe. Basically I stood on the far side of the arena for two months.
I am out of ideas now! I have tried putting the plastic on a longer crop and tying her up and just touching her with it, but she just ends up breaking a leadrope or a halter. Even twitching her doesn't seem to work. She will stand still for awhile but she will suddenly 'explode' and rear up to get away. I have alos tried feeding her treats of of plastic and tried to get her to associate plastic with treats, I tried that 5 days a week for a few months too with no improvement.
I am just about out of ideas! What could have caused her such a fear of plastic? Is this just a quirk I will have to learn to live with?
I have tried to get her over this fear for the last five years. I would try to get her used to the plastic by rubbing her with a short stick which is her "happy" stick, until I could touch her any part of her body. Then I would put the plastic on the short crop and try to touch her with it and she would just flip out every time. I tried trying to calm her and use this method for months. I would even go all the way to other side of the arena and wait until she was comfortable and use the retreat method, as soon as she was uncomfortable I would go back to where she was comfortabe. Basically I stood on the far side of the arena for two months.
I am out of ideas now! I have tried putting the plastic on a longer crop and tying her up and just touching her with it, but she just ends up breaking a leadrope or a halter. Even twitching her doesn't seem to work. She will stand still for awhile but she will suddenly 'explode' and rear up to get away. I have alos tried feeding her treats of of plastic and tried to get her to associate plastic with treats, I tried that 5 days a week for a few months too with no improvement.
I am just about out of ideas! What could have caused her such a fear of plastic? Is this just a quirk I will have to learn to live with?