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My mare has a particular
problem with doorways, like stall doorways, small barn doorways, and
even to some extent with the round pen gate. Big, wide doors are no
problem, but with anything about four feet wide or smaller she will
hesitate until you insist, then she scurries through as if she's afraid.
It's really frustrating because you almost always need somebody to get
behind her with a whip. Then whoever is leading her has to avoid getting
knocked over as she rushes or sometimes leaps through the doorway.
The problem is quite specific to
doors, because on the trail she'll go between two objects, say two
trees, without the slightest hesitation. She loads in the trailer fine,
the same into narrow examination stocks. Any comment on what the problem
is, and how to eliminate this behavior? MJ
Without a more detailed history, it's
fairly difficult to comment on why your mare seems afraid of doorways.
Perhaps sometime in the past she hit her hip on a door latch or
doorjamb, or something else aversive happened to her in association with
doorways. It usually has to happen more than just once to become such a
long-standing aversion. Maybe she goes through other narrow passageways,
such as between two trees, because her bad experience was specifically
with a standard doorway configuration, with a rectangular frame.
To eliminate the fear and associated
behavior, I would recommend setting up specific behavior modification
sessions, in which your only goal is to work on this behavior. The
objective of these sessions will be to see gradual improvement under
non-threatening and relaxed conditions, using only positive enticement
and reinforcement. You won't need to use any negative reinforcement (the
whip), and you will be able to celebrate increments of progress rather
than be disappointed that she doesn't go through willingly immediately.
Set aside a specific time each day for a couple of weeks so that your
patience will be at its best, and your frustration will not lead to
inadvertent negative reinforcement or punishment.
In these situations, I always remember a
local horse trainer who would re-train horses which were difficult to
load. She always recommended taking along a folding chair and a bottle
of wine to ensure a relaxed manner. While alcohol might not be the best
approach for most people, it is worth putting some effort into having a
calm and relaxed handler for these behavior modification chores.
If it works with your schedule, feeding
time is a good time to do this--her grain meal can be the enticement and
reward. Just lead her back and forth through doorways using her grain in
a bucket.
If your mare is worse with some doors
than others, begin the training with a doorway that is mildly
problematic as opposed to her worst. After she is willing to pass
through that doorway calmly and without hesitation, then proceed to one
that has been more challenging. Start a new training session with a few
passes through a doorway that she has already accepted. This will
reinforce her trust and start the session on a positive note.
If your mare has a buddy, you can take
advantage of the natural inclination to follow the buddy. Just get an
assistant to lead the buddy a few strides ahead of your mare. This can
be in addition to or in place of the food enticement.
If you should fail to make progress, or
get too frustrated, an alternative is to set up a situation where the
mare can go in and out of the stall door without someone leading her.
You can make an enclosure outside the stall door--essentially giving her
a two-room apartment--and just feed her in one compartment and water her
in the other. Let her go in and out on her own. Once she is doing that,
you can then start hand-leading her from one to the other.
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