T-Rex on Horseback – How Quiet People Make Spooky Horses October 23, 2019 October 23, 2019 Kerrie Garvey

Humans are weird. We talk with our hands. We make strange noises. We move erratically. Sometimes, it feels like we should try to be quiet and still around horses so that they are quiet around us. Not exposing horses to these weird things actually can make them more spooky because they are not desensitized to them. Some people are always quiet and avoid “scary” things, but then they sneeze and their horse jumps a mile.

When you trail ride, you can’t control what happens around you. Bikes can go whizzing by, animals can run through the woods, people you meet may act strangely, or an empty utility trailer may make a racket when it passes you on the road. These things are out of your control, but teaching your horse to expect the unexpected can be priceless on the trail. Or, as one of my favorite quotes goes – “Quiet people make spooky horses”.

One of our friends at our barn, Page, definitely believes in helping her horse expect the unexpected. Just last night she pulled out her brand new T-Rex costume!

I’m sure you’ve seen these around the internet – those funny costumes that inflate and make you look like a dinosaur. People shovel snow, run races, and entertain bystanders in them. They are great! However, to a normal horse, they are terrifying!

Now, keep in mind that her horse, a Haflinger named Buttercrunch (or Butter Pony), has been exposed to a lot of weird things in the past and is generally pretty level-headed. The other horses in the ring with us were also experienced horses with experienced riders. I don’t recommend doing this with a new or green horse! Start slow.

Even with an experienced horse, this was a lot to take in. Page made sure that her horse was okay with the crinkly costume in its uninflated state first.

See the costume? It doesn’t eat Butter Ponies!

This took quite a bit of work and Page made sure he understood that the noisy fabric wouldn’t eat him.

Butter was really not sure at first!
Eventually Butter was comfortable walking around with the costume on his back. His friend, Copper, was pretty interested as well.
Butter got to watch Page putting on the costume.
And he watched as the costume was zipped up. All the while, Page was talking to him and making sure he understood it was still her.
And Butter watched as she turned on the costume’s fan to inflate it. Again, with much reassurance from Page to Butter.
Butter got used to seeing his mom in a weird dinosaur costume.
Butter got used to Page touching him with the costume and moving about him.
Eventually, Page was able to stand on the mounting block and get Butter used to the costume’s big head being above him.
Page was able to lay across his back and let him walk around at this point.
Another view (mostly because it’s hilarious).
Finally, success! Page was able to mount and walk around on Butter in the costume.

As I mentioned before, Butter is an experienced horse who trusts his owner, Page. This isn’t the first time she has done something “weird” with him, and he is used to her antics. She was able to introduce a really weird thing and get to riding him in the T-Rex costume in under an hour, which is pretty darn impressive! However, even with this experienced team, if she had just thrown this at him all at once, it would have gone badly. She gave him the time he needed to understand and accept what she was asking of him.

Now, I don’t recommend starting with a T-Rex costume, but I do encourage you to be unpredictable and weird with your horse (in a safe way of course!)!

And here it is!

Happy trails!

Kerrie

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