Everything Horse magazine Magazine, October 2014 | Page 38

ALL EARS!
With UK-based Australian Horse Trainer Jason Webb

Courtesy of Aloeride, the natural organic aloe vera equine
supplement, we caught up with UK-based Australian
horseman, Jason Webb, who specializes in starting young
horses and retraining horses with behavioural and ridden
problems at his centre in Kent.
In this feature, Jason tackles the
issue of ear sensitivity with Luna the
mule. Luna is progressing through the
starting process and she is having her
first few rides in a head collar. However
she is still very sensitive with her ears
as he explains:
“Luna had not been backed or handled
despite now being five years old, but
one of her major issues is having her
rather over sized ears touched by a
human hand, so it’s one of the areas
we are keen to work on”
Jason works with all his horses using
rope halters, which he says gives you
a bit more ability to control, as they
work with his ‘pressure and release’
theory, which means that when the
horse pulls away from you it puts
pressure on, but as soon as the horse
stops it releases any pressure, thus
giving reward. The lead rope is extra
long, to allow Jason to move away
from the animal and come closer
safely.
Luna the mule is a very nervous
character and as Jason explains, not all
animals’ progress at the same rate, so
it’s important to take little steps over
time. Today the aim was for Jason to
simply get the bridle near Luna’s ears.
Jason explains that your horse’s safety
and your own is paramount, so he
always wears a hard hat and works the
horses in the school because it offers
good yet soft footing. He points out
that horses are naturally one sided,
exasperated by the fact that we as
humans tend to do most things off the
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left hand side of the horse, so with
any groundwork you need to do things
evenly and today that is key to helping
to build Luna’s confidence issue with
having her ears touched.
Jason starts off by just asking Luna to
gently drop her head (main image)
and be submissive to the pressure on
the halter and as soon as she does so
she is rewarded by Jason immediately
releasing the pressure. Jason does
this several times, rewarding her inbetween by leaving her alone. Jason
says that when it comes to bridling,
we will require Luna to drop her head
so this is a good introduction in the
long process of desensitization. Once
this is successful, he then asks for
lateral flexion both sides of her neck,
but explains that he wants her to just
flex her neck, not step away, however
Luna keeps moving, so Jason then asks
her to properly step away and keep
moving, stopping momentarily to see
if she wants to come into the ‘comfort
zone’ which is by Jason’s side. At first
Luna isn’t really interested, so Jason
keeps her feet moving and suddenly
she stops and Jason allows her to think
about it, rewards her with a scratch
on her neck, then starts asking for
lateral flexion again, this time Luna is
accepting.
Jason also points out that when
working with a head shy horse, you
need to ensure you keep your head
out of the range of the horse’s head,
because you can risk getting quite
a nasty facial injury if your horse
suddenly throws his head up. Also

looking away at points during the
process, helps diffuse any tension and
allows the horse to relax.
Luna is certainly relaxing and chewing
and thinking about the whole process,
so Jason feels he can move onto her
ear phobia. He starts by rubbing her
face, over her eyes and whole face
starting from the muzzle all the way up
to her eyes:
“The eyes, ears and feet are the
pathway to a horse’s mind, and if you
don’t have these working with you,
you don’t have that path”
At this point Luna starts to move her
feet a little, so Jason moves with her
still rubbing her face gently.
“Luna needs to learn that by moving
away, nothing is solved. If these steps
become bigger and tension comes into
play, I will send her away as before,
then invite her back to me, because I
want me to be the safe place, where
she feels being away from me is worse
than having her ears touched”
Luna soon relaxes again and Jason
moves up her face with his hand, at
this point he also explains its important
to keep one hand always in contact
with the horse’s skin. He rubs one of
Luna’s ears with just a finger at the
base and then moves his hand rubbing
down her face again, working his
way up to her ear. Luna seems quite
relaxed, so Jason then puts his hand
in-between her ears on her poll, with
fingers touching both ears.

Everything Horse UK Magazine • Issue 13 • October 2014