Desensitising Your Horse: What, Why and How
- Loz
- Jan 30
- 7 min read
Essential Items and Surfaces to Help Build Your Horse’s Confidence
Whether you’re prepping your horse for trails, competitions, or just a more relaxed experience at the paddock, desensitisation is a crucial part of equine training. Horses, by nature, are prey animals—meaning they’re hardwired to react to anything unfamiliar or potentially threatening. With the right approach, you can help your horse become calmer and more confident in a variety of scenarios. Here’s a guide to common things you should desensitise your horse to—and practical tips for getting started.
Why Desensitisation Matters
A desensitised horse is a safer and more pleasant partner, both for riding and handling. When your horse learns to handle new sights, sounds, and sensations with minimal stress, you’ll enjoy fewer spooks and more trust in your relationship. This process also prepares your horse for situations they might encounter on a busy property, at competitions, or out in public spaces. Additionally, if approached in the right way your horse will turn anxiety into curiosity and then confidence - the ideal mindset for our equine partners in life!
Most times, you can have flapping objects in a contained space whilst they eat so they can associate positive reinforcement during their experience. Ensure you have a halter and lead rope so you can help them with managing their responses to the stimulus, and de-escalate quickly.
Equipment and Objects
Clippers: Start by introducing clippers turned off, allowing your horse to sniff and investigate. Gradually progress to turning them on near your horse, rewarding calm behaviour. Touch the horse gently with the clippers (still off), then, when comfortable, repeat with them running. Take your time—some horses may need several short sessions before they’re truly at ease. See my blog on how to specifically approach clipper training here.
Tarps: Lay a tarp flat on the ground and let your horse see and smell it. Encourage them to walk over it or stand on it using treats or a gentle voice. If your horse is nervous, start with smaller tarps and build up. Tarps are great for simulating unusual surfaces and helping horses cope with unexpected ground textures.
Started the session as this:
Ended the session with this:
Flags/Flapping things (like bunting or garbage bags wrapping on legs): Begin by standing facing your horse from in front of their face around 2-3m away, holding a flag down low and as still as possible, allowing your horse to approach. Gradually introduce movement—wave the flag slowly (going side to side changing from one of their eyes to the other), and increase speed over time. Flags can simulate wind-blown objects or unexpected movement, so patience is key. As the horse becomes accustomed to this, you can start walking backwards and getting your horse to walk towards the flag as you wave it left and right slowly and slow and lower it when they approach and are calm. This helps them self-manage the de-escalation with you controlling the stimulus.
Dragging Items: Dragging flags, feed bags, tarps, you name it, is a wonderful exercise to teach your horse to be calm with objects next to or behind them. Under sadle this can be a good exercise to chase another horse/rider in front of you dragging items as a starting point too. Here's an example of in-hand dragging:
Umbrellas: Open and close umbrellas at a safe distance, then closer as your horse relaxes. Allow your horse to sniff and inspect the umbrella. This helps reduce fear of sudden, unfamiliar objects opening near them. When you get super advanced, try riding with them and opening and closing them too.
Megaphones/Loud Speakers, Poppers/Crackers, Kazoos: Sound can be a major trigger. Start with low volume or distant noises, gradually increasing proximity and volume. Reward calm behaviour. If possible, pair the sound with something positive, like treats or pats. My tip here is use sample sounds from a streaming service, such as Spotify, to save you having to purchase additional expensive equipment. Your phone makes a very good small "loud speaker". boom!
Water: Particularly on their body for bathing. You can use buckets, sponges and hoses to get them used to water running on their body. Key tip is to start by turning on the water hose pointing away from their body so it is not energised straight at them as they will most likely want to move away from it in the first instance.
Spray Bottles: This is very useful in prearation for fly sprays or other spray products. My tip is to fill a spray bottle with water (so you don't waste actual bought products). Start by spraying away from the horse to help them with the noise. Encourage curiosity and approach in the same way as water running on their body. They are generally more worried about the spray noise. Get them used to this all around their body before starting to spray the water towards their body. It may take a few sesssions to build confidence and relaxation. Keep them short and quit with small progress.
Noodles: Pool noodles can be used to simulate soft obstacles. Let your horse inspect them, then gently touch your horse’s body or legs with the noodles. Use them as low-risk training tools for desensitisation to contact. For more advanced desensitisation, hang some pool noodles up under an area the horse can walk through safely. Can you get them to stop, half-way through or even walk backwards through them on windy days?
Sewer/utility holes/drain coverings: Ensure you expose your horse to approaching and handling different looking objects such as sewer covers, utility holes, and drains as these all look different and help the horse adapt to changes in the look of roads and trails.
Rustling Packaging/Paper Flapping on Clipboards: The sound of plastic/paper or other rustling objects is definitely a good one to work through. I have had great success using a full liquorish plastic bag and having it in my pocket, rustling it until the horse shows curiosity and then presenting the horse with a treat! Then when they are accustomed and calm, take the bag out of your pocket and repeat. Ensure you reward the curiosity and not a fear/anxiety response. And a massive tip: be careful you don't create a treat monster though!
Heavy machinery: tractors, loud bikes, trucks, cars, quad bikes, chainsaws and handheld equipment such as drills. The best thing to do here, is to train your horse to "chase" these objects from behind, so it encourages them to feel like they are making the scary thing move and are in control of the situation. You can also circle away and re-approach to manage this too.
Barrels and gates: Your horse should be able to touch, move past or open and close gates from the ground and under saddle. Also expose them to barrels or bins falling over and the noise this makes.
Sudden human movement: Performing star jumps out of no-where anywhere around the horse's body (particularly from behind) can be a great way to get the horse used to sudden movement and to teach self-management.
In addition to this, you could also consider introducing wheelbarrows, boulders (aka big-a$$ rocks here in Australia) strollers/prams/poly-carts, feed bags (i.e. when you are emptying them and folding them up to put in the bin), buckets, bicycles (pedal/push), hoses (including hose booms that go overhead of the horse), cross-ties and brooms—these are common around stables and paddocks and can help your horse become comfortable with items they may encounter regularly. You might also try desensitising your horse to radios (music and UHF types), or gun fire or fireworks, as sudden noises can be startling.
Other useful items include saddle pads of different textures, high-visibility vests, and plastic bags. Gradually introducing these objects in a controlled and calm environment helps your horse build trust and adapt to new experiences, setting them up for greater confidence wherever you take them.
Surfaces and Terrain
Walking over different surfaces helps your horse gain confidence and sure-footedness. Here are some surfaces to try:
Sand: Soft and shifting, sand can be unsettling at first. Lead your horse across sand at a walk, allowing them to get used to the sensation. This is useful for preparing horses for beach rides or arenas.
Gravel: Start with small patches and gradually build up. Gravel can be noisy and uneven, so take it slow to prevent any anxiety or sore feet.
Concrete: Expose your horse to concrete in a safe, non-slip area. Walk across it at different speeds, rewarding relaxation.
Rubber: Mats or rubber walkways can feel strange underfoot. Encourage your horse to step onto and across rubber surfaces, using praise or treats.
Wood: Wooden bridges or planks can make noise and feel solid. Lead your horse over wooden surfaces, starting with wide planks to build confidence.
Metal: Metal grates or loading ramps are often loud and slippery. Let your horse investigate first, then progress to walking across with support. Consider using anti-slip mats for safety.
Ditches/Bridges: Ditches and bridges can appear very differently in horse's vision, so exposing them to these and go over, across both directions is super important.
Un-even Terrain: Trail rides covering different terrains teaches the horse to navigate different undulations, softness and hardness of grounds and how to balance themselves when approaching.
Water/Beach/Waves: The ability for a horse to enter water and be confident with this is paramount. Use puddles after rainy days for practicing in-hand or under saddle. Teach them how to go through different depths of water. If you have access to beach/waves, then this is useful too! This can be best approached following a seasoned horse in these occasions to see how to calmly handle these differing situations.
Tips for Successful Desensitisation
Go Slow: Rushing leads to stress and setbacks. Allow your horse to approach each object or surface at their own pace. Short, frequent sessions work best.
Reward Calmness: Use treats, praise, or scratches to reinforce relaxed behaviour. Never punish a horse for being frightened—redirect and reassure instead.
Consistency is Key: Regular exposure helps cement confidence. Mix up the training with different objects, locations, and sounds.
Safety First: Always keep yourself and your horse safe. Use proper gear, work in controlled environments, and have help on hand if needed.
Buddy Up: Where possible, have a seasoned horse be with the lesser experienced horse to demonstrate calmly how to handle different objects, noises and stimuli. Horses often mirror other horses, so this can be super helpful if this is an option.
Final Thoughts
Desensitising your horse is one of the most valuable investments you can make in your partnership. From clippers and tarps to sand, wood, and umbrellas, a well-prepared horse is a happier, safer companion. Take your time, be patient, and enjoy the journey—you’ll be amazed by the difference in your horse’s confidence and composure.
Have you tried any of these desensitisation techniques? Share your experiences or tips in the comments below!
Comments