When The Pony first entered my life, the vets and I quickly discovered that was needle-phobic. We successfully managed to give him his booster jab for flu and tetanus with the power of treats, but barely.
A couple of months later he was due a dental check-up and although sedation is not required for the dentist, vets prefer it for safety reasons. The needle entered his neck and just as the vet was squeezing the sedative in The Pony had other ideas.
“NO!” The Pony shoved at us with his shoulder.
“Calm down Pony, it’s ok.”
“NO! YOU CAN’T STAB ME!”
“Woah Pony.”
“OK, fine, but no more stabbing.”
The vet tried again.
“YOU CANNOT STAB ME! I WON’T LET YOU!” The Pony desperately tried to crush myself and the vet against the wall in the his panic to avoid the stabby needle.
Eventually, by holding The Pony’s head over his stable door, the vet was able to get enough sedative into him to calm him down, before topping his up for the dental procedure. He recovered quickly from the sedative.
This, however, made us all realise that The Pony needed to face his fear of needles and learn to trust humans a little more.
Fortunately, not long after this the vets provided a talk on desensitising horses to needles and vet treatments. Through a case study on wild ponies and a live demonstration, I gathered the knowledge I needed to ‘clicker’ train The Pony to needles.
I also decided that, from the point of view of a prey animal, the most scary part of any needle is the moment it stabs you. I acquired some fine pipette-tips to mimic the sensation of a sharp needle pressing against the skin.
Along with a pocket full treats, I began the training. I do not own a ‘clicker’ but was always taught to use whatever vocal commands came most naturally to me, so our ‘click’ became ‘good’.
The Pony was told to ‘stand’ with his head turned away, exposing his neck, and when I deemed it enough he was told ‘good’ and given a treat. Unsurprisingly, with food motivation The Pony picked this up quite quickly. I then taught him the same instruction from the other side (for any left-handed vets).
The next step was to introduce touching his neck, and pinching the skin, as though about to put a needle in. The Pony was wary of the pinching, clearly associating the sensation with bad things. However, since all he got was a treat, and no pain, The Pony quickly got used to it.
Now to add a stabby sensation! This was not so easy, and had to built up gradually. First just touching the tip of the ‘needle’ [pipette tip] to his neck. Gradually, the pressure was increased, to mimic the press of a needle to skin. This was scary, because it was pointy. But nothing bad happened. And The Pony always got treats.
Finally, putting it all together, anywhere on his neck.
‘Pony, stand.’ He stands, head turned away, I pinch his skin and press the ‘needle’ firmly to his skin and hold, as though injecting, pull away ‘Good’. The Pony gets a treat.
Success! And it took barely a month of inconsistent training.
Some months passed, and it was finally time for The Pony to face a real needle again, as he was due his booster jabs. The vets had been warned, and the one who would be injecting him did lots of random tests whenever she was around to see how he would react. The Pony was just happy to see a friend.
A week before his injection was due, I did some refresher training. The Pony was a little uncomfortable when I initially used the ‘needle’ but did not move away. He remembered!
The day of the jab I explained to the vet how I had trained The Pony and together we did some practice runs with the covered needle. The Pony stood nicely.
Now for the real thing – ‘Stand’, The Pony turned his head away and waited, the vet pinch his skin, put the needle in – The Pony wavered ‘stand’ I repeated. The Pony held. The needle was barely out and he was already turning to receive he treat.
SUCCESS! The Pony no longer feared needles. I made sure to be present for any future needle encounters for several months until I found myself stuck. I couldn’t be there for a dentist appointment, but The Pony is on a strict 6 monthly schedule!
A friend offered to attend in my absence, which I accepted – and then bombarded he with all of the training I had done. The Pony had received injections in his bottom without me without a problem. But what about his neck?!
On the day my friend reported that The Pony was perfectly behaved with no fear of needles. I sighed in relief – now The Pony can have his ‘needle-phobic’ flag removed from his vet record and be treated with ease.
With this ‘clicker’ training knowledge, I now find myself looking for other things I can teach The Pony. Recently someone shared an old study on horses in Norway that were taught to indicate their preference for a rug on, off or no change, using ‘clicker’ training.
Perhaps this is what we will try next, as The Pony has some very strong opinions on rugs. If you wish to read the study yourself, please check it out! ((PDF) Horses can learn to use symbols to communicate their preferences:)