When we are working with people with attention deficit, we must have always a concern: the environment. Talking about our arena facility, I present you some concerns and strategies:
-Avoid times of day which have a lot of riders/people around (eg, new riders learning with their instructor makes a lot of noise and movement; school lessons; people working on the arena ground)
-Avoid meal times of horses - the horse is likely to be very reactive;
-When you ask the task to client, do it facing a wall or a place where there is nobody;
-Remove all visual distractors from arena such as: poles, wings, spires, buckets, balls
-Try not to present all material you are going to work with - I have a big plastic bag where I place all the material;
-Close the gate so the client and horse knows their boundaries and there is less temptations;
-If necessary, ask people around to make no noise.
