Pushing a Brittle Horse is Hazardous
It didn't rain today. Yes, that is noteworthy, but not quite true as it sprinkled for 5 minutes.
With no rain, or almost no rain, I managed to get through almost all of my trainees, except poor Alvin, who is always hopeful when I come into the pen to fetch my next horse.
We organize our horse training into four zones.
In the beginning zone the animal is just learning to interact with the human.
In Zone 2 the animals learn to be touched and haltered, groomed and flysprayed (at least in the summer).
In Zone 3 they learn to give to the pressure of a lead rope.
Finally in Zone 4 they learn to stand tied, get on the horse trailer, let us clean their hooves, and walk around in the yard.
Yesterday we put a lead rope long enough to be held by five adult humans and we let her figure out that it was better to stick with the humans than try to run away. We don't get too many WILD-WEST moments so they stand out when they happen. She realized that it was a good idea to stick with the humans and then she shadowed us with no further incident.
Today I had Gina gear up and we did an exercise described as Flight of the Homing Pigeon by Linda Tellington-Jones. Gina had a lead rope attached to the left side of Greta's halter, I had one on the right. We both had guider whips to use to create a gate in front of Greta. We started innocuously asking for just a step at a time and rewarding liberally. Soon we were able to navigate all of Greta's familiar areas, but if we approached the yard, her head would elevate and turn away with a sharp breath. She would try to bolt if we pressured her, so we didn't.
We decided instead to turn her out with the yard ponies so she could find out that the yard was an interesting place, but we couldn't put her directly into the yard. We had to circle around and put her in the yard ponies pen, where they could find her and urge her to run with them. She has a brittle personality though and she stayed by the gate where we left her, only interacting with her new playmates by kicking or biting them no matter how they tried to approach her. I'd like to see Greta just relax. I am still hoping that she will. Her training will go much better if we can get a relaxed state of mind.
The horse of the day for 16 Sept. is (drum roll, please) quiet little Theodore who does everything the trainer asks for and isn't the least bit pushy. What a nice plain little yearling! He completed Task 18.3 (Turns to and away) and Task 19 (Interacting with the Flag) without a bit of fluff.
We organize our horse training into four zones.
In the beginning zone the animal is just learning to interact with the human.
In Zone 2 the animals learn to be touched and haltered, groomed and flysprayed (at least in the summer).
In Zone 3 they learn to give to the pressure of a lead rope.
Finally in Zone 4 they learn to stand tied, get on the horse trailer, let us clean their hooves, and walk around in the yard.
- Zone 1 horses: Robin, McGraw, Archie, Homer, Monty Burns, 18 mares and foals.
- Zone 2 horses: Barney, Batman
- Zone 3 horses: Greta, Sylvester, Morgan Freeman, Alvin, Theodore
- Zone 4 horses: June, Simon, Elmo, Timmy
Yesterday we put a lead rope long enough to be held by five adult humans and we let her figure out that it was better to stick with the humans than try to run away. We don't get too many WILD-WEST moments so they stand out when they happen. She realized that it was a good idea to stick with the humans and then she shadowed us with no further incident.
Today I had Gina gear up and we did an exercise described as Flight of the Homing Pigeon by Linda Tellington-Jones. Gina had a lead rope attached to the left side of Greta's halter, I had one on the right. We both had guider whips to use to create a gate in front of Greta. We started innocuously asking for just a step at a time and rewarding liberally. Soon we were able to navigate all of Greta's familiar areas, but if we approached the yard, her head would elevate and turn away with a sharp breath. She would try to bolt if we pressured her, so we didn't.
We decided instead to turn her out with the yard ponies so she could find out that the yard was an interesting place, but we couldn't put her directly into the yard. We had to circle around and put her in the yard ponies pen, where they could find her and urge her to run with them. She has a brittle personality though and she stayed by the gate where we left her, only interacting with her new playmates by kicking or biting them no matter how they tried to approach her. I'd like to see Greta just relax. I am still hoping that she will. Her training will go much better if we can get a relaxed state of mind.
The horse of the day for 16 Sept. is (drum roll, please) quiet little Theodore who does everything the trainer asks for and isn't the least bit pushy. What a nice plain little yearling! He completed Task 18.3 (Turns to and away) and Task 19 (Interacting with the Flag) without a bit of fluff.
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