Feet lifting duo
These two very much come as a pair, which sometimes takes a bit of thinking about and consideration during training.
We’re currently working on feet lifting, which they’ve done before but it’s good to refresh in preparation for feet trimming as these boys haven’t had a great deal of handling throughout their lives. They were doing very well and despite the mass of food readily available in front of them, they both wanted to play feet. So they both did 🤣
They are lifting from the “up” voice cue, my job was to just catch those big legs 😁
#gaiahorsemanship #positivereinforcement #pair #drafthorse
Greetings!
You know they enjoy their training when you’re greeted with this sort of Black Beauty style entrance 😍
#gaiahorsemanship #postivereinforcement #drafthorse
Dibble
Katie and the very handsome Dibble were amazing in their first lesson today 🤩 Dibble learnt to target a cone and then other things around the arena.
He also found the confidence to do the tarpaulin and mat which was a big deal for this lad. They then finished by doing some liberty work! 🤩 he’s a smart boy this one. Well done both.
#gaiahorsemanship #positivereinforcement #horses
Alex and Juno
A little clip of Alex and Juno working on their liberty the other day 🤩 Juno was so connected and listening she stopped a bit suddenly! 🙈 she was fine 😊
It’s always lovely to catch up with Erin and Alex. I got to know them through Horse Agility and they attended my last camp. On Saturday Erin had a lesson with one of her ponies, Hopscotch (I didn’t think to get photos or videos) where we worked on their positive reinforcement and breaking things down for this month’s Horse Agility competitions. Then Alex had a liberty lesson with Juno. 😊
#gaiahorsemanship #horseagility #liberty #libertyhorses
Wonky
A little clip from Halloween agility today. Wonky navigating the bridges and the murky spooky swamp! I’ve done 3 Halloween Agility days in a week 🎃 photos coming soon! 👻#gaiahorsemanship #halloween #horseagility #horseagilityaccreditedtrainer
Lilly
It was so lovely to catch up with Rosie and Lilly the other week. There was so much progress to be seen! They were working beautifully at liberty and we worked around and over some pole exercises, then we finished with some hip targeting. Lilly was just at the end of her concentration span when I decided to film but she did very well. 😃 we even had some sunshine for it!#gaiahorsemanship #positivereinforcement #horsesofinstagram #sunnyday
Jake
Hope you’re all coping ok with the endless rain. I have to admit, I was not mentally prepared for it to be this wet this soon 😫
Here’s a clip from last week of Liz and Jake. Donkeys don’t usually do rain, but Jake and Storm had been out mooching about in it of their own choice before I arrived so we did a short session. Here we are working on leading from behind. I really think it’s useful to be able to lead from all angles with our equines, something I think I’ve taken from working alongside working equines. We were working around a pole exercise I had set up which had various things you could do, but here we were walking between the poles without stepping over. This can then build into the equine understanding to follow pole patterns on their own and you can end up doing some advanced things with that which can be great for them both mentally and physically.
#gaiahorsemanship #donkeys #rain
Storm
Liz and Storm working under the trees ☺️ it may look simple but Storm is beautifully happy and soft working a long distance away from his friend Jake… which is a huge deal! Look at those ears 😍
#gaiahorsemanship #activedonkey #donkeys #bitless
Anyone else having flashbacks of last winter today?! 🤔
#gaiahorsemanship #britishwinter #wetwinter #rain
Anwen
I’ve recently started working with Gail and Anwen, with the aim of helping them develop their confidence in each other. So lovely to see such a difference in their latest session 🤩 #gaiahorsemanship #horses #ponies #flag #sunnydays
Merlot and Shiraz
I’ve been working with Merlot and Shiraz in preparation for loading for moving. They are big lads with not a lot of “life experience” at all and can be quite nervous. We haven’t got a lorry to practice with so I’ve been using the stables to work on being enclosed and giving them some tools that will hopefully be some help on move day. They’ve not had great experiences in the past and I know the lorry itself will be a trigger but any preparation we can do to beforehand will all help.
They’ve been going into the stable with me, turning halting and waiting before coming out and also walking in with a pallet alongside to practice being more confined and then backing out. They have learnt to target towards a cone. It’s been quite a big deal for these big flighty boys. This week we progressed to them being confident enough to go in without me which is fab 😊
Note, although there’s hay in the stable they had free access to hay on the yard during training too. #gaiahorsemanship #positivereinforcement #drafthorses
Merlin
First proper sit on for Merlin today 🎉 lovely to see both him and his friend Kip who also had a session and is so much more confident these days. Lovely boys. #gaiahorsemanship #startthemright #backing #cobsofinstagram
