Red here has a few gaps in his training, so despite the limited time between rain and humidity yesterday morning, I made the most of it with a quick 10-minute in-hand session. We focused on refining his forward and back responses.
Check out the before-and-after video of his step-back response from our session below.
* Due to Facebook's video upload limit, the forward response video will be posted in the comments.
#horsetraining #thoroughbred #beforeandafter
I thought I best tidy up the driveway. It's getting a bit unruly.
You're doing a great job, Marvin. Love your work 😆
Work smarter, not harder? 🤷♀️
#horses #chestnut #hardatwork #worksmarternotharder #saddlebred
I have no idea why it takes so long to give Willow a bath 🤔🤣
#horses #thoroughbred #horserescue #spaday #sundayfunday
Just two friends helping each other out 🥰
~ Smarty and Sparrow ~
Out of all the interesting, quirky, and sometimes questionionable things horses get up to, watching them partake in mutual grooming would have to be one of my favourites.
Incase you're wondering what that is:
Mutual grooming is just that; two or more horses grooming and scratching each other usually by using their lips, teeth, and tongues to lick, gently bite, or rub one another.
It is a normal and natural social behaviour for horses and very important for their mental well-being. Studies have found that this behaviour, both in domestic and wild herds, can help horses strengthen bonds, ease tension, achieve relaxtion, and it creates a "feel good" response.
Additionally, mutual grooming also helps horses maintain hygiene and it assists in parasite control.
On a side note; boy does time fly!
As of yesterday, Smarty has been in care for 4 weeks. Stay tuned for an update on the beautiful boys' progress.
#horses #rescue #horsefriends #animalfriendship #horsefacts #funfact #cuteanimals
Sparrow, our resident top of the class star pupil in desensitisation. 🎓🎓
He makes it all too easy to forget he has a vision impairment. Not much phases him, in fact he believes most things are a toy and his for the taking. This includes the hat off your head, the hood on your jacket, and the phone in your back pocket.
For those curious about Systematic Desensitisation or simply just desensitisation as it is more often called:
It is a training technique used to increase or decrease a horses response to different stimuli. Most commonly used for the latter (decreasing), it is basically taking the spook factor out of certain objects or situations through gradual and repetitive exposure.
It is a sad thought but alot of the time with rescues, the first thing I need to do is desensitise the horse to humans and reassure them that not every human is going to bring them physical, mental or emotional pain.
#horse #horses #horsetraining #horsefacts #horserescue #thoroughbred #blindhorse
#desensitisation
