Passing the time while waiting for the vet by…practicing some husbandry behaviors! A while back Aesa hated having her muzzle touched and lips manipulated after she had a nasty infection from a foxtail that got embedded in her gums. Since then I try to throw in some practice so if it happens again, or I need to check her mouth for any other reason, it’s easy peasy. Nothing fancy, just good ol’ classical conditioning y’all 🥳 It’s so important for our horses to learn these things and develop a positive association with this type of handling (well, all handling, in my opinion).
Don’t forget to always practice from both sides!
Fernando is a quick learner! I’ve already faded out the target (almost completely) and he is responding really nicely to light (non-escalating) pressure from the lead rope. I need him to understand how to yield to this common cue so that other people at the barn can handle him like a “normal” horse. He’s actually very sensitive and soft, when given the chance to be. While I haven’t worked with as many donkeys as horses, the common thread I’ve noticed is that as pressure is escalated or there is any “driving” pressure from behind, they tend to either freeze or try to freight train the other direction. None of that here! Just a soft, responsive, and [i hope] happy learner.
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Next up: working on walking in new places and generalizing this skill to new people 👍🏼
This is why I don’t video more sessions 😂 #bloopers
There is the most magical little wooded area off of our arena pasture and the horses HATE it. The bogeyman lives up there and it is 10/10 going to eat them every.single.time. They rarely choose to go out there and if we walk them out, it’s usually with a fair amount of tension. They follow, like the fantastic horses they are, but they race back inside the first second they get.
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Since my body is still not cooperating with me and I can do very little with Aesa that involves the more typical “training” stuff, I decided to work on this.
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Rewarding for brave and calm behaviors, allowing them choice, and listening to how they feel (based on body language, not my anecdotal interpretation of how they feel) goes a long way. After about 10 minutes of some very low key, low stress, mostly R+ work, these two were happily grazing at the farthest point from the safety of the arena.
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Getting horses over their fears doesn’t have to be explosive. It’s rather boring actually. If you keep them under threshold and moving slowly, with intention, you can help them FEEL better about what they are doing, rather than just getting them to do it. In my experience, the latter just leads to more explosions down the road. 💥🚫
Since Facebook won’t let you have any music, here’s the version pre-French dance pop soundtrack (check it insta @zealousequestrian for that!).
Some highlights from today’s lesson with Oliver 🖤
This is an extremely hard working, talented horse, who has been tactfully trained by his owner using lots of R+ and it suits him well 😊 He works SO hard, and tries even harder, and does things with his body that a horse of this breed, weight, confirmation, etc wouldn’t be able to do easily (He doesn’t have “bad” confirmation by any means, but he’s a massive Percheron with physical limitations from a previous career). We’re working on 1️⃣Self carriage through transitions. This is hard for him, and he tends to overuse his neck to get into the upward transitions 2️⃣Not dying in the down transitions. His owner did a really good job making sure he has brakes, which is great and very functional for her (and anyone who needs to stop in a hurry!!) but he’s also learning to keep moving through the transitions fluidly 3️⃣Forward (without PUSHING). A horse this big is a perfect example of why I moved away from this mindset that you should have to push horses forward and into contact. That’d cause a lot of tension is his and my body, I’d be exhausted, and he’d be a very dull horse. He’s used to moving a little smaller, so we’re building muscle memory and working to help him feel bigger movement and do it lightly, without unnecessary tension (of course, for any movement there is some degree of tension) 4️⃣ Keeping contact light. Most of the ride I had the reins with my thumb and first two fingers. It’s hard! This keeps me from any hint of small downward motion with my fingers/wrists/arms and is a great measure of if I’ve really got a light horse or not. If not, he could surely pull those reins right out of my hands. It also helps him to work on keeping that SELF carriage. It’s not self carriage if we hold them there 😉
Lots of
Monday funday!! 🎉🎈Here is a video of Aesa working on cone targeting. This is the most basic version of the task, but I’ve been using this basic exercise to help her overcome her fear of the cows in the neighboring pasture.
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The first few sessions I simply worked on counterconditioning to the sight and sound of the cows, only advancing closer when she was calm at the present threshold. Now that she can be near them, she still lacks confidence and is easily startled by them (and it’s impacting her ability to become part of the herd)🐴
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So, I spaced out a line of cones near the fence between the two pastures, and we made it into a targeting game. I wish I could have taken video of Aesa targeting a line of cones, confidently walking up and down the fence line in front of the cows! There are too many other horses who could run over my phone though 😂
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Instead of letting her run around head high, snorting, and terrified, this has given her a positive task to focus on while simultaneously building up her confidence when the cows are around. She can always leave if she wants to, or if it gets to be too much. Since it has turned into a game she can be successful at, she has yet to decide to leave 👌🏼
