Gwen's choice

I haven't been able to do much with my horses lately, as you might have ascertained by my lack of posts. Other aspects of my life have crowded into my horse time, add to the very swollen left knee that my handsome boy seems to have acquired and I haven't had much to talk about that wasn't depressing. Summer of maladies, 2012.

Gwen, it would seem, does not appreciate the fact that I'm "ignoring" her. She came up to me yesterday after eating her dinner and said, "I want to do something." Well it's hard to argue with that. I dug out her mat (a piece of plywood), put it on the ground and waited for her to put her feet on it. Mind you she wasn't wearing a halter or anything, so there was no way I could direct her to stand on the mat besides body language and her memory of what the mat means.

For those of you who may not know, standing on a mat is a foundation clicker training exercise. Horse get a high rate of reinforcement for placing both front feet squarely on the mat. It teaches impulse control and how to ground-tie. For many horses who really love standing on the mat you can use it to help a horse get comfortable in the "scary corner" of arenas or trailers or trails. It's a very handy exercise.

So there we were, looking down at the mat when Gwennie did what she normally does at first sight of the mat (which btw is not good) and pawed at it. Normally I back her up or step her forward to approach the mat again when she does this, but without a halter I couldn't do that. Fortunately this wooden mat doesn't stay put when she paws, it skates over the ground- which doesn't get her rewarded. So she tried that a couple times before her lightbulb went off and she planted one foot squarely on the mat. Reward!

Then I waited. "You have to put the other foot on it, babe," I said, pointing to it. Up went the other foot, plopped down squarely next to the first. Reward, reward, reward! I then slowly walked around her, rewarding her for remaining still when I left her head. At one point, she fidgeted and a hoof came off the mat. No reward for that, so I walked a few feet in front of her and asked her to target on my fist. She came off the mat to my hand for her reward and I figured that would be the end of it- that she would take the opportunity to walk off and graze. But no, she turned around and went right back to the mat! And she didn't paw at it!

To me, these are the moments when clicker training is the most rewarding. When the horse obviously chooses to do the exercise, when they're involved 100% and having a good time. It was also one of those moments when one of my horses approaches me and I know exactly what they want. It kind of feels like a thought pops into my head that's not my own, it feels strange but completely true, know what I mean?

Here's a picture of a horse standing on a mat by his own choice. This is not Gwen, sadly I had left my camera at home.

Cali the guide horse

Photo from the Times Union

 

In case you haven't already heard about her, this is Cali, a guide horse. She was trained by clicker trainer Dolores Arste under the guidance of Alexandra Kurland. Alex was the first to train a guide horse with the clicker: Panda, a horse you may have heard of before.

I think there are only a handful of guide horses around the world, but they have an advantage over dogs in that they live a lot longer and apparently are able to focus better on their jobs. Which would you prefer? Guide dog or guide horse?

Stretchy, stretchy

First of all, thanks so much for your comments on my last post. There was a definite string of similarities between everyone's advice, adding to that jme put up a brilliant post on her blog, Glenshee Equestrian Centre, with detailed instructions here. If you haven't seen that post yet and you've been in the same position I am, I highly suggest you read it. She broke the initial steps down very clearly, making it easy for me to figure out how to teach this to Coriander using a bit of clicker training.

As she suggested we started at the halt and I asked him to bend his neck. If he started to walk off I asked him to stop and bend again (we did that a few times). Once he figured out I wanted him to bend and not move, I could then wait for him to drop his nose. He got that part, but then he decided what I really wanted him to do was stab his nose downward. Um... not so much, this is supposed to be relaxing. So then I had to wait him out a bit, ignoring his frustration, until he finally dropped his nose and held it there for a second.

That's as far as we've gotten so far. I tried to do a bit at the walk but it was much too soon, he'll need at least a day or two more of practicing at the halt before we move on. But at least now I know where to start, thanks jme!

Gwen got ridden on Sunday, we worked on "whoa." Of course we first had to work on maintaining a walk before we could stop- she was much more interested in grazing than moving. That was just fine with me though, we needed to work on that anyway. If you teach one thing you have to teach the opposite too, right? Funny how that works. I thought about riding her tonight but she was anxious about something. I had to take her with me when I worked with her brother because she was giving me the distinct impression that if I left her behind she was going to try the fence. That's the first time I really felt that way since they've been here so I decided I better heed my gut feeling. I'll have to see how she feels tomorrow, I'd like to ride her and do some head lowering with Coriander- hopefully my plans won't go awry. The weather has been depressing lately, rain and rain and rain.

Recent theme: Wet

You don't know what you don't know

My apologies if this post ends up being kind of boring but I feel like I've got to get this out...

It's come to my attention recently that I haven't been doing this clicker training thing quite right. Well, really I should say that Coriander has told me I'm doing it wrong. In a nutshell- he doesn't get it. Figuring this out has kind of knocked me for a loop. Where did I mess up?

After conducting some research it all boils down to the fact that I didn't really understand what I was doing either. I was incompetent and I didn't even know it. Maybe you've heard of this before- the four stages of competence:

1. Unconscious Incompetence
The individual does not understand or know how to do something and does not necessarily recognize the deficit.
2. Conscious Incompetence
Though the individual does not understand or know how to do something, he or she does recognize the deficit.
3. Conscious Competence
The individual understands or knows how to do something. However, demonstrating the skill or knowledge requires concentration.
4. Unconscious Competence
The individual has had so much practice with a skill that it has become “second nature” and can be performed easily. He or she may be able to teach it to others, depending upon how and when it was learned.

 This recent bombshell has slung me right out of stage 1 blubbering and shivering into stage 2. Now I'm trying to claw my way into stage 3 by learning as much as I possibly can. The funny thing is while I was doing my research I ran into this description of the horse's stages of clicker training from Katie Bartlett's site:  

1. All You Can Eat Food Bar Stage:  The horse thinks the trainer is a walking food bar.  The horse can be greedy and can be pushy.  He only sees what this food bar can do for him.
2. Trigger Stage:  The horse makes a connection between the bridge sound and the food.  It might be easy for some folks to think that this stage means the horse has figured out what this training is all about, but I don't think so (yet). Mugging can be just as obnoxious if it isn't stopped, but he is coming to see there is a sequence.  At this point, they may appear to get it, but the horse tends to be inconsistent and easily frustrated. 
3. Lightbulb Stage:  The horse makes a connection between a behavior causing the bridge (click), which triggers the food vendor to vend.  If the horse is emotionally immature and hasn't bought into the 'process', they may appear to have 'gotten it' but in reality, some personalities may be easily frustrated because they are struggling with: do they want the treat enough to do .   They are coming to see this is their choice and that alone can be a new and unusual state for certain horses.   At this point, some prior understanding of training will help progress the horse to the next stage.  A trainer can *prevent* a horse from moving on to the next stage by increasing pressure instead of waiting for the horse to choose the correct response at this stage because the horse learns that if he doesn't do it, he will be pressured.  In the worst case, the treat can become a bribe instead of a reward.  This is a trainer issue, not a c/t issue.  The only way to progress a horse thru this stage is to keep on keepin’ on with consistent training behavior so that the horse can 'buy in'.
4. Buy-In Stage:  The horse develops an understanding of “learning” (not just a behavior causes the click but a particular behavior causes a click.  He has developed some level of trust in the trainer - that the trainer will not ask for anything too unreasonable, even if things appear scary.  I think this stage is where many repetitions often occur in order to refine a behavior.  And at this state, the horse is beginning to see that there is an end to the means, in his own way.
5. Eureka Stage: The horse and trainer develop a dialog of learning where chains of behavior can be built without extensive repetitions because a dialog has been established between the horse and trainer.  At this stage, the horse has finally learned to learn and in this last phase, the actual food motivator can become less important than the dialog and the game.  Some people may not make a distinction between Buy-In and Eureka.

It appears that Coriander's been stuck in stage 2; amazingly, I would put Gwen in stage 3. I think because I've taught her more behaviors than Coriander she's had more of an opportunity to "get it." She also has a much more cooperative personality than her brother does. Not to say that he's not cooperative, he just needs more of a reason for doing things than she does. Consequently he's a great teacher. Love your horses for all their characteristics, folks. You never know what they'll be worth.

Anyway, back to my research. I bought a copy of Karen Pryor's, "Don't Shoot the Dog," and I'm SO happy I did. The title is a bit of a misnomer- this is not a book about dog training, there is some dog training in it but that's not the focus. The point of the book is to explain what operant conditioning and positive reinforcement are and how to use them to train any being with a central nervous system. Including people. Get a copy, you won't be disappointed.

Since I'm still casting my net far and wide to find the best sources of knowledge, I was excited to find this excellent quote from Bob Bailey that Mary just posted on her site, "Animal training: Simple, but not easy," along with the trailer for one of his operant conditioning videos (that video is on its way to me now). Boy is he ever right about that. I can't wait to watch that video.

In the meantime I'm going to continue playing with Coriander, trying to get the light bulb to turn on. First up, advanced targeting. Wish me luck!

Jaw flexions

As promised, here is some video of Coriander's jaw flexions.

Of course there are multiple ways to do this, I'm using this method because it directly translates to single rein riding  mechanics. This is my process: I put up a "tai-chi wall" with the rein, then I steady my hands while putting a little pressure on his mouth, and then I wait for him to give his jaw. When he gives the jaw I click and immediately drop the reins. The release is key, if you don't release the horse will just stiffen up and brace against you.

You can see right at the beginning of the first video where I should have clicked and released but didn't. Coriander certainly noticed, he gets a little grouchy when he knows he did something click-worthy and doesn't get clicked. Then he got totally distracted by the horses across the way- they're what he's staring at so intently. At one point I waited two minutes for him to relax his jaw. Lucky for you I didn't include that video, it's more boring than watching grass grow, but I did want to mention it to prove how patient you need to be sometimes to get a response from your horse.

Notice how his mane flips over to the right around his poll? His neck is crooked, he always carries his head a little to the left, which makes jaw flexions to the right a little more difficult for him. I'm considering getting a chiropractor out to look at him but I want to work on the jaw flexions a little longer before I do that. How cool would it be if they straightened his neck out?

May clicker clinic

It's been an interesting time over here and I've been falling behind on posts. First Blogger went down, then my home computer kicked the bucket, and then I went to a clicker training clinic with Alexandra Kurland last weekend. So I've been away a bit, but now I'm back.

I can't quite explain how lucky I feel that I found clicker training which led me to Alex who just happens to come to my backyard three times a year. Last weekend was my third clinic with her and it most definitely won't be my last (someday I may even find a way to get Coriander to one, that would be fun). It's not just that she's such a wealth of information (because she is), it's also the community that you become a part of by going to her clinics, plus it's just plain neat to see how people's horses develop from clinic to clinic.

There was one horse that the owner was trying to help achieve balance and self carriage, through using simple rein mechanics she picked his inside shoulder up and produced some of the most amazing trot I've ever seen in person. There is something to be said for straightness!

There was another horse there that was absolutely lovely on the ground but once his owner got on his back he didn't know how to stop.After spending two days trying to find the stop, Alex helped the owner to discover that the whole issue stemmed from the horse being sticky about disengaging his hips and backing up smoothly. So interesting.

There was an adorable morgan mare that I totally tried to steal and the sweetest arabian mare in existence who really showed her owner that she needed to be aware of what her body was doing.

There was also a giant rescued saddlebred who came to his new owner with aggression and fear issues who showed us all the power of consistent, patient work.

And then there was Kate G., who's been helping me quite a bit, who brought her own horse that drags himself around on the forehand. It was amazing that through simple turning exercises combined with single steps forward and back she was able to get him to rock back, free up his shoulders, and raise the base of his neck.

One of the best things about these clinics is that I always leave them with a plan and an arsenal of new tools. I went into the clinic looking for ways to help Coriander build muscle in his topline and help him be more balanced with better body carriage. With Gwen my goal was to find more techniques to help her become a safe riding horse. I got what I was looking for and more, here's my updated plan for the Quarters:

Plan for Coriander:

• pose
• lateral work via Why Would You Leave Me? and 3 Flip 3
• backing
• jaw flexions via single rein
• picking up the shoulder via single rein

Plan for Gwen

• matwork
• lateral work via Why Would You Leave Me? and 3 Flip 3
• pose
• hip/shoulder/shoulder
• left and right/ color game

I'm not going to go into detail about what all these things are, those will be the subjects of later posts once I really start integrating the exercises, but I did want to give you a visual on why I'm introducing a pose. Take a gander at the video below:

This mare is posing: Notice that she's raising the base of her neck, engaging her abdominals, raising her back, and tucking her pelvis. This is collection in a nutshell and it was made by free-shaping her posture. I started Coriander with this yesterday  by waving my hand under his nose- thinking that there was something in my hand he arched his neck by raising it at the base and shifted his weight backwards, click/treat. It didn't take long before I could see out of the corner of my eye that he'd started engaging his abs too. That was pretty exciting, it's like pilates for equines. I'll have to see if I can get some video of my guy doing these, it'd be cool to compare the beginning steps with how he'll look in a few months.

I'm very excited and ready to get to work!

Forward HO!

One of the cool things about where I board is that there's an orchard directly across the road that I'm allowed to ride in. It's mostly an apple orchard but they've got a bunch of different trees growing over there, peaches, cherries, pears...

I think this might be a peach tree

I wanted to try to get some good pictures but Coriander didn't really feel like stopping so most of what I got was taken on the fly or while he was eating.

Coriander: "If we're not moving, I'm eating"

He was feeling quite forward that day and was extraordinarily hot off my leg, itching to run. We came up to this line of trees with a nice grassy lane next to it and I let him go. Yeeha, that was fun! Apparently streaking across the field allowed him to catch up with his brain, because after that he calmed right down. It's amazing what a good gallop can do!

Galloping, HO!

Speaking of forward- we've been having quite an issue with that in the ring. As in we have none. Out on the trail he's electric and powers ahead with purpose, surround him with a fence and he shuts it right down. This is a problem, without forward you've got nothing.

 The fault is mine (obviously), I've never been a very active rider and I've been letting him lollygag around without any rhyme or reason, now that needs to change and I need to get his bum in gear. Naturally, my dressage trainer has been talking whips and crops.

But you know what? There's got to be a better way. So I reached out to the clicker training community and asked for advice. What I got back was so brilliant that I want to post it here for you to read:

I worked on this with one of my mules (Murry). She tended to offer only the
least amount of energy as needed while ridden in the arena. I tried clicking her
for responding to my leg, but I found that didn't really help. I tried carrying
a whip and I would click if she offered an adequate amount of forward energy
with a light touch of the leg, and if not then I would lightly tap with the
whip. That also didn't help that much, especially if I was not carrying the
whip.

What worked was clicking Murry for offering her own energy, **in the absence of
the cue**. I asked with leg for her to walk faster than at a crawl. She wasn't
allowed to mosey along. If she slowed down to a Quarter-Horse-Shuffle, I would
ask her to go a little more forward with my leg. Then I would leave her alone
with my leg, and follow passively with my seat (no pushing or swinging or
exaggerating the walk). I didn't click until she offered a little bit of her own
energy. There were glimpses of moments when she offered a little more tempo, a
longer stride, a lift at the base of her neck, or a lift in her shoulders.

It took three rides for her to start offering what I've called a "parade walk."
She lifts her neck and telescopes, her long ears knife back and forth through
the air, and she is moving along with great energy. She loves it because it is
her own idea. Alex says that every behavior you train should have an aspect of
free-shaping to it. Free-shaping is what makes the horse really "own" the
behavior. It has really changed the way she relates to leg cues. When she is
really "on" she will offer passage-y trot departs from a halt, with only a
breath of leg as the cue. It is such a dramatic difference!   

www.EquineRevelation.com

So I've been trying it. I started by clicking him for offering his awesome walk out on the trail, hoping that would help him make the association. Once we got in the ring, I messed up at first by trying to click for too many things. I'd click for good forward, then I'd click for bend, then I'd click for turning on the forehand. It was too much and Coriander was confused, "what exactly are you looking for, human?" So on Saturday I changed my tactics, I clicked for him choosing to go forward on his own and that was it. If he got super pluggy I asked him for a bunch of transitions until he livened up and then I'd find a time to click him for moving out on his own. It worked SO well! We even got a couple of canter strides on both leads for the first time ever!

I'm going to keep this up until he's consistently moving forward on his own inside the ring, then I'll choose specific rides to click for bend, or for contact, or anything else. I think the key will be to only reward for ONE behavior per ride to avoid confusion. I'll let you know how it goes.

Everyday clicker training

At the last clicker training clinic, Alex said something that really stuck with me, "sometimes I click to say thank you." I realized that I do that too, I think every clicker trainer does. I feel that anytime I c/t my horses for a well-ingrained behavior I'm doing it to say thank you.

When I arrive at the pasture and go out to see my horses, the first thing I do is touch them and c/t. If they are really involved with grazing they'll wait for me to approach them.

Gwen was faking me out- she galloped over to me as soon as I put the camera down.

But typically they approach me. Either way, my horses are never hard to catch.

Food?

 If I need to halter them, I'll c/t after I buckle it on. Then I'll reinforce them for walking nicely next to me up to the barn. I prefer to walk shoulder to shoulder with a loose lead and enough room to raise my elbow between the two (or three) of us. I'll usually c/t every 15-20 steps if they're in the correct position, a little extra reinforcement never hurt anybody and I find it helps keep their attention on me.

I don't c/t while I'm grooming them, I tried it a while back and found that it made them fidget, but I will occasionally c/t them while I'm tacking up. I'll c/t Coriander for letting me put the bridle on and I'll c/t Gwen for bridling and for standing still while I cinch up the saddle. Then I walk them over to the mounting block, where I'll c/t them for standing still while I run the stirrups down and check the girth again.

When mounting I very rarely click them for standing still before I get on, but I do click and treat every time I slide into the saddle. With Coriander I wait until I've got my feet in the stirrups to click, but for Gwen I click as soon as I'm upright on her back. I was having issues with Coriander a while back because I was clicking before I got my feet in the stirrups, he'd eat the food and start walking off before I was ready, so now he has to wait. This has worked very well for me, they both stand like stones now.

I also click and treat every time I dismount. My hope is that when I fall off, because it's going to happen, that my horses will be so used to looking for the treat when I hit the ground that they'll immediately turn to me instead of running off into oblivion. With any luck, I won't have to test out this theory anytime soon.

When I'm putting them back in the pasture for the night, each horse has a different routine. Coriander will walk through the gate, wait for me to ask his hips to move over so I can close the gate, and then stand and wait for me to take his halter off- I click and treat him once for this "loop." Gwen is different, she likes to walk in the gate and directly over to the water to grab a drink, I'll wait for her to finish and then I take her halter off and c/t. I think she does this because she knows I'll hold Rocky off so she can drink her fill without getting harassed, so I haven't gotten picky about this behavior.

Rocky tends to throw a bit of a monkey wrench in my training with her issues, sometimes I have to tie her up so I can get my horses in and out of the pasture. She likes to hover over the gate and snaps at my horses if they get too close to her- so they do their best to avoid her. She's an interesting horse, that Rocky, she bites and kicks at my horses all the time but is still terribly attached to them, especially Gwen. She might be the topic of another post someday.

Anyway, back to my horses, because of our end-of-the-day routine I never have to worry about them bolting away from me or pulling other sorts of nastiness when I turn them loose. That's not to say they never gallop off when I let them go but they always wait until I've given them their treat and walked away before they run off.

I feel that continuing to c/t these behaviors that they know well helps to create mutual respect between us. They know what I expect of them and I know what they expect of me. Obviously I'm not teaching them anything because they already know these behaviors, but I really like having a way to say "thank you" that they understand and appreciate.

Clicker training magic

Since I know that many people's eyes glaze over if you talk about hooves too much, here's a brief respite.

Proof that clicker training is for more than teaching tricks:



This is Oliver, a PMU horse, and his trainer Debra of The Magic Center in Washington. Doesn't he look beautiful? Look at his fabulous balance and carriage. This might serve as a little inspiration if you've been considering clicker training yourself- it works!

I do still have horses of my own. Gwen did a little yielding of the hindquarters under saddle Saturday and stayed wonderfully relaxed the whole time. We still need to work on forward but I'm a little... erm... scared. I'm being a bit ridiculous, but I can't help it. There's nothing Coriander can do under saddle to make me scared, but all Gwen has to do to get me hyperventilating is pick her head up quickly. I do get more confident every time I sit on her but I've still got a ways to go. Fortunately Kate G. will be out in a week or two helping me out, with her there I think I can get around this fear block.

In preparation of trying out the Ansur saddle this week I've been riding Coriander more in the bareback pad to see if he might find my saddle constricting. You know what? I think he does. He steps out much bigger when I'm sitting on the bareback pad vs. the saddle. Maybe if I buy an Ansur it will have more benefits than just fitting both horses. Hmmm...

A step in the right direction

Fortunately the weather cooperated and I got to work with Gwen last night. I almost had to chuck out my plans though, when she didn't want me to put her bridle on. Immediately I was worried about her being in heat, riding a Gwen in heat is a no-no in my book. Fortunately I figured out she was just hungry, when I showed her that she was still going to be able to eat hay she was fine with it.

I spent a few moments just sitting on her, letting her eat, until she started looking around at me. "Okay, you're up there, now give me some treats." I very gently tapped her with my calves and said "walk" (see, I do take your advice). She thought about it for a second, then slowly stepped forward. After rewarding her for that, I asked 2-3 more times until I got a much bolder step forward. Click, treat, and dismount. Good girl!

I'll let her cogitate on that for a day or two before I climb up again. When she steps forward boldly as soon as I touch her I'll start asking for another step. Eventually I have plans to set up some cones so she can get the concept of traveling from point A to point B, but I'm taking it super easy for now.

I don't know what I'd do without clicker training, I wouldn't have the guts to climb up on her without it.

Why am I risking my neck again?

I know at least one of you is out there wondering why I'm trying to ride Gwen. Considering that last year I suffered a bad injury falling off her and that I already have a great horse to ride, what's my motivation? Well for one thing if something were to happen to me, as she is right now she'd be dog meat. If she's to stand a chance in that awful scenario then she has to be ride able. Fortunately she's finally registered (Three Shades of Gwen- thanks so much Wolfie for the Best Name Ever!), but it's been shown over and over that registration alone isn't enough to protect a horse.

Public service announcement: Register your foals before they're yearlings, folks. It saves a lot of hair pulling down the road.

But aside from that compelling reason, I'm trying again because I think she wants me to. Raise your hand if you just rolled your eyes because I'm anthropomorphizing my horse, but I really believe it. For the past couple months when I've taken Coriander out to ride she's looked at me with a rather pleading look on her face like, "why aren't you taking me?" I'd look her in the eye and tell her that I wanted to but that I was too scared to try. Did she understand my words? I doubt it, but she might have understood my intent.

I present this tidbit of information as my proof: In the almost 30 times in the past three weeks that I've mounted and dismounted her, not once has she stepped away from the mounting block when I started to swing a leg over. Someone might say, "well that's because you're holding her still." Nope, not at all. I keep a finger on the leadrope or the reins to make sure they don't slide down but I have never put any tension on her face to get her to stand still. She does that all on her own. Sure, the clicker training helps, but I can't use clicker training to make her do something she's afraid of. She's shown me that over and over. (If she or Coriander didn't stand still at the mounting block I wouldn't get on. At this point that would be very strange behavior for them and a sure sign that something was wrong.)

So what do you think? Should I expect men in white jackets to come looking for me or what?

The next step

I sat on both my horses today.

No, that wasn't a typo. I sat astride my Gwenevere today.

The day started with pulling Coriander out of the pasture and wading over to the indoor to work on circles (we both need tons of practice with those). After some solid work on his part, including not losing his mind when some snow slid off the roof, I brought him back home and pulled Gwen out for some mounting block work.

She had done really well with mounting block work on Friday so I decided to step it up a notch. I stepped into the stirrup and weighted it, she didn't care, so I stood up in it. She still didn't care. I repeated this a few times and switched sides. She still didn't care. I leaned over her back with all my weight. She couldn't have been bothered. Then I put my leg over the saddle and when she still didn't care, I slid onto her back.

She did pop her head up at first, but that's all she did. I immediately gave her a treat and dismounted. After taking a cry break, I sat on her again. All in all I slid on and off her 12 times today, 6 times on each side.

Sadly the event was not without casualties:

My treat bag got caught on the saddle horn when I dismounted. It was on its last legs and was a poor design anyway so I'm not mourning the loss. I think I'm going to make something more like a fanny pack next time.

I'm planning on doing the same routine with her a couple times a week for the next few weeks until she really doesn't care about me sitting on her. Then we'll try for a couple of steps. Meanwhile I'll still pony her off her brother and take her for walks by herself to get her more comfortable with the outside world.

We've taken the next step to making my girl a riding horse!

Smartie pants

A natural windbreak. I've been avoiding blanketing as much as possible but the Quarter's are uncomfortable when there's negative windchill. Bonus shot of the barn next door.

Mmm, licorice

Coriander is pretty darn smart, sometimes too smart. He likes to try to be one step ahead of me but that creates an issue when he doesn't know which way I'm going to go. I've been acting too predictably lately and he's been taking advantage of me.

I mentioned before that he's decided he doesn't need to have the halter put on just to go back into the pasture, this created an issue last Monday when I wanted to ride. I brought him out and put the saddle on no problem, when I went to put his bridle on he spun and headed for the gate. Okay, he thought it was time to go back out, no biggie. Instead of opening the gate I went to put his bridle on again; this time he ran away from me down the fence line. Hmmm. I waited by the gate until he came back and then tried to put the bridle on again; he ran off again. Now I was getting grumpy. This time I followed him, threw the reins around his neck and put that darn bridle on (for heaven's sake horse, it doesn't even have a bit).

After that misadventure I was figuring we'd have a crummy ride, especially since I was taking him next door to ride in the indoor. When we got there and found 5 other horses already inside I had definite feelings of trepidation. He proved that I need to think better of him. It was definitely a mental training ride instead of a physical one, but aside from some balking, some bending away from scary stuff, and one head toss he was quite good.

At one point in time everyone else in the indoor decided to take their horses over some little crossrails. Coriander's eyes pretty much bugged out of his head when he saw that. It occurred to me that he's never seen horses jumping before, so we stood around for a bit and just watched.

The most interesting part of the ride happened when I decided it was time to go home. We were in the back of the arena and I decided to walk him towards the door to dismount. I left him on a loose rein and let him decide which route to take, his route was straight towards a crossrail. I started feeling a little smug at this point, figuring he'd get up to the crossrail and then be at a loss figuring out how to go around it. What actually happened was that he walked up to the crossrail and then stepped over it without even a stutter step. I wonder if he saw the other horses going over them and wanted to prove that he could do it too? Maybe he just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Smartie pants.

Later in the week I decided we needed to have a leading tune up and work on his ducking away from the halter trick. The main issue we're having is that he is rushing off ahead of me and I need to show him that running off like that isn't in his best interests. I took him for a short walk up the driveway and then stopped, he kept going. When he stopped I clicked and put the treat where I wanted him to be- a few feet behind where he ended up. I then waited for him to figure out that he needed to back up to get his reward. We did this a few more times until the point came when I stopped and he backed up to be next to me before I clicked. That was the turning point. The very next time I stopped he was right there with me. Rushing problem solved... for now.

The kitty litter experiment

Remember how I mentioned a while ago that I might try throwing a bag of kitty litter on Gwen's back to get her used to having more weight up there? Well tonight I gave it a try.

I brought Gwen in under the lights and put the western saddle on her. The first thing I did was stand to her left, grasp the horn of the saddle with my right hand and jump straight up. Interestingly, her head went up at the same rate that I did. Hmm... should have done this last March. Coulda, shoulda, woulda, right? We did that a few more times before I switched sides and did it again. Gwen has made me a believer of the "different side, different horse" mantra, so I always make sure to work both sides before proceeding.

I then went over and grabbed the bag of kitty litter. Apparently it wasn't a bag of litter like I thought it was, instead it was a bomb. At least that's what Gwen told me as she snorted and bugged out her eyes. We spent the next 15 minutes touching the bomb/kitty litter. At first I had to click her for just looking in my direction, but it didn't take long for her to come over on her own and touch the bag with her nose. We did this on both sides and then I raised the back towards her back. I waited until she dropped her head to click her and put the bag down.

Eventually she let me put the bag on the saddle, where I'd wait for her lower her head, then click and take the bag off. I kept going until she didn't even pick her head up when I put the bag in the saddle and then I put the litter away for the night. To finish up, I asked her to move over by pressing the stirrups into her sides. As this work goes on I'll look for her to move her hindquarters over if I press further back and her shoulders if I stay near the girth, but today I just wanted her to move.

Overall I think the kitty litter experiment was pretty successful. Her only response to the weight was to throw her head up, otherwise she didn't move. I don't know how well it will translate for her having me get in the saddle (I weigh 100 pounds more than the kitty litter), but it can't hurt to have her get used to more activity around her back. We'll definitely be doing more of this in the weeks to come.

I love clicker training!

I went to another clicker clinic last weekend. It kind of snuck up on me so I didn't post beforehand that I was going. I had a great time once again. I met a dressage instructor who does distance learning that I think I'm going to take some lessons with and I met a fantastic barefoot trimmer from Canada (All Natural Horse Care) that we convinced to trek back down to NY and put on a trimming clinic. Alex was great, she's so enthusiastic about how much the horses improve even in just the tiny little things that it's infectious.

Once again I want to encourage anyone interested in clicker training to try to attend a clinic. It's not just trick training or teaching your horse to pick up their feet, Alex's program really concentrates on making horses into balanced, supple athletes that are happy to work with their humans. She has a strong background in classical dressage and also incorporates a lot of John Lyon's work into her program. It's really an entire training philosophy.

My favorite thing about clicker training is how much it trains us humans to really pay attention to our horses. I mean really pay attention. When you start into microshaping and begin looking for tiny weight shifts or muscle contractions you really start to see your horse in a whole new way. You also learn how to spot when your horse is actively making a decision, more on that in a bit.

Anyway, fresh out of the clinic I was inspired to do some more groundwork with the quarters. Using cones as markers, we'd circle halfway around them and then back for a step or two. The goal of this exercise is to improve their balance and to get them to listen to a very light touch on the lead rope. Coriander was excellent, of course, he's already very light from our riding work. But when it came time to work with Gwen the most interesting moment to me came before I even got her to the cones.

I had set them up in the top part of the pasture and the herd was grazing in the bottom of the pasture, meaning the herd would be out of sight while we worked with the cones- a tough proposition for a herd bound horse like Gwen. As I was leading her up to the cones she stopped about halfway up the hill and debated leaving the herd. I stood in front of her with the slack out of the rope and waited for her decision. It took about a minute but she finally decided to go with me and we had a great session. She was a bit sticky at first but it wasn't because she was upset about leaving the herd. I don't know if I would have known to let her make that decision before I started clicker training, but it was obviously the right thing to do.

Another thing I really like about clicker training is how it brings out the playful side of horses. As I was walking out of the pasture for the night Coriander started following me- he still wanted to play. I took the opportunity to see if he would mimic me: I took one step forward and clicked when he moved forward, I took a step back and clicked when he stepped back. He caught on really quickly and soon we were doing a little two-step together. So much fun!

Bareback work

I managed to stuff my foot in a boot last night and clambered up on Coriander for a bareback ride. I've decided that I need to ride bareback a lot more: I need to work on my balance, my terrible habit of being too stiff while I ride, and I want to really *get* seat aids. I also want to be comfortable trotting bareback, right now I bounce all over the place and can only go about five steps at a time (there's that stiffness again), but I'm bound and determined to be trotting comfortably bareback by next year.

I also decided to incorporate clicker training into my riding every once in a while. I've never done that before but I want to start teaching Coriander how to do more difficult maneuvers than just go, stop, and turn and I can't think of an easier way to do that than clicker training. There will also be a side benefit- he'll get in a  stretch every time he reaches around to get the treat. Right now he's so stiff to the right he can barely grab it and tries to compensate by using his teeth; I had to be really careful of my fingers.

I mostly concentrated on our no-rein halt, getting bend while turning and a teensy bit of lateral work. I'm really proud of our halts, all I have to do is sit up tall and stop my seat and within a stride he's stopping soft and square. The interesting bit is that after I started clicking him for stopping he began to give me collected halts all on his own! He was tucking his quarters, rounding his back and raising the root of his neck- it was awesome.

I also tried for some real lateral work with an actual sideways step. I know that this is a particularly difficult maneuver so I was happy with just one step in each direction, mostly I just wanted to know if I was cuing him correctly (another reason for being bareback).

You know what? I'm going to veer off here. I've thought quite a bit about aids and training horses to listen to the aids. I've decided that the aids are actually a pretty simple concept: they involve using weight and pressure to best follow the laws of physics. The problem is that a simple concept doesn't always translate to simple execution. Execution is pretty darn hard actually, especially if the wrong aids have been sewn into your muscle memory for years.

Whenever I moved to a new place in the past I always made a point of intentionally getting lost. I found so many places and things I never would have found if I'd stayed on the same route all the time. My approach to horse training has been along the same lines. I try stuff and see what happens. I don't see myself as training my horses so much as allowing them to train me. They're going to follow physics no matter what I think I'm doing. What I ask for is what I get, even if I really wanted something different.

I knew I should have kept that physics minor, even if it would have bombed my GPA.

Food rewards work, who woulda thunk?

Training: Food Rewards Are More Effective Than Physical Contact

by: Christa Lesté-Lasserre
August 30 2010, Article # 16878


Everybody loves a good back scratch, including your horse, right? Scratching of the withers has been scientifically proven to reduce a horse's heart rate, but a good scratch might not be enough to communicate to your horse that you're happy with what he's just learned and that you want him to do it again next time.
According to new research by French equitation scientists, presented at the sixth International Equitation Science Conference in Uppsala, Sweden, on Aug. 2, rewarding horses with food, rather than physical contact, is most effective.

"Overall, it appears that scratching the withers may not be considered a primary positive reinforcement for horses," said Carol Sankey, MSc, a PhD candidate in ethology (the study of animal behavior) at the University of Rennes in western France. "In fact, some horses don't seem to like it much it at all."
In previous studies also described at TheHorse.com, Sankey compared food rewards to negative reinforcement and food reward to no reinforcement at all; in both cases the horses' training programs were significantly improved when food reward was used. The food-rewarded horses also remembered the training longer and had friendlier contact with humans.

But now Sankey and her colleagues have addressed the question of which kind of positive reinforcement works better: physical contact—wither scratching—which is known to reduce heart rates (suggesting the horse enjoys it), or food (in this case, carrots). They put the question to the test by training 20 Konik horse yearlings to stand still on command. (This native Polish breed was chosen because the horses live in semi-natural family groups where they can benefit fully from social grooming and its implications within the herd.) "If grooming has any socially positive effect on horses, this would be the occasion to find out," Sankey said.

According to their results, grooming has very little positive effect. From the first day of training, the food-rewarded yearlings stood still longer, Sankey said. They also made faster progress over the six-day training period compared to the horses rewarded with wither scratching, whose progress eventually stagnated. The food-rewarded horses also were far more receptive to humans, standing closer to them and seeking physical contact, outside the training sessions.

"Scratching the withers could be perceived as positive by some horses, just not positive enough for training and bonding," said Sankey. In fact, social grooming might actually occur because of bonding and not the contrary, she added.

"It's better to consider scratching a secondary form of positive reinforcement, which must first be associated with a primary one, like food, to become rewarding," Sankey said.

copied from TheHorse.com

The horse you want vs. the horse you need

I remember when I was telling Alexandra Kurland about Gwen she said that I would learn more from this horse than I could ever imagine, but it wouldn't be easy. Boy is that ever true.

I fell in love with Gwen the first time I saw her. I saw her sweet little face with that kissable nose and fell head over heels. I just had to have her. Of course I had no idea that she would be the most sensitive, excitable, and difficult horse that I have ever handled. I also didn't know that she would be exactly the horse I needed.

Like most people I have issues. I rush through things and pay only lip service to details. I tend to get over-excited and anxious very quickly, often blowing situations out of proportion and making things worse than they would be if I'd just chilled out. I also have a nasty aggressive streak and use a lot more force than I should, especially if I get upset- which, as I just mentioned, happens often. I am also really hard on myself, regular readers may have picked up on that by now.

This is why Gwen is good for me: Every time I let go of my self control and get upset or angry, Gwen flips out. Every time. But if I approach her with a calm and stable demeanor she can be very soft and loving. She's the ultimate 1000 lbs. life coach. Working with her forced me to evaluate not only my training regimen, but also my state of being.

Now she's in a new environment, once again freaked out by the entire world, and I need to do some serious self-examination to figure out the best way to help her without alienating her. I've taken her all the way back to basics. We walk to just out of sight of the other horses and then graze, with some targeting thrown in when she gets nervous. I concentrate on staying calm, breathing, and over all keeping a soft connection through the lead rope. And it's working, she's relaxing and I think she's even starting to enjoy our little treks out of the pasture.

I'd like to throw it out to you now: Was there ever a horse (or other animal) that you felt was in your life to help you grow as a person? That wasn't the horse you wanted but ended up being the horse you needed?

The one rein stop/ disengaging the hindquarters

Friday's clicker training lesson was all about preparing my horses for lateral work. I had originally planned to use Coriander for the lesson, but when I arrived he was hobbling around pathetically on three legs. I picked up his sore foot and found a twig sticking out of his frog, poor boy! (He's fine now, time and some bute took the soreness away.) Instead, Gwen got her introduction to the one rein stop/ disengaging the hindquarters.

I'm pretty sure most of you have heard of this, in case you haven't here's a link. Some people refer to the one rein stop without mentioning disengaging the hips or vice versa, but in my mind you can't have one without the other. Just pulling your horse's head to your boot does not a one rein stop make, I've seen videos of horses that learned how to run right through that, to make it effective the horse has to move their hindquarters sideways along with their nose.

This is a very handy skill for your horse to have before you climb into the saddle for the first time. Check out this demonstration and note how the hind legs cross when the horse swings sideways:



Gwen and I worked with the halter and lead rope and really focused on getting those hind legs to step in front of each other. Every time she did that, click and treat. She was really getting it by the end of the lesson and we quit before she got too tired.

Saturday morning I got to the barn bright and early to check on Coriander's foot, he was doing much better but still a little ouchy. Since I couldn't ride him I decided to do the next best thing- take Gwen for her first trail walk!

After applying some fly spray and the western saddle, we departed on Gwen's first excursion. Almost right off the bat she found something to spook at. A horse-eating canoe right next to the driveway set her off. She didn't spin or jump or try to bolt, it was basically just a plant and stare. I moved so I was between her and the canoe, providing a buffer, and with gentle pressure on the lead and inviting body language I asked her to step forward. At first she really didn't want to until, all on her own, she put her head down to the ground, took a deep breath, and was totally fine. Frankly I was a little flabbergasted, it seems that she really understands what I'm asking her for when we practice head lowering, maybe even better than I do!

After that there was no more spooking but she was VERY forward. Do you know what that meant? Time to practice the one rein stop! Every time she surged ahead of me provided a chance to practice. I would slide my hand up the rope, turn towards her shoulder, and click to her every time I saw those hind legs cross. Worked like a charm, ten minutes into the walk she was thoroughly tired of it and just started to stop as soon as I slid my hand up the rope. Good girl!

I also would like to note that she took no notice of the saddle and the flapping stirrups on her back through all of this. Operation Make Gwen a Riding Horse is progressing!

A lazy day

I was going to hop on Coriander bareback today and work on bending, but when I got out to the pasture it was just too hot and muggy. I decided to do a bit of liberty work with Gwen instead.

Isn't she cute? I think  I actually managed to get the saddle in the right spot this time. See how the cantle sits up in the air though? That bothers me, this tree might be too wide for her. Can you get a saddle fitter out for horses that haven't even been started yet?

She's gotten quite used to wearing the English saddle around since I pop it on her back nearly every time I ride her brother. She's there, the saddle is already out, so why not? But since I'm planning on using the western saddle for the next mounting attempt, she really needs to get used to wearing that one too. She's not quite as comfortable when I tighten the girth on this saddle, I think it's because you can tighten the girth so much faster on a western saddle than an English one. I really need to concentrate on pulling the girth up very slowly for now. The good news is after I got it on, she was more than willing to walk and even trot next to me around the pasture. Those flapping stirrups didn't bother her one bit. I'll make a riding horse out of her yet.

Just because Coriander and I started exploring the wild outdoors doesn't mean that I've been ignoring my baby girl. Along with putting the saddle on her back 3-4 times a week, we've still been working on head lowering and standing next to the mounting block. I've also added standing on a mat to her repertoire. There are a couple short boards hanging around the barn that are just perfect for that purpose. I'm hoping that standing on wood and hearing that hollow sound will help when I work on trailer loading again. Right now she's more interested in pawing the board than standing on it, but I guess that's a phase a lot of horses go through.

Kate's coming out tomorrow for another clicker lesson. Maybe we'll do a bit of lateral work with my boy. In the meantime, here's a lesson I learned today: don't try to trim a horse's mane while they're grazing. It comes out all wonky.