Posts Tagged ‘rear
First Ride in Months
I haven’t ridden a horse in 3 months…there I said it. Christmas happened, then the EVEN colder weather set in, and with my mom and sister injured – I have no one to ride with. And honestly, I just didn’t feel like riding. So after 3 months I finally decided to saddle back up – even though there is still snow on the ground.
I thought that with the warm (when I say warm I mean 40 Degrees) would soften the snow enough to ride – I was wrong. So I ended up riding up and down our small private road. I decided to ride Blitz first, because he’s the most laid back….sometimes. He actually hadn’t been ridden since my mom had her accident on him. So when I took him back to the scene of the crime I could tell he had some naughty thoughts in his head. But, he didn’t try anything and I made sure to click and reward him when he did as asked.
I then got Boomerang out of the pasture and attempted to pony him off of Blitz. Boomer can be a bit mouthy and likes to bite the saddle and leadrope – so ponying him was good practice for him to “keep his hands to himself”. I was actually kind of surprised at how well he did – I’m hoping with more practice I can take them out by myself. My mom tagged along on foot to make sure none of the ponies acted up.
When I got back from my short ride I worked with Boomer a little bit on ground manners. Asking him to move away from my hand pressure on his chest and neck. He’s really picked it up quickly and I put it into effect when I asked him to move away from the gate so that I could get Minnow out.
Minnow got to work on his rear after a few weeks off. And I can say he was more then enthusiastic – he really got pretty high! My little rogue pony!~
Hopefully I can keep up with the riding – it just better get warm soon!
The Wild Stallion
Here are some photos taken on January 31, 2010 of Minnow and I. Minnow is showing off his wild stallion rear. With each day he’s getting higher and higher – as he’s building more muscle and getting stronger. Enjoy!
Training my Horse like a Dog
I finally was able to capture some video footage of Minnow working on his rear yesterday. I’m so proud of him. He has really been able to tune into my body language and just figure out what I wanted.
Here are some shots from yesterday morning:
And here are some videos from yesterday night:
Yesterday morning I started off working in the ring, and my original plan was to back him into the corner of the fence in order to get him to get his hind end under him some more. But (as I already knew) Minnow has confinement issues, and I had a feeling he wouldn’t like feeling trapped. I tried it once and after he casually wriggled his way around me I decided this wasn’t the best method for him. So instead we worked out in the open like before. If you notice my method was to just basically rev him up with excitement – sort of like you would to a dog if you wanted them to play fetch or something like that. I danced around a bit, called his name, and got myself really enthusiastic. My energy transferred over to Minnow and he offered several nice steps of the rear. I also used the end of my target stick to get him to push his weight back on his rear instead of resting on his front end.
Later that day I was showing my mom and sister Minnow’s progress and I just happened to place him on a slight slope outside the barn. This seemed to really help Minnow rock back on his hindend and he got much higher. I think this spot might be good to keep trying to help build his hind quarters up so that he can get even higher off the ground in the future.
I think Minnow is really enjoying the rearing and Spanish Walk training. When I turn him out in the pasture after our sessions he goes bucking and carrying on with excitement. I think the other ponies are really jealous. I’m definitely going to have to get back to their training soon!
With my mom and sister still recovering from their knee injuries and surgeries I have 3 rideable ponies to choose from (Jet, Blitz and Boomer). Yet I haven’t ridden since mid-December, because I would much rather teach Chincoteague Minnow new tricks! I’m really going to have to start kicking myself into gear if I want to reach some more of my 2010 goals like taking Blitz to a Dressage competition and moving Boomer up to the Masters division in mounted games. I also wanted to buy an equestrian lifestyle subscription box. There is still so much more to accomplish this year!
By Golly, I think you have it
After much anticipation I finally have some videos to share of Chincoteague Minnow learning his Spanish Walk. I started teaching this by asking him target a knee to his target stick, I then asked him to alternate legs – eventually asking him to do the left leg, then the right all while moving forward slowly. I used a neck rope to gently ask him to walk forward. Sometimes I think Minnow can just read my mind. These videos are after two 10 minute sessions. I am in awe at how fast he’s catching on.
Chincoteague Minnow
The very best part about this is that after I was done working on his Spanish Walk I was explaining to my mom how it originally was started as an attempt to get him to rear. I was sort of goofing around and showed her that eventually I wanted to be able to lift my hands (and target stick) into the air and Minnow would rear. When I did this movement and took a step forward Minnow lifted a front let into the air. Immediately noticing what he had done I clicked him.
My mom walked back into the barn to mess with the horses (or perhaps I would have had a video of this as well) and curiosity began to get me. Minnow obviously had leg lifting on his mind because we were just working on it…but there was something I could use here. I remembered something my trainer always says to me. She’s always telling me that if you think of the action you want from the horse – your body will give off that energy even if you don’t know it. The trainer I use is very much into Parelli but she also loves working and learning with me about the clicker training.
Giving my best friend a kiss. By Photographer Kali Wallace
So I pondered this for a moment. I stood directly infront of Minnow with my hands at my sides. I imagined gathering up all of my energy into a big ball infront of me – and I took a powerful step forward and thrust my hands into the air – I thought rear. Instantly Minnow rocked back on his hindend – lifted one leg and then the other. Click! I gave him a huge reward – Minnow is big on rewarding, he knows that if I get really enthusiastic and energetic (like you would with a dog) that he’s really catching on.
Obviously I had discovered something here with him. I tried this a few more times with the same result, then suddenly it happened. On about the fourth try Minnow lifted both legs off the ground at the same time. It wasn’t very high – but it was a AIR! I was so excited. I thrust my arms around his fuzzy neck, gave him several “jack-pot” treats and scratched his favorite spot.
I stopped right after that one because I knew I had to be careful how far I went with this. See Minnow has Ringbone (equine arthritis) in his front left ankle and if I work him too much he tends to get sore – especially in the winter. Its good for him to use his ankle but to much and I’m afraid he will start to resent the tricks due to pain. He wouldn’t do it if he didn’t want to (and I would never make him) but I know his signs of its time to call it quits for the day.
So his next Rearing/Spanish Walk session will have to wait for another day. I think the next time I attempt this rear method I might have Minnow positioned with his butt to the corner of the fence, that way it will guide him to rock back on his hind end more.
So that’s my exciting tale that I’ve been dying to post about. Has anyone else ever tried this method of teaching the rear? Or has anyone else used energy and mental envisioning to help succeed in teaching an animal a skill? I’d love to hear of any other experiences that are related. Or maybe you just think I’m a total nut! 🙂
The Rear
Minnow rears during competition
So one of my 2010 Goals is to teach Minnow to rear. And by golly, I’m going to do it! So since its blistery cold here right now, and I’m sort of a weenie, I haven’t actually started any training yet. Do you blame me? I am sort of ashamed.
Anyway, since I haven’t actually started working on my goal yet, I thought I would share with you how I prepare to teach one of the ponies a new trick. There is a lot of thought and preparation that I do before I even begin to shape a new trick. Ok I lied a little bit there – sometimes I just head out to the farm with clicker in my hand and see what happens. Some of the best tricks I have taught the boys happened that way.
For example, Minnow’s shovel trick. I saw a sand shovel and bucket at the store, brought it to the barn, showed it to Minnow, and let him decide what to do with it. He decided to dig in the sand with it, I liked it, clicked it, and viola a new trick was born.
But for the more complicated tricks I usually like to do a bit more research. Most of the time I start out on Youtube, mostly because I am a very visual learner. In the case of the rear I searched “clicker training rear”. And this is what I came up with:
I spared you most of the not-so-great videos (many of which were a little too harsh for me). But from this collection I’ve gathered a few options for training the rear.
Minnow on his pedestal
Option 1: Teach the rear through mimicking. I lift a leg, Minnow lifts a leg, I jump, Minnow jumps. I’ve never done mimicking with Minnow, but could be a good time to try it.
Option 2: Teach Minnow to target his knees to a target stick, start with one knee, then add two, then add height to it. Minnow loves to target, but it might take some coaxing to get him to not target with his nose, but I’m sure he could do it.
Option 3: Teach the rear on the pedestal. Reward for upward movements of the legs instead of getting onto the pedestal. Could end up with a neat trick of rearing onto the pedestal, but this requires a lot more coordination on the horse’s part.
Option 4: Capture the behavior naturally. Catch him playing out in the field and click/reward him for the rear. Capturing hasn’t worked well for Minnow (on bigger skills). I once tried capturing the lay down, but as soon as I approach Minnow to give the reward he panics and gets up. This wild born pony still has trust issues when it comes to his most vulnerable position. This option would work better with Blitz and Boomer.
I might do a bit more research before I commit (checking my clicker training books, checking the clicker training yahoo group archives), but from just these options I came up with I think I am going to start off with Option 2 – teaching Minnow to target his knees to a stick. I chose this option because I think it will work best for MY pony. I know how he prefers to learn and I think this option will produce the best results with the least amount of stress for Minnow. If I was going to train one of my other ponies this trick I might go for a different method. Training is about tailoring everything to the specific horse you are working with. Maybe your horse is deathly afraid of whips, asking him to target a dressage whip is probably not a good idea (not to mention I probably wouldn’t even think about teaching this trick if I knew my horse had underlying issues to be worked on).
And as a side note – for now I only plan to teach Minnow how to rear. Minnow is retired from riding due to a diagnosis or ringbone (equine arthritis) in 2008, so I run no risk of having a rearing pony when I stick someone else on to ride him. I believe at 6 and 7 years old, Blitz and Boomer are still too young and immature to learn this trick. I’m sure they would take advantage of their new and fun skill and I would end up with a problem. My equine sport of Mounted games is an emotionally intense sport for horses that is prone to bring on rearing due to the adrenaline horses experience – I definitely don’t want to advocate this trick during competition. So that being said, Minnow will be the only rearing pony, atleast for a while. 🙂
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
Please do not attempt any of these tasks at home without the help of a professional. I am not responsible for any harm or injury that may occur.
