Posts Tagged ‘training
Its a Trick Day!
So since I strained by shoulders and neck I can’t really ride – big bummer! So yesterday I decided to get out my trick stuff and work with the boys. Boomer was first up and I started working on “fetch” with him. Didn’t take him long to figure out what I wanted – he just needs more practice to get his response faster.
Next I worked with Minnow and his tuff ball. I am still in awe when I see him with it because when I think back to 3 years ago Minnow would have NEVER let me near him with that ball. Now I have it balancing on his back and I can even throw it at him without any negative reactions from him. (btw sorry for the crude filming – I need to figure out a new system to film myself).
As I worked with both Boomer and Minnow, Blitz was close by observing. Blitz has a lot of fear issues (especially with the ball right now). And I really think it has to do with trust as well. He doesn’t trust my mom (his sole rider right now) and me (his trick trainer) to keep him safe. Up until this point in his life I don’t think he’s built a relationship with any one human. Yes I think he knows humans will take care of him, and they are a source of food, and we’re not scary. But I don’t think he’s ever had that one person where he knows “hey thats my person there” and they take care of me and keep me safe and I like spending time with them. Minnow was the same way when he came to live with me. By that point (after coming from a neglectful situation) he had begun to learn that humans were ok – but he had still yet to build that trusting bond with someone. 6 years later and now Minnow and I can read eachother like a book. Minnow sees me coming and he lights up, he’s ready to learn, and he wants any and everything to do with me – its such a great feeling. Boomer I think has had that relationship with someone before, and he’s been quicker to warm up to me. I don’t think he’s quite there like Minnow is, but he’s much further along than Blitz. Blitz will get there someday – but its just going to take him a little longer. He did make a little progress yesterday as he went up and touched the ball – but as soon as the wind would blow it into his leg he’d take a giant leap back. It was interesting to see that he was ok with touching it when it was his decision to do so, but as soon as the ball (or wind) took control and decided to touch him – he was definitely not ok with it. He’s for sure going to be a pony that needs to be allowed to make decisions on his own time, instead of being rushed into something by his handler/rider. Its going to be tough for my mom, because she tends to want results “right away” (don’t we all), but I’ve been slowly teaching her how to take a step back and wait.
My mom and I have very different personalities when it comes to working with the horses. I’m very quiet, slow and methodical when it comes to teaching a horse. I would wait all day if I had to just to get my horse to take one step forward. My mom on the other hand is having a hard time breaking her “show them whos boss” methods she learned as a youth. And the energy she gives off is hurry up and do the task I have things to do I can’t wait all day for you to take a step. I’m trying to help her get rid of this energy – and she’s improving – but its hard to break old habits. My next task will be converting my little sister too….who only knows one speed and its fast all the time and she has absolutely no patience what so ever. She’s definitely going to be a challenge! Maybe I should get into the people training business not the horse training business haha.
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
New Home for the Boys
Its official – all 3 Chincoteague’s are now moved into my parent’s new farm, Iron Horse Farm. (not to mention their 4 other horsey friends).
Boomer and Kyley place a flag in the cone
Saturday actually started off with a mounted games competition, in which Boomer and Blitz competed in the training division at a local show. We had a few little episodes – Boomer began rearing when the music got turned up – and both ponies thought it was such a blast to be competing again that they wanted to buck all the way to the finish line. Boomer eventually settled (as I clicked and rewarded him when he didn’t buck all the way home) but Blitz had some anxiety. As the day went on he got more and more agitated with my mom – and we knew it was time to take a step back with him. I think part of his anxiety stemmed from the fact that my mom had been riding him in the hackamore for the last few months and for the competition she decided to put him back in his snaffle bit. I could tell he was not very thrilled to have a bit in his mouth again – so I have since convinced my mom to try the bitless bridle I have been using (and its great I might add!). Below are two videos from the competition.
Boomer and Blitz are the first to arrive on the farm
So after the competition we drove the boys over to their new home – and then went back to pick up Minnow. It was such a uneventful move, which I knew it would be, the boys seemed perfectly happy at their new home. I think they all really enjoy their big dutch doors that have a view of the neighboring vineyard. Its such a peaceful and happy place.
The 3 Chincoteague Ponies look out over the vineyard
On Sunday we brought over the rest of the horses, which included my Dressage horse, Nitro and my sister’s gaming pony Jet as well as 2 borders. Nitro notoriously has trouble adapting to moves (as he sees himself as “herd leader” and takes on the burden on making sure the other horses are safe). And after having his 23rd Birthday on Saturday I think he’s actually starting to grow up a little. He was surprisingly calm (aside from his ear piercing whinny’s everytime he hears a sound in the barn – I’m hoping this will pass). I think Iron Horse Farm just has such a relaxing atmosphere that it instantly calmed all of the horses.
Later on Sunday I decided to show Minnow the new Tuff Ball I had bought for my horses. He instantly took to it, and I can’t wait to put the ball in the ring with all 3 of my ponies. I think they will have such a blast playing with it! I could watch the video I took of Minnow playing with his ball over and over again – I just love seeing him enjoy it. It makes me smile to think of how far he’s come. 2 years ago I would never of dreamed of showing Minnow this ball. It would of sent him running for the hills! Now he’s perfectly at peace as he plays with the ball and my dogs run around him like crazed animals wrestling on the ground. I love my little Minnow.
Anyway so that was my very eventful weekend. I’m now recovering from a pulled shoulder muscle and a bout of poison ivy – but I’m happy that my horses are happy at their new home!
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
Chincoteague Ponies on the Farm
A few days ago I was enjoying the company of my 3 boys (Minnow, Blitz and Boomer) so I decided to take a little video while I was observing them.
The two ponies in this video are Boomer and Blitz. They come from the same farm in North Carolina and have the same father, Chesapeake Powhattan’s Promise. Near the end of the video I decided to call Boomer over, he’s such a good boy he came right away (all that clicker training helped).
Anyway enjoy the video, just watching it makes me feel like I’m out on the peaceful farm.
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
Christening the Ring
Blitz and Boomer take a visit to Iron Horse Farm
Yesterday my mom and I trailered out two ponies (Blitz and Boomer) to our new farm, Iron Horse Farm. We plan to move the horses in this coming weekend, but we just couldn’t wait any longer to try out the ring (we’ve gone for so long without one its like a brand new toy). So we practiced some of our games for an upcoming show we have on Saturday. I then introduced Blitz and Boomer to the new Tuff Ball that I had purchased for them. Anyway I won’t go into much detail about it – because you can see for yourself by watching the videos below. Its funny even though Blitz and Boomer have the same father, and they are both left brained horses, they both reacted differently to seeing the ball for the first time. Blitz was very nervous about it and Boomer walked right up to it and began biting and kicking it.
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
My Buddy Nitro
Dressage Rally with Nitro 2002
So I feel like I’ve completed an entire day and its only 11am! While my parents are away at my brother’s graduation in North Carolina I’m in charge of our many animals. My parent’s dog, Trooper, is staying with me, I also have to feed the cat at their house, and of course the 9 horses we are in charge of. On top of that my retired dressage horse, Nitro, now has an abscess in his hoof. Poor guy is hobbling around on 3 legs. So last night after working a 10 hour day at my shop (I own a custom picture framing shop) I drove out to the barn to check on him. Seeing that his condition hadn’t improved I scheduled a farrier visit for today. So I woke up really early, loaded up all the dogs, helped my hobbling husband (he broke his foot on tuesday) to the car and headed for the barn. I began soaking and removing Nitro’s poultice for the farrier – and when he arrived I took on the task of holding Nitro still. Now Nitro is a 16.3 hand Thoroughbred/Conemarra/Welsh cross – yes he should of been a pony as his mother was 13 hands, today I found myself wishing he was. Nitro, although much improved, at 23 years old is a pain in the butt to keep still for the farrier. We have been battling this issue (along with his fear of cows) for 10 years now, but if you saw him when I brought him home I think you would be VERY surprised how far he’s come. He has no respect for personal space and he has no problem barreling through anything that stands in his way. Needless to say I got clocked in the face several times by his massive head which resulted in a fat lip.
Nitro at USDF Young Rider Championships
Anyway, after an hour of chipping away at his foot still no relief was found, so we opted to wrap his foot back up and wait for whatever is in there to work its way out on its own. So poor Nitro is still hobbling around on 3 legs. By this time its getting close to the time I need to open up my shop. So I quickly feed and turn out some of the horses (one of our co-op people was supposed to feed instead of me). I load up the dogs again and head back to my apartment, quickly change then its off to feed the cat at my parents. And amazingly with 5 minutes to spare I unlock the door to the shop. Now here I sit writing this post, utterly exhausted, when I really should be framing something. So thats been my day so far – and I just have to do it all over again as I’m scheduled to feed the horses tonight too. I’m tired just thinking about it – the things we do for our horses. 🙂
USDF Young Rider Championships
So aside from that, the real thing I wanted to talk about today was Nitro. Now I usually write about “The Trick Ponies of Chincoteague” but dealing with Nitro today got me thinking about his story. So here goes. When my parents bought Nitro for me I was 13 (I’m now 25). I had sprouted long long legs and outgrew my childhood pony, Oopsie Daisy (whom I had up until last year when he passed away). So my parents decided it was time I got a bigger horse as I had become extremely interested in Dressage. After many attempted purchases (one horse I had on trial flipped me over backwards when I tightened the girth) we finally found Nitro. He was up for sale at a dealers barn – and while I hesitate to purchase from dealers, I had been looking for almost 2 years and there was just something different about Nitro. This 16.3 hand grey was built like a tank, but his eyes were so gentle and kind. My parents purchased Nitro to a tune of $6,000 thinking he had been to events and kinda knew his way around the block. Later we were to learn that he had only had one owner (who had him foaled by her pony mare) and he pretty much did nothing his whole life besides be a “pasture pet” and then he was sent to the dealer to be sold at 14 years of age.
Nitro makes a great Super Hero for USDF Pas De Deux
Now your probably wondering why we didn’t try to find this out before we bought him – and well its because he was well behaved and seemed to know a lot of things and we trusted the dealer. Big mistake, because about 30 days into having him he went all split personality (we now believe he was under the influence of a 30 day tranquilizer). Nitro began having panic attacks, kicking out at fences and people when I rode him, spinning, sweating bullets, and simply walking on top of anything that got in his way, this included me. Some his background began to emerge – he has these dents in his neck which we were told happened when a bunch of geldings broke into Nitro’s field and attached him – who knows if thats true, but I sorta think it is because he’s always had issues passing horses he didn’t know in warm-up arenas. But the fact is (other than being tranquilized and taken to a new home, and being attacked by horses) we didn’t really believe he was abused, or had a horrible home in the past. So really – why was he so crazed?
To this day I’m still really not sure. I wish I had discovered clicker training back then, it probably would of helped me a ton. But I began working with a very nice trainer who believed in natural horsemanship, if it wasn’t for her I don’t think I could have fixed Nitro. Many a times throughout the process of retraining Nitro my parents threatened to sell him, they thought he was too dangerous for me. I can’t even count how many times he knocked me down in the barn only to run back to the pasture. But somehow I managed to evade my parents attempt to sell Nitro, and honestly if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be the rider I am today, he taught me how to ride through anything (in a confident and humane manner I might add). My biggest hurdle with Nitro was getting him to trust me – and not letting him push my buttons to the point of frustration. So in my lessons I began working on the ground with him teaching him to “follow me” – I guess looking back now it was probably very similar to the “join up” method so many trainers use today. To this day Nitro will follow me at liberty over jumps, through obstacles, at the trot and even canter – its our own special game we like to play. So for probably 3 years I spent working on the basics, I’m not going to go too far into it, because honestly I always write way too much in these posts. But in the end I produced a calmer horse, that I could control and even though he occasionally had panic attacks – I could gently calm him down again. Nitro went on to take me through 2nd level Dressage, we earned reserve champion at the USDF Young Rider Championships, and in 2006 he took me through my C-2 Rating in Pony Club. This was a HUGE accomplishment because jumping was a big contributor to Nitro’s panic attacks (luckily for him I loved Dressage). But being asked to complete a cross country course as well as a stadium course to pass the rating was very hard for Nitro. I probably spent several days just getting him to take one very very small step down jump in the woods. But he did it, maybe not with flying colors, but he atleast made it through.
I actually did try to clicker train Nitro in 2007, he was nearing retirement then, but I decided it would be fun to try to get him to target a big yellow ball. He sort of understood, but I truly believe he has ADHD, I could not keep his focus for more than a minute. But being 23 years old and after 10 years of working hard for me, I think he’s earned his retirement, so I wasn’t going to push the clicker training. When my family makes our big move to Iron Horse Farm in a week (yippee!) I may start up with the clicker training again on Nitro. By then we will have a more adequate working area, the place we occupy right now is really not conducive to working with a VERY big horse that is sort of set in his ways.
So thats Nitro’s story (well the shortened version), he was a huge part in teaching me how to train horses, I think he may have been my toughest case (Minnow comes a close second – but being 1/2 Nitro’s size he was a bit more manageable). And as a short side note, Nitro came with the original name Royalty’s Pal and I’m sure you can guess why I renamed him Nitro (Niatross is his show name). 🙂
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
