This wind is totally getting on my nerves now! It's lovely until about 8am when it starts whipping up again, but I am really not mentally cut out for early morning training sessions I'm afraid, it's all I can do to keep the wheelbarrow in a straight line at that time of the day! If we're lucky it does start to die down a bit in the evenings so I take a chance to get a bit done then.
At the moment I'm teaching her a retrieve combined with putting a ball in a bucket. This exercise is a set of behaviours so I'm back chaining, ie. starting with the last link in the chain and working backwards. So to start with I've worked on getting Star to put her Jolly Ball in a big black bucket. As is always the case with Star picking stuff up the release is the thing that needs the most work. That horse does enjoy waving objects about in her mouth! Anyway, now I've just started to move the bucket away from her so she has to take a step forwards to place the ball in. To start with I had *no* idea the length that horse could periscope her neck to if it meant not moving her feet! It took quite a few goes for me to move the bucket away enough for her to actually have to move, and even then she tried throwing it in without moving! I think the first step is the hardest one, once they've got the idea about moving you can then start to move the bucket incrementally further, so now she's taking about five steps.
The other thing I've been working on is a send away. We've done a lot of WWYLM so Star tends to stick to my shoulder like glue when there are times I might want her to go forwards of me to do something on her own. I think that will help to build her self confidence too. I'm using a bottle on the end of a long stick as a target and just asking her to step forwards a few steps to touch it. Eventually I'm hoping I translate the outstretched arm into the cue for this.
I've also been working on getting her to hold her feet up on her own. My trimmer suggested I sand around Star's feet each day with a block, but Star does tend to lean a bit at times. So I'd like her to learn to balance and support her own weight too, I'm too small to hold her big feet in the air for her! With this in mind I got the sandpaper block out but didn't have enough room in my pocket for it, and being cack handed with the clicker as well put it on the floor. Star naturally thought I wanted her to pick it up, bent down, I bent down too, she knocked off my baseball cap and frightened herself as it blew away. Star then shot her head up quick, smacked into my nose which worried her more and she did a tiny rear. Amazing for a horse that can't usually pick her feet up over a pole! So the moral of that story is have bigger pockets so she doesn't want to help picking up the sandpaper block! I did get a whiffly kiss and we finished the session on a positive note though :)
Ouch!! I'm glad you're okay. I've learned not to put anything on the ground too lol. I'm glad things ended on a good note.
ReplyDeleteI had started teaching a send away before Chrome got hurt, but I think I might try your way of teaching it. I was teaching it by waving the rope until he moved away and clicking when he did. I need to get better at breaking behaviors down. I still tend to lump them together too much. I think we're supposed to have a break from the rain today after four straight days (five inches of rain in less than twenty four hours!) of it so I'll try to get out there and work with the ornery stud colt (who really needs to be gelded because he's being a brat).
We've had a lot of strong winds here too (described by the weathermen as a 'stiff breeze') but I think it's almost gale force. I do get worried that we might end up with tornados too so I'll keep my fingers crossed that it won't happen.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Star's reluctance to move forward to put her ball into the bucket is the same as a teenager who would rather go without a drink than have to move off the sofa to get it!
I know what you mean about breaking stuff down, it's something I have to constantly remind myself of and keep working on. I guess because we know what the end goal is it's easy to forget sometimes they don't! I have Alex Kurland in my head saying; "Be a splitter not a lumper"!! Only thing that worries me a bit is the phasing out of the target, I've not thought that far ahead yet lol! :)
ReplyDeleteYeah phasing out the target was the first thing that popped into my head. After how easily I phased out the target when I taught Chrome to smile I'm not going to worry about it too much. I think the extended arm is going to be enough. :)
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