Star's blog

Ridiculous!

2011-08-07T20:08:00.000+01:00

I'd love to be sat here writing oh me and Star are having a marvellous summer, but that would be if we weren't currently living in monsoon season! The weather has just been weird, we go from boiling hot and humid to cold and windy in the space of a day and the rain has been unbelievable. It's so unpredictable, I literally went out to do some training with Star this evening and by the time I'd fed the sheep it was bucketing down and we had to dive into the field shelter. The other freaky thing about this year is the horse flies, they are monsters. I don't think I've seen such big ones. Star does a very nice little pivot around to show me where the offending fly has landed so I can swat it off. I've spent a fortune on fly sprays none of which seem to be much of a deterrent.

We're facing another training problem of treat supply. The local feed store had to send back the last batch as there was something wrong with them and haven't had any since, which has been weeks. Normally I pick up a couple of bucket loads at a time but we're running short and I can't find a suitable alternative apart from bits of carrot. Star has her hooves crossed they get some in soon as if you don't remember to use all the carrot it gets a bit messy in the treat bag.

When we have been training I've been working on changes of pace with her at my shoulder, the stay and come, and also chasing the tiger. Star is not a natural chaser, it's taken several sessions for her to become confident in what we're doing and start to pick up some pace when I move the lure along. Now she's got the hang of it I'm starting to flick it about a bit more although I've discovered it's not a windy day game as the unpredictability is a bit too much for her at the moment and she gets spooked.

The other thing with Star is when she came to me she had a fear of whips and sticks. Whips aren't something I use during training and if one has come out of the cupboard she starts to get very anxious. I managed to introduce her to a stick disguised as a target with a plastic bottle on the end and I've been using that stick to play chase the tiger. I'd like to be able to build up to moving and flicking stuff around her legs, so since she's comfortable with the stick now decided at the end of a session to gradually start to touch her with it. Even though I was going as slowly as I could I could still see Star getting really anxious and she was flinching before it even got to her. The thing with Star is she winds herself up a bit like a coiled spring so I did a couple of light touches on her shoulder and leg, told her how brilliant she was and headed back to get her jackpot. It had obviously been so tense that by the time she got into the corral she virtually took off the floor releasing all that pent up energy. Second session with it she was much better so I'll continue to take it gradually at whatever pace she's comfortable with.

Teeth!

2011-07-29T13:10:00.000+01:00

Star had the dentist this week and I'm pleased to report everything went very smoothly. Her mane is getting lots of attention lately, the dentist said exactly the same as the vet did last month, that it's extraordinarily long and how do I manage to keep it that way? Canter mane and tail spray is our secret, shhhhh! Anyway he said Star was an angel compared to a lot of horses he deals with. I can't help feeling it's because a lot of people seem to expect their horses to just cope with stuff without any prior preparation at all. When I changed to this dentist a couple of years ago I knew he used power tools and didn't hand rasp. Although dentistry with all the gags and tools is nigh on impossible to prepare a horse for thoroughly, I tried the best I could over the course of a couple of weeks to prepare Star for being in the shelter with the bars up, and the sound and vibration of power tools. That preparation really paid off and it's something I re-visit in training every now and then as a refresher.

Due to the fact Star's teeth were in such a state when I got her, and she was quite young, she had quite a few six monthly visits and I've decided to keep this even though she could probably go a year now. The reason for this is for the sake of an extra £35 I'd rather she have two shorter visits than one longer more stressful one. I'm there all the time with her but because the gag is at my face height I have to stay outside the bars and touch her over the top. He's very good with her and lets her have frequent breaks, which I think is brilliant. Too often with some equine professionals I've felt a bit like we were on a conveyor belt with them rushing to get the job done at the expense of allowing the horse to have a rest. I only stick with the ones I feel treat Star right and that she's comfortable with these days, after all I'm the one that's footing the bill and if Star's not happy neither am I!

Consistent Inconsistency

2011-07-22T07:17:00.001+01:00

I've been working on a stay and come with Star. The stay is something I've struggled with a bit before, the come has developed naturally from me calling her in the field. I've been shaping the stay by first going one step away from her, then two etc and she's pretty good 80% of the time. What I'm trying to do is keep my posture neutral when I ask her to stay, when I ask her to come I open out my arms and she targets my right hand. However she does sometimes anticipate my asking her to come, yes Star can read my thoughts too! Only kidding, I think it's far more likely she's reading signals I'm giving out that I'm totally unaware of.

I think it must be incredibly frustrating for horses the fact that we are so inconsistent a lot of times. As humans we have one word that has seven different meanings depending on how it's said, conversely we also have seven different words that can have one meaning too. We also give out a veritable hotchpotch of body language that animals have to try and decipher. Never forget a horses first language is body language not verbal. I think Star often finds visual cues more easy than verbal ones.

Our senses are not the same as horses. I think at one time we probably had more acute senses, survival after all depended on it. Now due to our lifestyles these are grossly under utilised. I think we expose ourselves to too much what I call "background noise"; television, internet, mobiles, busy stores and so on. Modern society is like a constant information overload if you're not careful. This chatter fills our minds, has to be assimilated and dealt with, numbing us to a lot of other things we should be more aware of. How often do you start training and some stupid random thought like a shopping list pops into your mind? I envy horses for their ability to be totally in the moment.

Of course our horses are then reading us, trying to make sense of what we're doing and act on the information they're gathering. I'm sure this is what's happening a lot of the time Star anticipates me, I'm doing *something* I'm unaware of when I'm thinking of asking her to come. Or more likely several different somethings all of which Star associates with potentially being cued! I have to say it's darn hard to make sure you're keeping body language and cues consistent in every single session. We ask the horse to be acutely aware of what their body is doing, space etc. but we don't ask the same of ourselves.

You know the other post where I was talking about some clicker trainers being a bit negative with people. Well I do understand this because lets face it we're pretty inconsistent with each other most of the time too. I have far more patience with teaching an animal than I do with a person that's for sure! Honestly you tell a person something and then they go and do something totally different, you find yourself thinking for goodness sake can you not just follow instructions!! We're also pretty good at telling other people what not to do rather than guiding and rewarding what we do want. When was the last time anyone told you you did a good job? As a society we don't understand how to use positive reinforcement with each other, maybe it's time to try and make some changes with ourselves too.

Bit of worry

2011-07-19T12:09:00.000+01:00

Sunday teatime I noticed Star was pottering about on her front feet. She was shifting her weight a lot and holding up the front right one. We've had a fair bit of rain lately and so there is a bit more grass growth and laminitis (founder) was my biggest worry. The problem with Star is she's so darn hairy it's nigh on impossible to find her digital pulses. Her feet are often warm to the touch too, so that's not a reliable indicator. I felt around the coronary band which didn't seem swollen or uncomfortable either and I tested the hoof underneath which also seemed pain free. It's the first time since I've had her I've ever seen her footsore, so I kept her in overnight with just hay and straw. Thankfully Monday morning she was looking much better and was sound in walk so I think it must have been something to do with the trim. Star had built up quite a bit of horn on her heels so maybe that was the cause, bit like going form heels to flats. I'm just glad it wasn't laminitis although I am keeping a close eye on her and the grass growth. Grass is such annoying stuff, not enough when you want it and too much when you don't!!

Destruction force Star!

2011-07-17T12:38:00.000+01:00

I'm beginning to feel Star is like a one horse demolition service as she's manage to somehow, I suspect scratching her ample derriere, bend the metal staple on her door that holds the padlock. I had to unbend it so I could get into her food. She's already broken the wood on the door twice and pulled one of the bolts off. Add to that the four field shelter struts she's broken over the past couple of years and it soon adds up! I've witnessed this bottom scratching on the field shelter before and all I can say is I'm glad it's got sturdy ground ties as without it she'd surely knock it clean over. She appears oblivious of the strain she's subjecting it to as the look on her face is sheer bliss, her top lip goes all droopy!

She's had her feet trimmed today, and glad to report there's a huge improvement in them, much less separation in the hoof wall. I need to work more with her on her hinds as she doesn't like having them held up for long periods on the trimmers hoof stand. To be honest I think she just gets bored and wants to go back to eating most of the time. Also need to sort out some nippers so we can trim her ergots, Star's are so thick and hard poor trimmer struggled and I know for sure I'm not going to be strong enough to do it.

Illusions

2011-07-16T12:11:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I tried out something new with Star, a game called "chase the Tiger" achieve1dream did and excellent post and video of it on her blog here I've done quite a bit of spookbusting with reinforcing Star for touching scary objects but had been kind of stuck as to how to move on. The idea of the horse actually chasing the object seemed like a great way of building more confidence.

I tied a handkerchief on the end of a lunge whip and just got Star to target it on the floor, then gradually started to move it and reinforce her for following it. The you can gradually flick and move it different directions. A couple of times when I flicked it Star gave it a very wide berth and hid behind me but this is the kind of game you can progress at their pace and I was really pleased how much more confident Star is when tackling scary objects. I've also gone back to doing a bit of matwork, which I'd like to progress if I can find several rubber doormats so we can use them as halt stations.

I know I haven't blogged much of late, partly due to the fact I'm trying to do more art and also partly due to the fact I've become very disillusioned with the world of horses generally. I've kind of gotten to the stage where I feel I can't say anything in case people take umbrage to it or dissect it to the tiniest degree. I have to say some of the positive trainers I've come across are also the most negative people I've come across too. Some people appear to have little better to do with their time than look at what everyone else is doing and criticise it in private. The other thing in the world of horses is lots of people seem to think they are "right" and try and ram their opinions down everyone elses throats, just because a horse is not micromanaged and wrapped in rugs doesn't mean they're neglected. Worse still are those that use horses as an excuse to bully people.

I really like Alex Kurland's training methods, they're right for me and Star, but I only choose the bits that are relevant to us. In fact I'll look at any trainer and use bits and pieces I think might prove valuable to us. I do matwork with Star because I've found it useful but if you don't like mats don't bloody use one, simple as, find a more constructive use of time than criticising those of us that do find it helpful. I'd just got to the stage lately where I'm completely fed up with it and wanted it out of my life altogether, negativity breeds negativity and it seeps into your life without you realising, which is why I no longer go on horse forums. I have Star because I love her and enjoy spending time with her, I don't have her as some kind of social facilitator so I can move within certain social circles. I'm not perfect, I make loads of mistakes which hopefully I learn from, and I think the learning will be lifelong, she teaches me far more than I could ever teach her. As long as Star is happy I'm happy too and that is what owning a horse should be; joy, companionship and a lifelong journey :)

With Compliments

2011-06-25T11:55:00.000+01:00

Star's had her annual vaccination booster shot and her yearly check up, the good news is she's in great shape. The vet commented on how well she's looking and how glossy her coat is at the moment. I'm guessing it's due to the huge numbers of Badminton Tasty treats she consumes during training sessions, maybe I should try and get her a sponsorship deal!

We've been working on stay and come to me. The stay is something I've had problems with in the past as Star does always want to gravitate to where the treats are, as far as she's concerned that's the best spot. I've had slightly more success when combining it with matwork, although I've found problems in the past with fading things like mats and targets from behaviours I taught with them. So I decided really I'd better have another go and teach her new cues for both these exercises.

I've really worked on the stay as an extension of the "Grown Ups" exercise where my hands in neutral position signal to Star I don't want her to do anything just stand nicely. Instead of doing this by her side though I've been doing it in front of her. Then I've gradually been shaping it so that I can take successive steps backwards while Star stays put. The hardest bit has been building duration, I have to make sure I try to get the click in before Star starts moving towards me. It's taken a couple of weeks of sessions to gradually build this in.

The come has been a lot easier from the point of view I unconsciously taught her this in the field by calling her and giving her a reward when she comes over. Now I'm also working in a visual cue so hands neutral for the stay, arms open for the come. That way even if it's windy she should still be getting a clear idea of what I'm asking for, at least that's the theory!

Apologies!

2011-06-13T12:25:00.000+01:00

I'm really sorry I've neglected the blog recently. I've drastically cut down my internet time so I can concentrate on some artwork, it's amazing how much time you can spend on the computer without realising it lol!

Anyway Star is fine, unfortunately the weather is being less helpful when it comes to training. It's been dry, in fact my pasture looks like the Sahara desert, but the strong winds have been such a pain. Star tends not to concentrate so well when it's very windy, and also if I'm using any objects with her they blow off!! Really we've just been fiddling about reminding ourselves of some of the things we learnt last year. She is now ringing her bell pretty consistently now. I'm looking for a way to mount it so I can send her away to ring it, then she has to come back to me for reinforcement. Needs to be a temporary mount though as I can well imagine her out there ringing it all day trying to get my attention!

I've been managing to get her out for walks a few times a week so I can graze her in hand a bit. Something really weird happened last week. I haltered her up ready to go out and a farmer came past with a trailer of muck, thought he'd knocked off for the day as I wanted to go up that track. Since Star was raring to go I bought her to the front of the house instead to trim the lawn. When he came back past the house I thought well we can go up the track a bit, I'll keep an eye out for him coming down the lane with another load and get her back to the gate before he has to come past. So we were out for about three quarters of an hour, no sign of him, when Star suddenly started marching off for home. This is very unlike her, normally once she's grazing she wants to stay out. I got her back in the field, was just putting away her halter when the farmer comes past with another trailer load. I wonder if Star could actually hear his trailer when he was way off down the lane before I could see him. I'm pretty sure she recognises individual vehicles as she seems to know which cars coming up our track contain people who give her treats!

Also had a bit of a worrying incident yesterday where a guy appeared at the property poking about looking in outbuildings. When questioned he said he was looking for scrap, but then started asking a lot of questions about Star, breeding her, was she for sale. He's calling himself James, driving a newish Ford Transit, dark red with a silver Ford sticker on the door, reg MV53. this is on the Norfolk/Lincs/Cambs border. obviously I'm pretty wary because of the number of thefts of horses and tack that's occurred recently so if you are in this area keep your eyes peeled.

Star's smart!

2011-05-25T11:00:00.000+01:00

Been working on getting Star to ring her brass bell. She quickly found out that if she noses the bell it makes a noise and that's what I want. I decided I'd like to get her to pull the rope, the attached one being a bit short so I clipped an old lead rope on there. I think in just about any other circumstance Star would be only too happy to take the rope in her mouth, particularly those occasions I don't want her to! So I had a big job to get her to hold it and shape her to make the bell ring. For some reason it seems when Star noses the bell it actually makes a better ringing noise than if she pulls the string. It didn't take her long to work this out and she absolutely refused to do it any other way because it wasn't as good. After two sessions I have to concede she's right and we'd better stick to doing it her way!

We've also been working on her retrieve to put her ball in a bucket which is coming on nicely. I need to shape the retrieve aspect now as she's quite happy to pick up the ball and walk to the container with it. the only thing I am having problems with is getting her to wait a bit, so I think I may need to also work on some sort of stay with her too. Although she's pretty good at waiting for me to undo gates and stuff I can think of quite a few situations where a solid stay could come in useful.

The stop/go game

2011-05-18T11:50:00.001+01:00

I've started playing something with Star that I call the stop/go game, basically it's a further refinement of WWYLM. So I want her to walk when I do, match my speed and also stop when I do. Two reasons behind this are that I'd like Star to be attentive to what I'm doing and I'd also like her to be controlled. After Star's had her barefoot trim my trimmer likes to see her trotted up to make sure she's sound and asses her gait. the thing about Star is she'll often do a bit of trot then get overexcited and maybe buck a bit, which is what I'd like to stop. Star isn't a lazy horse by any means and she does like to move but when she's doing it near me she also needs to be moving in a controlled way too.

At the moment when we play this I'm doing it in walk so she gets to understand that sticking with me and matching me is a good thing, so eventually I can work up to asking for a couple of strides of trot and then more. So she doesn't guess I'm trying to vary how many strides I take before I stop, varying pace and when those are established we'll work on turns too.

I have to say she quite likes her bell. Already she can ring it by pushing it with her lips and doesn't seem bothered by the noise at all. Hopefully I can shape her to work the string too. I wormed her yesterday too and was quite pleased it all went down this time without her chewing the syringe!

Oh dear Star.....

2011-05-15T12:26:00.000+01:00

The good news is the overhead linework is now finished until they come back down the opposite side in October. Friday was utter chaos with guys attached to the lines putting spacers in and generally shouting at their ground crew. Plus our access being blocked by various trucks and vans all morning removing the scaffolding by the track. Thankfully we're back to relative peace and normality now.

The bad news is Star's been a bit of a rascal again with her field shelter. I came down the other morning to find she'd made a massive hole in her door and somehow managed to pull off the entire bolt attached to a bit of wood! I'm presuming by the hair that was all over everything she was scratching her big bottom just a bit too vigorously!! So that bit of wanton vandalism is now added to the list of broken field shelter struts and everything else she's managed to break.

Training wise we've only done a little bit due to the disruption of the line work, but I have started to teach her to ring a bell. I got a brass ship's bell off of ebay and would like to teach her to hold the cord and ring it. The first session I was rewarding her for exploring it and she was nudging it to make it ring within a few tries which I'm really pleased about. The bell isn't huge but it's quite loud and I'm really pleased how all our training with noise making stuff has made her less worried about unusual noises. I think the cord attached to it is a bit too short for her to be able to hold easily so I think I need to sort out something a bit longer.

On the cross side

2011-05-07T11:13:00.000+01:00

Not much training to report for the past few days due to the overhead line work. To be honest I'm really quite annoyed about it. I've been moving Star down as they asked from the 1st of May but they didn't actually start pulling the lines until Thursday. Now they have started pulling them they're starting work before 8am and going on well past 6pm, which kind of negates them telling me there's a risk and I shouldn't be down there between those times! The fact is I have to do the poo picking and waters etc during daylight hours, yesterday I had to leave Star in until 9pm as I wasn't sure when they'd actually finished. So both me and Star will be pleased when it's all finished with and we can get back to normal.

Whoops Star!

2011-05-03T11:42:00.000+01:00

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 :)

Everything is a training opportunity!

2011-05-01T13:53:00.000+01:00

It's not a great pic but this is what's been going on in the field this morning. Guys have been hoisting up huge reels onto the insulators to pull through the new cables this week. There are guys actually sat ON the electric wires, you have to admire that for a job! Anyway I think the great thing about clicker is it encourages you to view everything positively as some sort of training opportunity. So whilst they were between jobs I just encouraged Star to have an investigate of the big noisy tractor parked next to the fence and reinforced her for that. Bless her she's been really good with all these vehicles roaring about. Tomorrow she's going to have to be down the sheep's paddock by 8am when they start the pulling. She and I are not allowed under the wires between 8am and 6pm so it's going to be early starts for a couple of weeks to make sure Star is safely out of the way and all the mucking out and water's are all done.

It's starting

2011-04-30T12:15:00.000+01:00

The works on the overhead lines started this morning. Basically guys hang under the power lines on these buggys and take out the spacers, not a job I'd want to be doing especially in these winds. Of course there is nothing you can possibly do to prepare a horse for weird things wheeling overhead but Star seems very non plussed about the whole business. They did warn me when the spacers come out the lines touch together and make a noise which in the past has spooked horses and sent them running through fences. The best way I can describe this noise is like the guns in a Star Wars movie, it's a very strange metallic sound. Star was in the corner of the field asleep, so it's obviously worrying her to bits! I'm very relieved she's not stressy about it and she has plenty of room she can get away from the lines too. Now all I'd like is this wind to drop so we can do some training without her ball blowing off!

Hello again!!

2011-04-29T12:12:00.001+01:00

A big hello again from me and Star! Apologies for our absence for a bit but we're in the midst of major electrical works on the overhead pylons which cross part of our field. For the past two months the electric board have been undergrounding the power supply to the house, which basically meant holes appearing everywhere, major mud and disruption. Now we are having scaffolding erected over the track before the line work commences next month. I have to say I'm very pleased with how Star has been handling all this. There's been lots of different people about, noise, large vehicles, piles of stuff appearing all over the place, and for a horse that used to be disrupted by any minor change in her environment she's not even batted an eyelid. In fact she's had the best winter she's ever had and seems happier, calmer and more confident than ever.

The big breakthrough we've had is that she's enjoying contact and cuddles now. I have reinforced this a lot over the winter as this was when I had the most problems touching her, dare I say she's starting to enjoy it just a little bit now!

We're just getting back into training and my plans over the next couple of months are:
-train a retrieve and get her to put a ball in her bucket
-work on a send away. I need to do this as she now sticks to me like glue, so I'm using a bottle as a target on a long stick to move her forward of me on her own
-train her to ring a ships bell. I don't know if this is a good idea as she might be ringing for field service whenever she wants!
-work on getting her to hold her feet up on her own and use a foot stand. Barefoot trimming takes a while longer and she can get a bit fidgety so I just need some duration in this kind of exercise.
-train her to trot alongside me without getting too excited.

So hopefully we'll be able to share our progress again providing the electric board keep the power connected!

Bits and pieces

2011-02-06T12:12:00.000Z

Apologies for not having blogged much of recent, various stuff called life always seems to get in the way. Star's had quite a busy time a week ago she had the dentist, this was postponed from before Christmas due to the snow. My dentist uses power tools to do the teeth so a few days beforehand I just spent a bit of time getting Star ready desensitising her to the noise using an electric power drill near her. She remembered it from last time and was targeting it in no time at all. The first thing the dentist said when he got out of his car was how happy Star was looking, the second thing he said was how long her mane was getting! Star was brilliant having her teeth done, the good thing about my dentist is he gives her plenty of rest breaks without the gag so she can just get herself comfortable. It's really nice that he's seen an improvement in her behaviour each time he visits as well. So teeth are all done out of the way now.

Then at the weekend she had her second barefoot trim. Good news here as well, her foot structure is improving now the flare is being properly addressed, so the white line is starting to tighten up. This is great because the last thing you want is a stretched white line which can allow invasion of various organisms into the hoof. The trimmers recommended each time I pick Star's hooves out I just go around the edges lightly with a sanding block. I've noticed her hooves have been in much better shape since the first trim, and this is despite having the worst conditions going from very hard frozen ground to a muddy bog. Hopefully when the weather picks up we'll be able to start going out down the track again which will condition her hooves over a different surface. Other than that we've just been mooching about!

An empty cup

2011-01-18T11:57:00.000Z

I've been neglecting my blogs a little recently, partly due to circumstances and partly due to a very bad case of writers block. It's not easy to sit at a keyboard and realise you have nothing left you want to say, I have to admit it's very unlike me as well. Normally I can write about practically anything. Sometimes I've felt like my head is so full of stuff I don't actually know what to do with it all. Watching a film one day reminded me of something I'd read before in Mark Rashid's Horsemanship Through Life:

A warrior once spent his life studying martial arts. He had a high level of natural ability and traveled the world to learn from the best teachers, his eventual aim being to study with the Grand Master. The warrior spent years studying, learning and practising until eventually he felt he had enough knowledge and skill to impress the Grand Master. So he began the long journey to the Master's house. After many days and nights of travelling he eventually arrived. The Grand Master greeted the warrior and offered him tea, as he poured the tea the warrior began to list all his many accomplishments and the Master listened quietly continued to pour the tea. As the warrior continued speaking he noticed the cup the Master was pouring into had become full and the tea was spilling out all around the sides. "Excuse me Master, but do you realise your cup is full?" asked the warrior. "Yes," the Master replied. "The cup is full rather like you are, you are so full of learning nothing more can go in. You need to empty your cup before I can teach you any more."

I think a full cup is kind of where I'd got to if I'm honest. I spent most of my spare time reading horse books and looking on the internet so my head was so full of whys and wherefore's it has now stopped my progressing any further as a trainer. By no means do I know everything, but sometimes I feel I've spent time reading and worrying about getting stuff "right", when really the best teacher of all is stood out in the paddock smiling and whickering hopefully. I think I need to empty my own cup a little so that I can take on board what Star is trying to tell me, rather than over analyse everything and sometimes effectively paralyse myself from doing anything at all. The best teacher will always be the horse and I'm very lucky in that I've found my own Grand Master in Star.

Sometimes a different approach is all that's needed

2011-01-13T12:44:00.000Z

In the last post I mentioned how much better temperament wise Star has been this winter. One of the things I've found a problem in previous winters is her complete dislike of being touched in any way at all. Star isn't a cuddly horse at the best of times, but during the winter I have sometimes had a problem doing even simple things which involve me being quite close to her. I have tried before to do Alex Kurland's game of "Can I touch you please?" where you start briefly placing your hand on various parts of the horse, remove it and reward before they move. Over time you should be able to gradually extend the duration and work up to using various objects to touch the horse and begin the process of desensitisation. I'll be quite honest in that although I've done this, also done work with objects like grooming kit, electric toothbrushes, bags etc., the best I've got to is that Star will tolerate it during training, it doesn't appear to have made much difference elsewhere in that more often than not she'd still back off.

Due to one thing and another this winter our formal training sessions have been practically zero. Basically I have just had a pocketful of treats and been messing about rewarding Star for various things during our regular interactions in the field and corral. One of the things I've been working on is getting her to accept cuddles and stroking. I guess it's really a bit selfish in that it's purely for my benefit as I enjoy the opportunity to touch her, I'm quite a tactile person anyway and to me it's natural to want to touch what you love. The funny thing is though by approaching this exercise in a completely informal way during day to day interactions we've actually made far more progress than we ever have before. I now have a horse who is offering cuddles, which I have to say is something I never thought I would see from Star. To start with she would back up if she even thought I might touch her but I've managed to work up to being able to encircle her neck with my arms. And today she hooked her head around me almost as if she was reciprocating. It's just really nice to see her more comfortable with this sort of interaction and I think integrating it into our daily encounters, rather than concentrating on it in a formal way, has really helped her to feel less anxious about the whole thing.

Thank you Star for making me smile :-)

2011-01-10T18:45:00.001Z

I think without doubt January has to be the worst month of the year for me and Star. We've gone from freezing conditions and snow, to a waterlogged paddock and endless mud as far as the eye can see. I have to say though this winter has been the best so far for Star behaviourally speaking. I've written quite a lot before about how Star's temperament could really shift between summer and winter, with her becoming very reactive to virtually anything. In fact I have had times in the past where I've actually found it hard to lead her safely. This winter though, despite the challenging conditions, Star has been very upbeat in mood and has been the happiest and most settled I've ever seen her.

Anyway, onto today. I get a bit miserable from time to time but Star has now found a new way of making me laugh by mutually grooming my woolly hat with her top lip and generally rearranging it. Which is ok, until she does it straight after she's had a drink and dribbles right down my neck. Chaff from her tea bucket caught in her moustache is a bit of a problem too, especially if I have to go out! As I've mentioned before my laughing at stuff also seems to be reinforcing for her, and to be honest I see that bit of closeness with her as a privilege. She does appear to understand that lips are acceptable for this practise and teeth are not. If you've ever seen two horses grooming with their teeth it looks rough! She also made me smile because she was jumping about while I was getting her hay, ending up with her right down the bottom of the paddock. As soon as she spotted her pink tea bucket though she did a perfect extended trot all the way down the paddock before three strides of canter through the gate and stopping perfectly then whickering in appreciation of herself! It's one of those times I wish I'd had the video camera.

Inadvertent training

2011-01-06T12:30:00.001Z

We're training our horses all the time, whether we realise it or not. Treats don't necessarily have to be involved for the horse to be reinforced, I think often horses like to feel they're pleasing you and are always looking out for our signals that show we're happy. With Star my laughing can be just as reinforcing as treats, and I think this is responsible for a lot of the smiling going on, I just can't help but laugh so she carries on doing it. The training savvy horse who has a close bond with the trainer will also find phrases like "good boy/girl" reinforcing, particularly if these have been paired with treats occasionally as well. I think it's one of the amazing benefits of clicker is that because we are not coercing our horses with unpleasantness the horse actively seeks to work with us and make us happy.

Anyway at the back of my mind I've always wanted to teach Star to stay and come but it's one of those things that keeps getting shoved to the back burner while we do other stuff. However in the course of our daily routine, by inadvertently reinforcing Star at the right moments, I seem to have taught her these two things without even realising. At the moment Star is down in the bottom paddock, so each morning she has to wait while I open the corral gate, walk with me down to the field gate and wait patiently while I undo four of those horrendous springy gate things and move the cone. The when I walk through and ask her to come she follows me. I had no idea until this morning and I suddenly realised how good and patient she was, not moving until I'd asked her, then coming to me on cue. Obviously all this does mean I now have to be extra aware to make sure I'm reinforcing only the things I really want!

Star is now too smart!

2011-01-04T11:49:00.000Z

I have been trying really hard not to try and over reinforce Star, and only reinforce when I cue behaviours that she knows well. I'm trying to transfer the smile cue to a verbal one and smiling seems to be one of Star's favourite things at the moment. However since I've stopped rewarding this off of cue, Star decided she was going to be super smart and cue herself instead. The cue I had trained it with was to touch her top lip with my hand. So Star now comes marching up to me, puts her lip on my arm to cue herself ,then smiles! I have to admire her ingenuity really, she's definitely a mare that knows what she wants. Obviously I can't reward it or she'll be cuing herself and training me, but all the people who seem to think horses are unintelligent really need to think again.

Quality time

2011-01-02T12:51:00.000Z

I'm trying to make a concerted effort to spend some quality time with Star that doesn't involve treats. The problem with me is that if I have a pocket of treats I always want to reinforce her if she does something, of course this isn't really teaching her anything about stimulus control. What I don't want to happen is that I have her offering a variety of behaviours each time she sees me, I would also like us to be able to interact naturally. Obviously I know this is down to my lack of self control, so I think maybe what I'll do in future is follow Alex Kurland's example and count out maybe twenty treats to put in my pocket and that's all I'll have.

I think we all have this tendency to want to reinforce good efforts or we think we'll "lose" the behaviour altogether. The problem comes when these good efforts are produced off of cue, then rewarded, which of course teaches the horse nothing about cues and stimulus control. I know this is one of my big downfalls that I need to rectify, Star has to understand that a cue is the green light for the behaviour so I must be very strict with myself and only reward then. If a taught behaviour is never rewarded the animal will usually produce an extinction burst of an increasingly frantic repetitions of the behaviour before you lose it anyway, so in all honesty you're unlikely to lose it unless you never reward it ever again.

Anyway, all this said I'm spending a bit of time just mooching about the paddock with Star hanging out while she grazes or eats hay. I actually find the repetitive munching of a horse quite relaxing and therapeutic in a strange way. All I wish is that the weather was a bit warmer, which would make it more enjoyable altogether!

Just had to share...........

2010-12-31T19:40:00.000Z

This bit of vid I took with my mobile, still figuring out how to use the thing so bear with me!! Plus we have this problem that Star feels she needs to be involved with mobile phones either trying to text or call people, or otherwise sticking her nose on it! I just love her mobile upper lip, it always makes me smile!

Goals for 2011

2010-12-30T18:32:00.000Z

I have to apologise as I've neglected the blog horribly of late, so one of my main goals is to properly get back to training and writing next year. We've only really started to scratch the surface with the shape discrimination this winter, before being thwarted by bad weather again. Sometimes I would just love to have a stable so Star and I can get out of the worst of the weather and at least stay dry for a bit. We have a field shelter but to be honest Star is one of these horses who rarely uses it, preferring to just turn her bum to the wind and get on with eating. It's ok for her, but unfortunately my bum isn't big enough to stop the wind like Star's is! The other thing I want to teach her next year is the painting. We have the easel and I'd already got her targeting the board with a brush before winter came, so I'm hoping as soon as the weather gets good enough we can pick that back up again.

Apart from the training and writing bit, my goal for myself is to stop over reinforcing Star. The problem is I think I get reinforced by reinforcing her! I want to reward her, and by doing that I'm not strict enough with my criteria as I should be. I know this is something I have to stop doing as it prevents us from moving along as quickly as we should. Another part of the problem is that I tend to remember Star as the horse she was, one who got easily worried and frustrated when we started clicker. Star is now much more settled and confident, able to try different things, so I need to make sure I move along too so I can help her to progress further.

Thanks everyone for sticking with us this year, particularly when we've had a few rough times, the support has been much appreciated. Star and I hope you all have a lovely, and clicker filled, 2011! xxxx

The great hay scandal

2010-12-29T10:09:00.001Z

We're about as stocked up as we can be with hay and straw to try and ensure we don't run out before next summer. Obviously this cold weather has meant we're using a lot more, plus we had really poor grass growth in the autumn as well which didn't help matters. Yesterday we had a delivery from the farmer of pretty much all the spare bales he has left, as I know he likes to clear his sheds now to get in seed potatoes. Apparently though a lot of farmers have held onto their stocks of hay, waiting to cash in on any shortages in the New Year. I know quite a lot of people who've been having problems sourcing any hay at all, and in some parts small bales are as much £7 each, which is astronomical. Poor harvest coupled with scare mongering in the equestrian press, mentioning no names like the hysterical Horse&Hound (a publication guaranteed to send my blood pressure sky rocketing!!) ensures we'll all be paying a high price for any bales next year. I'm just glad we bought the trailer back last year so we can store almost a whole winter's worth without too much problem. Of course the other thing now is hay theft, if yours isn't able to be secured I know people who have cut the strings on the outside of the stack to make it harder for the bales to be pinched, well worth thinking about, so you have been warned.

Thanks Star!

2010-12-28T12:43:00.000Z

Well we've been battling with bad weather having had two weeks of temperatures well below zero day and night, plus snow as well. The weather can make Star quite irritable, she really doesn't like snow at all and gets quite cross about the whole winter thing. I thought she was doing not too badly until Christmas day when I went to get a bit of hair out of her eye and she nipped the back of my hand. She only just pinched the skin through my glove but that hurt and I now have a purple bruise under the skin. To be fair to her I don't think she realised until I squeaked and she let go, it's probably my own fault anyway as I've been letting her play with my gloves and pick them up as well. I think I'll have to stop that so she doesn't get confused. We have had a bit of a thaw overnight and there is standing water everywhere so she now needs to go down into the sheep's paddock until spring. The only good thing was that while her legs were nice and dry the other day I did get a load of pig oil on there to protect them from the wet and mud. There is also a huge hay shortage at the moment due to a bad harvest, despite us ordering well in advance some of our bales were sold to someone else, which is bloody annoying. I'm hoping we'll have enough to get us through to spring as the price of bales is already well over £5 in some places. Roll on spring is all I can say!!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T12:16:00.000Z

I'd just like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas from me and Star. I think she's hoping Santa will be bringing a nice treat like a swede this year, or indeed anything edible as she's being a bit of a food monster at the moment. We have snow again so she's particularly motivated by any food on offer. Actually I think I've created a bit of a monster with the smiling as she's doing it all the time in the hope of earning some reinforcement. The problem is it's so cute I keep laughing which is encouraging her to do it even more! Not good for teaching her stimulus control really but then again there's a lot of worse things she could be doing. So I hope you all have a joyous Christmas full of laughter and love with those who are dearest to you, human or animal, with love from Emma and Star xxx

Our further journey into barefoot

2010-12-18T16:46:00.002Z

Star has just had her first trim with her new barefoot trimmer who is fab. I decided not to use a farrier any more due to a multitude of problems, as I've learnt more about barefoot I have to be honest that quite frankly I was less than impressed with some of the answers to the questions I was asking. I've been concerned about flare stretching the white line for some time which hasn't been properly addressed along with other issues. The icing on the cake really was a completely unprofessional attitude laughing at Star's piano playing and less than nice comments regarding other clients. I have a new policy that only the best people are allowed near my horse now, she's had enough crap ones around her during her lifetime, so I wanted someone who would take into account my views on training.

As luck would have it I came across someone who spookily enough lives just down the road from me, which I'm sure was fate as she doesn't actually advertise. Anyway today was Star's first trim and I have to say I'm really happy. It's a good opportunity for me to progress my knowledge and because she took her time and wasn't hurrying Star along, so Star was much more comfortable about having her feet handled. Due to Star's previous problems with foot handling it's good to keep trimming as relaxed and low key as possible.

What I like about barefoot trimmers is they take into account everything that's likely to influence the horses feet, work, diet and environment rather than just breeze in, do a two minute speed trim and want the money. I think they're also much more open to progressive learning, the lack of arrogance is refreshing too. She also made a record of Star's foot condition so that we can monitor progress which was really good that I will have a progressive record of stuff. Unfortunately Star did have flare, as we suspected, that needed correcting and some of the structures in her feet are not as good as they could be, but now those are identified we can work on rectifying it. Annoyingly her feet were also totally unbalanced due to having been trimmed differently on the left side and on the right side, that's not something she would have worn naturally. So overall Star's really happy, I'm really happy and it will lead to her having much better feet in the long run, without being advised to use expensive and unnecessary hoof lard!

One step at a time

2010-12-16T16:40:00.000Z

My sincere apologies for neglecting the blog, I've just had so much to deal with generally sometimes I don't always have enough mental energy left to think of something cerebral to write about. We're currently battling with a paddock that is more like a clay pit, the corral has lots of standing water yet again and now it's just started snowing again. It will be a good thing if we get a hard freeze, just so things firm up a bit, but we could well do without more snow.

I worry about Star's legs as for some mad reason she chooses to spend 90% of the day in the muddiest bit of the field. Due to the weather being so awful today I kept the sheep in and let her into their paddock which is at least firmer and drier, relatively speaking. The only problem was when I came to get her in we were having a blizzard, so Star decided to express her disgust at the situation in a very energetic way, cantering, bucking and shaking her head. At one time I would have been very anxious about getting her all the way back up to her corral when she was like that, but one thing working with Star has taught me is energy control is really important. I'm now very aware I should not slip into feeling anxious and making the situation worse, I have to be calm and if necessary we go only one step at a time. So I go one calm step of WWYLM, reward, until I feel we can go two steps and so on. My low energy, greater confidence and keeping Star focused on the job in hand means I get a lot less problems "leading" her while she's like this.

I think it's also a timely reminder of the importance of breaking stuff down into manageable steps and setting ourselves up for success, maybe something I need to do in my own life as well, rather than try to achieve massive chunks all at once!

Back to the shapes

2010-12-12T12:20:00.002Z

It's been a balmy four degrees here the past couple of days so the snow has melted and I'm now left with a very muddy paddock. After it's been freezing any temperature rise appears to have a strange effect on horses making them all springier than usual. Star had evidently decided a bit of galloping was needed so the paddock was covered with huge divots, and I had a horse covered in mud. Lets just say that rug doesn't look pristine now! As I was stamping in the divots we were doing a bit of WWYLM as well. The thing I have to be careful with Star is if she thinks she should have been reinforced and hasn't been, she kind of cuts across the front of me to block my path. I never reinforce this obviously and have found the best tactic is to ignore it and walk around her. I tried stopping but we kind of ended up in a situation where neither of us was moving, and it became a bit like a game of chess trying to work out the next best move.

At last we had the opportunity to get the shape cards back out. It's been a while so I wondered if she'd remember the star card, which she did. At the moment the three cards I'm using are a star, a circle and a triangle. I chose these because the shapes are all very different, and they're also symmetrical so they look the same whichever way around the cards are, so I don't need to worry about that aspect. One of the things I learnt when we did the object discrimination is that it is very easy to inadvertently build up behaviour chains in this exercise. If the animal systematically investigates each object to see which one gets the click you can sometimes end up with that chain of events happening each and every time. What I'm doing now is gradually tightening the criteria throughout the session as I need Star to understand it's only the targeting the star card that earns the click. To start with I'm relaxed if she investigates any of the other cards as well, as we go on between each time I shuffle the cards about I ask her to take a step back, then ask her "which one". If she doesn't go straight to the right one I ask for the step back and we go again.

I'm kind of very much learning as we go on. The great think about clicker is during the session you're thinking and analysing the behaviour, trying to work out the best ways of breaking it down to get the right result. Really thinking back I should have started with two cards not three, I was very ambitious and it's testament to how clever Star is that she picked it up so quickly. I think as she's gradually gaining in confidence I see much less frustration than I used to, and she seems to actively enjoy the puzzle solving.

In praise of police horses

2010-12-10T07:39:00.000Z

While I was watching the news last night of the student "protests" in London I couldn't help but marvel at the police horses and their riders. Apparently one officer was dragged from his horse, beaten and the horse accidentally trod on him and he's in hospital, I really hope he's ok. I think it must take some exceptional training to get a horse, a natural flight animal, to canter into a group of noisy, aggressive and often armed people. To do that in those circumstances I would guess they really have to completely put their trust into their rider. It must be an exceptional partnership to develop. I just can't imagine putting myself and Star into that sort of situation at all, although we have amazing trust in each other I can't imagine asking her to face that kind of stuff. These horses obviously have to be reliable and able to cope with the type of alien environment found in cities where they work. I think often as horse owners we're worrying that our horse spooks at a crisp packet but what these horses have to be able to cope with is nothing short of amazing. I have nothing but admiration for them and their riders.

Completely un-scientific clicker experiment!

2010-12-09T12:57:00.000Z

It's taken me ages to master making the sound of a tongue click. In fact I was convinced at one point my mouth must be abnormal because it was so hard to do. It's kind of one of those things you have to practise while you're alone as people do look funny at you if you're doing it walking along the supermarket aisle! Anyway it's really come into it's own during this weather while it's been to cold to hold a box clicker. I've also found it a useful extra while doing stuff when I need both hands, like grooming for example. However I've not used it for what I call precision training, anything requiring microshaping, as I was convinced I was much less accurate with it than the box clicker for some reason. So I decided to do a little experiment to see if my suppositions were right. I got a tennis ball and clicked for the bounce, this is also a good way to hone your timing skills. I was really surprised to find I was slightly more accurate with the mouth click than the box clicker, certainly way more accurate than I'd given myself credit for. I think this has really boosted my confidence at being able to use it in many more situations with Star, obviously it's always available unlike fumbling about for a box clicker. If I have treats in my pocket I'll always have the ability to reinforce good behaviour if I need to.

*Please note don't do this experiment with clicker savvy dogs about, as mine thought all their Christmases had come at once ball + clicker = very excited dogs!

Cold fingers

2010-12-07T11:45:00.000Z

We're still in the middle of a very cold spell, the temperature has been below freezing the past couple of days and Star has had icicles on her whiskers! She's a bit grumpy due to the fact there's no grass so I have to ferry slices of hay down to her all day to keep her happy. The thing with Star though is she will hold out to see if anything better is coming before she'll eat the hay, like huge trugs of readigrass soaked in warm water! She's a very smart horse! So we haven't done any clicker as I've yet to find a suitable pair of gloves which have the dual function of dexterity so I can handle the treats etc., and warmth so I don't get frostbite and can work the clicker. It's very frustrating as my hands only have to be out of gloves momentarily and my fingers are freezing. I have been rewarding Star with tongue clicks just doing some of the behaviours she's already learnt. We've also been working on getting her to accept cuddles. OK it's indulgent and it's for me really because she's not a cuddly horse at all. So I've just been rewarding her for letting me put my arm around her and building some duration. I think Star's really onto a winner with this one as she doesn't have to do anything and gets treats for doing it. I'm onto a winner too as I get to put my head on her neck and smell that lovely horse smell, I know it sounds mad but I like it so it's rewarding for me too!

Hmmmm

2010-12-04T12:52:00.000Z

I often wonder if horses have a sense of humour. In Star's case I think it's a warped one!! This morning as I was cleaning out the sheep's bit she cleverly moved the wheelbarrow to the electric fence, thus ensuring I got electrocuted when I stupidly touched the metal handles to move it away! I notice the she was clever enough to push the plastic bit with her nose, avoiding getting a shock herself. In fact I think she was laughing at me and I wonder sometimes who the clever one in the partnership really is! ;)

No fillings today!

2010-12-03T17:36:00.000Z

Star was supposed to have had the dentist today but unfortunately it's been postponed until after Christmas due to the weather. It is still very cold and snowy, although thankfully we don't have as much snow as some so I'm trying not to grumble. You can always tell when it's cold as Star tends to trot instead of walk, and the excitement of some more hay being put out can produce the odd excited buck as well. I'm sure she's glad of her rug right at this minute as no matter how bad the weather gets she's one of these horses who refuses to use the shelter! Other than that I've done very little training as I can't do anything with my hands unless I'm wearing ski gloves. I've been transferring the cue for smile from a visual one to a verbal one, which is going pretty well as she is just loving smiling at the moment! I've created a bit of a monster as she's doing it to me over the fence, when I'm poo picking, any available moment, so I guess I really need to get it under stimulus control!

The thinking equine........

2010-12-01T14:27:00.000Z

One of the things I love about clicker is it actively encourages a horse to think and find solutions to problems, rather than just obey commands like some kind of automaton. However for a horse like Star who has previously experienced punishment gaining the confidence to try different things can take time. In fact it's taken nearly a year and a half. Over the past couple of months I've noticed Star has become more confident than I've ever seen her before. She will now try different things, offer learnt behaviours outside of training, and seems generally happier and more content than I've ever seen her before. It's taken her that long to get over the fear that trying something wouldn't result in punishment. However once you teach a horse to begin to think for themselves you also need to be prepared for the fact they will also try unexpected things too! Star loves picking up objects so now anything left lying around is fair game to be retrieved, gloves, poo rakes and grooming kit to name but a few! Today Star decided she was going to try something new to see if it would get reinforced and after nosing the wheelbarrow to get it to move, then decided the grander gesture of tipping it over would be much better! I have to say she looked very pleased with herself when a whole barrow of frozen poo went all over the floor! Sometimes I think she has a very wry sense of humour!

Organ donation in memory of Sandra

2010-11-29T12:06:00.000Z

I'd just like to draw people's attention to our facebook campaign about organ donation, you can find it here
Unfortunately Sandra was killed in a tragic fall from her horse, however her family and friends are drawing some small comfort from the fact her organs are able to help others get a new lease of life. Registering as an organ donor is very simple but so many of us forget to do it. Please help us in our campaign to help Sandra's memory live on by registering as a donor today.

Frozen

2010-11-28T12:30:00.001Z

It snowed friday night which was a bit unexpected so I hadn't rugged Star, some times I'd give anything to have a stable!! It's really cold so I've managed to chip away the mud and put a lightweight rug on as they give high winds as well these week. She's ok, but hates the snow as it covers up what's left of the grass.

Helping with the poo picking, chipping frozen horse poo up is not easy!!

Modelling her new Weatherbeeta landa rug, the very latest in equine runway fashion!

The latest in fluffy upper lip wear

Contemplating where all the food has gone

Frequent refuelling is essential to keep a horse warm in such arctic conditions! We're hoping this cold spell won't last for long as it's very hard to clicker train when you can't feel your fingers!

I'm humbled

2010-11-24T17:02:00.000Z

I decided today was the day I was going to introduce Star to the flash cards. I have about twenty with different shapes and symbols on them, ranging from very simple circles and squares, to more complicated objects like dogs and cars. To make it easy for her I picked some cards with simple shapes on them and just rewarded her for investigating them. Then I put about six on the floor for her to look at, she seemed to keep going for the one with the star on it which I thought was pretty appropriate choosing on her part! So I took that card and two very different ones, a circle and a square, and just rewarded her for picking the star card each time. I know this isn't how I did the object discrimination but I needed her to realise she has to look at the card, rather than simply remember where it is and target it. I have to say I was just completely gobsmacked that her rate of picking the star card was amazing considering we had only just started this exercise. I kept shuffling them around just to make sure she wasn't remembering the location. Then I took away the circle and square and used a cross and a squiggly line. I'm not sure how their eyes can discern stuff but I think the cross and star are a bit too similar in shape and she was a bit confused. However all in all I think she did amazingly.

Star and I have certainly had some ups and downs together. I always think we're a bit like the odd couple. I knew nothing of training horses, she knew nothing of being trained, and yet here she is being able to pick out shapes. It's one of those moments I feel truly humbled to be able to work with her, and I'll admit it did bring tears to my eyes to think this horse could have so easily ended up at the abattoir. Just goes to show never underestimate any animal in life, they are intelligent, thinking, feeling beings that need to be treated with respect.

Excuse me but where's my horse???

2010-11-23T19:48:00.001Z

Star appears to have been abducted and replaced by a mare that is superficially like her in structure and appetite, but is covered with a lot of very crusty brown mud. In fact I don't think I've ever seen a horse as dirty as the one currently residing in my field. The mud is all over her, never before have I had to use a hoof pick to remove globs from her feathers and worse still it's caked into her once flowing (and recently brushed & conditioned) mane! In fact she looked quite pleased with herself whickering over the fence at me as I stood there taking in the full horror of the dirt monster in front of me. The look on my face must have alerted her to my disgust as she then screwed up her top lip to smile at me and make me laugh! Possibly the worst thing is she hates being brushed even more in the winter and only last week I managed, with the help of quite a few treats, to give her a full brush, re-plait her mane and make her look all lovely. I'm beginning to wish I hadn't put myself through the trauma of it now, still never mind I'll just have to hope it stays dry so I can have attempt number two I guess. Star would also like to say she's sporting the latest fashion in furry winter lip warmers as her moustache is sprouting again. You heard it here first!!

I HATE winter!!

2010-11-21T12:23:00.000Z

Sorry I've not posted for a few days but I have had a bit of a cold, been busy, and to be honest not managed to get much done with Star due to the weather. We were blanketed in thick fog for two days, we're below sea level here so sometimes it doesn't shift. I could just hear Star whickering through the mist as she heard the field gate open, then this huge black shape would emerge out of the gloom screwing up her top lip in a smile for reinforcement! She seems to be offering smiling quite a lot at the moment so I guess I need to try and get it on cue. I've just been working on a few bits while we're out in the field rather than do any formal training sessions. I'm really pleased with her head lowering and we're gradually getting some duration in there. The annoying thing for me is I'm simply not good enough with the tongue click to be able to micro shape and polish behaviours. I need a new mouth!

The ground is completely sodden, so therefore due to some bizarre law of horse Star must stand right in the muddiest bit almost the whole day long. It's worrying me because she is prone to a bit of mud fever on the back of one heel and she's not dried out enough for me to apply any pig oil to protect her legs. It's so frustrating as I don't really have any hard standing I can shut her on for a few hours so she has half a chance of drying a bit. I just hate everything about winter now; the cold, the wet, the dark, the wind, the fog, the mud........I could go on and on. Roll on spring is all I can say

Shape discrimination

2010-11-18T13:23:00.000Z

OK this is going to be my winter project with Star as it should be easy to do in the field shelter when the weather's bad. I now have some A4 sized laminated flash cards with different simple shapes on them, and I'm hoping to teach Star to discriminate between different shapes. Now I know this can be done because I have heard of a researcher who taught a horse about 24 different shapes using flash cards. Obviously it would be great if I could teach Star just a few and see how we get on. I'm planning to try and teach this in a similar way to how I tackled the object discrimination, as it's essentially the same process operating. I have to say these days I try not to adhere to any sort of rigid plan because quite often I need to rethink depending on how Star's reacting to what I teach. So I think I'll try to teach her one shape, put a cue to it and see how we go, so watch this space.

A wild night in

2010-11-16T11:59:00.000Z

Heaven knows what Star was up to in that corral last night, but this morning the surface was so churned up I can only guess she must have been cantering about. She can get like this when there's a big temperature drop between day and night for some reason. Winter time she's always much sharper and on her toes.

I'm not sure about having treats available in my pockets all the time. Star is now offering behaviour each time she sees me, so I'll either get smiling, head lowering, "grown ups" or if I'm poo picking she'll try and pick up the rake or scoop. I think part of the problem is she has no clear signal as to when rewards are available and when they're not. What I don't want is for every interaction with her to become reward based, so I'm trying to go out several other times during the day to see her and just hang out. The thing I find hardest is not rewarding very good efforts when they're produced off of cue, because I really want to reward them! At the moment the absence of rewards when she's offering behaviour is causing her to get a bit frustrated. I don't know whether this will extinguish over time, certainly if it doesn't I'll just go back to rewards in the bum bag.

I'm also looking to get some laminated cards with symbols on them so I can teach her symbol discrimination over the winter.

Where did that come from??

2010-11-13T11:57:00.001Z

One of the many things I love about Star is her seemingly endless capacity to surprise me. Now I'm keeping a handful of treats in my pocket all the time so I can reward good behaviour at any time, Star has caught onto this and sees a lot of interactions as a chance to earn rewards. I'm using a tongue click, which I have to say I am improving at, as it's more readily available than fumbling for a box clicker and the moment has passed. I have to say for me though I feel the tongue click is slightly less precise as a marker, I'm not really sure why that should be. You would think the neurological pathways to my mouth would be quicker than to my hand, but hey, who knows I probably defy science!

Anyway I have been rewarding Star for standing quietly at the corral gate in the morning rather than getting in the way so I can't open it properly and have to ask her to back up. Regular readers will know all about our trials and tribulations trying to teach Star ground tying. I think I've been trying unsuccessfully to teach it ever since I started with the clicker, and have yet to get to the stage where I've been able to put a cue to it. So Star stands patiently waiting for the gate to open, I reward her and head off down to let the sheep out. Much to my surprise Star stands exactly where she is and waits for me to come back. This is highly unusual for her, normally she's straight out on the grass. It's only when I get back and say "come on then" which is what I use for WWYLM that she comes out. Very strange and she's done it quite a few mornings now. So heaven knows where this behaviour has sprung from but I am wondering if I can build on it to do other things. Certainly she has me trained as I'm so impressed by the wait she's been getting reinforced for it as well. I think she's the clever one in the partnership!

That was quick!

2010-11-11T13:12:00.000Z

I'm very impressed as I've just had an email with the results of Star's poo sample and I only sent it yesterday. She has high strongyles, which apparently is a red worm and a common horse parasite so I need to get a wormer to do those and tapeworms. Definitely recommend Westgate laboratories service, it's excellent.

Worming

2010-11-10T12:11:00.000Z

I've sent a sample of Star's poo off to have a worm count done. I think it's going to be far better all round rather than just dosing her with a broad spectrum wormer this time. I've been reading lately about certain side effects of Ivermectin build up in horses and lasting problems occurring. Also last autumn I used Equest pramox which apparently contains a huge does of chemicals that stays in the system a long time, and has caused quite a few problems in susceptible horses. So I've decided now I'm going to do a worm count beforehand so I can target only what I need to. She needs to be done for tapeworms twice a year, those can only be detected by a blood test unfortunately but I'm hoping the worm count will overall be healthier and probably cheaper. It costs just over £12 which is a lot less than most combined worming pastes anyway. I did have to laugh they give you this tiny plastic container you're supposed to fit a golfball sized bit of fresh poo in. Naturally a watched horse won't poo, so I ended up having to come inside and wait for Star to do it in private! I should get the results within a couple of days and it will be interesting to see if I need to worm or not. The paddock is poo picked religiously every day, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed as Star hates worming pastes!

Acceptance

2010-11-08T12:45:00.001Z

When I was looking to get a horse I had no great aspirations to do loads of exciting stuff, a sedate trundle around the village bridleways was about the extent of my ambitions. Then of course I went out and got Star! I always maintain that while Star might not have been the exact type of horse I wanted, I definitely think she was the horse I needed to have. Over time I began to have this dawning realisation the Star was green, sensitive, spooky and definitely not the bombproof plod I'd hoped for. I went through this whole phase of thinking why can't I just put a saddle on this horse and ride down the road on her, it's not fair other people can do it, why not me? For a little while I searched for the "miraculous" training method that was going to make Star into the horse of my dreams.

I think I must have spent a good six months projecting my aspirations of the perfect horse onto Star, something she could never live up to. Whenever something went wrong I'd take it quite personally as well because I felt she didn't like me, and this was making her act up. It took me quite a long time to accept Star exactly as she was and deal with the horse I had in front of me, rather than the one I wished I had. I have to say once I did this both our lives became a whole lot easier, we started to bond and make real progress. I had to learn to work with what I'd got rather than against it. Eventually I realised a lot of what I thought was Star acting up and just being difficult for the sake of it was fear. No one had taken the time to show her things properly and she was afraid of all sorts of stuff. She couldn't help it, she was just reacting honestly to what she felt.

The thing with Star is despite all our ups and downs, she has always accepted me totally for who I am with no expectations at all. I had little experience of training horses and heaven knows I've made some awful mistakes, and yet Star has always given me unconditional acceptance allowing us to move forward. She's been patient with me while I've been fumbling about clumsily trying to get a halter on, she doesn't mind if I'm having a bad day and she doesn't try to change me in any way. I'm the only one who beats myself up when I get something wrong, horses on the other hand are incredibly forgiving creatures. The funny thing is now I've actually grown to love all the little quirks Star has, they're are the things that make her special and unique. The way she gets cross when it's windy, spooks at something she's seen a hundred times before or runs up and down the fence snorting at the wheelie bin.

Really I think people could learn a lot from the unconditional acceptance of horses. Too often in life we don't accept people for who they are. We try to change them, mould them and judge them for their choices. Wouldn't it be lovely if we treasured and cherished their unique characteristics instead?

Missing opportunities

2010-11-06T12:00:00.000Z

Ever since I started clicker training with Star I've been an advocate of distinct training sessions; the appearance of the bumbag means reinforcements are available to be earned, and a jackpot of treats in a trug gives a clear end to the session. My reasoning behind this was that I didn't want Star to be confused about when treats might be available, I thought this would cut down any mugging behaviour. Plus I didn't want a horse who is constantly offering various behaviours each time I appeared in the hope of reinforcement. I've always felt it's important to have that down time with Star where we can interact without food being involved. However we've been doing clicker for about a year and a half now and my viewpoint has started to shift lately.

I mentioned how I've been giving Star rosehips outside of training, and the fact is she asks very politely. I've kind of made "grown ups are talking" our default behaviour. Star standing politely next to me looking ahead and not mugging has been so heavily reinforced that's what she does when she thinks I have some treats. Since we've been working on the head lowering and smiling she's now started to offer these as well. This is quite new for Star, this freely offering of behaviours outside of sessions. I think it's due to her increased confidence that she won't be punished, it's taken us all this time to build her confidence to this level. It has occurred to me lately that by having distinct training sessions I'm actually missing opportunities to reinforce other desirable behaviours, such as politely waiting at the gate. So I'm now starting to reinforce these with a tongue click and a treat. To let her know I've finished I now say "all gone" and present my empty hands, I think this must surely be the universal sign used by clicker trainers everywhere!

I think there is a definite balance to be struck between having a horse that is confident enough to try different behaviours to see what will be reinforced, this is after all the cornerstone of a lot of shaping, and one who properly understands stimulus control and cues. My rule of thumb at the moment when deciding what to teach is that I don't choose any behaviour that could become a problem if offered when not cued. So I wouldn't pick something like rearing for example. I'm kind of learning as I go along, what works and what doesn't, but I'm definitely seeing that in our daily interactions I have been missing quite a few training opportunities that I could have used to my advantage. Now Star is becoming more understanding and confident with clicker, I feel I can relax my boundaries about having distinct sessions and use reinforcements at other times without risking confusion. I actually feel quite excited when I think about our progress and how much I've learnt. We've come this far in a year and a half and it's exciting to think where we might be in another year or so.

Smiling- we've got it!

2010-11-03T11:48:00.000Z

I'm really pleased with Star as we've done a session without using any scent to provoke flehmen and she seems to have got the idea and is doing the lip curl on her own. Woohoo, she's such a smart girl! It's not totally consistent yet, but the presentation of my fist has become the cue. I'm hoping once we've got the behaviour a bit more consistent and polished I can transfer this to a word cue such as "cheese"! The other thing to note is that I've captured the whole behaviour with the clicker. As I mentioned in the last post the horse tilts it's head back during flehmen to get the scent molecules on the floor of the nasal membranes, so she lifts her head up as well as curling the lip. I don't know whether I'll be able to polish the behaviour enough to get this lifting out or not, we'll have to see.

I had to laugh at her this morning while I was poo picking because she's been showing off in the field and running about. Star in a flat out gallop is really something to see, she might be big but she moves so well. She rushes from one end of the paddock to the other, then trots up and down the fence showing off to the sheep. I know she's playing because we had a few bucks and squeals, so I squealed back at her and said "look at you go", then she comes galloping past looking at me and whickering as she goes. I love to see her running about having fun, I just hope one day she'll do it when I have the video camera out as I'd love to share it.

Teaching Star to smile

2010-10-31T12:19:00.001Z

OK, I'll admit now I was completely wrong when I said this would be an easy trick to teach! I think I'd got blase, after all I've successfully taught this horse to put a ring on a cone and play the piano, how hard could smiling possibly be compared to that? The answer is difficult, but in a different way to chaining behaviours. Sometimes I actually learn the most by teaching what should be simple behaviours.

Initially I thought I would shape Star to smile by tickling her top lip. I have to say after trying this method I really wouldn't recommend it. Firstly it showed all too clearly that I still don't have split second precision while using the clicker. I've been doing this a year and a half now and there's still room for improvement. I think this method was just irritating to Star, she kept rubbing her top lip on the door, and I can easily see how it could lead to being bitten, which is why I don't think it's suitable for all horses. I also felt that shaping the smile was going to be quite hard due to the timing issues, and this behaviour would be better captured rather than shaped. I wrote a post about the difference between capturing and shaping behaviours here .

So I decided to use various novel smells to trigger Flehmen so that I could click for that. Flehmen is a response triggered by a smell that enables the horse to better analyse that smell. The top lip is curled back to temporarily close the nasal passages, and the head tilted back, trapping the particles in the vomeronasal organs on the floor of the nasal cavity. Flehmen can occur to analyse the pheromones emitted by other horses but is also triggered by novel scents as well. I decided to use various aromatherapy oils to trigger this, so I could click for the lip curl.

I did several training sessions by presenting Star with various smells and clicking for Flehmen, or at least I thought that's what I was clicking for! It subsequently transpired Star actually thought I was clicking for her throwing her head up which I only realised after she offered this behaviour several times without the lip curl, then got frustrated when reinforcement wasn't forthcoming. Generally if Star gets frustrated she does her impression of Clever Hans the counting horse and paws at the ground. That was a fairly classic example of me thinking I was clicking for one thing and Star thinking it's something completely different. The Flehmen response is strongest on the first couple of presentations of the smell, so those were rewarded with a higher value treat in the form of a Polo. I used the same method of presentation holding the bottle in my fist so it was safe, eventually the presentation of the fist becoming the cue. That's the stage we're at now and that's taken about four sessions. Now I need to try and transfer this to a verbal cue and hopefully we'll have one smiling horse, or at least that's the theory anyway!

Hello from me and Star!!

2010-10-27T18:54:00.000+01:00

Just to let you all know we are still here and hairy madam is fine, apart from the fact my lovely black velvety mare has turned into a crusty brown dappled one. I can only presume Bobble told her a hilarious joke causing her to roll about with laughter right in the muddiest part of the field!! I was going to take some photos of her in her winter woollies but that's going to have to be postponed until I can give her a brush. I'm afraid I'm not having pictures of my dirty horse circulated all around the internet! Really I was hoping we'd be cracking on with some new training by now but have suffered from a lack of daylight and/or the weather, not to mention my very bad time management skills. Actually I had planned some training this evening but ended up chatting over the fence to a neighbour. Yesterday there was a big fire at the farm down the road, a load of haylage caught alight so the lane was blocked for most of the day with fire engines. The good news is I've got myself a pair of fingerless gloves so hopefully we'll be able to train even when it gets colder this year without me fumbling about for the treats. Here's hoping anyhow!

Triggering memories

2010-10-24T13:15:00.000+01:00

It really has cooled down now, the grass has slowed growing so I now have a horse convinced she's on the brink of starvation again. I see a huge change in Star behaviourally at this time of year. At feeding times I get a lot of aggressive posturing, ears flattened, snakey head, just signs she's not happy. Now Star is a healthy, well nourished horse with a big round tummy and big bum, however she wasn't like this when I first got her. Star was so emaciated you could not only see her ribs, you could also see her guts and she was very ewe necked. I wish I'd taken some photos really to show how bad she was, but she had been underfed for a long time to get like that. I'm absolutely convinced that something about this time of year triggers some kind of memory within her about that time because I don't see this behaviour at all during spring and summer. I think horses do have great memories, they remember good stuff as well as bad, but I wonder if the bad stuff tends to linger on hidden after a while. Try as we might with our re-training I really feel certain things can trigger bad memories in horses, which might explain why some react out of the blue to certain stimuli. Star had an ingrained fear of sticks when I got her, even now just holding a schooling whip in my hand I can see how she suppresses behaviour. I think to a large extent fears like this can be desensitised, I disguised a stick with a bottle and used it as a target. However I really don't know at this point if Star will forget being starved or whether each year we will be continually reminded of her past life.

Tying up

2010-10-21T11:57:00.000+01:00

I've started to teach Star to stand quietly while she's tied. I know I should have done this before really, but I tend to go for things that I think are interesting to teach. That said I often find I learn the most from stuff that I think will be simple. Every horse should be able to stand tied with a slack rope but I do believe it's one of these things that is often overlooked in training. I don't know many conventional trainers that do this, I think people feel a horse *should* just be able to do it anyway. Too often we expect them to learn the simple stuff through osmosis. The great thing about clicker trainers is we just love breaking down any behaviour and teaching it, it's fun!

I've mentioned before how Star is naturally a fidget, particularly when tied. She has this habit of mouthing the lead rope and anything else within her reach, even my bum when I'm bent doing her front feet. So it was something I needed to address, along with getting her to stand still rather than try to turn around if I move. I could have taught this with the mat, but decided not to as I had tried before and close to the wall I found I had a job to get her to target it properly. We've had a couple of sessions and I've extended the duration pretty well. The mouthing had stopped completely after the first session, by the second she is able to be still while I walk all around her. I think it is one of those exercises that does help the horse learn a little bit of self control as well, so definitely worth doing.

We've also been working on the smile. I think she's getting the idea, sometimes with Star she needs a little time to get it, but when she does we'll be away. Of course this could also be down to my lack of skills so I do take that into account as well!

Don't talk to me about that horse!

2010-10-19T19:08:00.006+01:00

Much as I love Star, and she is my world, she can be a bit of a madam at times. Yesterday I was running a bit late because it was raining and I had to take the bin down. This time of year we're back to the wheelie bin meaning a canter all around the field. I don't think Star is worried, I wonder if in some ways she's playing as she runs down to the sheep, then up along the fence so she can keep me in sight all the time. I had to rush back up to the house to get biscuits for the sheep, by this time she'd come all the way back up top again. Seeing me with the biscuits we then had a flat out gallop along with a load of bucks this time just too see how much turf she could dislodge with those big hooves. I wonder if all that effort's really worth it for a little bit of the sheep's digestives to be quite honest!

After I've done the sheep I have to go back up and get Star's hay, which I'm still soaking at the moment due to her big tummy and bum. By this time Star is in her corral neighing madly for me to be getting her tea. She's nothing if not demanding! I have to lug the hay through the fence, then I use the tub to prop open the door so I can see to slice her apple up. Evidently Star must be starved as she's got to poke her head into the hay tub for a starter whilst awaiting the arrival of the main course. The hay must have been quite tightly packed as she managed to pull the whole tub away and shut me in the cupboard. I was a bit concerned that if the tub wedged against the door there might be a possibility of me being stuck in there until she'd finished. Thankfully though it was just her big bum, so I was able to be freed without being stuck in the dark half the evening. I'll have to make sure I'm more careful next time!

I've only just realised....

2010-10-18T11:45:00.000+01:00

All this time I've thought I've been training Star, when in fact it's me that's being whicker trained!! It was only yesterday though that I realised the true extent of it. I was poo picking the paddock and stopped by the fence to have a chat with someone, when Star came gliding up the field being nosey. She stood right by me in perfect "grown ups" pose, whickered and fluttered her eyelashes, then before I was even aware of what I was doing I reached into my pocket and gave her a treat! She has me trained perfectly now so when she feels she should be reinforced I'm doing it completely unconsciously. Again I am absolutely sure this has to do with me getting some sort of chemical reinforcement in my brain for rewarding her. It feels really good to have a happy horse that is completely bonded with you. My horse is happy so I feel happy too.

I'm really enjoying Carolyn Resnick's book Naked Liberty, I think it's one of the best horse books I've read in a while. What she describes with her horse Mustang as a child, is the closest thing I've ever read to what I feel about Star, that kind of unspoken closeness and love. Great book and thoroughly recommend it.

The whicker of hope!

2010-10-17T09:00:00.002+01:00

I think Star's going to be terribly disappointed when the rosehips finally run out. Currently I go out with a pocket full when I do the poo picking, so now the sight of the wheelbarrow has become a cue for treats. You can possibly hear Star's loud rumbly whicker of anticipation in the next village! She's still offering head lowering a lot too. I think this is quite interesting as I initially taught this exercise by getting her to target a bottle on the end of a stick, and gradually lowering it, then building duration. What I did find though is it took me a very long time to fade the target out of this exercise so she would do it without. This is when I started bending down as the cue, only it wasn't just me bending down was it. I think what Star was actually doing was targeting my hand as I used to point to the floor as well. Now I'm having to fade this to the verbal cue I think she's finally getting the idea of doing it on her own, which is possibly why she's now offering it so freely. I just need to remember to work on the stimulus control aspect, as I'm so thrilled she's doing it I'm tending to reward it off cue. I find it so amazing how much I learn each day from this horse, she really is the best teacher of clicker training anyone could wish for. She also stops me from getting complacent and thinking I know stuff because each time I do she shows me very clearly how much more I have yet to learn!

Capturing vs. shaping

2010-10-15T12:29:00.001+01:00

I talked yesterday about teaching Star to smile and how I thought it was, for us at least, a behaviour that would be better captured rather than shaped. Obviously I didn't explain the difference between the two. Shaping occurs when you gradually build a behaviour incrementally by withholding the click. I used shaping to teach Star to put the ring on the cone. I first rewarded her for holding the ring, gradually built duration into this, then (and I know it is a pretty big leap!!) I got her to touch the cone with the ring in her mouth. I then gradually became more criteria specific with my clicks asking for touching the top of the cone, and started to withhold the click a bit until she tried different things to earn the reward, eventually putting it on. It all sounds so easy written down, I can assure you it took months! Free shaping is when you don't give the horse any clues at all about what is required apart from the information of the click. My experience with Star was that free shaping caused her quite a bit of frustration at the beginning. I think I should have waited until she was very clicker savvy, as it relies on the horse feeling confident enough to offer different behaviours to see what will be reinforced. When you are working with a horse like Star who has previously experienced punishment for doing things it can take a while for them to gain that confidence.

When you capture a behaviour with the clicker you are getting the whole lot all at once, little or no shaping required. I want the lip curl so I presented Star with an unusual scent in the form of an aromatherapy oil, this caused her to do Flehmen, which I clicked and rewarded for. As achieve1dream pointed out in one of her earlier comments the only downside to this method is they will only strongly react to that smell for the first few times. I was prepared and had two different bottles! I still don't think this is going to be enough, good job I have a few essential oils, as certainly for Star this could take several sessions. Then I will need to try to get some sort of cue in, as I don't know if Star will think the presentation of a different smell is the cue.

I think when training it's a good thing if you have lots of ideas about how you can get the finished behaviour, so if one doesn't work you then have a few back ups as well. I like to think of it as a tool kit, I might not necessarily want to use them all but it's good to know they're handy just in case. It's well worth spending a bit of time reading a few good books such as those by Alex Kurland so you have a nice grounding in all the different ways one can get behaviours.

The good news is after spending a whole day with limited vision Star was only too happy to let me plait her forelock with minimum fuss!

Fringe benefits

2010-10-14T11:40:00.000+01:00

I now have a horse that can only see out of one eye. Before there's a flurry of worry about Star let me assure you nothing bad has happened, it's more she didn't want me to re-plait her forelock! She had a particularly tangled bit of mane, so I thought I'd put some conditioner on it and comb it out, re-plait and make her look lovely again. The thing was it took such a while to tease it out she was starting to get a bit annoyed, I did give her several breaks but that didn't seem to help. Her standing calmly while her mane is done is highly reinforced but her dislike of it seems to outweigh any rewards. Now I'll fully admit I pushed on a little bit too far with her, that's my human desire to get the job done rather than taking into account all the signals she was giving me. You know how it is; it's getting dark, you want your tea, you just want to get it over with.

It always amazes me when people say there horse has just reared, bitten or whatever for "no reason at all". I can assure you animals don't do things like that for no reason, and in a lot of cases there are a multitude of small behaviours that precede it. Large behaviours are the equine equivalent of shouting through a mega phone. Star was starting to go through layers of behaviour to tell me she wasn't happy. She started by lifting her head out of reach, walking off, then we had a few mock nips where there was no actual contact made, then I did feel her teeth on my arm but only lightly. If she'd have wanted to bite me she could easily have, and I took that as a sign if I pushed it too far I was going to get bitten. It can be a very delicate balancing act. Obviously with horses there are things we need to do with them, but it's trying to do that in the least stressful and most co-operative way possible rather than push too far, or ask for too much. It was certainly a good reminder for me in the delicate act of balance.

I've also tried working again on the smile. I have to laugh as I was sure we'd have done it easily by now. It's certainly showed me I do not yet have split second timing with the clicker right! I know for a fact Star doesn't know what on earth I'm reinforcing. I noticed she would curl her lip towards my palm, and wondered if I could shape that. What I actually did was end up teaching her to target my palm with her top lip. I am definitely going to try the smell route now as I think it might be one of those behaviours which is better to be captured by the clicker rather than shaped. I'll let you know how we get on.

Consistently inconsistent

2010-10-11T13:25:00.002+01:00

Making the most of the lovely weather I took Star for another walk yesterday afternoon. I think it's really amazing the difference a couple of days make as we can go from a calm contented horse, to a jogging, snorty worried one. Sometimes I think I can put my finger on the trigger for this, as it might be weather related, and at other times I have no idea. It did get me thinking though about how we always seem to expect consistency from our horses. For some reason people just expect them to behave exactly the same day after day. I've particularly found this to be true in riding schools, where any horse not behaving as expected is labelled as "playing up" for the sake of it. Very rarely is any leeway given on this. Now you and I both know we don't often feel the same two days in a row. We might be a bit annoyed, teary, tired or 101 other different reasons, and yet we don't apply this to our dealings with animals. I know I have fallen into this trap with Star myself and thought why can't she do something I know she can usually do easily today? Or why is she behaving like this, there's no reason for it? I'll be honest in that sometimes I used to take it very personally, particularly when we had the massive behaviour changes in winter. I really had to pull myself up and understand that I don't feel the same each day, and neither should I just expect Star to either. Now I find it's much more helpful to just deal with the behaviour I get on that day, rather than try to blame her for anything. I cut her the same slack as I expect others to show me if I'm having a bad day. I'm only human after all, and Star is just horsey, we both have lots of facets to our personalities and that should be what makes life interesting.

Pears and other ramblings

2010-10-10T12:44:00.000+01:00

Star has had her first pear, and the horse from Del Monte, she says yay!! She can be a bit fussy about what she eats, when I tried her on a bit of banana one day you would have thought I was trying to kill her the face she pulled! A while ago I bought this very expensive horse feed supplement, you know one of the ones with vastly inflated claims on the tub that lures you into paying £23.50 for something that probably won't do anything. Anyhow Star hated it, no matter how little I tried to sneak into her food she could detect the merest pinch and would kick the bucket over in disgust. She would also give me a look as if to say why the hell are you trying to feed me this stuff?? So I pretty much stay well away from expensive supplements now, she and I are much happier for it!

I've decided over the winter I'd like to try some TTouch on Star, and see how we go. I don't know whether I will ever get this horse to feel that human touch can be pleasurable and beneficial, but I would like to try. I am a qualified masseuse and would love to give her equine massage, but having tried several times I think it's just a step too far for her at the moment. TTouch appeals because it's kind of a halfway house between massage and acupressure. I have a book about it so I'm going to try a few of the things with Star just to see what she thinks about it. It would just be nice to find something that is enjoyable we could do in the field shelter for when the weather's bad.

I've just started reading Naked Liberty by Carolyn Resnick and already I think it looks like a good book. I've had several "a-ha" moments. I was particularly struck by something she said in the introduction about riding and handling horses. She says it should be like a surfer riding a wave; the surfer does not seek to control or force the wave but learns to ride with it. That struck such a chord with me as one of the major reasons I will not have riding lessons is because I always felt I was having to force the horse, it was never an enjoyable situation for either of us. I'll do a review when I've finished it.

Trust

2010-10-08T08:00:00.006+01:00

I took Star out for a walk yesterday afternoon. We're currently enjoying some lovely weather and to be honest I can't think of a more pleasurable way to while away an hour than listening to her munching contentedly on the ditch sides. Walks always provide me with some quiet contemplation time and I got to thinking how well Star has done considering her previous anxiety at going out. Now this was partly my fault. I was advised by a trainer not to take her out for six months until I'd done a lot of desensitisation work with her. I *knew* in my heart that was the wrong advice, but followed it anyway, culminating in Star bolting off after I'd had to take her out of the field for the farrier. With a horse like Star not carrying on with things is just silly. She is exactly like me in that she can lose confidence very quickly, her comfort zones shrink and that takes a lot of hard work to get back again. After she bolted I think we lost trust in each other. She felt I'd let her down, I felt she'd let me down and I knew in some ways I'd failed her too. It's taken a good nine months of hard work for us to get that back to where it was.

I'd like to sit here and say there was some magical shortcut to trust, but I'm afraid there isn't. Trust is built by hours and hours with the horse. I've heard it described as like a bank account; you have to make a lot of deposits before any withdrawals, and I think that's a good analogy. Now I know I'm lucky in that I have Star at home, so I can spend lots of time with her. It always used to amaze me when I was on a yard how little time people actually spent with their animals. Some would literally breeze in like a tornado and were out again within ten minutes, unless they were riding. I enjoy Star's company whether we're doing something or nothing together. In fact even when I was on a yard I used to liberate Star from her stable and we'd disappear off together for a few hours. I even just used to hang out in the paddock with her.

Spending time with Star doing all kinds of things is how I got to know her, and she me. I've learnt over time the small signals she gives out when she's worried, the way her breathing changes, her nostrils flare, and the tightness in her mouth. Learning all these things helps me to help her, to step in quickly and anticipate potential problems, and that builds even more trust between us. There is no substitute for hours of observation and interaction when it comes to working with animals. I guess I'm lucky in that I can subconsciously pick up a lot of this stuff without really trying, I guess you could say I have a natural "feel". I have also learnt that trust is something we shouldn't take for granted, it needs looking after and nurturing in the same way any friendship does. Trust is an essential part of a good relationship, it is important that it works both ways, and once you've got it I think it's a special thing, so be sure to hold onto it!

Transferring cues, arrghhh!

2010-10-07T11:39:00.001+01:00

You know I have been trying to transfer the cue for head lowering from me bending over, to a verbal "down." I actually thought we'd cracked it, we've had a good few sessions where Star has been reacting to the verbal cue very consistently, although I've been finding it hard to get the duration without me bent over as well. I think she feels if she's down there, maybe I should be too! I have to be quite careful with the clicks or we get her head bobbing up and down, and I really don't want to inadvertently create some sort of behaviour chain. Actually she has been offering head lowering sometimes when I go out into the paddock with a pocket of rosehips, so we've been doing an additional bit then as well. Star very rarely offers behaviours outside of training sessions, so it's actually quite unusual for her. Anyway the high winds appeared to have blown her over in the muddiest part of the field, so last night I decided to give her a brush. We were doing pretty well, until I decided to start doing her legs, bent over and there she is head lowering and whickering at me! I'm now at the stage where she's so enthusiastic about head lowering every time I bend over she's down there too! I had to laugh because each time I think we've got this cracked she likes to throw me some sort of curve ball. It's good, it keeps me learning, but how on earth I am going to transfer this cue I don't know as she reacts to both now.

Airs above ground

2010-10-06T07:10:00.001+01:00

I can tell winter will be on it's way because Star's overly active alter ego "canter pants" is back! Canter pants is what I affectionately call Star when she's tearing around the paddock at high speed for no apparent reason. Yesterday it was the wheelie bin that set her off again, necessitating not only a flat out gallop but a sliding stop as well. I know exactly why Star was sold at the time of year she was, because no one in their right mind would actually want to get on her during winter. To say she becomes reactive is a bit of an understatement. She's sensitive all year round, but things that she wouldn't bat an eyelid at during the summer can become a major issue in winter. We have before now blocked one of the major roads in the village with a spinning horse that was so worried I couldn't get her to go backwards or forwards, that was the last time I rode her while we were out. Call me a wimp but I can't say the thought of being deposited neck deep in a ditch of cold water fills me with enthusiasm!! I have no idea why we get this major seasonal shift, only that we do. Last winter, although cold, was one of the best she's had behaviourally speaking so I don't know if changing to clicker had helped. She is a fabulous mover, there's no doubt about it. I used to have to endure numerous "cart horse" comments, that was until people saw her move, and it's not often you see a horse of Star's size and build move like she does. She would actually knock a lot of dressage horses into a cocked hat, only she prefers to do these moves sans rider!!

Apologies for not blogging so much about training, we will shortly be getting back into some sort of routine I hope. It's just life has an annoying thing of getting in the way!!

Good news!

2010-10-05T11:30:00.000+01:00

That thing I was worried might be a sarcoid on Star's nostril has completely gone! I was obviously worrying over nothing, but I think when you have a horse that's prone to sarcoids every new lump and bump that appears is regarded with the utmost suspicion. They are a bit of a nightmare in that some respond to treatment, some don't, some clear up on their own while others grow. It's such an unknown quantity. I've been extra concerned because they may be spread by flies, which have been abundant this year too. In all honesty I also don't think it helps that I have a doorstop sized copy of the BHS veterinary encyclopedia which is full of even more things for me to worry about. Sometimes a bit of knowledge is a very dangerous thing! Anyway I think I may also have located a suitable basket ball thing for Star as well, so fingers crossed!

Ground tying

2010-10-03T11:47:00.001+01:00

I think we're progressing pretty well on our ground tying with the mat. To be fair training sessions have been a bit hit and miss lately because of the weather, so I am just trying to fit in a little when we can. Star is one of these horses that doesn't do still particularly well. She is either fidgeting with her hooves, looking around, doing something with her mouth etc. She's one of these horses that when tied is trying to chew the lead rope or rubbing her mouth on something. In fact trying to build duration into this exercise I notice that if she feels she's not being reinforced she will shift her hooves about, sometimes on and off the mat to see if that gets a click! As you can imagine I'm having to be quite careful I don't accidentally reinforce any of this or she will be dancing about all over the place!

I also need to take a trip to the pet shop and have a look for some suitable things I can teach her to pick up and put in her basket. Sadly she's chewed the end off of her wiggly giggly toy and I don't think it's going to last much longer! I have enough problems getting toys robust enough to withstand the attentions of three German shepherd dogs, let alone a horse, but I'll have to see what I can find. I have tried not to reinforce this mouthing of objects, but again I just think that's Star. She likes to investigate the world with her lips, in fact it always amazes me just how mobile and delicate her lips are. She can pluck a tiny flower off the top of a thistle, and on my winter jacket I have these velcro flaps on the arms that she likes to undo, for no other reason than that she can, or maybe she likes the sound, who knows!!

Hand feeding outside of training

2010-10-02T11:35:00.001+01:00

I'm going to admit now I'm very bad, I have to hold my hands up to the fact I give Star treats outside of training sessions! At the moment we have abundant rosehips, which she absolutely loves. So before poo picking the field I go and get a pocket full to give her. She's cottoned onto this now, and as soon as she sees me you can hear her whickering in the next village! Now I know some trainers just don't feed titbits between sessions and I'm sure that with some horses this simply wouldn't be a great idea, but it seems to work ok for me and Star. One of the most crucial aspects about clicker is the no mugging training, that's really so fundamental and needs to be introduced right at the start. The horse never gets rewarded for ferreting about in your pocket for food, it's only ever delivered when they're standing politely with the head away. The treat delivery is also important so it's swift, smooth and right where you want the horses head to be. So when I give Star her rosehips I make sure I'm reinforcing this polite behaviour, in a way I guess I am still training, just without the clicker. I know there is a deep seated suspicion of clicker in some quarters because of it's association with food. People feel you're bribing the horse, which I've written about before. All I can say to this is when I walk into the field I would very much like my horse to look up and think "great, it's Emma" not "OMG it's that dreadful woman, what does she want me to do now"! I certainly hope our entire relationship doesn't hinge on my delivery of food, we spend plenty of other quality time together too, but I don't feel a few rosehips here and there does any harm either.

Just lovely

2010-10-01T10:48:00.000+01:00

Since we were blessed with some sunny weather for a change yesterday it was a great opportunity to get Star out for a lovely walk. I'm aiming to try and get her out at least once a week all over the winter, although we'll have to stick to the track and lane as the bridleway can get virtually impassable in places. I'm really pleased at how well Star's getting on, she is a whole lot less anxious when we're out and I think we've made very good progress. Just as we were about to come back my neighbour came along exercising his gundogs so I stopped for a chat. I think once Star had eaten the patch of grass under her feet she couldn't really see a need to be hanging about talking, so I had to ask her to back up a few times! It's always lovely when someone comments how happy and well Star is looking, she was fluttering her eyelashes at him though! It's always nice to chat with people interested in her clicker training as well. I find it quite curious the way people who don't generally have contact with horses are completely accepting of the things I teach Star, and intrigued to know what we'll try next. I guess it must have something to do with stereotypes.

The world of horses never ceases to amaze me at times with the immense contrasts within it. I was out poo picking this morning, said hello and smiled at two women riding past, who briefly glanced at me and didn't even bother to acknowledge my presence. Presumably they must have thought I was just the groom, but I find the rudeness astounding. And yet I've also met some of the most wonderfully warm and generous people in horses too. When I was having a hard time a few weeks ago and thinking of loaning Star, everything descended into my life at once and I felt so completely overwhelmed. I had some absolutely wonderful offers from people who would come half way across the country with a horsebox to pick up Star and I, and take the two off us off for a break. I feel truly humbled to have met such amazingly supportive and generous people by having Star. I have a very wise friend who often says horses bring out the best in some people and the worst in others, but they can always see your soul and true intention. The more I see, the more I'm beginning to realise how very right she is.

Join Up

2010-09-29T11:43:00.002+01:00

I once did something a bit silly, I attempted to do Join Up (or hook on, whatever you want to call it) with Star. At that time I was all wide eyed eagerness to do anything that might help me "communicate" with Star in her own language. After all she really needed me to show her that I was her leader didn't she? Surely this would help her to instill a sense of respect and trust in me, wouldn't it?? Anyway fresh from having seen it done and the somewhat miraculous transformation of a several "unruly" horses into ones that would follow you about, I decided this would be the icing on the cake of our human/equine relationship. So in the school we went, I didn't have access to a round pen so blocked off the corners with jumps. I walked into the middle, Star followed looking a bit unsure of what to do. When she eventually got bored and wandered off to investigate a dead leaf this was my cue to send her away, so there I was all waving arms and swinging ropes. Star didn't like this new Emma one bit and trotted off, snorting, the only problem being she hadn't read the instruction manual and stood still again. So I proceeded to try sending her off and we ended up in this rather bizarre loop of waving arms, snorting horse who even put in the odd indignant buck, the one thing she wasn't going to do though was run around me, and lets face it who could blame her. I think all I'd really done was prove to Star I'm a completely irrational pillock that's not to be trusted. I'd sent away a horse that desperately wanted to be with me and it took me weeks to regain her trust. The fact is Join Up does not prove to the horse that you're a great leader, in fact you're behaving like a bit of a tyrant. The horse effectively has two choices; run around and expend energy, or provide the relevant gestures like licking and chewing and you can stop running and come in. Frankly if we had a boss like that we'd possibly change jobs! It's highly unlikely that the horse even thinks you're speaking in their language either, horses wrote the book on equine behaviour and we should never forget that. We can try to assign meanings to ear positions, head lowering and licking and chewing, but it's all supposition. Horses are such masters at reading both human and equine body language it's more likely the subtle nuances are completely lost on us. Amazingly now I do have a horse that will "magically" wander about with me, but it's not because I gave her no other option.

Lets get on with it!

2010-09-28T11:35:00.000+01:00

I think I've kind of lost my training mojo recently to be quite honest. Normally there are very few people more bubbly, motivated and enthusiastic about clicker than me, usually I have a clicker in every coat pocket!! I've just felt so mentally drained I haven't been able to get myself together, and I've started to question what I do. My mind unleashed is a very dangerous thing!! I looked at Star yesterday with that little twinkle in her eye "C'mon woman, get on with it" and how could I not do anything with this beautiful hairy madam. She is never keener than when she see the bumbag come out of the cupboard which is enough motivation to get me going again.

I decided to have a little refresh of the matwork before we go on to introduce cones. I also wanted to start some ground tying with her. Ground tying is something I've struggled with in the past because Star thinks she needs to stay close to the bumbag just in case something drops out! I think the great thing about the mat, and remember she's been heavily reinforced for standing on it, is it gives her a focus point. She knows when she's on it she's going to get a reward. I just gradually took a step away, reinforced, and built on that until I was going all the way around the back of her. Then I thought I would take it up a notch and do the walk on>circle>mat, and incorporate that with the ground tying. Madam was marvellous and I'm hoping I can start to introduce a "stay" cue, then work on a "come" as well.

We had a bit of fun with the horn, and then worked on building a bit more duration into the head lowering. I can see I'm going to have to take this a bit more gradually as although she will lower on the "down" cue her head soon pops back up unless I bend down there with her. It ends up looking like the two of us are inspecting something very interesting on the floor!! I've spotted a basketball thing on eBay I think I might get her, and I'm going to have a look for a new instrument for her to learn as well.

A bit concerned.....

2010-09-27T11:44:00.002+01:00

I'm a bit worried about Star as she seems to have developed some sort of growth right on the edge of one of her nostrils. Initially I have to say I thought she'd been poking about on thistles and just snagged herself, but I'm sure it's now got bigger. Star has had several sarcoids before but due to their positioning we decided against any form of treatment unless they started to grow and cause a problem. Amazingly they seemed to go of their own accord and she's been ok for over a year. I'm wondering if this thing on her nose is an occult sarcoid, but because of where it is I'm worried she could keep on knocking it, so I might have to go down the treatment route this time. I'm certainly hoping it's a sarcoid and not something more sinister as she is pink skinned on her nose which is a worry as well. This is where I wish I had less biology and physiology knowledge as I'm well aware of the alternative possibilities. I'm going to measure it and take a photo later, then keep an eye on it for the next couple of weeks. If it hasn't shown any signs of getting better I might have to get the vet out for a look, if only to put my own mind at rest. Star is fully insured so hopefully if we do need to get it treated the pair of us won't have to go out busking with the piano and horn!!

Paralysis by analysis

2010-09-26T12:03:00.002+01:00

I have a confession, I'm afraid I'm a learning geek, but I guess a lot of you already know this! Obviously being enthusiastic about clicker I like to try and learn as much as I can, but sometimes learning is a double edged sword. The thing I find at times is I spend so much time thinking about the whys and where fores it can actually stop me doing something productive with Star. I've been thinking a lot about teaching her to play basketball, but naturally find myself wondering, should I be doing this, is it ethical, am I going to be getting a whole load of grief about having a trick horse again. I think in many ways Star is great because no one has actually ever informed her she's a horse and *shouldn't* be painting/playing the piano/playing basketball! If she finds it fun and enjoyable she just does it. We as humans are massively hindered in life by stereotypes and pigeon holes, truly open mindedness appears to be an extremely rare quality. Those who do think "outside the box" often get a whole load of grief for doing so.

Learning about the mechanical aspects of learning theory and clicker also brings about problems. I am the sort of person that procrastinates because I worry I might do something "wrong". I have had several attempts at teaching Star to lift and hold her front foot up, and only appear to have inadvertently got her to paw. I haven't managed to get beyond that stage. I'd like to get her to mirror me by lifting the relevant leg, but worry if I inadvertently get it wrong again, I might have taught her something that could prove a nuisance. There are some things I wouldn't be keen on teaching, rearing being one of them. I think things like that are only suitable for some horses and I try to stick by the guideline that I only teach stuff that won't be a potential problem if occasionally produced off cue.

Poisoned cues are another area that has really concerned me in the past. With a horse like Star who has "crossed over" from traditional negative reinforcement based cues to clicker, you can potentially have a whole plethora of poisoned cues. This is really one of the reasons I've mostly stuck to "trick" training. Star appears to get very worried about doing "normal" horse exercises, I suspect because of what happened in her previous handling. I have to take some responsibility for this as I used to have lessons on her and was made to force her to do stuff. By doing totally different activities I've really been avoiding confronting poisoned cues, but I know I will have to at some point.

The use of rope halters was another area I worried about for months. I used to think they were instruments of torture but had to revise that view and realise that they are only as effective as the hands that use them. I didn't want Star to be stuck in the field forever and wanted her to be safe if we went out, yet I was worried about using controlling devices and the potential fall out. Eventually I had to bite the bullet and get one, and it's one of the better decisions I've made. There are the odd occasions I need to give Star a reminder not to drag me to the nearest bit of cow parsley, but she doesn't seem to associate anything negative with the halter. In fact when she sees it she's at the gate ready to go out, I'm not yanking her about and it hasn't damaged our relationship in any way at all.

So the net result of all this learning is that sometimes I quite literally tie myself up in knots and can end up doing very little. I think recently I've come to realise that while it's great to have all the knowledge and be aware of these things, I need to stop over analysing everything and just get on with it. As long as I listen to Star and my intuition I should be ok. After all owning a horse should be a pleasurable and fun experience for both parties, so the search for a basketball set suitable for her is ongoing!

Cool

2010-09-25T09:30:00.001+01:00

Well autumn is definitely here as it was really cold and windy yesterday. Madam is looking slightly fluffier, amazingly for a Cob she doesn't grow a really woolly coat, there must be some finer breeding in there somewhere. Which reminds me I must get one of her rugs cleaned. Anyway, colder weather means I now have a horse who's suddenly discovered she has a second and a third gear. I had a great time yesterday evening running down the track while she trotted the other side of the fence. She has a fab trot, really nice and floaty, just like a show horse. She also trots about while I'm doing the poo picking too, usually to see if I have any rosehips in my pocket. The cooler weather does have a downside, we are getting the re-emergence of a "winter Star". She gets quite annoyed about her food, she was snaking her neck at the sheep yesterday, and then she did it at me when I got her hay. Although she's fine with her clicker training I just have to be very careful when she's having her bucket or hay. When I first had her this used to intimidate me quite a bit, which used to make it worse because I was effectively rewarding her for it. At least now I understand what's going on and I can stand my ground, if she tries to come in I just ask her to take a step back before I put the food down. I think doing "you can't make me eat that" with the carrot earlier in the year has helped a little, but we'll see how she is as the winter goes on.

A spiritual journey with my horse

2010-09-23T11:13:00.003+01:00

There are some things that go on between Star and I, that I haven't chosen to share on here. Not necessarily because I don't want to, but more because I worry people might possibly think I'm a bit strange. Before I got Star I would say I was maybe a little spiritually inclined, as I've always felt there was more to the world than we are always aware of, but having trained as a scientist prefer to deal with quantifiable things. However since I've had her I certainly feel I've had some amazing experiences that have made me certain that there is a lot more going on. I've always been sensitive and intuitive when it comes to animals, but this has certainly intensified since being with her.

When I first moved her home I would occasionally find her very agitated at night and would stay out with her, my obvious concern being that she might be about to colic. When I put my hands on her I felt what I can only describe an unbelievable grief and sadness flowing from her. I would cry uncontrollably without really knowing why, although I felt it was possibly something to do with a foal. A while later someone I know took Star's picture to an animal communication weekend. All the photos were put on the floor and a lady selected Star's picture. Apparently she was sat in front of a big window, the sun streaming through the picture. The lady running the course looked up and asked who's horse that was. She said Star was trapped in a daily cycle of hope and despair because a foal was taken from her. She would spend each day hoping to be reunited, and feeling despair when she didn't. After this another animal communicator then did a reading for me and felt Star had been shut in somewhere deep, dark and black when this foal had been taken. She said Star felt defined by grief and unworthy of love, something that resonated deeply within me. I have spent a long time trying to help Star come to terms with this loss and have felt recently we've had some sort of closure on it. I had a very vivid dream where I was on the grass out the front of my house. Star was laid down and I was curled up between her legs. There was a foal there and I felt Star say we are all together as a family.

Recently I have been having a particularly difficult time, and occasionally felt very down and depleted of both physical and mental energy. There have been quite a few times when I've felt like this, that I've had what I can only describe as intensely loving and connecting experiences with Star. I find the feelings and energy very difficult to explain even though I'm generally highly articulate. I have felt she was giving me strength and energy to carry on, and she was giving back to me some of what I'd given to her in love. I've had an awful lot of animals in my life over the years and never before experienced anything like this. I don't know whether this is something common to a lot of horses, but I do feel there is something very special about Star. I can't believe loaning her crossed my mind, but I felt so very tired and worried at the time. Sometimes it's hard to know what to do for the best, and I've come to realise there are no "right" answers in life. I posted about my experiences on a small private forum and someone left me the comment... Don't ever let her go, and I would never want to if I can help it. She really is an incredibly special mare, and I truly believe things happen for a reason even though we may not see it at the time :)

Autumn fruitfulness

2010-09-22T11:39:00.000+01:00

We're currently enjoying a mini Indian summer and Star is enjoying apples from the garden and a multitude of rosehips. It's not doing anything for her flatulence problem mind, but she appears to be enjoying herself! I've decided not to persue the painting much more this year as it's going to be hard to get in enough sessions weather wise. What I don't want is for her to become bored of it. Since yesterday afternoon was quite nice we had a short walk out. I need to make sure I get her out at least once a week over the winter so we don't lose any gains we've made. Unfortunately we couldn't go down the road as there were loads of massive sugar beet lorries being loaded and I did not want to meet one of them with Star. So we just had a meander close enough so she could see them, but far enough away that they weren't going to be a significant problem. Other than that it was a nice bit of quality time together. I enjoy the peace, spending time with her is very relaxing. She knows I've been feeling a bit stressed so she just keeps touching her nose to my hand to check I'm ok. I've found the worst thing I can do is try and hide my emotions from her, Linda Khovanov calls it incongruence. Certainly I think it's deeply unsettling for a horse to realise what's being portrayed on the surface is not what's going on underneath. I find I feel like that with some people, I can't cope if they give out mixed signals, it makes me feel awkward. We did get overtaken by three snails on the way back, but then it's nice not to rush.

Errrr did I say easy???

2010-09-20T11:30:00.000+01:00

I said in a previous post that I thought it would be a fun and easy trick to teach Star to smile. Obviously I'm going to have to backtrack on that, it's definitely not as easy as I thought! I decided to have a go last night after we'd worked on building some duration into the head lowering. I thought I would just tickle Star's top lip, she'd obligingly curl it, click and there you go. Well Star decided she was going to teach me a thing or two and tried everything other than what I thought. In fact after quite a few attempts at tickling she had to rub her lip on the door of the field shelter as I'd evidently made it too tickley! I have several observations on teaching this trick. The first is you have to be absolutely spot on with your timing with the clicker. I can imagine if you're not it could be oh so very easy to accidentally reinforce something else. To hone your timing skills you can bounce a ball and click each time it contacts the floor, I might have to take my own advice and practise a bit. The second observation I made is I wouldn't teach this trick to some horses. Star is very well aware that teeth on my hand are not a good thing, but I can see how it could lead to being accidentally bitten. I did manage to get a bit of a curl but I think next time I may try an alternative method and present her with an unusual smell, trying to provoke the Flehmen gesture. I have to say this is not the first time I've had to rethink something I initially perceived to be easy, but I always think those are where I learn the most.

Winter training plans

2010-09-17T11:34:00.000+01:00

Ok, I sat down last night and had a little think about what I would like to do with Star this winter. During winter as the field is muddy and we often have bad weather most of the training is done in the corral, and it's even better if I have a few things I can teach in the shelter if necessary. So here's what I've come up with so far....

Smile- very easy could always teach in the shelter
Another musical instrument- have no idea what......maracas, harmonica, bongos, lol!
Basketball- if I can find a reasonably priced child's one
Skittles- again dependant if I can find something suitable
Un-roll a mat- I need a new yoga mat soon so Star could have the old one, un-roll it and step on it. Or an old bit of carpet or something
Mirroring- if I lift a foot she lifts the same one. I have had a go at this before, unsuccessfully and taught her to paw! Also Cha-cha so she steps back and forward with me
Matwork + cones- developing our matwork further
Stay and come- self explanatory really, although I've struggled with ground tying as she always wants to follow me, so would be good for balancing our pendulum and stimulus control.
Retrieve objects and put in a basket- this can be as complicated as you want. For a start it will involve back chaining, but I could also incorporate an element of discrimination if I wanted by asking her to retrieve a named object.

So that's the little list I've come up with so far, but I'm always looking for new ideas if anyone has any suggestions.

I'm smiling

2010-09-16T11:32:00.001+01:00

I was just poo picking this morning when a delivery driver stopped with a parcel for me. He looked over the fence at Star and commented how beautiful she was, asking if she was a Shire. I always laugh and say she and I sometimes wish she was. A Shire was the type of horse I really wanted, but I think with my small stature Star is just the right size, and personality wise we're a great match. Anyway, conversation turned to did I show her I said no, I don't ride either but she does loads of cool stuff like play the piano, and now I'm teaching her to paint too. I could see he thought I was pulling his leg, and I love say no, she really does all this stuff. So he replied well Star must be exceptionally intelligent and he was sure Simon Cowell would love her!! This is what I love, and what excites me is challenging peoples perceptions about animals and showing just how clever and amazing they are. Just seeing the look on peoples faces when I tell them about Star and how great she is I find very rewarding. I was grinning after our chat because I felt so much more like the old enthusiastic me again. I'll admit I do waver a bit sometimes as you all know, I'm very sensitive and find it hard to maintain a "bollocks to the lot of 'em" attitude all the time. Sensitivity for me is a blessing in that it helps my art, writing and gives me a natural empathy with animals, however it does come at a price sometimes in that I find it hard to deal with other stuff. I've also had huge stress and upheaval in my personal life lately and spent a considerable period wondering just what the future might hold for me and Star as everything seemed very uncertain. So it's nice to feel that bubbly excitement about training and wanting to share what I learn with Star coming back. I'm going to make a list of some of the stuff I'd like to teach her this winter so I have some goals to aim at. Hopefully we'll have lots to share over the coming months.

Getting what you click for

2010-09-15T11:07:00.000+01:00

I think one of the things I wish that I'd known about when I started training is the concept of "happy faces". I wasn't aware that while I was clicking Star for touching her target, I must have also inadvertently rewarded her for having her ears back as well. I was possibly so busy focusing on what I thought was the desired behaviour I didn't pay any attention to the rest of Star. I see this now in a number of exercises with her because I just didn't realise at the time, and I don't think it means Star's not happy as she appears as willing and engaged as ever. I also had the phenomenon of what I call her "treat face" which is what she does when she knows she's been good. I think it's quite sweet and endearing now, but I do realise to the outside observer they may not be quite as aware of what's going on. I think happy faces are important because a horse with a nice ears forward look is going to be treated much more positively by other humans it interacts with. It's something I am trying to build in now that I've realised what's happening. I really recommend Alex Kurland's first dvd, it has an excellent bonus section at the end which has a lot of great information about this sort of stuff.

When we click a horse we are giving specific information to the horse "yes, that's what I want". The problem with this is that sometimes the horse can associate this yes with other stuff as well as what we think we are reinforcing. This was particularly bought home to me while I was working with Star to desensitise her to putting the hula hoop over hear head. I suddenly noticed that Star had a leaning back stance, which I must have inadvertently rewarded as well as her associating the hoop over her nose with a click. What had probably happened was she'd lent back at some points as I'd bought the hoop up over her head and had associated that with the click as well. I think it's certainly taught me I need to become more aware of what's going on generally, rather than focusing in too much on what is the desired behaviour all of the time. You can however polish the behaviour as we build up the layers of training. How I generally work is to try and have looser criteria at the beginning, then as we build get selectively stricter so only the better efforts are rewarded. Often I then have a break and when we go back to the exercise this is when I try to polish and ask for all the bells and whistles. This tightening of the criteria, differential reinforcement for excellence, is an area I personally find quite hard as I tend to want to reward a bit too much, as it's reinforcing for me as well! But it's something I realise I need to work on to ensure I am giving Star the correct information so she can understand.

A cheer up vid.

2010-09-13T12:35:00.000+01:00

If you're like me and often get fed up with the massive egos and seemingly constant dismissal and arguments that go on in horses, then check out some of Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling's videos on YouTube. They always inspire me, I think he has an amazing connection with horses. Horses are easy, I think it's the people that are difficult!

Kissing Star

2010-09-11T13:29:00.000+01:00

I think it's a terrible situation that I have to "pay" my horse in treats in order to get a kiss and a little snuggle with her! I'm sure she's actually training me half the time! Despite enjoying a vigorous scratch at the moment, Star is definitely less than keen on any other sort of affection from me, despite the fact I keep trying to convince her otherwise. I know I've written before about how hard this is for me to have an animal that doesn't enjoy touching. I would describe myself as quite a tactile person generally, and I have a lot of love and affection to give. Having recently gone through a relationship break up I would really appreciate being able to have a little snuggle with Star, she of course has other ideas about what should be happening. Last night we went through the familiar ritual of tea, then hoof care. When I gave her the last reward for her hoof, I thought I would try to sneak a little kiss on her nose. As I bent in Star obviously thought I was cuing her for head down, and there was me thinking I'd retrained it to a verbal cue!! So we had me bending in, Star bending down and ended up with the pair of us looking like we were playing some bizarre equine version of Twister! In the end I had to quickly plant a little kiss on the end of her muzzle and I can assure you if she could she would have wiped it straight off and gone; "Euughh!" I always live in the hope one day she will begin to enjoy this sort of attention, I won't hold my breath though!

I couldn't believe my eyes.....

2010-09-10T13:40:00.000+01:00

Star is shedding her coat at the moment so she's quite itchy and enjoying a scratch. This is where I have to seize my moment and enjoy the contact, as in a month or so she probably won't want me to be touching her. Quite often while I'm poo picking she will come alongside and look over her shoulder as if to say "scratch me there"! I have however been noticing she has frequently had bits of bird poo on her back. I just thought maybe the sheer width of her meant she was a bigger target!! Then this morning when I came driving up the track there she was with a young starling riding about on her back, looking as happy as anything. I just thought that's bloody typical, if I'd wanted to get up there she'd surely object! Evidently she doesn't object to carrying avian passengers though.

Last night I decided to have another go at the object discrimination again. I've left it alone for a few months, but I don't think I properly got the stimulus reversal last time, so thought maybe we'd have another go. Star clearly remembered the dumbbell as her object to touch and it didn't take much to get her back to picking that fairly consistently. So I'll have another go at teaching her the ball again and see how we go. I don't think I will be able to get her to paint this side of the winter unfortunately. I'm still trying to shape her to take more strokes and I just don't think we'll have enough days of decent weather left to be able to get it right. I think I may have created a bit of an artistic monster as she gets in a right miff with that paint brush chucking it about all over the place! Still I have to sympathise as I know that feeling all too well myself!

The amazing (mis) adventures of Emma and Star

2010-09-09T12:48:00.000+01:00

I decided I would take Star off down the bridleway yesterday afternoon for a bit of quiet time. Of course I had forgotten we'd had a bit of rain, and didn't realise how muddy it would be. Star isn't keen on soft surfaces and tends to get a little bit worried if she's actually got to decide for herself where her feet should go. To be fair we were ok until a very stupid pigeon fell out of a tree, which made Star jump and I fell in a puddle! Now I know there will be people who disagree with me, but I really feel some animals have a sense of humour. Not all, but that's a bit like people really. Put it this way if Star could have chuckled at me ankle deep in muddy water I think she would have!! I was certainly wishing I'd been sensible enough to put wellies on at that point. I think to be honest Star thinks I'm a bit of a liability at times, and gets a bit embarrassed to be out with me. I guess I'm a bit weird in that I view all my animals as equals to me, with thoughts, feelings and life views of their own.

Thankfully now the fields have been harvested we were able to come back through the relatively dry field. I was most impressed that Star decided she should investigate all the big round bales. Then she looked at me as if to say I should be rewarded for this!! Since we've been doing stuff like "touch the goblin" she seems much more inclined to investigate stuff while we're out. Even things that used to worry her a bit like bags and rubbish, so it's nice to feel that some of the work we do is paying off. So we had quite a nice time, even if I was a bit grubby by the end of it.

Is clicker addictive?

2010-09-07T12:04:00.000+01:00

I got to thinking about this after an interesting training session with Star the other night. I haven't done much with her for a while as we've been having awful weather and I'd been feeling quite tired. The thing with me is I know how much Star enjoys clicker and having missed a few session felt like we should be doing something, she wants to train and so do I. I decided to work again on our head lowering and maybe try something new. On seeing the bumbag Star was so excited her front feet temporarily left the ground and she then began frantically offering head lowering looking rather like a nodding dog with her head popping up and down. It took me some considerable time to get the energy down and start to get things under control.

When the click is paired with a food treat over a period of time some interesting chemical reactions start to occur in the brain. At the click the animal can experience a dopamine cascade, dopamine is a hormone that produces lots of good feelings, so the click in itself becomes chemically rewarding. I have also read how clicker training can start to instigate the release of oxytocin in both the horse and trainer, another feel good hormone. I know I find clicker training immensely rewarding even though I don't eat the Polo's!! I am almost willing Star to produce the right behaviour and it makes me feel great to click and reward her. Star also appears to love it when I get excited and tell her how marvelous she is. So the both of us are obviously getting some sort of hormone high from training. I wonder if that is causing us both to become clicker junkies?

Over the time I've been training it's certainly seemed that the tiny food reward is becoming less important, and it's certainly not the only thing that's driving Star on to want to engage in the training. In fact sometimes she's so into what she's doing she's gone straight on to another loop after the click, before I've even managed to treat her. Her piano is a particular case in point as if I leave it out she will just go on messing about with it, even after eating her jackpot which signals the end of the session. I really recommend Karen Pryors book Reaching the Animal Mind, which goes into some of the cutting edge stuff about SEEKING circuits being activated in the brain by clicker training.

Quite often I think traditionalists in horses dismiss clicker due to the myths about hand feeding horses, and the fact it's "new" and different. As an outsider it often seems to me a lot of stuff is done just because that's the way it always has been, like mounting from the correct side due to one's cavalry sword getting in the way. I saw a really great quote; "Change isn't always better, but better is always change". I kind of wonder to myself why anyone wouldn't want to use a training method that not only makes the horse feel good, but the trainer feels great too. Surely that's got to be better than a lot of the fraughtness between people and horses that is observed in yards all over the place. Star and I may well be on some sort of clicker induced hormonal high, but we're loving what we do together and what could be better than feeling great?

Feet first

2010-09-06T17:27:00.003+01:00

I was just thinking last night how amazingly good Star is now with her foot handling. When I first got her it was an almighty effort to get any hoof off the floor for a couple of seconds. I used to count it as a triumph to pick out one hoof a day, if I managed to do two I was over the moon! At that time I was on a yard, so I used to get "helpful" suggestions to make Star more compliant. I'm ashamed to say one of these contributed to what has now become a long standing issue with one of her back feet. About the second day I had her the YO asked me if I needed help with Star's feet, grabbed hold of her back leg and when Star panicked and tried to pull it away she was hit in the stomach. I feel completely and utterly ashamed that I actually stood back and did nothing, when I should have smacked the woman. One thing I have vowed since that day is never, ever will a person do that to my horse again. The thing that astonished me is that some people cannot see that a horse is afraid or anxious, rather than being deliberately un-cooperative or "naughty". Unfortunately that day has contributed to continual issues with Star's right hind, which is something I've really had to work hard to put right. I've used a lot of extra reinforcements on that particular foot, to the point where I very rarely have a problem with it.

Nowadays you would think it's a completely different horse foot wise. Once Star has finished her bucket feed she's straight over waving her left front foot in the air waiting to have it picked out. If you forget she will be sure to remind you!! I first started using treats when I was trying to get Star to lift her feet for me. I didn't know about clicker at that time, but to avoid any more "helpful" suggestions I found it was easier to keep a pocket of spearmint treats and sneak one to Star when she lifted a foot, that was the very beginning of the road to where we are now. One thing I have noticed is that foot order is very important for Star. Because I use treats I go left front, left hind, right front, right hind. Star knows this order and will automatically be getting the next foot ready. Almost without fail if anyone else tries to do something different she will start to want to take the foot back. Star is also a lady and likes to be asked nicely for her foot. I always run my hand down from the shoulder to let her know. It never fails to amaze me how people just grab a random foot and expect the horse to lift it straight up. I wonder how they might feel if I marched on up and just tried to grab their foot not giving them time to balance, but of course horses can't complain in quite the same way as people can. I often feel we'd have a whole lot less mis-understandings if they could!!

A quiet trip out

2010-09-05T14:00:00.000+01:00

Thankfully there's been a huge reduction in agricultural traffic so I was able to get Star up the bridleway for a walk yesterday. The main problem around here is the narrowness of the lanes. Star really hates to feel she's being "chased" by a tractor, so what I prefer to do is get her into a wide enough pull in and turn her around so she can clearly see whatever it is, then I can reward her for calm behaviour. We did encounter one 4x4, who's driver was evidently not stopping for a horse under any circumstances, but luckily I manged to get her up into a field out of the way. Star enjoys her walks, mainly because she's eating, refueling is a very important part for her! I also enjoy the opportunity for a bit of quiet contemplation time. I think Star has really taught me the true value of acceptance. She was in a miff due to a metal detector in the neighbouring field this morning, which necessitated a lot of trotting and snorting. But I love her moods. She fully accepts me for who I am, no matter what my quirky character traits are, she doesn't care any less about me. And I feel just the same way about her too, even sometimes when she doesn't want to be brushed and tries to give me a mock nip, I love her just the same. I think maybe in a world where we're all expected to conform, or be certain things we could learn a lot from the total acceptance of animals. I'm only human and this week I have made plenty of mistakes. Since I've been a bit stressed about other stuff I think that makes anything else seem magnified about twenty times. What I would like to say though is a huge thanks to everyone who's taken the time to write to me or leave comments of support. It means a huge amount for me and I can never thank you all enough. I wasn't even aware that many people read this blog, I always write it from the point of view I know my mum and a few others read it, but I've been totally gobsmacked by the reaction. I love Star, she is my entire world and I so much enjoy the time we spend together. I have learnt so much from having her. Not just about horses, but about people, life and me as well. She really has opened my eyes to so much other stuff. I feel like she is my animal soul mate, and she's given me a strength I didn't know I even possessed.

The good news is....

2010-09-03T12:48:00.002+01:00

We're still painting (or at least attempting to), piano playing and doing all of the other stuff Star enjoys so much. I think it hit me really hard that someone I deeply respected and thought a lot about felt me getting Star to paint was a bit of a joke, when you really want them to say how cool it is. You know how it is when you really want someone to like and be interested in what you're doing, then you have this really horrible realisation they probably don't think you're as great as you think they are. It's not a nice situation to be in, it crushes you, and left me wondering if I should be doing this anymore. I'm the kind of person who tends to question what I do a lot anyway, because in horses sometimes the attitude appears to be if you haven't been keeping them since you were five you possibly shouldn't have one at all. I also tend to be lacking somewhat in the confidence department too. Unfortunately for me it came on top of a whole load of other stuff I'd had to deal with as well, so I was possibly a lot more sensitive than I would normally be. Put it this way if someone I don't think anything of laughs at Star playing the piano, I'll say bollocks and do it anyway! The biggest problem in horses is everyone thinks their way is "right", and there is far too much energy going into arguments that don't tend to get anywhere. Every horse/owner combination is unique and so should be what they do, viva la difference I say! So we'll be here getting all messy with paint, playing tunes on the piano and honking our horn for all we're worth!

Still waters..........

2010-09-02T19:13:00.002+01:00

I saw a really great quote the other day; "Still waters never make a good mariner". By my reckoning I should be a bloody excellent one by now then, my life is nothing if not turbulent at the best of times! I'd had so much cosmic crap land on my doorstep over the past nine days or so, I did get completely over upset by a comment which I saw as not taking my training with Star seriously. It is tough, there are times when I have to continuously justify what I do and why, and in all honesty I don't think people realise sometimes offhanded comments might hurt a bit. Do I want to be accepted? Well of course I do, there nothing I love more than being able to talk to people who have horses even if we don't agree on everything. My problem generally is I tend to have bucket loads of love and affection, which at times I've only really had Star to give that to, so she does literally mean the world to me. Sometimes that world can seem quite shaky. My other problem is that I like to constantly question people which I think royally pisses them off at times, it's something I need very much to work on myself. Clicker training for me with a box of Thornton's anyone?? It's hard, I hate the way the worries of life kind of intrude sometimes on what should be that sacred time I spend with her. I do get very worried about mine and Star's future, particularly as I'm not financially secure at the moment, that concerns me an awful lot. It is a huge responsibility taking on an animal and sometimes that burden weighs very heavy no matter how committed you are. Love can take you a whole long way in life but sometimes you need a bit of extra help as well.

I feel like a faliure

2010-09-01T16:04:00.000+01:00

I'm really sorry but I just don't feel like I can go on writing about what I do with Star for a while because to be honest at this moment in time I feel like I'm a complete failure as a horseperson. Because I know I'm not a good enough rider to be able to enjoy her in that way I've always tried my hardest to find stimulating things we can do together. At this moment I'm absolutely sick of being laughed at because I'm teaching her to paint and have a piano playing/trick doing horse. I try really hard to put a smile on when I feel like crying, and I am crying now because it really bloody well hurts feeling like the butt of every joke. I think it's particularly hard when it comes from people you respect as well. I just don't think I'm strong enough to put a brave face on all the time when I've worked so hard with her and I take our training seriously, maybe too seriously I don't know, perhaps because I feel it's the only way I can interact meaningfully with her. If I'm honest I'm sick of the overall judgmentalism in the world of horses anyway, it's fine to have an opinion but people always seem to feel they know what's best for everyone else and their animals and I just can't do it.

A hairy moment

2010-09-01T11:28:00.000+01:00

Finally the weather has settled down and it's warm but not windy. Obviously this has it's downsides too as the flies were out in force yesterday, I don't think I've ever seen so many. I decided to do some simple stuff with Star as she was being distracted by them. Now I *thought* I'd transferred the head lowering to a verbal "down" cue, but of course this is where I discover I'm actually a dipstick because I hadn't actually realised I was pointing at the ground at the same time. Duh! Naturally Star thinks the pointing finger is now the new cue! I wondered why she wasn't going on the down cue, so I pointed my finger and down her head went. Lesson from this is always be aware of unconscious cues!! We did a bit with her easel, she's targeting a board pretty consistently with the brush now but what I need to do is stop her putting her lips on the board to target it while she waits for me to pick up the brush. If I don't I'm going to end up with a mare with a multi coloured moustache! I also worked with the hula hoop. We were getting on quite well, I gradually shaped it so I got it over her ears a few times and then something startled her, she jumped, I lost the hoop and it was around her neck. It was a bit of a hairy moment as I wasn't sure if she'd panic and run off, but after jumping back a couple of steps she stood quietly and let me take it off, which was a massive relief. I need to make sure that doesn't happen again. I think she's a bit hormonal at the moment as looking at the corral surface she'd obviously had a wild night cantering and bucking. I think farm machinery working into the night unsettles her a bit at the moment too.

Don't ever rely on equine memory!!

2010-08-30T10:46:00.000+01:00

I seem to be constantly on the search for ragwort, yes I'm the mad woman ripping it out of ditch sides! Once you get your eye in it is absolutely everywhere. However I do take a certain amount of pride in that I'm scrupulous about checking the paddock for it, and generally manage to get it before it's even managed to get more than about four leaves up. So you can imagine my horror when I saw a huge rosette as I was leading Star up to her diet bit yesterday afternoon. I told Star to remember where we'd seen it so I could come back with the ragfork later. When I let her back out, I had fork and gloves at the ready (please do remember to use gloves as it's toxins go through the skin and affect people too). So I went to where I *thought* I saw it and walked around and around, no sign of anything. I shouted over to Star, who looked up, whickered something indecipherable (might have been buggar off) and immediately put her head down and started eating again. *sigh* all this training and she still can't remember where ragwort is! Naturally I wasn't going to rest until this plant was located and destroyed, so had to spend three quarters of an hour wandering about in the freezing wind, searching until I found it. Possibly it must have relocated as I'm sure it wasn't where I remembered, anyway it's gone now. Next time I'll see if I can get Star to poo and mark the spot, I couldn't possibly miss one of those!!

I have to laugh

2010-08-29T12:14:00.000+01:00

Obviously I'm aware most people enjoy their Friday evenings, it being the end of the week and a chance to kick back and relax a bit. I spent mine trying to brush a very disgruntled Star and getting covered in horse hair. She's starting to shed her coat out, so by the time I'd run the brush over her a few times most of the loose stuff had blown onto me giving me the appearance of Yeti like creature. I am still trying to reinforce grooming a lot as I know she doesn't like it, but as soon as I click, I get answered by a very loud whicker as if to say; "about flaming time, I really deserve this treat!" The worst bit, as ever, is her mane and I'm still plaiting her forelock to keep it out of her eyes. Actually for a horse she can do a very passable giraffe impression when I'm trying to negotiate this bit. So I'm there trying to keep hold of it and plait it, while she's seeing just how far she can make me stretch. We always seem to have the same conversation where I tell her if she doesn't let me do it properly she'll end up with an Elvis style quiff, then she replies with the lip curl and "huh, huh, huh"! Thankfully I did get it done, and she looks vaguely presentable until she finds a wet bit to roll in. On the other hand I end up looking like an unkempt shocking mess!!

Yesterday I was hoping to get the easel out but it was just too windy again. I wanted to do some WWYLM, this was guilt due to me having eaten a giant piece of cake and feeling I needed to be running about. Star wasn't keen, maybe I should have gotten her to lunge me, she'd have enjoyed that! Anyhow, we did some work with some cones then did some more work with the hula hoop. She's not keen on it going over her head beyond her ears, so I'm going to have to go carefully with it to make sure I don't accidentally reinforce her stepping back when she's worried. I've successfully got the head down on a verbal cue and she seems to be offering this a lot at the moment for some reason. We still need to get some duration though as she's got a tendency to pop her head back up quite quickly. I'm just hoping for a quiet spell in the weather so we can start on some new stuff.

Not a lot!

2010-08-26T11:44:00.000+01:00

I'm really sorry I haven't been blogging much about Star this week but the fact is I've hardly had the chance to do much with her. The weather has been foul, either very high winds, which we both hate, or rain, or even worse both together! I'm afraid our interactions have pretty much consisted of me huddled in the field shelter of an evening with her, with both of us wondering where the hell summer has gone! I did manage to get in a brief training session where I'm trying to get her to be brave enough to poke her head through a Hula Hoop, but that's about it. I've been wanting to give her a good brush for days as she's starting to shed her coat a bit, but luckily for Star it's been too wet, you'd almost think she planned it! I'm keeping my fingers crossed we get some sort of Indian summer to make up for this.

Knowing when to stop

2010-08-23T11:36:00.001+01:00

Since it was nice yesterday afternoon I thought I'd seize my chance and get some more training with the easel done. I can only really put it up when it's not very windy, so that in itself is going to severely limit the number of training days I can use it. Star was at the gate waiting for me and I thought maybe she'd want to start with something simple like the ring on the cone. To be quite honest she really wasn't into it, although we don't do it very often now I think she's lost interest so I just got her to put the ring on once then moved on. Interestingly when I was out on friday I met some people with a retired guide dog. While we were chatting the question came up about when these dogs are retired, and it seems to some extent it depends on the dog. Usually dogs are retired after they are 8, but sometimes they just get fed up and stop guiding, effectively saying "that's enough, thank you". I feel this is a very salient point for all of us training animals, about when to push further with an exercise to get it even better, and when it stops becoming mentally stimulating for the animal. Even though reinforcements are involved, I believe the training also has to be stimulating for Star to be really engaged. I also think it's important to build in some sort of quality time together, like Star's grazing walks. My mother comes across a chap with a guide dog who regularly takes it to the park, when the dog's harness is off, then he knows it's play time with his ball. When we think about high level performance horses these are obviously worked over the same exercise time and time again, looking for perfection, yet they are "too valuable" to turn out and often spend the rest of the time stabled. I guess it would be like going to work, then spending the rest of your time shut in a bedroom, it's hardly much of a life. So that balance is very important. I tend not to go on and on with exercises if I feel it's becoming boring for me or Star. Once we've got it reasonably I feel it's time to move on for both of us, at the end of the day you can always come back to it if needs be. I always try to look at it like I had a choice to be in this partnership but Star didn't, so I'm always trying to give her as many choices as I can, listen to what she tells me and treat her as I would like to be treated if I was in that position.

A shy Star

2010-08-21T16:59:00.000+01:00

I had a lovely horsey day out yesterday meeting some friends horses and seeing their yards. I don't often get the opportunity to meet other horses, so it's always nice to see different things and ideas. It's amazing to go out to a yard, be introduced to someone I've never met before, and they actually know who I am and remember me writing about how I clicker trained donkeys to load! Star demonstrated some of her instruments when we got back, although I made the mistake of giving her the horn first, but because she could see the piano she wanted to toot the horn, then immediately reach for the piano, clever multi tasking horse! The thing I do find with Star though is she is quite wary of new people, and can be a bit shy. I guess Star and I are quite lucky in some ways, we live in our very own little bubble and kind of bimble along together in our own little way. I'm able to do stuff and not feel wrong or ridiculed for it, and I have freedom to try things like painting with Star. However this doesn't help at times when it comes to getting her used to new things/new people. I guess it's kind of a double edged sword in some ways. I am very grateful though as I'm not sure I would want to go back to being on a yard, I found it difficult enough before. Although I do recognise how fickle and uncertain life can be, so I'd just better hope I can make a decent living at some point from my writing and drawing or I will be up shit creek without a paddle!

Brushing up our skills

2010-08-18T11:37:00.001+01:00

I spent yesterday's training session just going back over a few things Star already knows pretty well, just to remind us a bit. I tend to do this periodically as it is a nice way just to spend a bit of time. Plus we have got a special visitor coming on friday and I know Star is particularly keen to show off her piano playing skills! The biggest problem in training sessions at the moment is the constant annoyance of flies. I'd hoped with it being a bit breezy there wouldn't be many about, but I think this summer has been particularly bad and there are millions of them. Star has been very lucky that she's not really been bitten very much compared to what I hear from other people about their horses. If she is being distracted in this way I tend not to be as specific with criteria as it's just not fair on her. The damn things land on me too, so I can understand how annoying they must be for her. Nevertheless she just cannot be parted from that piano, even though I'd said "all done" which signals the end of the session she wanted to keep going, bless her. I'm really looking forward to friday and I know Star will be looking forward to showing how clever she is too.

Star does Picasso!

2010-08-17T11:43:00.000+01:00

Some modifications have been made to Star's easel so now the painting board can be held at a much better height for her. Previously she was having to stretch up too much with the brush. I haven't been able to do any of this for a few days as it's has just been so cold and windy you would think it was autumn already. I have to say Star was quite excited when she saw it being put out in the field yesterday, she was quite miffed at me faffing about and having to run to the house for more Polo's before we started! So I started back a couple of steps with her targeting the board, and then doing it with the brush. Now I need to work on shaping, withholding the click a little, to get her to do more strokes. This is always the bit I find hard, I want to reward her so much I often click before I really should. I have to really focus and concentrate in order to gradually increase the criteria. I have to say I think she is going to be amazing at painting, she's certainly got the temperament waving her head about and flinging the brush at me! Reminds me very much of myself when I'm in a miff about one of my own paintings! The only thing I'm worried about is can we withstand two artistic and creative individuals in the household!!

Going around in circles

2010-08-11T11:01:00.000+01:00

I decided Star needed a brush yesterday, always a bad decision as inevitably she disagrees and doesn't think she needs to be brushed! I don't know, maybe it's the pink grooming kit! It's something I am continually working on with her and although we've made some progress it's small. Sometimes it feels like one step forward and two back where grooming is concerned. However I do think it's one area where it proves, to me at least, that clicker training is not bribery. A lot of people often say; "Star only plays the piano because of the treats, she doesn't really like doing it". My answer to that would be she gets groomed and if anything more treats are on offer there but she will still walk away if she wants to. I always groom loose, I train loose too because I know if she chooses to walk away either she's not happy, or I'm asking too much and need to rethink what I'm doing. I use it as information. I think Star puts up with a certain amount of grooming to humour me, and I am highly reinforcing it, but as soon as she feels she's had enough she walks off. The fact is I know I could be stood there with the world's largest Polo, a pocket full of carrots and some apple crunchy treats and she would still do the same, it's not all about the food. And while we're on the subject, I don't think withholding food as a training "method" to make the horse more compliant is in any way ethical at all. I have heard of this done in relation to loading where the horse is kept hungry then "encouraged" into the trailer with food. I try wherever I can to give Star choices in training, for the most part she is willing and engaged and wants to work with me. Whether this will ever be the case with grooming though I don't know. Unfortunately I don't have psychic superpowers to know what it is about grooming she doesn't like, there's clearly some bad association going on there. Whether we can overcome it with time I don't know either, but even if we do a little bit that's ok. When I went out at 10pm with Star's hay she had a wry twinkle in her eye because of course she'd been rolling and was absolutely covered with stuff! I guess that's her way of telling me; "see, told you we shouldn't have bothered with the brush"!

The artistic horse......

2010-08-10T10:58:00.000+01:00

I finally have an easel for Star so I can start to teach her to paint. I think if any horse should be painting, it's an artist's horse. Plus there's always the fact I can become notorious for that as well as her playing the piano, I'm probably already on the BHS hit list! The easel is great, it just happens to be bigger than me, therefore very difficult for me to move. So it's just as well tenacity is one of my better character traits, or I'd have never got it over to the paddock! I got a piece of board to practise on and put it on the little shelf to start with. I wasn't too sure how Star would react to this new bit of kit, but after being momentarily distracted by some non-painting horses going down the lane, she walked straight up to it and popped her nose right on the board. I couldn't really ask for better than that! We spent quite a bit of time with her targeting the board, plus she was very helpfully moving her mouth all across it too making some cool shapes with her wet moustache! Then I started to get her to hold the brush and progressively withheld the click until she was targeting the board with the brush. I think the shelf needs to be lowered a bit to make it easier for her, but for a first session we achieved far more than I'd hoped. There are times she just takes my breath away with how clever and clicker savvy she is now. When I remember back to when I started with the clicker, and how hard it was to get her to offer any behaviour at all, she has just made such terrific progress and I'm really proud of her. One thing I will need to remember though will be to wear some old clothes when we get the actual paint out, because she likes to touch the brush on me a lot too, so I could well become her first work of art!!

A small withdrawl

2010-08-09T11:28:00.001+01:00

I decided to take Star for a walk yesterday afternoon as it was a bit warm for training, so we ventured up the bridleway again. It is combine harvester time around here, so any nice day sees a whole load of agricultural machinery and clanking trailers about. It's an unfortunate fact of life that each year this machinery seems to get bigger and bigger, which can be quite a lot for a horse to cope with. Star does regularly see this going past the field, but when she's on home territory I think it worries her a lot less. There was a combine a couple of fields over, so not terribly near but I could see she was just keeping an eye on it. We did pretty well going up the track, it was obvious she didn't want to come home, as when I turned to come back she had several goes at trying to go back the other way. I think we were about half way back home when something spooked her, I'm not sure whether it was some bird in the ditch or a trailer banging, but she shot forward had a few strides of canter before I managed to turn her back towards me. I rewarded her for standing and just waited a moment for both our adrenalin levels to come down a bit. The sight of her voluminous rear cantering off into the distance in a previous episode is permanently etched into my mind, so I'm very aware I need to keep control of the situation. The good thing about all the clicker work like "touch the goblin" is the fact that she knows she gets reinforced for still, calm behaviour which overall I feel helps her to calm down a huge amount quicker than she used to in these sorts of situations. Drama over we were able to make our way back without any fuss, so I'm glad we have a pretty good balance in our confidence account.