Hit Your Mark!

During the winter months, it's not uncommon for me to pop the ponies into the arena to have a chance to have a bit of a play. Our weather is erratic, the ground in their paddock can be icy (especially this year), and when I can't ride somewhat consistently it's just easier to give them a day to get the sillies out without me on their back.

Phantom knows the routine and once she gets warmed up, she pretty well keeps herself going. These days I usually have to stop her well before she has used up all her energy.

Cisco has never really gotten into it. Not because he doesn't have an excess of sass though - it's because he walks into the arena, looks into the scary far end, and immediately decides that he doesn't want to risk getting eaten by the land sharks that are lurking in the corners and that he must stay as close to the entrance gate as possible (just in case a quick getaway is needed).

If he comes off the track along the short end of the ring, he only uses about 15 meters of the arena. Tiny circles, usually back to the gate, or back and forth along the short end - if left to his own devices, that's the extent of his free lunging. 

This video is from last winter. He's a bit better than normal here, but you can see his desire to get back to the gate.

I suppose that I could chase him around with a bag on a whip and maybe he'll go a whole 20 meters away from the gate. But this is a horse who needs to learn how to relax - he's quite capable of running frantically around in a llama posture. As much as I want him to work through some sillies, he isn't a horse who gets too ridiculous, so really he just needs to move around for a bit and that's enough to make him rideable the next day. I'd prefer to have the arena be a place that he enjoys and is relaxed to be in, and not a place that he associates with stress and frantic running.

So, much like being under saddle, I try to put his brain to work, and have taught him how to go to a mark. 

Not the best video as I was trying to manage my phone, a whip, and cookies all at the same time, but I love how it shows you how he makes deliberate decisions to go to the spot, and how much different his posture is versus the first video.

This has worked really well. I'm usually able to slowly move the mark further down the arena, and more often than not, Cisco will continue to seek it out. I can often get him to about 2/3's the way down the approximately 100-meter arena - much better than 15 meters by the gate!

The other thing that this work does is change his posture. Instead of going around like a llama, he is much more relaxed in his frame. I'd rather not strengthen any llama muscles!

We do not need to encourage this posture!

A tarp is the preferred option for a mark, but as I don't always have one handy, I've also used a lead shank on the ground in a circle shape (which is what I am using in this video). I think that the tarp is far more visible - when I move the lead shank down the arena he doesn't seem to find it right away (maybe if I used a clean shank it might help!).

Depending on how worried he is about the scary end he is, we have had some success with clicking for a treat when he gets a little bit braver and goes a little further than normal from the gate. Once he gets the first click he will incrementally go a little further, for which he gets a click and a treat.  But this totally depends on the perceived imminence of the land shark invasion. Today, it was quite windy, and the land shark threat was high, so my attempts to get him to be brave with just a click didn't pay off and I had to use a visual mark.

Who knows, maybe this will develop into a film career for Cisco. He takes a great headshot!

Obstacles

The arena was being used for an obstacle clinic on Sunday. When I went out on Saturday evening I was hoping that the obstacles had been brought over from the neighbours and set up ahead of the Sunday event. They were! So I tortured played with the ponies and some of the elements.

Phantom was, as I expected, a Rock Star.

I've done some variations of this kind of stuff with her in the past. I've put a tarp over tall standards and had her push through it to walk under it. I've tied pool noodles to standards and led and ridden her through them. She learned to stand with her front feet on the mounting block (which she loves doing). And she also enjoys kicking a ball around.

I started her off with what I figured would be the easiest - the car wash. This was a frame that had strips of a tarp and shower curtain hanging down. The horse has to push through the strips as they pass under the frame.

I was so confident in how easy she would find this one that I just threw the lead shank over her neck and walked through to wait for her on the other side. About 20 seconds later, she popped through and was rewarded with a click and a treat.

This was, however, the only time that she came through without me leading her. She wasn't scared to do it again - she just figured out that she could go around it and meet me on the other side. She had quite a pleased look on her face when she presented herself for her treat. Typical female - work smarter, not harder.

Next, we walked across the not-at-all scary tarp to the podium. And she walked right up and put her front feet on it, again with the lead hanging over her neck. I've never had a proper podium to use for this, just a narrow mounting block, so she was quite happy to be able to take a proper step to put herself up there.

This was the 3rd or 4th time. She was hoping for treats before stepping up.

From there we moved to the pool noodles attached to standards to walk through (lead still over her neck). They took a few extra seconds to get through, mostly because she was making sure the noodles weren't edible. The target that I use for target/clicker training is part of a blue pool noodle jammed onto a stick, so I found it interesting that she made sure she touched the blue pool noodles on the standards with her nose.

There were two elements that I had never done any work with before. The first one - tires. I'm not really sure what you are supposed to do with them - is the horse supposed to stick their feet in a tire? Or is the point to just pick their way through them, and if they step in tires not get worried?

I kind of went with that idea. I did present her to the largest tire, which she just tried to stand on. And then I led her through the middle. She put her foot in a tire, squeaked through the narrow path when she could, and at one point had a tire attached around a hind leg. She wasn't worried at all.

The last new element was the teeter-totter. Phantom hopped up on the bridge, followed me to the half-way mark, put her front foot down just past that point and the bridge dropped. She took half a step back with that front foot, dropped her head, and kept walking. She made a bigger deal about stepping off the end of the bridge than she did about it dropping under her weight. By the fifth time that we went across it I had the lead shank draped over her neck again.

Phone propped on a barrel footage of rock star pony's 4th time over the teeter-totter.

The thing that worried her out of everything we did? A hula-hoop.

I popped the hoop over her head - her head went up and she gave me the unconvinced eye. I lay it over her back, and hooked it over her butt. She went around in circles certain that it was going to do something to her. When she stopped I removed the hoop. This really surprised me that she was so concerned about the hoop, but I was kind of glad I had something to work on.

Then there was Cisco.

To be fair, I haven't done as much prep ground work with him as I have with Phantom. Mostly time-related - I've been with Phantom for 8 years, and Cisco really only 1.

He started off quite well. He figured out the car wash without any stress. The tarp on the ground is something I have done with him, so no issue there. I actually did the pool noodle standards with him when he was something like 2, and apparently he remembered, as he walked right through.

I see you there.

I've never done the podium with him. I gave him a chance to see if he would figure it out by himself -  he didn't. He would just stand in front of it with he toes against it, but wouldn't take a step onto it. So I did just what I did when I first started Phantom off with it - I picked up a front foot, placed it on the podium, then asked him to take another step forward.

We did it this way a couple of times, then I re-presented him to the podium and he marched right on. OMG, my horse is a genius. This stuff is going to be so easy.

Yeah, no. That was the only time he did that. We had to go back to me picking up a foot and placing it on the podium. I did progress to looping the end of the lead shank around his fetlock and lifting it that way, which is another step I did with Phantom in the beginning. No worries though, it took Phantom a few sessions before she was ready to step up by herself.

Crappy pictures of the boy horse since he was being a twit.

And then the teeter-totter.

It actually went quite well. In the beginning, at least.

He stepped up onto it pretty easily. The first time it dropped he flew off the side. It was also the first time I had been on it and it surprised me too (I did Cisco before I did Phantom). So I understood his shock. But we came around again and he was quite good about going straight across. I wasn't sure if the best option would be to stop when it tipped before continuing or to just plan to continue walking. I tried the first option a couple of times and found that when it tipped he would take a step back and it would tip back to the first position. So I tried to just keep him coming forward without a definite halt.

We went over it 7 or 8 times before I gave him a break and went back to something easier. I wouldn't say that he was comfortable with the teeter-totter, but he wasn't remotely losing his brain about it either.

The break gave him time to use said brain and come to the decision that he'd really rather not do the teeter-totter again. He didn't tell me this until we reapproached it after doing the car wash a few times.

He put his front feet on the bridge and stopped. And got the donkey look on his face. The nope nope nope look. 

I should have figured it was all going too easily.

I bet the moose I saw on the way home would have gone on the teeter-totter.

We'd get front feet on, then pull back. Then crane his head to the side to look out the door, and swing the butt around to the side of the bridge. And the super annoying nose flipping thing he does, where he drops his nose, puts it under the lead shank (where it's under his jaw), kinda circles it so that he hooks the lead around his nose and flips it up. I hate this.

I picked up a dressage whip to help with the lack of straight and forward. At this point I just wanted to get him to stand with all 4 feet on the bridge and then back him off. He would lead happily across the short side, but to walk towards the edge of the surprise cliff was too much to ask.

It took 15-20 minutes to get him to stand mostly still on the low side of the bridge. I got him there a couple of times (I actually did get him across the whole thing again once) but he took himself off pretty quickly. So once he stood for a couple of seconds I called that a win for me and ended the session.

I was able to put a fair amount of pressure on him to get him back on the bridge. Far more than I can put on Phantom. She shuts down far easier, but thankfully she is so chill about most things in life we seldom get to that point.

At least there was a nice sunset that night.

This summer I'm thinking about paying the $35/month fee to use the neighbour's facilities, which include trails and these obstacles. I would like to ride Phantom through them, and definitely have some work to do with Cisco over them. Hopefully he will gain some confidence in himself with some more practice.

For Kicks

I moved Phantom's intervals up on Sunday from 3 minutes to 4 minutes x 5 intervals. Got that?

To be honest, I was more worried about me dying than her. Surprisingly, the 4 minutes went really fast. Each of us could have done more. Hopefully next week.

I had another fantastic ride on her. She's really trying. I know she's not fit or strong, and for a little stock horse who naturally moves in a very level manner dressage is not easy for her. She has a tendency to get a bit low and behind the vertical, which I think is partly due to lack of strength. When she is stronger it goes away (unless she's feeling full of herself).

Looks like she may have taken a hoof to the hip. That bump shouldn't be there. I witch hazel'd it.

At this point the goal is to just keep her neck long and throatlatch open. And lots of chances to stretch.

We did a bit more canter as well. It's amazing how when you sit up and look ahead your horse goes better. Who'd a thunk it?

I have sympathy for her - this was the result of a hoof to my thigh. This was actually from Cisco in 2013, when he decided that he wasn't real keen on being tubed when he had choke from a hay cube. It was just before we remembered how much sedative it had taken to knock him down to be gelded as a yearling. 

At a canter Phantom had some lovely moments, including probably the best canter leg yields we've ever had. Those lovely moments are just moments though. Our rideability at canter leaves lots of room for improvement.

And about 8 months later I had a matching bruise on my other thigh. I was trying to catch a horse who didn't want to be caught and took a hoof intended for her. Pretty sure she didn't get her feet trimmed that day.

She was pretty sweaty and tired when we went back to the barn to untack.

Tired, but not too tired for cookies.

I didn't have it in me to hop on another horse (PMS exhaustion) so I decided to do something fun with Cisco.

A month or so ago I finally found an exercise ball cheap enough that I could use it for the horses to kick around. Phantom loves this game, even under saddle. I tried Cisco once with it last summer, and he had no desire to try to figure out what I wanted him to do. So I thought it was time to try it again. 

It clicked in pretty quickly this time. He figured out very quickly that there was something about the ball that made the treat dispenser work. It didn't take too long before he was targeting that ball when I led him towards it. 

But he would just stop in front of it or walk around it. 

At first I would set him or the ball up so that he just had to move his leg to take a step and he would come in contact with the ball. Cisco seemed happy for me to do most of the work for him so that he could reap the reward.

So I stopped. And made him offer the behaviour. 

He figured it out. 

He doesn't seem to be as desperate to get the treats as Phantom gets. She'll try everything for just one more hit. Cisco seems to want to think it over a bit, then make a deliberate action.

The funny part was when I had finished with the treats and put them aside, Cisco was loose and I was talking to a friend. He walked over to that ball and very deliberately kicked it. 

I think he's going to like this game too.

More Clicker Calming

Sunday was my night off for this week. The good thing about Sunday nights is that it is pretty guaranteed that there is no one else at the barn and I can have the arena to myself. Which means more clicker work with Cisco!

We started much the same way as the previous session - asking him to drop his head as we were walking. Then I added in that when we stopped he had to keep his head down. Again, he figured this out pretty quickly. He would wait for the click, then turn into a giraffe. We'll work on that.

I left through the gate to grab one of the bending poles, and just like last time, he left the scary end and went back down to the safe end. And just like last time, he saw me come back into the arena, and trotted all the way back to me. Click, treat, and warm fuzzies in my heart.

Today's goal was to have him touch the pole, which I was going to move across the short end into the really scary corner. He figured out very quickly that touching the pole gave him a reward. So after he touched it a couple of times, I moved it a few feet closer to that corner. He happily stayed with it all the way. Well, with me standing right next to it.

What would happen if I stood a few feet away from the pole?

I love that he is making the decision to head into the scary corner to touch the pole! He's not being forced to go in there, he's making a conscious decision. Yes, he gets a food treat, but this is a big step from omg it's scary must leave right now ok bye.

I sort of tried to free lunge Cisco a bit afterwards. He doesn't want to go too far from me because he doesn't want to lose his chance of getting treats! So he kind of did a couple of circles around me. I am intentionally standing down at that scary end because of this. Then he circles closer to that end. Still not as far down as the track, but much closer than usual.

Clicking definitely seems to be helping him realize that he isn't going to die down in the scary end. He still doesn't stay focused completely on me, and every time he stopped he was looking down to the good end. But this seems to slow his brain down and keep the hamster off that wheel in his skull.

Next I will have to figure out how to send him away from me to touch the pole. I ordered Alexandra Kurland's book Clicker Training for Your Horse for some more ideas. It will hopefully arrive before my next barn visit so I can try something new!

Clicker Calming

Tuesday night was my night off. My one night off in the week. The only thing that I wanted to do was hang out with my ponies.Well, also do laundry, dishes, clean the house, make Christmas presents, and catch up on Netflix. However, ponies were at the top of the list however, so that was where I went once I woke up.

But what to do with them?

Phantom would just get loved and spoiled. I don't want to put her in the arena because I don't want her legs to get gunked up with sand sticking to her leg goop. So she was easy.

I wanted to do something fun with Cisco. Fun for me, at least. I've been inspired by Megan's success with clicker training her horse TC on her blog A Enter Spooking, and since I'm pretty sure Cisco is TC's mini-me, I thought that I would see what I could achieve with some positive reinforcement.

I popped my lunge cavesson and lunge line on him, and grabbed my lunge whip and treat container, which contains a clicker. I had no idea what kind of horse I would have when we arrived in the arena.

When we arrived in the arena there was a new horse who was just finishing some groundwork. Cisco had a few moments of excitement, but chilled pretty quickly. And surprisingly didn't get worried when the other horse left. That boded well for the day.

The goal was definitely to have him be more relaxed in the scary end of the arena. Hopefully stuffing his mouth full of treats down there would help to alleviate his fear. I've done a bit of clicker work with him, but haven't used it a lot for training purposes.

So I started off by asking him to drop his head as we walked by giving a downwards tug on the lead. Drop his head, walk a couple of steps, get a click and a treat. We started out in the good end, where he figured this out after the second click. So we went right down to the scary end to see if it would continue.

And it did! Well, mostly. There were a bunch of bending poles in the corner that the 4-H group had brought in, that were on the outside of the fenceline. And they were a wee bit scary. More so turn a horse into a giraffe type scary. But I asked him to drop his head. And he did. For a moment. So I asked him again. And he went "okay". And kept it down as we walked past them. I mean, as soon as we stopped, he turned into a giraffe again. But when moving his head was down. And he was super chill. I was super happy.

No media, just a cute face to break up the text.

Next up - trying to get him to touch the scary bending poles.

They were on the other side of the fenceline. At first I hoped that if I just stood in front of them he would reach over the fence to sniff them, and that's when I would click. But that didn't work. He wouldn't reach over the fence. So I thought I would try to stand on the other side of the fence, and see if he would reach across to me.

I unclipped the lead and went through the gate next to the bending poles. Cisco apparently thought I was leaving, so he hoofed it down to the other end. I called out to him, he turned around and saw me, and trotted across the full diagonal right back to me. Click and a cookie for that!

I did a bit of work with him to have him touch one of the poles. He did okay and sort of got the idea. What was more important to me was that he was happy to stay there, wasn't panicking, and wasn't trying to leave.

So far, the positive reinforcement had been successful! My goal was to have him more relaxed in the scary end, and clicking and treats definitely made a difference.

No media from this, as I couldn't manage to hold a clicker, a horse, a phone, and stuff a treat in his mouth at the same time. I need a video assistant next time!