Recently I've had a couple of trailer loading sessions with Filly. Not to get her better at loading in the trailer, though that is a nice byproduct, but to get her better at yielding to pressure and not pushing into it. More specifically not pushing into me !
The trailer was just an obstacle to play with, not the point of the training session. By using the trailer I could get her to display "I don't want to" behaviour. She is not at all worried about going into the trailer but she can decide that she doesn't want to go in the trailer. There is an important difference. Never push a worried horse, but expect a confident horse to respond.
The trailer loading was pretty full on, and I have to admit to using the handle end of my stick. I didn't want to but she was pushing on me with more pressure than I could apply any other way. Remember principle number 5 "The attitude of justice is effective". The stick was only used to apply a little more pressure than she was applying to me, and as soon as she de-escalated so did I. If she would uphold her responsibility of "Act like a partner not a prey animal" then I would reciprocate with "act like a partner not a predator".
In the end she became pretty responsive and we could go one step into the trailer and then back out one step. The only difficult step was getting the back legs from out of the trailer and onto the ramp. Here she was worried so we took our time to softly work through the issue. It's not just about loading the whole horse each bit has to load and unload confidently.
We then had a few days of just having fun and chilling out together. I had withdrawn pretty heavily from the rapport bank and needed to make some deposits back in. Not that she was allowed to go back to her old ways of pushing on me of course.
I now found that she was much softer and more responsive to pressure. She could think her way through it and try to figure out what I meant instead of just reacting to it.
This translated into a really good ride the other night. Nothing fast, all at walk and for the outside observer it would have been like watching pain dry. But there was no one else on the yard and we could just chat to each other through the aids I was applying, discussing what they meant.
I've been trying to get her really good at just moving the front legs sideways when I ask. The inside hind foot should stay still. I rode her in the bosal. The inside hand stretched out to ask the inside front to step over. As soon as it did the pressure released. Then the outside toe on her shoulder asked the outside front to move over and again a release. Then the timing had to get good from me. Inside hand, inside leg, outside toe, outside leg. Finally I got the timing right and we were performing 180 degree turns on the spot without the inside hind moving in about three or four steps. To make the end of the turn obvious and give her a goal I had two cones set up so that at the end of each 180 turn her nose was on one of them. So that's why we teach "touch it game" !! :) .
We did other things as well, like sideways over the cones, sideways along a pole backup etc but the highlight was having those front feet in my hands. For a left brained horse like Filly to give up those front feet softly is a really big deal.
Happy Christmas everyone. I'm looking forward to a great horsemanship New Year for all of us.
The trailer was just an obstacle to play with, not the point of the training session. By using the trailer I could get her to display "I don't want to" behaviour. She is not at all worried about going into the trailer but she can decide that she doesn't want to go in the trailer. There is an important difference. Never push a worried horse, but expect a confident horse to respond.
The trailer loading was pretty full on, and I have to admit to using the handle end of my stick. I didn't want to but she was pushing on me with more pressure than I could apply any other way. Remember principle number 5 "The attitude of justice is effective". The stick was only used to apply a little more pressure than she was applying to me, and as soon as she de-escalated so did I. If she would uphold her responsibility of "Act like a partner not a prey animal" then I would reciprocate with "act like a partner not a predator".
In the end she became pretty responsive and we could go one step into the trailer and then back out one step. The only difficult step was getting the back legs from out of the trailer and onto the ramp. Here she was worried so we took our time to softly work through the issue. It's not just about loading the whole horse each bit has to load and unload confidently.
We then had a few days of just having fun and chilling out together. I had withdrawn pretty heavily from the rapport bank and needed to make some deposits back in. Not that she was allowed to go back to her old ways of pushing on me of course.
I now found that she was much softer and more responsive to pressure. She could think her way through it and try to figure out what I meant instead of just reacting to it.
This translated into a really good ride the other night. Nothing fast, all at walk and for the outside observer it would have been like watching pain dry. But there was no one else on the yard and we could just chat to each other through the aids I was applying, discussing what they meant.
I've been trying to get her really good at just moving the front legs sideways when I ask. The inside hind foot should stay still. I rode her in the bosal. The inside hand stretched out to ask the inside front to step over. As soon as it did the pressure released. Then the outside toe on her shoulder asked the outside front to move over and again a release. Then the timing had to get good from me. Inside hand, inside leg, outside toe, outside leg. Finally I got the timing right and we were performing 180 degree turns on the spot without the inside hind moving in about three or four steps. To make the end of the turn obvious and give her a goal I had two cones set up so that at the end of each 180 turn her nose was on one of them. So that's why we teach "touch it game" !! :) .
We did other things as well, like sideways over the cones, sideways along a pole backup etc but the highlight was having those front feet in my hands. For a left brained horse like Filly to give up those front feet softly is a really big deal.
Happy Christmas everyone. I'm looking forward to a great horsemanship New Year for all of us.
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