Not a lot to say at them moment. I'm still not able to play with Filly properly as we are still giving her time to try and get over her bursitis. I am of course interacting with her every day. Grooming is just a part of the routine, not that she needs it every day but it helps with the "touch all over" part of the program.
With the spring grass now growing she also has a lot of energy. This has lead to problems leading her. Humans are just too slow ! To help with this I've been doing lots of leading training. Sounds basic, but seeing how many horses lead at the yard more of them could do with it.
I started by just asking her to walk slowly alongside me as we walked to a big field to graze. Not good. She kept pushing into me with her shoulder and trying to push past me. She turns her head away and shoulder barges me. I've developed sharp elbows to counter this one. Not trying to hit her but if she starts getting too close I just rhythmically move my elbow in and out. If she moves into it, well that was her choice.
For the overtaking problem I started by twirling the end of the lead rope in front of me. To be honest that was not a good strategy. She just turns her head away and leans on me even more. The problem is that the energy of a twirling rope is directing her away from me more that it is keeping her back.
Plan be was to take a carrot stick and wave it back and forth in front of me in a horizontal plane. Making sure it stops abeam me on the backward swing. As this is in the horizontal plane there is less energy pushing her away, and more pushing her backwards. If she moves far enough forward it taps her chest. Further forward and the stick is still at full speed and it hits her chest. There was a brief tantrum over this as she pushed through the pressure. But within 5 minutes she was walking quietly and peacefully next to me and even stood nice and still whilst I talked to one of the yard staff.
The most important aspect for me was that I had absolutely no intention in my mind of hitting her. For me the stick, my elbow and the twirling rope were just boundaries I had set up. And like a fence boundary it would not chase her. The boundary stays static even if it is defined by the limit of motion of the stick. She actually seemed to like to be at the spot where it just touched her much as a horse will lean over a fence to get at that bit of juicy grass.
I've trained the yard girls to use this technique so hopefully they can help get her a bit calmer as she is walked too and from the field. Eventually of course I don't want to use the stick, but in the meantime it's a useful tool.
With the spring grass now growing she also has a lot of energy. This has lead to problems leading her. Humans are just too slow ! To help with this I've been doing lots of leading training. Sounds basic, but seeing how many horses lead at the yard more of them could do with it.
I started by just asking her to walk slowly alongside me as we walked to a big field to graze. Not good. She kept pushing into me with her shoulder and trying to push past me. She turns her head away and shoulder barges me. I've developed sharp elbows to counter this one. Not trying to hit her but if she starts getting too close I just rhythmically move my elbow in and out. If she moves into it, well that was her choice.
For the overtaking problem I started by twirling the end of the lead rope in front of me. To be honest that was not a good strategy. She just turns her head away and leans on me even more. The problem is that the energy of a twirling rope is directing her away from me more that it is keeping her back.
Plan be was to take a carrot stick and wave it back and forth in front of me in a horizontal plane. Making sure it stops abeam me on the backward swing. As this is in the horizontal plane there is less energy pushing her away, and more pushing her backwards. If she moves far enough forward it taps her chest. Further forward and the stick is still at full speed and it hits her chest. There was a brief tantrum over this as she pushed through the pressure. But within 5 minutes she was walking quietly and peacefully next to me and even stood nice and still whilst I talked to one of the yard staff.
The most important aspect for me was that I had absolutely no intention in my mind of hitting her. For me the stick, my elbow and the twirling rope were just boundaries I had set up. And like a fence boundary it would not chase her. The boundary stays static even if it is defined by the limit of motion of the stick. She actually seemed to like to be at the spot where it just touched her much as a horse will lean over a fence to get at that bit of juicy grass.
I've trained the yard girls to use this technique so hopefully they can help get her a bit calmer as she is walked too and from the field. Eventually of course I don't want to use the stick, but in the meantime it's a useful tool.
No comments:
Post a Comment