I'm going to step away from Percy and his Hyena Project for a minute. But, everything is everything else, so I'm sure this will be relevant in any case.
I've been loosely following a friend's progress all winter as she worked with getting one of her horses to back onto a pedestal. Her blog is here. She's been amazing at videoing her progress almost daily- I will admit I have not watched all her videos and don't want my own experience related here to be anything other than "this is/was my experience".
Last winter I played a lot with getting Rumer to back in various situations. I still haven't actually hitched her to the cart because I'm too chicken to do it alone and don't have anyone to help me. But as part of the process, I wanted to teach her to back between the shafts...not that I'd necessarily ask her to do that for being hitched, but I thought it would be a good experience for her to be aware of them, be touched on both sides by them, be willing to back into them, etc.
I can't even remember how I started at this point, but I learned that trying to free shape backing when it involves an obstacle can be very difficult depending on how you set it up. First off is their eyesight. Most of us are familiar with that arc that is drawn around a horse which shows they can see everything except a tiny space in front of their nose and a larger pie slice right behind them. So unless you have a really wide obstacle behind them, they can't see it. Furthermore, horses are protective of their hind ends. They use their sense of smell and sight to check out everything they come across, then the front feet test it out. If the front feet decide it's not safe, the horse can either rock back on his haunches and lift himself off it, or push off with the hind end and leap over it. In both cases, the hind end is firmly attached to solid familiar ground. I found that Rumer was much more willing to back over or onto an object if she had JUST stepped over it going forward. I think in that case she knew what it was, where it was and that it was safe so she was comfortable stepping backward over it. So I would do a little circle of stepping over or onto something, then turn my body toward her as a cue to back (although initially this bit was shaped with guidance) and she would back over or onto it, then we would go back over it forward, circle around (taking turns left and right) and do it again.
When I say shaped with guidance, I mean that I stood still and clicked for movement backward but if she got out of line, such that she was backing but not in the right direction, I would either ask her to step over to get straight or we'd circle around and step over forward again to get her lined up right. True free shaping would have been if I'd sat in a chair with Rumer loose in an area with an obstacle, giving no hints and simply clicking for her backing toward the obstacle. Quite a feat that would have been!
So today I put three obstacles in the round pen: a rail (a short one, probably 4-5 feet long), a mat (plywood probably 2' x 3') and two cones (the tall pointy kind, spaced about 6 feet apart). I'm pretty sure she could see the rail and both cones when they were behind her because of the length/distance. The mat I'm quite sure she couldn't see so I put that along the fence as a guideline...she'd walk over it first and the fence was a landmark. Granted, it also physically prevented her from swinging in one direction, but not the other.
I set up a "training loop" which ended up including more than I originally intended. We've just lost our snow so I haven't done much with her in a while and she was very excited to have a training session again! This meant very forward marching right to all the obstacles, not exactly using her body well or being respectful of the person on the other end of the rope! I have to try hard not to collapse into giggles when little ponies are so determined. So we did a few reminder steps of bend-toward-me, step off to the outside and calm steps. I set it up as 3 steps like that and then C/T. Oh, with a verbal "walk on" to mean step forward. I use verbals a lot with her as I want her to be very familiar with them for work in harness (some day).
So the loop was: walk in 3 step increments to an obstacle, step over it, back over or onto it, then forward over it again to the next obstacle. The cones were in the middle of the round pen and I did a figure 8 switching directions when she backed through the cones. The clicks at first were after three steps, then I built to 6 steps. If there was an obstacle directly ahead, I created a chain whereby 3 or 6 steps was reinforced by the opportunity to go forward over an obstacle which was reinforced by the opportunity to back over an obstacle which was clicked and treated. I had checked first to be sure she still enjoyed both forward and back over an obstacle before using them as reinforcing behaviors. I also clicked for every step back at first to give her confidence but then dropped to either all four feet over the rail or through the cones or both hind feet on the mat.
3 (or 6) steps -> CT -> repeat to the ground rail -> step over rail -> I turn as cue to ask her to back -> she backs over rail with all 4 feet -> CT -> "walk on" -> 3 (or 6) steps bending left -> CT -> repeat to cones -> forward through cones -> turn toward her to ask for back -> she backs all four feet between cones -> CT as I switch sides so I'm now on her right -> "walk on" -> 3 (or 6) steps bending right -> CT -> repeat to mat -> she walks over mat (no stopping) -> and I turn to face her to cue back -> she backs two hind feet onto mat -> CT -> "walk on" ->3 (or 6) steps bending right -> repeat to cones where I switch sides and go back to the beginning at the ground rail.
She remembered quite well and in short order we were progressing around the obstacles smoothly. Only twice did she swing out of line. Once on the cones and once on the mat. Both times I was on her left and she swung her butt away from me. Both times I simply turned and walked forward (no click) on to the next obstacle. She didn't repeat the error. And when she did it on the mat, she swung her butt into the round pen panel. To me that means she wasn't afraid of hitting it and it didn't really physically prevent her from swinging out of line.
Showing posts with label cones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cones. Show all posts
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Percy Day 2
Yesterday I groomed Percy and practiced with the bit. Today, we ventured Out. Our farm can be a scary place because of all the non-horse activity that goes on. While the horses become accustomed to things they see daily, the horse corner is at the back of the farm and the adventure begins when you leave that area. The barn, the run-in sheds, the paddocks and the round pen are all close together and are surrounded by pastures and fields in which they see the livestock and machinery. But to get to the larger arena, we have to travel around the livestock barn, through the barnyard (not visible from the horse barn) and out into the front field. This requires passing many a frightening sight.
First on the right is the sheep "race"...a cluster of blue panels that hold a group of sheep and funnel them into a chute where they can be vaccinated or even into a contraption that flips them so their feet can be trimmed. The horses almost like it better when there is activity going on here- when it's quiet they are suspicious! Then we proceed to where farm machinery is parked on the left and at the same time on the right is the livestock barn with some loose metal roofing that flaps noisily in the wind. If you make it past that, the real excitement begins: the barnyard. You just never know what you will find. Immediately on the right is the barn door, immediately on the left is the shop. The wild card in all this melee is my husband. He does not have 1st or 2nd gear. He gets out of bed in 3rd gear in the morning and shifts up from there. He is likely to pop out of one of these buildings at any moment- if you don't know him, you would assume by the way he comes out that the building is on fire. Add to that, he doesn't believe in going anywhere empty handed, so he may be preceded by a huge roll of black plastic pipe. Or one of our favorites- he carries 50 gallon black water tanks on his head, thereby becoming a large water tank with legs (always a favorite with the horses). There may be a livestock trailer with various forms of livestock parked there as well, vocalizing loudly or banging the sides.
So you get the idea that venturing out with the babies is, well, an adventure. So recently I have tried to come up with a plan that uses more tools than just head down to keep things calm and under control. First, I took one of the larger mats and put it in the drive right next to the sheep race. Beyond that, I put the large orange traffic cone in the middle of the drive at the top of the rise going down to where the machinery is parked. Mother Nature provided some deep luscious grass right next to the truck and livestock trailer (empty today). Back closer to the barn, I put the mounting block.
Percy walks happily to the paddock gate with me but then begins to LOOK. He has been out here before, has practiced getting on the trailer out here, but his body language said, "you just never know....". I like to them to look around but also like them to remember that I am on the other end of the rope. I pulled up my lesson with Ande and Alex of "hyper-clicking" to keep their attention. I clicked for every tentative step forward. Every one. After a few steps we'd practice head down. He was very good about leaving his nose in the dirt until I clicked.
Next Alex lesson that I pulled up was rewarding them for difficult behavior with something they like and so I had planted the mat right there for him to go to. The mat is a secure and safe place, so he marched right onto it and stood like a statue (well, a statue that wiggled from flies). If he had not been so fond of the mat, I would have been risking "poisoning" the mat by putting it in a scary place. But I felt I had enough good experiences under his belt that it would work the other way, and the mat would calm him in a scary place. After being clicked several times for standing, I asked him to put his head to the ground while still on the mat- more calming behaviors. Then we walked off again.
I did this last week as well and last week, I turned around and we went back to safer zones after our first trip to the mat. But today, I thought he was staying cool so we continued on. Clicks for stepping bravely forward with me, stopping now and then to put the nose in the dirt. And that brought us to the cone! So he got to touch the cone a bunch of times for clicks and treats- another thing he loves to do and is rewarding for him. Here too, last week, I had let him turn around and go back to the mat after this but today we continued on down the little hill toward the stock trailer and the grass. Once we got to the grass, I let him put his head down and graze- a calming and rewarding behavior all by itself.
Here, the Jack Russells made it interesting. I forgot to mention that there is a stack of giant straw bales behind the shop, covered with black plastic. It can be scary in the wind but today was still. Straw stacks mean mice and rats, however. And Jack Russells love to hunt mice and rats. So under the black plastic they went. I stood with Percy for about 15 minutes while he grazed and the Russells rustled and popped out of the plastic here and there, and then were quiet and then sneezed, and then got in a fierce argument....it was not dull. Percy spooked several times and once did a very good imitation of his mummy. I'm not sure how they do it but at one second they are next to you and the next second they are 10 feet away. They don't hit the end of the line. They just kind of levitate to the side. I couldn't blame him. The darn dogs were startling. But it was good for him to go back to grazing each time and get less and less concerned with the rustling.
Finally the dogs scared all the vermin deep into the pile and came out, panting happily and I decided we'd all head back to the barn before my husband came home and started anything new..... Oh, but when we got back to the paddock, we did a quick mounting block lesson. Alexandra Kurland has a whole session on teaching a horse to stand for mounting and that is another piece of preparing Percy to be ridden. As well as self bridling- clicker trained horses bring themselves to the mounting block to be ridden. So I climbed up on the block and worked a bit with Percy positioning himself just exactly where I wanted him. I patted and rubbed all over his back and reached over and patted his far side for several clicks and treats. Last week I actually jumped up on him- just lay over him like a sack a couple times. He was very, very good and I was very, very happy.
First on the right is the sheep "race"...a cluster of blue panels that hold a group of sheep and funnel them into a chute where they can be vaccinated or even into a contraption that flips them so their feet can be trimmed. The horses almost like it better when there is activity going on here- when it's quiet they are suspicious! Then we proceed to where farm machinery is parked on the left and at the same time on the right is the livestock barn with some loose metal roofing that flaps noisily in the wind. If you make it past that, the real excitement begins: the barnyard. You just never know what you will find. Immediately on the right is the barn door, immediately on the left is the shop. The wild card in all this melee is my husband. He does not have 1st or 2nd gear. He gets out of bed in 3rd gear in the morning and shifts up from there. He is likely to pop out of one of these buildings at any moment- if you don't know him, you would assume by the way he comes out that the building is on fire. Add to that, he doesn't believe in going anywhere empty handed, so he may be preceded by a huge roll of black plastic pipe. Or one of our favorites- he carries 50 gallon black water tanks on his head, thereby becoming a large water tank with legs (always a favorite with the horses). There may be a livestock trailer with various forms of livestock parked there as well, vocalizing loudly or banging the sides.
So you get the idea that venturing out with the babies is, well, an adventure. So recently I have tried to come up with a plan that uses more tools than just head down to keep things calm and under control. First, I took one of the larger mats and put it in the drive right next to the sheep race. Beyond that, I put the large orange traffic cone in the middle of the drive at the top of the rise going down to where the machinery is parked. Mother Nature provided some deep luscious grass right next to the truck and livestock trailer (empty today). Back closer to the barn, I put the mounting block.
Percy walks happily to the paddock gate with me but then begins to LOOK. He has been out here before, has practiced getting on the trailer out here, but his body language said, "you just never know....". I like to them to look around but also like them to remember that I am on the other end of the rope. I pulled up my lesson with Ande and Alex of "hyper-clicking" to keep their attention. I clicked for every tentative step forward. Every one. After a few steps we'd practice head down. He was very good about leaving his nose in the dirt until I clicked.
Next Alex lesson that I pulled up was rewarding them for difficult behavior with something they like and so I had planted the mat right there for him to go to. The mat is a secure and safe place, so he marched right onto it and stood like a statue (well, a statue that wiggled from flies). If he had not been so fond of the mat, I would have been risking "poisoning" the mat by putting it in a scary place. But I felt I had enough good experiences under his belt that it would work the other way, and the mat would calm him in a scary place. After being clicked several times for standing, I asked him to put his head to the ground while still on the mat- more calming behaviors. Then we walked off again.
I did this last week as well and last week, I turned around and we went back to safer zones after our first trip to the mat. But today, I thought he was staying cool so we continued on. Clicks for stepping bravely forward with me, stopping now and then to put the nose in the dirt. And that brought us to the cone! So he got to touch the cone a bunch of times for clicks and treats- another thing he loves to do and is rewarding for him. Here too, last week, I had let him turn around and go back to the mat after this but today we continued on down the little hill toward the stock trailer and the grass. Once we got to the grass, I let him put his head down and graze- a calming and rewarding behavior all by itself.
Here, the Jack Russells made it interesting. I forgot to mention that there is a stack of giant straw bales behind the shop, covered with black plastic. It can be scary in the wind but today was still. Straw stacks mean mice and rats, however. And Jack Russells love to hunt mice and rats. So under the black plastic they went. I stood with Percy for about 15 minutes while he grazed and the Russells rustled and popped out of the plastic here and there, and then were quiet and then sneezed, and then got in a fierce argument....it was not dull. Percy spooked several times and once did a very good imitation of his mummy. I'm not sure how they do it but at one second they are next to you and the next second they are 10 feet away. They don't hit the end of the line. They just kind of levitate to the side. I couldn't blame him. The darn dogs were startling. But it was good for him to go back to grazing each time and get less and less concerned with the rustling.
Finally the dogs scared all the vermin deep into the pile and came out, panting happily and I decided we'd all head back to the barn before my husband came home and started anything new..... Oh, but when we got back to the paddock, we did a quick mounting block lesson. Alexandra Kurland has a whole session on teaching a horse to stand for mounting and that is another piece of preparing Percy to be ridden. As well as self bridling- clicker trained horses bring themselves to the mounting block to be ridden. So I climbed up on the block and worked a bit with Percy positioning himself just exactly where I wanted him. I patted and rubbed all over his back and reached over and patted his far side for several clicks and treats. Last week I actually jumped up on him- just lay over him like a sack a couple times. He was very, very good and I was very, very happy.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Kizzy, kids, cones & cues
Last Saturday, Kizzy got a chance to "show off" what she knew about targeting cones. I had a couple Pony Club kids here and I like to use the off-season to help them brush up on their handling skills. It's so easy to get caught up in Riding and forget how important all of our interactions are. Everything we do with our horses on the ground carries over into what we happens in the saddle- by being conscious of our actions, we can really see the benefit when we ride.
An example of this is our cues. Animals are very aware of our body language. We don't give them enough credit for figuring out what we want much of the time! A common example of this is when we walk off and expect our horse to come right along with us. And yet when we want to walk around in front of our horse, we walk off the same way and then firmly admonish "whoa!" when the horse "rudely" walks into us as we pass in front of them. Unless we have told them, in some way, to stand still, they think they are supposed to walk off when we do! And if they don't, they may get pulled on, yelled at or worse.
So what started off as a show-off for Kizzy, became a brief introduction for this concept that I hope to focus more on in the future. Kizzy has gotten very good at targeting cones within a distance of about 30 feet. That is as far as I have tested her which is within the confines of the round pen. That way, there are no distractions- I hope to really build it into a solid enough behavior that I can also do it outside a confined area where there may be distractions. I can now set 3 cones around the round pen and send her off from one to the other. I still click/treat after each cone. When the two girls were here, I demonstrated how I cue Kizzy to go to a cone. Starting with both hands by her nose, I extend my hand out in front of her in a sweeping movement that ends by pointing at the cone I want her to go to. She has occasionally decided it's easier to just make a little circle around me and go back to the cone that's right next to us but that doesn't earn the C/T! The girl who usually rides Kizzy got to practice a couple times and they did great. I was glad Kizzy was willing to do this for her as it's the first time she has done it for anyone other than me!
Then I got the other girl into it by posting each one of us at a cone so that we could send Kizzy from one to the other around the pen. This was new for Kizzy also so she wasn't as confident but did do it. What I noticed though, was the second girl just wanted to let her go and expected her to go to the cone herself. She did not understand the importance of the cue. Now when I began teaching this to Kizzy, there was no cue- except the presence of the cone. Simply seeing a cone was a signal to Kizzy that she could go touch it and get a treat! This was fine in the beginning at getting her enthusiastic. However, what happens if I want to use a cone in a lesson for another purpose? What if she goes to another farm where there happens to be cones in the arena? Kizzy will undoubtedly go to the cones and get frustrated because she's not being rewarded and her rider will get frustrated because the pony just wants to go to the cones! So I developed this cue as a way of telling her when it is OK to go to a cone and expect to be rewarded for it. She is just now learning that going to a cone without getting the cue first won't be rewarded. So it is important that she always get the cue.
So if WE remember how important our cues are and remember to be aware of how we cue things on the ground, we will be that much more aware of our riding cues/aids.
An example of this is our cues. Animals are very aware of our body language. We don't give them enough credit for figuring out what we want much of the time! A common example of this is when we walk off and expect our horse to come right along with us. And yet when we want to walk around in front of our horse, we walk off the same way and then firmly admonish "whoa!" when the horse "rudely" walks into us as we pass in front of them. Unless we have told them, in some way, to stand still, they think they are supposed to walk off when we do! And if they don't, they may get pulled on, yelled at or worse.
So what started off as a show-off for Kizzy, became a brief introduction for this concept that I hope to focus more on in the future. Kizzy has gotten very good at targeting cones within a distance of about 30 feet. That is as far as I have tested her which is within the confines of the round pen. That way, there are no distractions- I hope to really build it into a solid enough behavior that I can also do it outside a confined area where there may be distractions. I can now set 3 cones around the round pen and send her off from one to the other. I still click/treat after each cone. When the two girls were here, I demonstrated how I cue Kizzy to go to a cone. Starting with both hands by her nose, I extend my hand out in front of her in a sweeping movement that ends by pointing at the cone I want her to go to. She has occasionally decided it's easier to just make a little circle around me and go back to the cone that's right next to us but that doesn't earn the C/T! The girl who usually rides Kizzy got to practice a couple times and they did great. I was glad Kizzy was willing to do this for her as it's the first time she has done it for anyone other than me!
Then I got the other girl into it by posting each one of us at a cone so that we could send Kizzy from one to the other around the pen. This was new for Kizzy also so she wasn't as confident but did do it. What I noticed though, was the second girl just wanted to let her go and expected her to go to the cone herself. She did not understand the importance of the cue. Now when I began teaching this to Kizzy, there was no cue- except the presence of the cone. Simply seeing a cone was a signal to Kizzy that she could go touch it and get a treat! This was fine in the beginning at getting her enthusiastic. However, what happens if I want to use a cone in a lesson for another purpose? What if she goes to another farm where there happens to be cones in the arena? Kizzy will undoubtedly go to the cones and get frustrated because she's not being rewarded and her rider will get frustrated because the pony just wants to go to the cones! So I developed this cue as a way of telling her when it is OK to go to a cone and expect to be rewarded for it. She is just now learning that going to a cone without getting the cue first won't be rewarded. So it is important that she always get the cue.
So if WE remember how important our cues are and remember to be aware of how we cue things on the ground, we will be that much more aware of our riding cues/aids.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Kizzy and targeting cones
Today I will introduce you to Kizzy. Kizzy holds a special place in my heart; perhaps it is because she is the littlest, perhaps because she was the pony who started me off giving Jr Pony Club lessons here or perhaps because she was a rescue who was a challenge to even catch when I first got her. The littlest lesson kids love her (and so do their moms!). She is not at all a laid back pony- and kids who learn to post on Kizzy have really accomplished something as her trot steps are rapid-fire! Kizzy is also Rumer's mom :) She is about 12 hands and in her early teens. I have had her about 3 years.
I began using her as a lesson pony the first year I had her even though I knew very little about her background. My daughter, who is a perfect pony rider because even as an adult, she fits on ponies just fine, had ridden her and she was a little wiggly but didn't object to being ridden. I was only planning on using her for one beginner on a longe line anyway... little did I know how that would grow!
I knew she had been treated harshly and she was very head shy; and very quick to jump and react around people. Initially, I just gave her time to get used to us and tried to reward her with treats and pleasant experiences whenever people approached.
Fast forward to today. I have used her in lessons with many children and she has come along nicely. It is great to introduce new kids to her because they can easily see how they need to move slowly around her so she doesn't get worried. Because of her size being perfect for very young children, I am trying to find ways to make her job enjoyable and be a good mount for small children as they become more independent and go off lead. My current project with her is teaching her to go to a cone even if it means going away from me. Now that she feels safe with me, she'd rather stick close to me when kids are on her than go off around the arena. As long as the kids use proper rein aids, she does go along, but sometimes it requires stronger aids than I'd like and I'd rather she was happy with her job of going where a child "suggests". I'm hoping to use targeting cones to teach her to go around the arena, to go over a line of ground poles or a small jump and go straight to the end, etc. without needing a lot of direction from her tiny riders.
Now Alex Kurland has filled my head with fantasies of teaching a pony to identify colors and be able to direct them around a whole course from a distance. I'm sure she is very capable of doing that but right now, I need to start at the beginning! So after teaching her to target cones, it took some time to teach her that she could walk away from me to go to a cone. As soon as I tried to stop and just have her go a step beyond me, she would stop dead. Good pony! I can't fault her for that!
So I needed a cue to tell her it was OK to keep going beyond me. Today was the first day we really achieved that. What I do is slide down the leadrope as we arrive at the cone and invite her to continue going forward by extending my hand out in front of her nose in a gently sweeping motion. At first I hung back just a hair as we approached the cone and made sure not to put any pressure on the leadrope that she would interpret as a request to stop. I do want this pony to halt at the slightest request from a small person. I felt it was a huge success when she took this tiny initiative to go beyond me. Even though she is VERY food motivated, she is more concerned about getting in trouble. I repeated that several times to make sure she was confident in stepping ahead of me and to try to be sure that both she and I were clear on the cue: I need to be very consistent with the cue I am giving her and I wanted several repetitions so I was sure she really understood it. Then I began to ask for a little more- a full step ahead of me, then a step-and-a-half, etc but with many repetitions at each new distance. I had put out two cones about 6 feet apart. At first I had her target one cone, then just led her to the next one to target, then led her beyond the cone and turned and came back to both cones again. When we had built up to her going the length of the (short) leadrope from me, I moved the cones further apart and laid the leadrope over her neck so I could let go of her and have her go further from me. At the end of our session for today, the cones were about 15 feet apart and I could send her from one to the other! She isn't enthusiastic about it and so I want to work on this more so she will do it without hesitation and worry. But I hope we are on our way!
You can see a couple photos of Kizzy on my website: www.bookendsfarm.com
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