The third and final day of the clinic was a rainy one. This didn't affect the learning possibilities in the least. Alex actually likes rainy days because it means we can spend more time on the people. Since it is the people who work with the horses, they need to learn it first. The facility which hosted the clinic does have an indoor arena so that was an option and one horse and handler pair did take advantage of that. The rest of us worked our horses in the stalls. Percy has never been in an indoor and this one was not attached to the barn but a short walk up the hill...further than I had taken him. He had settled in so beautifully by this point that I did not want to throw anything newly stressful into the situation. I wanted him to get on the trailer that afternoon thinking "well, that wasn't so bad- actually it was kind of fun!". This way, he does not need to fear or worry about where he is going the next time I ask him to get on the trailer.
Another area in which Alex has done amazing work is Microshaping...or Pony Pilates. She has a wonderful DVD on the topic which is such fun to watch and study- all her DVDs and books can be purchased at her Clicker Center website . Through microshaping, or shaping movements in tiny little increments, one can actually teach horses to activate individual muscle groups. I had given this a try with Percy earlier in the year, and once again, he caught on quickly and took it to such an extreme that I dropped it because I didn't know where to go next. I had focused on his pectoral muscles in his chest and in no time, he would stand and make those little pec muscles jump like a body builder trying to impress. When I tried to go on to other areas of his body, I had a hard time being in two places at once and also felt I needed some guidance as to where I should be focusing. Since we had decided to stay in the stall that rainy Sunday, I showed Alex what we had and asked for her help in where to go next.
I was very glad that I hadn't done more with him because she was concerned about his getting jammed in his spine, putting as much "oomph" into these little muscle contractions as he was. She asked him to target her hand with his chin, effectively bringing his chin back toward his chest. I say TOWARD, not TO. This was a full body movement for him, rocking onto his hind end a bit, lifting his back, and stretching at the poll. Alex made it look as easy as falling off a log. I could certainly step in and ask him to target my hand but two things happened: one, his movement was much less fluid and two, he didn't quite get the stretch through the poll we were looking for. I think I got better at it through the session, but it was a good final lesson for me because it summed up a few themes that had been brewing for me over the weekend.
First, I need to channel Alex when I work with all horses, but especially Percy I think. She has such a quiet, fluid way about her which in no way do the horses perceive as indicating a pushover. A significant realization in this came for me when I watched Emily, the woman who was using my Kizzy pony for the clinic. Unfortunately I didn't get to watch her much because I was usually preoccupied with Percy who was across the aisle and needing some attention. Emily is a relative newcomer to Clicker Training and her first lesson was working on organizing herself for the foundation lessons. She struggled a bit, as we all do- it looks so easy and then you get all tangled up in clickers and ropes and treat pouches etc! But the second day, she was transformed. It was amazing to watch her move. We had spent the morning working on the rope handling skills and there had been the usual connections to Tai Chi. It turns out, Emily has been studying Tai Chi and once she made the connection, her movements became smooth and graceful. Kizzy responded accordingly. I have done a little Tai Chi myself and the slow movements of this Chinese martial art intended for defense are really wonderful for working with horses. Moving in this way negates any need for swinging ropes or blatant body positions. The horses instinctively understand and respect it without becoming alarmed or fearful. So- more Tai Chi for me.
Secondly, microshaping. I told Alex afterward that just when I thought I understood baby steps, she unpeeled another layer for me. Her reply: "there are always more layers". I guess the way I have defined it for myself is that baby steps are about chunking the training down into smaller and smaller steps, whereas microshaping is about focusing on the tiniest of physical movements. One of the horses which Alex worked with in the stall that day was Georgia. Georgia (and her owner) had come with a pretty solid understanding of Clicker Training even though she'd never been to a clinic before. But Georgia overdid it when it came to the flexing and bending. She curled her head and neck way down and around so the first couple days had been spent working with her to straighten her out. On Sunday, Alex showed how tiny a flexion she was looking for, asking with the rope and halter. It was so tiny that sometimes we couldn't even see it, but she could feel it. Why? Because it was a correct movement which would lead to greater things. The gross movements skip all the little steps in between. Alex took us into the tack room and once again guided us through people exercises. I was fortunate to be one of her "horses". Standing behind me and placing her hands on the base of my head, she guided me through tiny movements to the right: a slight turn to the right, a slight tip of the ear and a slight drop of the chin. We repeated this several times while observers oohed and aahed over how much softer I was looking....!?!? I couldn't feel it happening but there it was. When she was done, I could turn to the right feeling soft and relaxed, but still felt stiff (though I wouldn't have described it that way before) to the left. Lesson learned- these exaggerated over bending and over flexing things we do with our horses are unnecessary and unhelpful. Or at least that's where my thinking is right now.
Lastly, there is no "right" position. When the subject of frame or positioning comes up, Alex says, "find an image that pleases your eye" and work toward that. In addition, horses come in all shapes and sizes so it makes sense that the balance point is going to be slightly different for each individual. So when working with Percy and microshaping, I need to think more of flexibility that I can mold to my choosing, rather than trying to find the "just right" spot. I need to be able to ask for him to put his head at any height I ask and flex just as much as I ask- but not in a demanding way. More of a "try this" way so that he frets less about being "right" and instead thinks about his own body and comfort.
Certainly plenty to work on but I already can't wait for the next clinic. Many thanks for Caroline Albert of Click for Confidence for organizing this clinic!!
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Alexandra Kurland clinic blog post #2
On the second day of the clinic, we spent the morning doing people work. This portion of Alex's clinics may look the least appealing to the inexperienced but anyone who has felt what the horses feel by walking through her many exercises comes away a better handler/rider and grateful for it. Below is a photo of Alex demonstrating the slide down the rope utilizing Tai Chi bone rotations on a "horse".
Percy had settled down wonderfully in 24 hours. There was a window in his stall that he could put his head out of and view most of the farm.
This was wonderful because he could study it all he wanted and nothing looked different when I took him out to work. In addition, I was on "farm time" and was awake well before everyone else each morning. I took advantage of that to get Percy out to hand graze. It couldn't have been more peaceful and he could eat and look and walk and eat and look and walk. Each day he ventured a little further but he really didn't want to go very far- his eyes needed to get full with right where he was!
When it was time to work horses, they had all been brought in from the paddocks and were dozing in their stalls. I chose the area right outside the barn to work this time. There was a little more room and he had had time to settle in and observe the goings on there. Plus, we were easily in sight of the other horses so there was no whinnying back and forth (to give Percy credit, Kizzy would whinny to him each morning when I took him out to hand graze but I didn't hear Percy make a sound all weekend). Everyone was assembled on the grassy hill to observe our session and I brought Percy out the door and down the little slope to where Alex and I had set up the cone circles and mats.
As I brought him down this tiniest of slopes, Alex commented, "He doesn't know how to go down hill".
"How can he not know how to go down hill?", I exclaimed, "he grew up in Vermont!".
I was picturing the side hills he played on daily in turnout, the hill I had to lead him up and down just to get to some of the paddocks, and the steep little thistle patch he'd been BORN on.
"I don't know," she said, "but he doesn't know how to go down hill in balance".
Thus began the day's lesson.
We took turns working him in small circles on this tiny slope. As Alex explained the exercise, he had to coordinate himself going just a couple steps down hill, then he got to go across the hill, then a couple steps coordinated up hill and then a couple more across the hill again. What I began to see was the way he'd let his body tumble down the hill once he got going. He did not maintain a steady rhythm of footfalls down hill and he'd speed the tempo up going up hill. This is another example of the beauty of Alex's work. Outside people looking in may see Clicker Training as tricks or even behavioral work; Alex is all about Classical training- building a horse who is strong, coordinated and aware of his body. It is why I couldn't wait to get Percy to a clinic with her. I was starving for this sort of thing with him so he'll have a head start when I really start to ride him. I'm not interested in just getting on his back and going- I want that beautiful piece of art underneath me. And I want his development to help keep him sound for many years to come. By teaching him how to use his muscles and joints, he will be less likely to break down.
In this photo, you can see he has begun to pay attention to his body. There is slack in the rope but he is stepping under himself (not completely, but at least his hind end isn't trailing), his body is bent gently toward me from poll to dock and his topline is slightly raised, rather than hollow. This was achieved not just with practice going up and down hill (he's been practicing all his life after all), but by carefully observing him and clicking for the correct moments. When I worked him, I wasn't completely sure what I was looking for, but observing Alex and re-watching the little video clips Sarah took (thank you Sarah!), I could see that when she had him, she was asking him for lateral steps on that hill. At the end of the session, she had people walk down a slope, feel our thumping steps, then practice a couple circles of lateral work, to return to the down hill and feel how much more balance we had in our own bodies.
I realized that as much time as I have spent leading him up and down hills, my focus has been on his behavior, not his body. I have been dealing with a youngster who desperately wanted to get out on his grass paddock and all the attention was on keeping the marbles in place. Now we have something else to work on. I have done it since getting him home and he is ever so much better. By giving him his body to focus on, he forgets about the silliness and we get both body and mind under control.
Oh- and he did get to practice his colors and standing on a mat for breaks from his hill work!
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Alexandra Kurland clinic blog post #1- Magic
In our area, there is an amazing magician whom you can hire for entertainment at parties and such. He also works the tables at a local restaurant on Sunday nights and I love to watch the faces of people as he performs his tricks- especially kids! He's no simple magician- this guy is good. Last time we watched him, he had a diner draw a card from a deck, look at it, and replace it. The magician then pinched the flame on the table candle...and 3 appeared in a blister on his finger and the spade symbol appeared as a blister on his thumb!!! (and yes, the woman's card was the 3 of spades). This weekend, Alexandra Kurland worked similar magic.
Saturday morning was the first day to work horses. We had turned everyone out and the trick was to find a place to work Percy that would be least upsetting to a young boy on his first overnight. We chose the driveway between the barn and paddocks, hoping his turnout time had allowed him to get a good look at that area and it also kept him fairly close to Kizzy (who had come along as companion) in the paddock nearby.
Percy likes to look at things. He can get his head way up in the air and his eyes open wide. It isn't a matter of just looking for a few moments...he really needs hours to examine a new area. I have confidence that this will change as he gets older and more time off the farm but this was only his second trip "out" and his first overnight. When I brought him out of his paddock, he couldn't decide which way to look first. He wanted to keep on eye on Kizzy on one side, but the other clinic participants were gathered along the barn on the other side to watch. People kept popping around a corner, cats wandered through the scene, more people appeared around the other side of the barn, the tractor was being used to transport manure to the pile, people were carrying chairs and wearing interesting hats. The minimally traveled dirt road was on yet another side and when cars or trucks did pass by, one could hear them coming from a ways away and I could see Percy mentally mapping the area as he first heard a vehicle and then tracked it like a periscope as it came closer and closer. There was a LOT to look at and he couldn't figure out which direction needed most attention. His front feet came off the ground a time or two, but I had to give him credit because it wasn't the full stand I have seen on rare occasions before. He wasn't trying to drag me around or plow me down...but it was definitely borderline meltdown territory. I began trying to run through the foundation lessons in order to get his attention, give him something to focus on and show Alex his scope of behaviors. He did target my hand, back on a light request and put his head down on request, but was so wound up that he wouldn't take the treat as reward- or took it but neglected to chew it. I had to give him a lot of credit for trying.
Alex quickly set out two very small circles of cones and two mats. We made a round of each circle as I used the Tai Chi wall to try to get him to bend toward me and pay attention, rather than stare off to the outside and push in with his shoulder. I told her I didn't consider mat work to be a very strong behavior for him because he tends to try to get his feet "just right" on them, rather than relaxing- but to my surprise, he did very well on them. One was a largish one made of medium width rubber. At one point, he pawed it and it curled up under him so he had to leap away but (on Alex's direction), I took him right back to it and he did stand on it. The other mat was a small (12"?) one of plywood. He stepped right over it, not paying any attention but coincidentally got a toe on so got a click and treat for that. So, he'd made one round of this training "loop" and on a scale of distractedness came down from a 9 to an 8.5. At this point, Alex told me to bring him to the inside of one of the little cone circles where she was standing. I was expecting her to have him target her hand as a simple behavioral reward to keep the Rate of Reinforcement (ROR) high. Instead, she said "Red. Touch." very clearly and presented a red cone from behind her back. Percy loves to target and so while I don't think he even looked at her or the cone, he absent-mindedly quickly reached out and touched the target for a click and treat. She immediately put the cone behind her out of sight again and then repeated the exercise. The third time, after saying "Red. Touch", she brought two cones from behind her back- one red and one green. Percy targeted the red one.
As an aside, this is the way I remembered it after much consideration at 4:30 the next morning when I woke up and thought about it. In all honesty, as it happened, it was as mysterious as watching that magician in the restaurant. Alex was the magician and I was the 6 year old with my mouth hanging open as she taught, in a matter of minutes, my 3 year old, highly distracted TB cross boy the difference between red and green. And Alex got as much of a kick watching my reaction as I always do watching the magician's observers. I could not believe what I was seeing.
Back to Saturday morning. Alex then said "Green. Touch." and presented both cones. Percy targeted the green one. I was dumbfounded as Alex grinned and sent us off for another round of "Why Would You Leave Me" on the cone circles and standing on the mats. We were down to a distraction level of 8- he was still watching the people, making sure Kizzy was in sight, listening to vehicles all while doing everything I asked with a minimum of attention. But he was now taking treats. And we returned to Alex and her red and green cones. He nailed it each time, regardless of whether she said red or green and even though she switched hands behind her back so that green was sometimes on her left and sometimes on her right and vice versa with the red. Off for another round of circles and mats. Now I could get head lowering on the large mat and at least get him to pay attention to the smaller one.
At some point, Alex introduced a yellow cone. At this point Percy made his first mistake with the colors. In the entire morning (which was in some sort of warp time so I have no idea how long we worked him...20 minutes?) he made three mistakes in probably 25 attempts. And I think he only made a mistake when she tried the yellow. She then returned to green and red and for the rest of the weekend, he was error-free.
This entire process illustrates Alex's "Loopy Training" method. She creates a loop of behaviors for the horse to progress through, each one reinforcing the previous one. The loop of
behavior -> click -> treat -> behavior
is the first loop. One looks for "clean" loops. She defined "clean" as fluid and prompt with no unwanted behaviors creeping in. So a simple clean targeting loop would include the horse immediately responding to the presentation of a target by touching it, the handler promptly and smoothly offering a treat which the horse immediately and politely took at which point the handler would smoothly offer the target again. If the horse were to hesitate at either the presentation of the target or the offering of the treat for any reason- unsure, looking away, trying to graze, etc, that would be an example of a loop that is not clean.
She also states that "when a loop is clean you get to move on. Not only do you get to move on, you should move on." Therefore, I asked why she had presented the color training to Percy that morning when, in my opinion, his loops were far from clean. He was looking everywhere but at what he was doing, he didn't consistently take the treats, he tried to wander off and the behaviors he did offer were far from his standard. She agreed completely, pointing out his baby rears. Her explanation was that she felt he was an individual who would benefit from something new and fun. While I can see some horses would become frustrated or worried when asked to do something completely new in a highly distracting environment, Percy loved it and that got his focus when his well-known behaviors didn't. He even became fascinated by something over the roof of the barn while Alex was presenting colors but it didn't affect his success rate.
And that was only Day 1.
This clip was taken the second day after he had calmed down considerably but illustrates the color training.
Thank you to Sarah Memmi for catching this video clip and taking great photos!
Saturday morning was the first day to work horses. We had turned everyone out and the trick was to find a place to work Percy that would be least upsetting to a young boy on his first overnight. We chose the driveway between the barn and paddocks, hoping his turnout time had allowed him to get a good look at that area and it also kept him fairly close to Kizzy (who had come along as companion) in the paddock nearby.
Percy likes to look at things. He can get his head way up in the air and his eyes open wide. It isn't a matter of just looking for a few moments...he really needs hours to examine a new area. I have confidence that this will change as he gets older and more time off the farm but this was only his second trip "out" and his first overnight. When I brought him out of his paddock, he couldn't decide which way to look first. He wanted to keep on eye on Kizzy on one side, but the other clinic participants were gathered along the barn on the other side to watch. People kept popping around a corner, cats wandered through the scene, more people appeared around the other side of the barn, the tractor was being used to transport manure to the pile, people were carrying chairs and wearing interesting hats. The minimally traveled dirt road was on yet another side and when cars or trucks did pass by, one could hear them coming from a ways away and I could see Percy mentally mapping the area as he first heard a vehicle and then tracked it like a periscope as it came closer and closer. There was a LOT to look at and he couldn't figure out which direction needed most attention. His front feet came off the ground a time or two, but I had to give him credit because it wasn't the full stand I have seen on rare occasions before. He wasn't trying to drag me around or plow me down...but it was definitely borderline meltdown territory. I began trying to run through the foundation lessons in order to get his attention, give him something to focus on and show Alex his scope of behaviors. He did target my hand, back on a light request and put his head down on request, but was so wound up that he wouldn't take the treat as reward- or took it but neglected to chew it. I had to give him a lot of credit for trying.
Alex quickly set out two very small circles of cones and two mats. We made a round of each circle as I used the Tai Chi wall to try to get him to bend toward me and pay attention, rather than stare off to the outside and push in with his shoulder. I told her I didn't consider mat work to be a very strong behavior for him because he tends to try to get his feet "just right" on them, rather than relaxing- but to my surprise, he did very well on them. One was a largish one made of medium width rubber. At one point, he pawed it and it curled up under him so he had to leap away but (on Alex's direction), I took him right back to it and he did stand on it. The other mat was a small (12"?) one of plywood. He stepped right over it, not paying any attention but coincidentally got a toe on so got a click and treat for that. So, he'd made one round of this training "loop" and on a scale of distractedness came down from a 9 to an 8.5. At this point, Alex told me to bring him to the inside of one of the little cone circles where she was standing. I was expecting her to have him target her hand as a simple behavioral reward to keep the Rate of Reinforcement (ROR) high. Instead, she said "Red. Touch." very clearly and presented a red cone from behind her back. Percy loves to target and so while I don't think he even looked at her or the cone, he absent-mindedly quickly reached out and touched the target for a click and treat. She immediately put the cone behind her out of sight again and then repeated the exercise. The third time, after saying "Red. Touch", she brought two cones from behind her back- one red and one green. Percy targeted the red one.
As an aside, this is the way I remembered it after much consideration at 4:30 the next morning when I woke up and thought about it. In all honesty, as it happened, it was as mysterious as watching that magician in the restaurant. Alex was the magician and I was the 6 year old with my mouth hanging open as she taught, in a matter of minutes, my 3 year old, highly distracted TB cross boy the difference between red and green. And Alex got as much of a kick watching my reaction as I always do watching the magician's observers. I could not believe what I was seeing.
Back to Saturday morning. Alex then said "Green. Touch." and presented both cones. Percy targeted the green one. I was dumbfounded as Alex grinned and sent us off for another round of "Why Would You Leave Me" on the cone circles and standing on the mats. We were down to a distraction level of 8- he was still watching the people, making sure Kizzy was in sight, listening to vehicles all while doing everything I asked with a minimum of attention. But he was now taking treats. And we returned to Alex and her red and green cones. He nailed it each time, regardless of whether she said red or green and even though she switched hands behind her back so that green was sometimes on her left and sometimes on her right and vice versa with the red. Off for another round of circles and mats. Now I could get head lowering on the large mat and at least get him to pay attention to the smaller one.
At some point, Alex introduced a yellow cone. At this point Percy made his first mistake with the colors. In the entire morning (which was in some sort of warp time so I have no idea how long we worked him...20 minutes?) he made three mistakes in probably 25 attempts. And I think he only made a mistake when she tried the yellow. She then returned to green and red and for the rest of the weekend, he was error-free.
This entire process illustrates Alex's "Loopy Training" method. She creates a loop of behaviors for the horse to progress through, each one reinforcing the previous one. The loop of
behavior -> click -> treat -> behavior
is the first loop. One looks for "clean" loops. She defined "clean" as fluid and prompt with no unwanted behaviors creeping in. So a simple clean targeting loop would include the horse immediately responding to the presentation of a target by touching it, the handler promptly and smoothly offering a treat which the horse immediately and politely took at which point the handler would smoothly offer the target again. If the horse were to hesitate at either the presentation of the target or the offering of the treat for any reason- unsure, looking away, trying to graze, etc, that would be an example of a loop that is not clean.
She also states that "when a loop is clean you get to move on. Not only do you get to move on, you should move on." Therefore, I asked why she had presented the color training to Percy that morning when, in my opinion, his loops were far from clean. He was looking everywhere but at what he was doing, he didn't consistently take the treats, he tried to wander off and the behaviors he did offer were far from his standard. She agreed completely, pointing out his baby rears. Her explanation was that she felt he was an individual who would benefit from something new and fun. While I can see some horses would become frustrated or worried when asked to do something completely new in a highly distracting environment, Percy loved it and that got his focus when his well-known behaviors didn't. He even became fascinated by something over the roof of the barn while Alex was presenting colors but it didn't affect his success rate.
And that was only Day 1.
This clip was taken the second day after he had calmed down considerably but illustrates the color training.
Thank you to Sarah Memmi for catching this video clip and taking great photos!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Backing Percy
Wow- I can't believe it's been 2 months since I last posted. One kind reader even emailed me to check in! Summer is so busy. I've been posting little things to my Facebook page so if anyone is on Facebook, you can find me at my Bookends Farm page.
The most exciting recent news is that Percy has been sat upon. It was highly UNeventful. Just as training should be! Last fall I had leaned on him and patted him all over from atop a mounting block with lots of clicks and treats for keeping all four feet still as I did so. We practiced Alexandra Kurland's mounting block lessons- having him line himself up at the mounting block. I also put an old saddle on him so he could feel that a little bit. With saddle on, I let him loose in the round pen to see if he wanted to try to buck it off but all he did was go to grazing. This Spring we revisited all these same lessons with no further problems. He was so comfortable with the saddle that I entrusted my dear old Stubben Siegfried to him. He looked very handsome in it! We walked about the paddock with it and I let the stirrups dangle and bump him in the sides. He remained totally focused on me and halted with my voice commands.
When I backed both Ande and Rumer, I did it bareback. I felt I could more easily "emergency dismount" if necessary. But I found that MY balance is so much better in a saddle that they were more comfortable and balanced with a saddle. Plus, Percy is not skinny but he does have withers that the ponies don't! Thirdly- he's bigger! I could sit down onto the ponies but even using the muck bucket, I had to go up to get on Percy. So I opted to try this one in a saddle.
I wrote into a list serve asking if anyone else has trouble with these horses trying to get on the mounting block with the rider and yes, I found I am not alone. They have learned about standing on a mat and plastic, etc. Once they find you are clicking them for coming closer to the block, they jump to the conclusion that you'd like them up there with you and they are more than happy to oblige. This has resulted in me going ass-over-teakettle backwards off the block on more than one occasion. I was relieved to know others have had the problem and have dealt with it in good humor...one woman even posted pics of her horse with front feet on the top step of the block and back feet on the bottom step! I admired her training innovation but didn't want to go that route. Instead I did a lot of review of having him step away from a touch on the shoulder. He is very good at that and so going back and forth from approaching the block to stepping away enabled me to prevent him from stepping too far into me. Without the saddle I would simply touch both hands to his back when he was in the right spot and then click and treat. With the saddle I would grab pommel and cantle and just wiggle the saddle a bit as Alex does, then click and treat.
As much as Percy likes to be correct, when he figures out what I want, he thinks that bigger, faster and more must be better. It didn't take long for him to start hustling to the overturned muck bucket. I learned from another poster to alternate the calm, quiet behaviors with the new ones to counteract such over-enthusiasm. We would approach the block and if he got quick, I'd calmly stop him and we'd work on head down before proceeding. I have to be careful not to use head down as a punishment or a test, but rather with the true intent of helping him relax. Sometimes we'd have to do it between steps in lining up as well but it did result in a much quieter mounting block process.
My final decision was to back him in a halter and lead, rather than a bridle, and to do it with no one holding him. He can be enough of a live wire that I did not want to rely on "equipment" or someone else to control him. I wanted him calm, quiet and happy enough with the proceedings that he would offer to stand. I needed to be SO confident in him that I did not feel I needed anything more. So for a couple days, we lined up to the block in halter, rope and saddle and I'd just play with weight in the stirrup and leaning over. He was so nonchalant about it that it was really tempting to climb aboard! I always wear a safety vest in addition to helmet when I ride the youngsters so I also made sure he saw me in that getup and heard the velcro of the vest.
Finally the big day arrived when my husband volunteered to be close enough to take a couple pictures and Percy was just as happy as could be with the whole thing. I was bursting with happiness.
That was three weeks ago and I haven't done it again since. My goal was not to get on and "break him" in short time. It was to show him- look, this is something else weird we can do, then go back to the old games and some day soon I'll get on again and maybe take a few steps. In the meantime we are working on Pony Pilates to strengthen his back so he is better able to carry me when we do more riding.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Turnout Practice
Under the heading of Taking Advantage of Problems, I am using yet another rainy week to work on behavior of horses while being turned out. With record snowfall that melted at the same time as record Spring rainfall, we have very wet paddocks. Last week was beautiful and I was finally able to turn out on grass- but now it's too wet again.
Last week I had developed an exercise I was using with everyone. Each individual had to earn the right to eat grass. So rather than work on "walking politely" to the grass paddocks by using a tidbit from my pocket, I had each one walk x number of steps (each horse or pony had his or her own "average or better" number of steps), then clicked and treated from my pocket. Then, they had to stand for an "average or better" count, at which time I used the verbal cue "graze" and they could drop their heads and feast for 10 or 15 bites. Then I said "head up", and we walked on again.
I was really pleased with how this worked. I was using a former distraction- ankle deep, Spring-rich grass, as a reinforcer. I also used treats from my pocket...this was to prevent them from diving for grass. They had to wait to hear the cue "graze" which taught self-control. What I found was that I was working with two distinct distractions- when we got to the paddock, the horses got to graze as well as buck and play. Simply being handed hay stretcher pellets on the way out did help over the years, but the anxiety level could still be pretty high even though they managed to keep a lid on it. By using grass as a reinforcer on the way out, they didn't have to wait until they got to the paddock to get the grass. This took a lot of the energy out of the situation. I also cued "graze" when we got into the paddock and before I removed the halter. This confused a couple of them, but it removed the connection of "through gate = explosion". When I did remove halters, there was no explosion! They just kept grazing. I sometimes heard a little explosion behind me as I walked back to the barn, but that was glee for being out, rather than glee at getting away from me finally. When weather warmed up this Spring, I began leaving them out in their "dirt paddocks" at night, rather than putting them in stalls, so it wasn't as if they'd been locked up all night and needed to move.
On Saturday we had a little glitch in the system. I had been turning Percy, the youngest, out first. He was doing very well. Saturday morning I needed to leave early to teach at a Pony Club clinic so my husband offered to help. I told him he could start turning the lesson ponies out while I fed Percy his breakfast and did water buckets. Oops. When I took Percy out and he discovered that others were already out there eating without him, he got rather more excited than usual. I should also explain that because we do rotational grazing, it is sometimes a bit of a hike to get to the paddock of choice. In addition, there is a very steep hill (really a very long bank) we have to walk down to get to many of the paddocks. This can be challenging when you are leading a boisterous youngster and you're both slipping and sliding on the dewy grass. Percy got so excited at the top of the hill that his energy burst out and he stood up, once, twice, thrice, four times. He wasn't really trying to get away from me because one time he got a leg over the rope and it came out of my hand but he just walked a couple steps and started grazing, perfectly happy to let me catch him. We proceeded to the paddock as in days before with me mentally kicking myself all the way there and back for not seeing this coming.
The next day, I resumed my previous arrangement, but Percy thought standing up was fun the day before so he did it again. Not good. I jerked hard on the rope, said "NO" and he dropped his head. We proceeded as before. The following day it was too wet to turn out but I decided to "practice" anyway, later in the day. Again, we got to the top of the hill and he stood up. Again I jerked on the rope, said "NO", but this time I walked him right back into his stall. There was no hay or grain in there and I just left him for several minutes while I walked out of sight. My guess was that I'd built a behavior chain. Rearing was OK in his mind because even though he got jerked and yelled at, he still got to go out. The punishment was not strong enough to stop the behavior. I was not willing to go to harsher punishment. The reinforcement of standing up was stronger than the reinforcement of waiting politely. It was time to break things down further so I had no more rehearsals of this very inappropriate behavior. When I took him back out, we just hand grazed for a minute or two and then returned to his dirt paddock- no turnout after rearing.
Since I can't turn them out on grass, this week is turnout practice...without ever leading to actual turnout. There are two criteria I'm after: walking quietly next to me with slack in the rope and standing quietly when I do, also with slack in the rope ("quietly" also includes no head tossing) There are two distractions: grass and anticipated freedom.
Phase 1- get my criteria without either of the distractions. Practice leading around the dirt paddock building duration. Our "average" for him has been 15 steps and a count of 5 wait. I need to build more reinforcement history of this behavior and increase my duration by a lot before I ask for much less when I introduce distractions.
Phase 2- introduce lower level distractions. Put hay out in the paddock and ask him to walk to it while meeting criteria. Ask him to walk past the hay while meeting the criteria. (this has proven pretty easy). Today I will move on to less enticing grass and not in the direction of turnout. I will test the value of my training by seeing if he can meet his average while walking through already grazed grass right in the vicinity of the barn. If not, I will find his average under those distractions and build up duration from there.
Phase 3- Practice walking toward the paddock but not getting turned out. I can hand graze him on the way out and teach him that maybe that's all that happens. He doesn't get to anticipate being turned out any more. I will do this at times of day other than early morning at first (which is usual turnout time).
Phase 4- Practice walking out to hand graze in the paddock. No freedom, just grazing in the paddock with me occasionally asking him to pick his head up and walk or just stand.
Phase 5- Hopefully we'll dry out some day and can turn out and with luck, by then I'll have the little beast under control again!
The beast- watching young cattle buck and run on the hill. (in desperate need of a spring trimming of mane, whiskers and cat hairs!)
Last week I had developed an exercise I was using with everyone. Each individual had to earn the right to eat grass. So rather than work on "walking politely" to the grass paddocks by using a tidbit from my pocket, I had each one walk x number of steps (each horse or pony had his or her own "average or better" number of steps), then clicked and treated from my pocket. Then, they had to stand for an "average or better" count, at which time I used the verbal cue "graze" and they could drop their heads and feast for 10 or 15 bites. Then I said "head up", and we walked on again.
I was really pleased with how this worked. I was using a former distraction- ankle deep, Spring-rich grass, as a reinforcer. I also used treats from my pocket...this was to prevent them from diving for grass. They had to wait to hear the cue "graze" which taught self-control. What I found was that I was working with two distinct distractions- when we got to the paddock, the horses got to graze as well as buck and play. Simply being handed hay stretcher pellets on the way out did help over the years, but the anxiety level could still be pretty high even though they managed to keep a lid on it. By using grass as a reinforcer on the way out, they didn't have to wait until they got to the paddock to get the grass. This took a lot of the energy out of the situation. I also cued "graze" when we got into the paddock and before I removed the halter. This confused a couple of them, but it removed the connection of "through gate = explosion". When I did remove halters, there was no explosion! They just kept grazing. I sometimes heard a little explosion behind me as I walked back to the barn, but that was glee for being out, rather than glee at getting away from me finally. When weather warmed up this Spring, I began leaving them out in their "dirt paddocks" at night, rather than putting them in stalls, so it wasn't as if they'd been locked up all night and needed to move.
On Saturday we had a little glitch in the system. I had been turning Percy, the youngest, out first. He was doing very well. Saturday morning I needed to leave early to teach at a Pony Club clinic so my husband offered to help. I told him he could start turning the lesson ponies out while I fed Percy his breakfast and did water buckets. Oops. When I took Percy out and he discovered that others were already out there eating without him, he got rather more excited than usual. I should also explain that because we do rotational grazing, it is sometimes a bit of a hike to get to the paddock of choice. In addition, there is a very steep hill (really a very long bank) we have to walk down to get to many of the paddocks. This can be challenging when you are leading a boisterous youngster and you're both slipping and sliding on the dewy grass. Percy got so excited at the top of the hill that his energy burst out and he stood up, once, twice, thrice, four times. He wasn't really trying to get away from me because one time he got a leg over the rope and it came out of my hand but he just walked a couple steps and started grazing, perfectly happy to let me catch him. We proceeded to the paddock as in days before with me mentally kicking myself all the way there and back for not seeing this coming.
The next day, I resumed my previous arrangement, but Percy thought standing up was fun the day before so he did it again. Not good. I jerked hard on the rope, said "NO" and he dropped his head. We proceeded as before. The following day it was too wet to turn out but I decided to "practice" anyway, later in the day. Again, we got to the top of the hill and he stood up. Again I jerked on the rope, said "NO", but this time I walked him right back into his stall. There was no hay or grain in there and I just left him for several minutes while I walked out of sight. My guess was that I'd built a behavior chain. Rearing was OK in his mind because even though he got jerked and yelled at, he still got to go out. The punishment was not strong enough to stop the behavior. I was not willing to go to harsher punishment. The reinforcement of standing up was stronger than the reinforcement of waiting politely. It was time to break things down further so I had no more rehearsals of this very inappropriate behavior. When I took him back out, we just hand grazed for a minute or two and then returned to his dirt paddock- no turnout after rearing.
Since I can't turn them out on grass, this week is turnout practice...without ever leading to actual turnout. There are two criteria I'm after: walking quietly next to me with slack in the rope and standing quietly when I do, also with slack in the rope ("quietly" also includes no head tossing) There are two distractions: grass and anticipated freedom.
Phase 1- get my criteria without either of the distractions. Practice leading around the dirt paddock building duration. Our "average" for him has been 15 steps and a count of 5 wait. I need to build more reinforcement history of this behavior and increase my duration by a lot before I ask for much less when I introduce distractions.
Phase 2- introduce lower level distractions. Put hay out in the paddock and ask him to walk to it while meeting criteria. Ask him to walk past the hay while meeting the criteria. (this has proven pretty easy). Today I will move on to less enticing grass and not in the direction of turnout. I will test the value of my training by seeing if he can meet his average while walking through already grazed grass right in the vicinity of the barn. If not, I will find his average under those distractions and build up duration from there.
Phase 3- Practice walking toward the paddock but not getting turned out. I can hand graze him on the way out and teach him that maybe that's all that happens. He doesn't get to anticipate being turned out any more. I will do this at times of day other than early morning at first (which is usual turnout time).
Phase 4- Practice walking out to hand graze in the paddock. No freedom, just grazing in the paddock with me occasionally asking him to pick his head up and walk or just stand.
Phase 5- Hopefully we'll dry out some day and can turn out and with luck, by then I'll have the little beast under control again!
The beast- watching young cattle buck and run on the hill. (in desperate need of a spring trimming of mane, whiskers and cat hairs!)
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Recaller Course Review
I've been raving about this online dog training course I took to everyone who will listen. The name of the course was The 5 Minute Formula to a Brilliant Recall, or Recallers 2.0 for short and it was presented by Susan Garrett of Say Yes Training. The Recaller part of the name is because that is what they course proposed to do- build a Brilliant Recall into your dog in 5 minutes a day. The 2.0 part is because it is the second time she offered it and I imagine it will be offered again in the future. If anyone is interested and has a dog, I highly recommend it.
The course was 5 weeks long and I found the setup to be very worthwhile. It consisted of
How does this course relate to horses? In so many ways that my mind was absolutely exploding with possibilities on a daily basis. Initially, I looked at whether each game could be transferred to horses. Then I began to see bigger connections. Her mantras, her goals, and her methods are applicable on so many levels that I don't know where to begin. I have shared several of my thoughts on my Facebook page but I'll include the following:
Here is the link to Susan's blog which made me look at my training in a whole different way (of course it helps to watch some of her videos to see how utterly thrilled her dogs are to work for her every second of their lives).
Criteria is...
The course was 5 weeks long and I found the setup to be very worthwhile. It consisted of
- A new game presented each day. Each had a fun name and fun was a major ingredient in the entire course. With names like "Cookie in the Corner" and "Smoke Ya", how can you not have fun? Susan is a fun person and her attitude is contagious: she wants training to be fun for handler and dog. The games introduced new skills and built upon previous ones. Most days, there was a 2-5 minute video posted to illustrate the game and sometimes links to her site for supporting articles etc.
- The course had a strong social networking piece to it. Each game was posted on a different page and each of us could comment or ask questions on the games. There was a section for asking the staff questions, for bragging among ourselves, etc. Many of the questions were answered by other participants; some were taking this course for the second time and helped out tremendously.
- In addition, there were webinars and coaching calls. These were amazing and lasted between 1 and 2 hours each. There were three coaching calls plus a taped one from the previous course as well as two webinars. In the webinars, we were give a "lecture" to watch 24 hours ahead of time and then she took live questions. For the coaching calls, we were encouraged to post questions to the website and then she answered them live during the "call" (online).
- Depending on the level one signed up for, there is access to the course for different lengths of time- until either June, August or a full year. In addition, the different levels offer some of the materials in an e-book form as well as DVD and podcast.
How does this course relate to horses? In so many ways that my mind was absolutely exploding with possibilities on a daily basis. Initially, I looked at whether each game could be transferred to horses. Then I began to see bigger connections. Her mantras, her goals, and her methods are applicable on so many levels that I don't know where to begin. I have shared several of my thoughts on my Facebook page but I'll include the following:
- Average or Better- the concept that we need to know our horses' behaviors well enough that we only reinforce behavior that is at least as good as they are capable of on average. I tell myself "average or better" all the time now because I found I frequently rewarded mediocre behavior because "he's so cute" or "he tried" or "I need to maintain that". I look at things completely differently now and see a difference already.
- Don't allow rehearsals of bad behavior- this is one of those things that of course I knew, but somehow, that statement has jumped out at me and I'm seeing ways to apply it constantly. I think it's because I followed "reward the good, but ignore the bad" for so long. But ignoring the bad doesn't always work if it's self-reinforcing or if you haven't given them something else to do instead. So now I look at unwanted behaviors with a sharper eye and find ways to eliminate rehearsals of it, even if it means that it takes more time. Better to take the time now, than deal with this forever.
- Record keeping- we've heard it before, but this course supplied us with a downloadable journal and I have adapted it for my horses. It includes details I didn't think of before and on Susan's suggestion, I committed to using the journal for the course and am trying to build it as a habit. Wow is it helpful to write things down after they happen and use that to develop a plan for the next session. Otherwise, I'm doing same old same old each day.
- Find the Joy- this can be said best by reading Susan's blog post. I'll put a link at the end. Another complete game-changer for me.
Here is the link to Susan's blog which made me look at my training in a whole different way (of course it helps to watch some of her videos to see how utterly thrilled her dogs are to work for her every second of their lives).
Criteria is...
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Crate Games for Ponies
I have been having great fun transferring one of the dog games onto my horses.
The game is actually part of a whole group called Crate Games. Susan Garrett sells a DVD by this name which I bought last summer after getting Eloise. She'd spent a lot of time in a crate before I got her and while I don't keep dogs in crates, she was not reliably housebroken so I had to put her in one if I left her in the house for any reason. I wanted to change her feelings about the crate and I thought this looked like a fun way to do so.
The Crate Games are in the Critical Core exercises of the e-course and therefore the lessons from it reverberate on into many other behaviors. One of the criteria in this game is that the dogs pop into a sit whenever you touch the latch on the crate. I had this in my mind when I went out to the horses one day and as I watched Percy give me his now-standard three steps back as I approached the fence, it occurred to me how useful it would be to teach all the horses to back three steps whenever I touched the latch of a door or a gate handle. Rather than asking them to back, touching the handle itself would become a farm-wide cue for backing. No more heads popping out of doors as soon as they opened, no more crowding at the gate, no more rushing to get out...the benefits were endless. The beauty of course, is not only the vastly safer behavior, but the mindset which would result! Instead of "I wanna", I'd have a conscious polite waiting to be released from three steps back (as this is also part of the behavior- it's not a three steps back and then ricochet forward again). I LOVE it!
I began with Percy as my test case since he was already familiar with his three steps back. He is offering backing regularly now and so when I slid the latch on his door and hesitated, he backed right up. That was easy. Now I must say, there is some punishing that goes on here and I'm curious to see the results. If the dog tries to leave the crate before being verbally released , the instructions are to shut the door, blocking him in, wait a bit and try again. (there is more detail to all this with plenty of reinforcing going on for staying in). It's very effective but I don't kid myself that this is all positive. Unfortunately it was aversive to Eloise because the noise of the latch scared her but that's a different story and she's much better now. But how aversive to a horse? From three steps back, if Percy tried to come forward as I opened his door, I had time and room to slide it shut again before he got to it. This wasn't terribly different from when I approached him at the fence and he stepped forward before I ducked under. If he did, I would back up. So in both cases, I was removing myself (and my attention), to stop the behavior of him coming forward...negative punishment. I could have done it all with the clicker and +R...simply building duration and adding the "distraction" of my entering the stall. But it's really no different than the "you can't make me eat that" game where the food is removed if the horse reaches for it. So I accept that it's not all +R, and am watching each individual to see if I see any unwanted consequences. By the way, I don't verbally release the horses from their position, I approach and ask them to put their halters on where they are or else cue them for something different if I'm not taking them out.
Mariah was the next one I tried it on. It was like falling off a log. She's had so much training that she's a quick study in any situation. She already knows her grain won't land in her tub unless she turns away so it was a very short step to get her to offer to back away from the door when I had hay, and on we went to backing away from the door in all situations. She does not need the reminder of me hesitating at the door like Percy sometimes does.
Next were Rumer and Ande. They are trickier because they share a paddock and this is where the jockeying for position happens as they push each other to be first to me. I had some help from someone else one day and we both worked on "you can't make me eat that" while they were several feet from each other so they could each be reinforced individually but while having the distraction of the other nearby. I am continuing to work with them singularly before expecting much cooperation while together.
The lesson ponies don't crowd the gate, but tend to go up to the top of their paddock and wait where I feed them so I simply ask them for a step back before putting their hay down to introduce the idea, if not the cue.
Conceptually, I have also begun to see if Percy can figure out how to back out of my space regardless of how I approach him. He will easily back if I approach him head on, but I'm also playing with approaching him at an angle to see if he understands that I have a line that I am walking, and if he intersects that line, he needs to back away. So far, so good!
The game is actually part of a whole group called Crate Games. Susan Garrett sells a DVD by this name which I bought last summer after getting Eloise. She'd spent a lot of time in a crate before I got her and while I don't keep dogs in crates, she was not reliably housebroken so I had to put her in one if I left her in the house for any reason. I wanted to change her feelings about the crate and I thought this looked like a fun way to do so.
The Crate Games are in the Critical Core exercises of the e-course and therefore the lessons from it reverberate on into many other behaviors. One of the criteria in this game is that the dogs pop into a sit whenever you touch the latch on the crate. I had this in my mind when I went out to the horses one day and as I watched Percy give me his now-standard three steps back as I approached the fence, it occurred to me how useful it would be to teach all the horses to back three steps whenever I touched the latch of a door or a gate handle. Rather than asking them to back, touching the handle itself would become a farm-wide cue for backing. No more heads popping out of doors as soon as they opened, no more crowding at the gate, no more rushing to get out...the benefits were endless. The beauty of course, is not only the vastly safer behavior, but the mindset which would result! Instead of "I wanna", I'd have a conscious polite waiting to be released from three steps back (as this is also part of the behavior- it's not a three steps back and then ricochet forward again). I LOVE it!
I began with Percy as my test case since he was already familiar with his three steps back. He is offering backing regularly now and so when I slid the latch on his door and hesitated, he backed right up. That was easy. Now I must say, there is some punishing that goes on here and I'm curious to see the results. If the dog tries to leave the crate before being verbally released , the instructions are to shut the door, blocking him in, wait a bit and try again. (there is more detail to all this with plenty of reinforcing going on for staying in). It's very effective but I don't kid myself that this is all positive. Unfortunately it was aversive to Eloise because the noise of the latch scared her but that's a different story and she's much better now. But how aversive to a horse? From three steps back, if Percy tried to come forward as I opened his door, I had time and room to slide it shut again before he got to it. This wasn't terribly different from when I approached him at the fence and he stepped forward before I ducked under. If he did, I would back up. So in both cases, I was removing myself (and my attention), to stop the behavior of him coming forward...negative punishment. I could have done it all with the clicker and +R...simply building duration and adding the "distraction" of my entering the stall. But it's really no different than the "you can't make me eat that" game where the food is removed if the horse reaches for it. So I accept that it's not all +R, and am watching each individual to see if I see any unwanted consequences. By the way, I don't verbally release the horses from their position, I approach and ask them to put their halters on where they are or else cue them for something different if I'm not taking them out.
Mariah was the next one I tried it on. It was like falling off a log. She's had so much training that she's a quick study in any situation. She already knows her grain won't land in her tub unless she turns away so it was a very short step to get her to offer to back away from the door when I had hay, and on we went to backing away from the door in all situations. She does not need the reminder of me hesitating at the door like Percy sometimes does.
Next were Rumer and Ande. They are trickier because they share a paddock and this is where the jockeying for position happens as they push each other to be first to me. I had some help from someone else one day and we both worked on "you can't make me eat that" while they were several feet from each other so they could each be reinforced individually but while having the distraction of the other nearby. I am continuing to work with them singularly before expecting much cooperation while together.
The lesson ponies don't crowd the gate, but tend to go up to the top of their paddock and wait where I feed them so I simply ask them for a step back before putting their hay down to introduce the idea, if not the cue.
Conceptually, I have also begun to see if Percy can figure out how to back out of my space regardless of how I approach him. He will easily back if I approach him head on, but I'm also playing with approaching him at an angle to see if he understands that I have a line that I am walking, and if he intersects that line, he needs to back away. So far, so good!
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