Another trip to Wiltshire today to work with three very different horses and ponies. Yeshe, a five year old Welsh section B driving pony that has been trained in a kind and traditional way, Lou a Quarter horse that has been trained using Parelli techniques, and Nile, an Arab. I was asked to long rein all three - but not at the same time you understand. Each one of them had a slight tendency to go into 'automatic pilot' when started off. It is really important to keep a two way conversation going and not to 'put the phone down' on them. Yeshe found it reassuring to be able to check in that he doing the right thing, Lou wanted to know that she wasn't going to have to do circles forever and Nile just needed to be reminded that in fact he couldn't assume that he knew what he was being asked to do - Arabs are just so gifted!
You may be wondering why I am standing in a hoop. The owner needed to know whether it was possible to long rein Yeshe using only upper body body language since she has some limits to her mobility. To test this I needed to make sure that I stood in one place to ask Yeshe to move off without necessarily being able to 'drive' him away at a 45 degree angle. I also needed to see whether I could ask him to come in to me so that he can be rewarded easily. Like a lot of ponies, I think he has been told that he must not come in when he is being lunged. Once we'd established that this was all do-able, his owner took over from me.
Lou the Quarter Horse...
Nile with all his flags flying...
"Again many many many thanks….went away filled with enthusiasm
much clearer on differences between dog and horse clicker training..." DS
