5th May, 2009 Chapter two: In which Tigga saves the day

Hi Sarah,
How are you doing? Well you know I've always been a big fan of the clicker training... and my 3 show miniatures have all just been fully clipped out, 2 with the use of clicker training. (And with my parents buying me new clippers that are slightly louder than the old ones, although miles better I was slightly worried!)

Firstly Spirit, my homebred 2yr old, an angel as per normal, clipped tied up and done by myself... my biggest problem is convincing him to stop trying to eat the clippers! lol

Secondly Chaos. Homebred 3yr old who last year tried to kill us all when we tried the clippers on her near side and injuried 3 people.... we reverted to the clicker training after this and this year started with the clicker training. So easy 7yr old Hannah helped me to clip her using the clicker training... without fuss.

And lastly Tigga... who last year was clipped with my experienced helper Naomi using the clicker training after attending your demo... this year we started with the clicker training, and I started solo with him just tied up with me using the clicker and the clippers (I only managed to clip 80% of his body like this before my friend turned up to help but its a big start!) and both of us said a big improvement from last year and he was a lot calmer and really trying on the bits he didn't like being done.

JH 5.5.09

5th May, 2009 Oh pooh....

A day of mixed fortunes. On of the owners that I have been supporting in starting her own pony at home was well and truly bucked off this morning when he said he couldn't cope with a rider and saddle. He was fine when sat on bareback and there is no reason to suppose that there is anything particularly wrong with the (brand new treeless) saddle; there wasn't time for him to register that. There is a real dilemma about starters and whether it is better to have them in or to work with them at their own yard. If they come in, there can be fits and starts as we deal with other issues such as sore backs or desensitisation and it is cheaper for the owner to have them at home. On the other hand the facilities are rarely as good when we go out - we don't have a round pen, the school may be as hard as rock and usually the owner will not be as experienced at getting on newly started horses. Most of the time it all works out but this time it didn't. We've all got to take a step back now and work out whether it would be better for him to come in. Incidentally, I am not too keen on treeless saddles for starters but this one fitted really nicely and he looked totally at ease in it. My concern has always been that a rider has to lean so far down to do up the dressage girth straps - not a good idea on a newly started horse - and could frighten them or just unbalance them. Also, it is too easy to overtighten the girth if the saddle is inclined to slip - and you can't afford to have that happen with a youngster either.

Following yesterdays training session, Fern is a little better with traffic approaching her from behind. I found that she is more likely to try to overtake when I lead her from the right than the left and this is resulting in her feeling less secure. I have found that by not letting horses overtake me when I am leading them, no matter which side I am on, you provide them with a brick wall of security and prove that you are "there" for them at all times. Once we had worked on this, she was so much more relaxed and we shall go and find some more cars to look at in the next few days.

Rosie did some clickered stretches today followed by a clicker training session with the worming syringe and then the massager. She was happy to be touched by both and for the syringe to be inserted into her mouth and the plunger plunged several many times! If there had been any wormer in it, she would have received sufficient wormer today to work a 14,000 kilogram horse!

This evening it was off to meet lovely Ludo, This 3 year old NF x Arab is really gorgeous and has a very nice character. He was bred by the Hankinsons at Fritham, the same people who bred Nelly, and they have a lovely way with their youngsters. They are so unflappable.

4th May, 2009 Note to self

Bank holidays are called holidays for a reason. With 7 of us up at the fields this morning it did at least feel more like a holiday than work. Rosie and Fern both went for a little ride before returning for some traffic training. Both of them took it in turns to "chase" David on the motorbike and then to have him do fly pasts in both directions. Rosie likes the concept of chasing things and Fern coped really well too. We finished the session by getting them to take it in turns to chase and cope with the 4 x 4 and the motorbike on the perimeter road. Pictures to follow.

This afternoon it was off to see Rachel and Frosty at Ladycross. She and her friend Karen have done all of their homework so that getting Rachel in the saddle for the first time was a non-event. We worked on establishing halt and walking on with minimal aids and lots of thinking and that all went well too. By just thinking forward and down, Rachel was able to ask Frosty to lower his head so that he could use his back to the best advantage. He's looking absolutely great too.

E-mail 5th May: Yippeeee x x x thank you so much xx x x I am over the moon ;_) RG.

equestrian news | Intelligent Horsemanship demonstrated at HorseWorld open day 2009 | This is Bristol

equestrian news Intelligent Horsemanship demonstrated at HorseWorld open day 2009 This is Bristol

2nd May, 2009 A lighter day

I have just worked with the starters today. Rosie had her first trot off the lead rein and she is happy to be ridden without a "leader" and is listening to light aids. Fern went off with Julie on her own this morning and had a couple of canters. She came back looking very pleased with herself and Julie was all smiles too.

Percy has gone home after a three week stay. He is much happier to be around people. His owner has got him to the stage when he is willing to touch her for a clicker treat but will still not let anyone touch him. He could win an Olympic medal for his ability to follow a bucket - no problem at all to move him from place to place. She has now taken him home and will be building a "wild horse pen" where hopefully he can be touched safely.

2nd May, 2009 Wight Welsh

Pretty tired again today following a 12 hour round trip to the Isle of Wight yesterday. Still, I was able to make significant progress with two out of the three horses that I saw and just a little progress with the other one. All of these horses - two Welsh D's and a Welsh Section A have developed well rehearsed and effective behaviours to postpone things happening and to get people away from them or to release pressure. Whether the trigger was their insitinctive into-pressure response to touch or a way of avoiding discomfort, painful or fearful situations, it has definitely worked for each of them and become a pattern or habit. The first horse turns and squashes people against the walls of her stable if she doesn't like the way she is being touched or feels threatened by something new - a tickly brush, hoof oil or the scissors. In her case I made sure that this behaviour no longer worked by pulling her head round quickly to me so that her bottom went the other way but then made sure that her owners new how to go about desensitising her to new things. I was able to cut a bridle path in her mane without too much trouble and to start to ask her to accept having her chin hair trimmed - note, not her whiskers.

E-mail received 4.5.09: Thanks for coming over we all enjoyed the session a lot, especially A she has been practising some of the leading/handling exercises already. SP

The second horse really struggles to have a bit in his mouth and I don't know whether this stemmed from a poor and forceful approach when he was orginally "broken" or even from the way that he was wormed. The touch and move away technique works for worming syringes and makes that process completely untraumatic. There is no need to jam a syringe into a horse's mouth whilst restraining forcibly. In any event, this horse has learned to flip his head violently when approached with the bit resulting in the bit being thrown in the air and sometimes coming down and banging him in the face - this only serves to reinforce his beliefs that the bit is something to be avoided. I must admit that I struggled to find a strategy with this horse - every time a bit is forced into his mouth, it is simply a management situation and sensitises him further and yet he needs to be ridden to keep him fit and happy. Because he is entire, I was wary of using clicker training - stallions are inclined to become very exciteable about their two hobbies of sex and eating. However, this stallion never bites, is generally polite and has never been randomly hand fed. I made a start with clicker training on the basis that we would stop it if we felt that he was becoming overbearing. I set up the association in the first place - asking him to simply touch the bit in order to hear a click and to receive a treat. He got this pretty quickly and in time he would accept a syringe in his mouth in order to receive a click and a treat and would mouth the bit between his lips in order to receive a click and a treat. Nevertheless, it was hard to get and to keep his attention as he has a beloved mare running with him at the moment and felt that he had better things to do! I should add that he has had his teeth and poll checked very recently and the owner has tried different bits.

The little Section A stallion, that quite frankly would look fantastic in any mantelpiece, was also a head flipper but in his case it got him a release from pressure on the lead rein, postponed his bridle going on or in his mind got him to a mare more quickly. Whilst being cautious about whether there was a physical reason for his behaviour - he has had his teeth and poll checked - this behaviour was addressed effectively with a distracting noise or some big body language each time he did it and a refusal to give him the release in the lead rein until his head was still.

E-mail received 4.5.09: So far so good with Rex, he's stopped the headshaking and is much more relaxed. Erin is as usual a superstar. AC

30th April, 2009 Another early start

Popped down to Sue's this morning to put a headcollar on her wild mare, Mary, who was due to have her feet trimmed under sedation. This is the third time I have worked with Mary and I it took approximately 30 seconds to put her headcollar on. She's a lovely old girl and enjoys a good groom. I left before the vet arrived but I hear that all went well.

It was then off to take the starters for a walk in the morning mist. I call these I-Spy walks as the idea is to find as many novel objects as possible en route. With Rosie, we met and gently moved three young steers (she has been frightened of cows), said hello to four beautiful donkeys (she was most impressed with those) and stood about 3 foot away from a Jewson's lorry that was backing into a long drive (boring, said Rosie). Fern couldn't care less about steers or great herds of Shetland ponies sweeping majestically across the green. She is however, slightly worried about traffic so again we followed a (TNT) lorry up a long drive at trot and then inspected the vehicle while the driver delivered a parcel to the Nursing Home. She particularly liked "driving" it back down the track as it was reversing and she could easily keep up with it. Thank you to the drivers of both of these vehicles.

Yesterday evening, Maria Owens came out to take a saddle fitting for Fern, Petra and Chancer. She is extremely thorough and has a stock of templates that look like television aerials that she moulds to the shape of the horse's back, this acquiring a pattern for the shape of the whole saddle area not just the head. Petra, who can look like an angel most of the time, gave the "aerial" a very old fashioned look and wasn't quite sure she could cope with it near her. A bit of touch and move away technique and she was prepared to take the risk. The templates will be used to find the very best fitting tree for our Western saddles.