Connection Training Day 2

Once again we gathered in the barn for a short session to recap and discuss what people wanted help with.

I will be brief about day 2 as many of the sessions were working on the same concepts.
A – B’s – where the horse is sent from point A to point B using a target.

The first horse a beautiful ex-police horse had been traumatised by the police work – she had bolted in the middle of a London riot.
The owner was doing a great job of regaining trust and now wished to add some forward movement.
Firstly the owner got the horse to go to her target and then sent it to Shawnas’ target. After a few moments Shawna used a cone for the horse to target. The idea is that the horse will eventually go to the target when directed so the owner can train without an assistant.

The cone has to be fairly close to start with and the second person with the target will hold the target on the cone. A target can then be placed on the cone and the horse will go and stand by that until called back and reward of course.

Short sessions of course – plenty of time to relax and process information both for the horse and the humans.

The next horse was doing the same type of exercise as she was not very forward going in the school without pressure. Some great targeting was achieved as the light bulbs went for horse and human.
All of this at liberty so the horse is free to choose.
How good for the horse to be free to decide what he/she wants to do and for them to work it out for themselves.

Then a nice little highland pony came in – similar work with the cones and targets – this time adding a little jump in the equation and send the horse from person to person over the jump.
This adds a little variety especially to horse that like jumping.

One of the horses in the afternoon was a young colt who had only recently been gelded and was still a little pushy around his humans. The owners wanted to start him using positive reinforcement but had a huge history of using negative reinforcement with previous horses.
I do find it difficult myself to not to revert to some of my previous habits when in a difficult situation so they were doing the best they could for this horse.
Shawna went in the field with this horse and got him to stand calmly for the treats but he was still showing signs of mugging and pushing. Shawna came outside and worked in protective contact over the fence.
Any sign of relaxation and him not looking for treats was rewarded.
Then Shawna tried the A to B’s with him and being a very bright youngster he soon got the idea, with lots of enthusiasm and lots of time outs.
The owners went away with lots of ideas to help him settle down.

There was a horse who had been Parelli trained initially and then clicker trained to accept certain veterinary treatments due to a severe injury – didn’t want to move or accept treats the previous day ( I didn’t see the horse the previous day as I went to book into my B&B during that session).
The horse was taken into an area of a field where obstacles were set out and allowed to stand on a pedestal as it seemed to find that rewarding and had no problem with accomplishing the task. Little steps to take to find something the horse likes to do.

All horses need to be allowed to explore and find things out rather than being micromanaged as some horses are who have been trained using pressure and release techniques. We have a horse who was like this and is still a little unsure sometimes about what to do.

The final horse was the yard owners arab, the previous session had been more of a desensitising to the scary arena. Day 2 was about forwards – at liberty using the A to B technique, first sending the horse short distance between 2 people then longer distances and finally over a little jump.
The horse seemed to get the game quickly but Shawna – as always – seemed to be a horse magnet!
So it look a little while for him to go over the jump and not stop at Shawna.
Shawna then inadvertently demonstrated “greedy trainer syndrome”. This is where the trainer asks more of the horse than they can cope with, in this case Shawna raised the jump and over faced the horse. The fence was lowered and he jumped a couple of times and then was jackpot reinforced and allowed to run round freely, as an end to the session.

What did I learn – a great deal about being patient and not over facing or over stimulating the horse. Slow and sure is better than fast and furious.
How to use cones or similar to create forward motion – first with 2 people and then alone – sending the horse to targets.
Timing is crucial, bridge/click the exact moment the horse does the behaviour you wish to reinforce.
The value of stationary targeting – especially useful when trying to take horse out of fields. Although difficult if the horses are not all your own to train.