Category: Mojo

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Mojo update

I went on a course last weekend about neuranatomy – really interesting and lots to remember and relate to how our horses feel about various stimuli.

At this talk I arranged with Heather Richardson of Amberly Aromatics to come and do an Equine Touch treatment with Mojo.

We started with history taking,after that Heather offered Mojo some aromatherapy oils – first carrot seed which he seemed to quite like, but the camomile was really exciting. Mojo was very intent on inhaling and there was a large Flehman response. (The flehmen response acts with the vomeronasal organ (Jacobsons organ) near the palate to amplify smells.) So he was getting a good dose, then he licked some from Heather’s hand.

Then walked I him up and down so Heather could assess his gait. Mojo appeared to be stiff and had an assymetrical pelvis.

We had to counter condition the Equine Touch treatment as Mojo was finding it a bit too much, so good to have a therapist who has knowledge of learning theory and how aversive stimulation affects emotions. Heather gave some red light treatment and has sent me a link to some research so I know the science behind how it works. It is all on her website so why not take a look.

We now have exercises for the next 2 weeks before Heather comes back to assess.

I am sure Mojo will begin to feel better very soon and we can then counter condition the saddle again, after it is correctly fitted – I intend to get Julie Knaggs ( a Lavinia Mitchell saddle fitter) out once Mojo has the all clear.

 

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Mojo Trotting

I have struggled to get Mojo a bit more animated when following a target, probably due to me not going fast enough. So my daughter came to help today, we put 2 cones out as he stations nicely at these and then she got him to follow the target stick and upped the reinforcement for trotting, he was getting quite lively towards the end. However Liz can run faster than I can so I need to get his trotting on a cue so he can trot to the cones by himself.

Before this he was very wary meeting a new person, a few big startle responses as Liz touched him, but he soon decided she was trustworthy and really seemed to enjoy the session.

When you have a horse who is nervous like Mojo you have to go slowly and desensitise to so much. It is like starting a horse from the beginning. Restarting often takes much longer than starting a youngster with no experience of aversive methods.

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Counter Conditioning

Counter conditioning alongside systematic desensitisation is very powerful. If we do slow desensitisation we can get horses accepting of aversive stimuli, but if we pair that with an appetitive – food or scratches or anything the horse values and wants more of – then we can change how they feel about the aversive. It can even become something they want, rather than something they just tolerate.
Too often we halter horses and spray them, clip them  etc, without thinking about how the horse feels, horses sometimes provide a lot of feedback in the form of pulling away, fidgeting or even being openly petrified, but often they just shut down as they feel they can’t say “no”. So what do some people do in those scenarios were they acknowledge the horse has a problem? They may hold them tighter, tell them off and even sedated them to be clipped.
How much better is it to take time to desensitise and counter condition? Well Mojo was petrified of fly spray, the first time I sprayed him was in his stable and he nearly squashed me against the wall he spooked so much.
What did I do about it? Well I started systematic desensitisation and counter conditioning. Starting at a distance with the spray so he noticed but did not react, all at liberty – then they can flee if necessary.  I used my verbal bridge signal “good” and rewarded him – sometimes with a scratch, sometimes with a treat.
Gradually over the last few weeks he will stand next to me and not flinch when the water is sprayed, (I used water to conserve the fly spray – but need to counter condition the smell of the fly spray once he is OK being sprayed.)
Today I did this in the field and he stayed and stood still whilst I sprayed water high in the air so the droplets actually fell on him, a few weeks ago he would have startled big time and run off.
I can now spray his legs from about a metre away but if I get too close he looks aways – so there is still some conflict present.
We must be very mindful of avoiding conflict – he wants the treats or scratches but is still unsure about the spray – this is why slow progress is better than force.
Clipping will be next but as he was sedated last time it may take much longer to overcome that fear.
He is still a little touch sensitive on his head, but getting better, he was targeting my hand today with his cheek – that is a new behaviour and not solid yet.

His feathers are still a sensitive area, but I can brush them and put cream on the sore bits if I run my hand down his legs, he gets a big butt scratch for that.

I have had Mojo for just over 2 months now so he has come a long way. He is very quick to learn new things and very eager to participate in the shaping programs.

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Free Shaping

Wow, so much to report after my Shaping course with Peggy Hogan.

Mojo has blossomed over the last few weeks but is still touch sensitive and startles easily. I have been doing some systematic desensitisation and counter conditioning. I had a few tips from various behaviourists. Catherine Bell, Jo Hughes to name two.

It is extremely slow progress but so worth while.

So when Peggy offered this free course on Facebook I jumped in, I was nervous as I had no concept of free shaping – that is just waiting and watching what the horse offers and marking and rewarding any little tries in the right direction.

Ours taske were simple – to catch any interaction with a novel object – I used a dog toy – a football with ropes round it.

Mojo very soon got the hang of touching it, then pushing it, stamping on it, kicking it. I rewarded what I wanted more of – pushing with his nose was good and he soon learned that is what I wanted.

This was as much teaching me correct marking and timely rewarding as about helping Mojo seek out answer for himself – so no micro or even macro managing.

This is a little snippet from our sessions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GilOgGur5rg

I can thoroughly recommend these courses – look on Peggy’s Facebook page or website for more information.

References
Peggy Hogan
Jo Hughes
Catherine Bell

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Mojo Week 2

Week 2

Monday

The podiatrist came today to do Mojo’s feet, he is very sensitive to having his feathers touched but obviously I haven’t had time to do anything about that yet. The podiatrist is very gentle and takes whatever time it takes to get Mojo calm and relaxed – I stood by his head and at one point he almost fell asleep.
I had spent some time with him in the stable grooming and getting him to stand and touch his headcollar before putting it on, I will have to desensitise and counter condition haltering too – he does tend to turn his back when he doesn’t want something. I just stood in the stable – ignored the turning round and held out the halter. Bridged and treated him touching it a few times, I would have liked to take longer with more small sessions but had to halter him to take him out to the podiatrist. Therefore I had to put on the halter sooner than I would have liked but he was calm about it and did get a jackpot.
He stood nicely for the podiatrist who was pleased with him, I need to also teach him to pick up his feet on a verbal cue, I am glad I had Benny to train before Mojo as I did teach him to pick up his feet on a cue.
 Previous horses have always picked up there own feet, I have no idea how I taught it but I would think it was just classically conditioned. Likewise with haltering and bridling – I was at a loss when I got Benny as he didn’t seek the halter or bridle like my previous horses.
So much to learn and get right!

Tuesday

This morning I just went and groomed him in the stable – no treats or bridging. He was sleepy as had just come in for breakfast so he let me touch him all over and groom all his legs, and put on the cream on his scabby bits (mallenders) with out any fuss.
I picked up 3 of his feet to clean them but the 4th remained firmly planted. More work is needed in getting him to pick them up voluntarily but I will wait until I have watched Jo Hughe’s new video and know I am conditioning the clicker correctly.
He is OK now with the sound of the clicker – the quieter one – so that is all good.
The problem I have is that when he gets fed up with anything he turns his back on people in the stable. I just stood still until he decided to turn round again – I think it may be better to do much of his training in a larger space.
It is making me think though – I am determined to use as much positive reinforcement as possible but do feel at the moment it might be a mix of that and mild negative reinforcement.

This afternoon I have found something else that Mojo doesn’t like – fly spray! Plenty for me to do with him before even thinking of riding him. He likes grooming so the touching all over isn’t really an issue – just sudden movements seem to startle him. He does have a tendency to turn his rear end towards people when he has had enough attention. I think that must have been reinforced by people leaving. I just stood by the door – just incase I needed to exit quickly but it didn’t feel like he was going to do anything untoward. He soon turned round and came back for some more grooming.

Lots of systematic desensitisation and counter conditioning (classical conditioning) for me to do before training anything else.