I've been experimenting with some clicker training with one of my horses. I stayed away from this method for a long time because I want my horses to be obedient because I asked them to, not because they know I have a treat in my pocket. I still feel that way, but decided to give it a try with Wilson. He's a sweet boy, but he isn't great at connecting the dots to figure out what I want. In addition, he gets a little flustered and frustrated when he doesn't understand what is expected of him. I thought this would be an effective way to provide him with better feedback to help him learn.
So far, we've done two sessions, and we both like it! We started our first session introducing the concept. When his head was straight ahead, he got a click and a treat. He doesn't get treats very often so was offering his Flehmen response "smile" frequently. I went ahead and gave it a cue... and... Viola!! He had learned his first trick. It was almost too easy. Next we worked on targeting (touching with his nose) a tennis ball stuck on the end of my whip. It was interesting watching his learning process. He had a few good touch, click, treat repetitions, but then he had to check the limits. He touched the stick, the handle, my hand, my pocket, and then he just stopped and looked at me for a minute.... And then he bit the ball. He had made the connection. Ball= good. Everything else= no cookie.
Our second session was much the same, and I was able to add the "touch" cue to the target work. We worked on touching a cone and targeting the ball in different places.
I'm excited to add a new method to my bag of tricks. I hope to use the clicker to train showmanship maneuvers and some stretching and strengthening exercises like belly lifts.
I recently stumbled across this article entitled, "The Timing and Coordination of the Aides", by Thomas Ritter. One of my pitfalls as a rider is poor feel. I have worked diligently to improve this area, but my riding is still more intellectual and instinct based than feel based. While this has worked for me at the level which I currently ride, if I want to continue to improve, I need to seriously work on this area. I particularly liked the way he explained what the rider feels at each stage of the movement of the horse's leg. Here are some nuggets:
"The rider’s pelvis is connected to the horse’s pelvis. The movement of the
horse’s hips communicates itself to the rider’s seatbones. When the hind leg
touches down and carries the load, the rider’s pelvis gets pulled back a little
toward the cantle. This is most clearly noticeable at the walk. At the same
time, the rider feels a little bump under his seat bone on the same side,
because the horse’s hip rises as the hind leg touches down. The rider also feels
a pulse in the rein of the same side at the same time. There is also a little
impact in the stirrup that the rider can feel in his toes."
"When the rider’s seat is pulled forward in the saddle, the hind leg that had
just touched down has passed the vertical and is now pushing the load forward.
The hip and hock are extending, while the stifle is flexing. This is most
noticeable to the rider in the walk and the second beat of the canter, when the
inside hind leg and outside front leg are on the ground together. This is the
moment in which the driving seat aid can be applied with success, in order to
ask the horse to push more and lengthen his stride. "
While this has all been explained to me previously (over and over and over), for some reason I wasn't able to put the pieces together into anything useful. Ritter's descriptions helped me bridge the gap between what I understand intellectually, and what I will actually be feeling as the horse moves. This allows me to put much more of the theory I understand into action.
Now it was time to practice. I was focusing on feeling the different motions in my seat as my horse used his hind legs and adjusting "air time" and "ground time" of these legs. I tried this out on two of my horses, Wilson and Jasper.
Wilson is often labeled as a "western horse". This is horse people code for he doesn't like to pick up his feet. As we rode I was working to keep him straight with his shoulders in front of my hips and using my seat to accentuate the sliding forward part of the stride to help him take longer strides. We were seeking more air time in his stride, and it was hard work for both of us. Eventually he put the pieces together, and this led to a much more balanced trot without as many tries to go up to the "easier" canter.
Jasper is naturally a forward mover, but he has a traction problem. When his hind end gets out of control, he wants to buck to get it back underneath him. During our ride, I was focused on the backwards feeling in my seat to help him keep his feet on the ground just a little bit longer. This helped reduce the number of times he lost traction. At times he would get bogged down, but by wrapping my legs around his belly and lifting with my calf, I was able to bring him back together.
At all times during both rides, I was very conscious of how I was influencing my horses. When my seat was not balanced and even, they would inevitably follow me into crooked oblivion. That's when we would start all over again. Working with the mechanics of the horse in order to most effectively affect their way of going takes a lot of concentration on my part, but ultimately leads to a horse and rider team who appear seamless.
We talk about confidence a lot in the horse world. If a horse does not have a confident leader, he feels he needs to take charge, and that can lead to all sorts of frustration for his human partner. I find, in general, confidence is not based on knowledge. People either walk into their first lesson with me "knowing they can do this" or "hoping they can do this" and their previous experience has a very small amount to do with which side they land on.
The "hoping they can do this" folks are usually the ones who want to succeed the most. They are also usually the ones who have a hard time. Different horses respond differently to a lack of confidence. They may be inattentive to their handler on the ground, wiggly, or hard to steer. No matter how it manifests, these horses are not being bad, and their training isn't ruined; they are just responding to their leader.
Unconfidence can be caused by fear, lack of familiarity, or a past experience. It's a terrible roadblock to learning more about horses and can be difficult to overcome. So, how can we build confidence? We just fake it. Figure out a realistic goal for your ride and make an action plan if your horse does not do what you ask. Having plan A and plan B puts purpose into your actions. Your horse will definitely notice this. Often, this is all it takes to bring a horse with a mind of his own over to your way of thinking. The more successes you have, the more confidence you will build. The key is to take it slow, pick realistic goals, and stick with it!
Hi, readers! It's summer and I've been playing in the sun. Also, my laptop bit the dust. Thus, the lack in posts. I'm trying to get back into my blogging routine. We'll see how it goes. ;)
I taught a wonderful lesson with one of my really fun clients last night. She has a wonderful little gelding that I ride a few times a week. They are both on the green side but willing to learn. We were working to prepare for a show, and I set up cones in the corners of the arena to help work on keeping on the rail and riding correct corners. Sweet little gelding was doing really well with all the corners except one. At this particular corner, he would drop his shoulder and push to the inside of the cone. Every time. Wonderful client wanted to know why he was spooking in that corner. Helpful railbird commented that it was probably where she was standing or possibly the saddle cover hanging over the rail. While initially it may have been one of those things, what it boiled down to is that the horse didn't want to go into that corner. He wasn't spooking and he wasn't afraid. Without the proper leadership from the saddle, he just didn't have a reason to. Now, I have no idea why he initially didn't want to go into the corner, but after three or four times, he had it in his head he shouldn't have to. So, I encouraged my student to be proactive by lifting the shoulder ahead of time and focusing her energy on riding through the corner rather than fighting about the cone. Viola!! He went right through.
As riders, we have a natural tendency to want to explain and rationalize what is happening with our horses. Especially when something goes wrong. Putting a label on it, or assigning it a reason or cause makes us feel better. The problem with this is that horses don't always have a reason for what they do; or, if our thought process isn't like the horse's, we may assign the wrong reason to the behavior. Horses live in the moment. They are not hatching plans to make our rides more difficult. They are not devious.What horses are is incredibly sensitive. If something is bothering you, it will bother them. By putting a lot of thought into the problem you are having, that corner, this movement, or that transition, you are only telling the horse that there is something to be concerned about.
If we constantly excuse our horses inappropriate behavior because there was something hanging on the rail, he doesn't like that horse, the door was open instead of closed etc, we make it ok. By putting a name on it, and allowing the horse to behave in a way they shouldn't because of that, we have given our horse the opportunity to make decisions. Now, I don't know about you, but, when I'm in the saddle, I want to be making the decisions. So, when I'm riding and the horse pulls a move that's out of line, I make sure that I was not giving a confusing message, that there's nothing the horse should be legitimately concerned about, and then I carry on with whatever I wanted in the first place. I may adjust my strategy to make the exercise more clear to the horse, but I don't spend a lot of time figuring out what may have bothered sweet Fluffy. I don't even care! I want to continue to make progress with the horse listening to me, so I'm not going to spend a lot of time focusing on a little hiccup. Often times, when we fall into a pattern with our horse, we are
anticipating the problem and creating tension in the horse. It's hard,
but when something unplanned happens, you need to brush it off and move
on. Fixating and wondering if it will happen again is almost a sure
guarantee that it will. Ensuring that your horse's attention is focused on you and being proactive to stop problems before they turn into a habit will go a long way in eliminating unwanted behavior.
Let the sporadic flood of blog posts commence! I'm in a writing mood these days, but the sun is shining. We'll see what wins out over the weekend ;) I just got a beautiful new bridle in the mail the other day...
It's really really really nice. You can buy one just like it here. This bridle has nice padding, nice quality leather, and roller buckles in all the right places. The stitching is neat and tight, and the leather is so soft and supple right outta the box. But the best part of this bridle is the price tag.... $50! Schneiders has quite a few options from the Premier brand, and, next time I'm in the market for a bridle, these are the ones I'll be buying. I have yet to actually use the bridle, so we'll see how it works at a later date, but it sure LOOKS nice :)
Before we get started, just wanted to say "Hey There" to all eight of my followers! Thanks for sticking with me through my sporadic spells of inspiration. I'll hit my rhythm one of these days ;)
Recently, the TWH world has been in the spotlight. If you read my blog because you like me and not horses (Hi, Mom?), the short version is that there's a very popular type of show horse called the "Big Lick" Tennessee Walker , and the only way to get them to do what they do is by torturing and eventually crippling them. See the ABC video and article for more info.
Here is A LOT of footage of the Big Lick walkers in action. Don't they kinda look like aliens? Two of the reasons people are outraged by the practices of Big Lick trainers are action devices and soring. Because of all the "civilian" attention this case is getting, I think it's about time we revisit a discipline that has been called out for completely unhealthy fads in the show ring, but has still not cleaned up its act. Western Pleasure has allowed ridiculous training and fads to win in the show ring, and while the style may change, the ribbons still encourage others to follow whatever is the winning style. Why would anyone going for a ride out in the pastures want their horse cantering with such a hook in his body that it's more of a crabwalk? Or is showing such a popular activity now that people breed show horses that need not even resemble what would actually be put to use in the real world? So, we are going to look at the similarities between Big Lick and Western Pleasure. Maybe people will get mad about this too!
Let's do a little comparison between these two and see what we can see
Big Lick has Soring. Trainers cover the lower leg with caustic chemicals, like deisel, and then they wrap the legs with saran wrap to make sure the chemicals get the skin good and tender. Then they put chains on the tenderized skin, which will repeatedly smack them as they move and, therefore, "encourage" their flashy gait. They also use huge platform shoes called stacks. These are extremely heavy and can warp the foot. Check out this post from a farrier about stacks on FuglyBlog if you'd like more information.
This video shows a few of the Western Pleasure problems that compare to soring. One is the "yank incessantly on the mouth while spurring" training method. This video got nearly unbearable at the two and a half minute mark. My goodness! While she's not necessarily pulling hard, it's almost incessant. That type of continuous nagging with the bit can do permanent damage to the tongue, not to mention make the whole mouth very sore. This gal seems to be fairly quiet with her spurs, but she's trying to get you to buy her how-to video. Maybe she's saving some of the really good tips for people who will shell out the cash? Some other methods to encourage the WP gaits are huge bits, draw reins, martingales, and hock hobbles. While these methods seem a little more humane than the TWH folks, many of these methods cause lasting damage to the horse and most do not remain sound.
Hmm.. both disciplines drastically change their horse's gait in a way that actually causes harm??
Moving on...
This is a winning TWH Tail
This high tail set is sometimes achieved by "nicking" the tail, which is the nice name for slicing a tendon on the underside of the tail so that it can be held higher and look better(?!) in the show ring. They also strap them into these tail set contraptions to help the tail look more awesome.
Sidenote: I have no experience with the above horse, and have no idea if that tail was nicked.. or set... or won anything for that matter.
Doesn't that look comfy for them to curl up in their stall with?
This is a winning WP tail
Because stock horses have big ol' booties, fake tails have become very popular to hide the fact that many stock horses grow pathetically thin tails, and thus they balance the appearance of the horse. Why this matters, who knows? Fashion is an unruly beast! But the next tail shocker is the fact that it is fairly common for pleasure horses to have their tails blocked. The tail is injected with a chemical to temporarily "partially" paralyze it. I've heard one reason for doing this was to stop the horse from carrying their tail away from their body. Apparently using their whole spine to move is out of fashion this year. Another added bonus is that these horses lose their ability to swish their tail when they are spurred by their rider. This fad is not without censequence, if the injection site gets infected or the horse has a bad reaction for any number of reasons, they could die. More commonly, the effects may not wear off, the horse may lose hair at the head of the tail, or it may develop a kink in the dock. Here is a photo of the aftermath of tail blocking gone wrong.
I bet that cost more than it was worth....
Looks like both of these disciplines are willing to go to extreme measures to "improve" their horses' appearance.
Here is a video of a class of 4 year olds at the Celebration last year. I think the canter is the most awkward one, but they all look like a strain on the horse. The structures of the leg were not designed for the additional work of squatting down behind and carrying bricks on their feet in front like these horses are.
Here is a video from a class at the 2011 AQHYA World Show. In my opinion, these horses don't look much more comfortable than the walkers. The main horse in this video looks like her booty hurts to me.
As we've just seen, both of these disciplines promote gaits that are unnatural and affect the horses' long term soundness.
While I know there is always a range of people involved in every discipline, nobody can deny that Big Lick and Western Pleasure have earned every bit of their terrible reputations. There is a major difference between these two disciplines that I should mention. While I feel there are people who actually care about horses in the WP industry, no horse loving person could ever do what the Big Lick weirdos do to theirs. Let's raise awareness people! Education is power and all that.
For this installment, I'm showcasing not just a single product, but a whole line of great products!
Taken from the Thinline website: What makes ThinLine unique is its technology. ThinLine is an open-cell foam which moves shock, weight, and heat laterally across the pad.
These pads are great for absorbing shock, which makes the ride more comfy for us up in the saddle too, and are also reported to help saddles stay in place better. I've seen great results with my horses. s
What I love about the Thinline products is their great shock absorbing ability coupled with total ease of use. The rubbery material is super easy to wipe clean, and this stuff is built to last. I went through several pairs of smb's for my gelding who interferes while being ridden.
Buying a pair of these awesome open front boots has saved me a ton of money in the long run. My gelding also loves them because they don't get as hot and itchy as his support boots did.
I also have one of these awesome "saddle fitter" pads.
The pockets allow you to add shims if you need a little more padding in a certain area. The fleece and construction on this bad boy are impressive. I feel I'll probably be using this pad for many years to come!
Overall, my only complaint about the Thinline products is the price. They are definitely a little pricey, but with some good shopping, I've been able to find some great bargains!
