The pony is learning to target the ball, then to follow it, and to push it around.
Riding on the pony. He was a lead-line pony and no one knows if he was ever ridden without being lead. It seems like he's not sure if he should move unless he's lead by a ground person, so we're having him target the ball, as he did without a rider, only this time he has a passive rider on him.
This is an approximately eight-year-old pony, a good lead-line pony, but not fully trained. He has not yet been exposed to following a feel, and has a couple of small problem areas and some resistance. The resistance may be due to being uneduated in the area of "feel".
He has only had a couple of clicker training sessions prior to this one, and loves it. He is very quick to learn.
These picture are of Starlet and Lisa, and the trampoline.
Lisa says:
Starlet is my 3-year old, daughter of my first Rocky Mountain Horse, Tira. Starlet loves clicker training and took to it immediately. I don't get as much time with her as I would like due to my work/family responsibilities, but when I do - she is fast as lightening to pick something up.
We have also had the worst winter and Spring and the coldest June on record so working with the horses has been challenging. But finally we had a nice day on Saturday and Starlet and I worked on picking up feet willingly (she's always been a little sticky on this one issue); bareback pad, touch the tennis ball on the stick (preparatory to learning to bow, which is on our list of to-dos), move your hip over, move your shoulder over, circle me and whoa.
Sunday we began with willing feet - (one step backwards - not as willing as previous day) and so I decided not to belabor the feet but bring out something new and exciting! My son dragged the trampoline over and Starlet, after taking a bite of the styrofoam siding, put one foot on several times, then she put two feet on so quick it took my breath away. She did it so fast and so fearlessly that I barely had time to react.
I asked her to back up with a touch of my hand and the verbal cue "baaack" and off she went.
Stopped for the day as it was a big accomplishment!
The pony is learning to target the ball, then to follow it, and to push it around.
Riding on the pony. He was a lead-line pony and no one knows if he was ever ridden without being lead. It seems like he's not sure if he should move unless he's lead by a ground person, so we're having him target the ball, as he did without a rider, only this time he has a passive rider on him.
This is a video by Leslie Pavlich, working with her Quarter Horse on his easy gait (i.e. running walk of gaited horses). She helps to bring out the gait with clicker training:
[] Targeting: touching the ball on the end of the stick, wherever it is placed; up, down, side, under, over, and follow it as we walk along.
[] Bringing the head between the legs by targeting the ball. Increase range.
[] At the right time, lift one leg and ask him to target the ball under his chest. (Lifting a leg can be an additional behavior that is worked on separately, if you want the horse to lift his own leg.)
Yesterday, I had lifted his leg and asked him to target the ball under him (last picture below), so we're already at that point.
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