Unless you are reading this blog, of course. In that case, reading is good:)
I spent some time over the weekend doing some research. I discovered that there are a lot of people clicker training horses and that one could spend a ton of time and money watching DVDs and reading books or articles about clicker training a horse and become an expert without ever having to actually touch a horse. After a couple of hours "following the white rabbit" I had to look away and shut down the computer. I mean, how many little stories can a person read about Suzie Q, who, after 30 minutes with her head shy horse, can now throw the halter in the paddock and the horse will put the halter on all by himself, even buckling it under his own chin! You know the type I mean. Disgusting. I spent 3 days trying to teach the word "touch." Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to know that help is out there if really needed, but equally delighted to continue working things out without such reminders of my novice-ess-ness. (I don't get help with my English either, so there!)
After this, I picked up the original inspiration for this project: Kelly Marks' Teach Your Horse Perfect Manners. I love Kelly Marks. She's a Brit and that's enough to win my affection, but she was also a lady jockey. Too cool for words. With her racing background, she doesn't look down on Dressage, Western or any other riding discipline. I appreciate that deeply.
This book has nothing to do with clicking. That was not originally part of the plan. She outlines exercises using halters and lead or lunge lines and I was going to simply follow her plan as closely as I could. When I read the clicker books over the holidays, several weeks after deciding to take on Matilda, I decided to add that in. Those who know me know I am not a thing of grace. Long leads and ropes get tangled and stepped on when in my capable hands, so I added the clicker into the mix. (Go back to my very first post and remember that Matilda does not have a phenomenal history with the lunge line either.) I am really glad I decided to go with the clicker, I love the freedom that it gives us both, but I am also glad that I went back to Kelly Marks' book to remind myself of the foundation exercises that I was so anxious to get a handle on: come, stand still, backing up, lateral movement, etc.
Don't worry, I'm not giving up on what I was doing....
With ALL of this in mind, today was totally schizophrenic. We worked on (are you ready?) come, touch, back, stop and stay with a little "walk with me" thrown in for good measure. The funny thing is, it sort of worked for us. When one thing got a little frustrating (aka Matilda started nipping at me), we moved on to something else and just kept shifting gears. There were lots of carrots and very few breaks.
The only things Matilda really had trouble with were "stop" and "walk with me". I know that I was asking her to stop without laying the proper foundation. (Let's face it, whenever there is a problem, the trouble is mine. The sooner you accept that fact with a project like this, the better.) I should have inserted the word stop as she was stopping naturally many many times, rather than starting out by asking her to stop while she was still 20 feet away and moving towards me holding a carrot. Fortunately, with this method it is no big deal. There is no punishment involved, so no real negative connotations become attached to a word or action if not performed properly.
As for "walk with me," polite ponies walk on a person's right, the carrot bucket sits on my left hip. 'nuff said. Again, no big deal.
If you want to see a funny expression on an animals face, teach an animal what the clicker means by doing something like target training and then start teaching stay. Up until today, Matilda was only clicked for proactively doing something. Today, I told her to stay and then clicked quickly before she could move. You can almost see the confusion, "But.... I didn't.... Did I move? What did I do?" Over a few minutes (less than 30, take that Suzie Q! HA!) I was able to move a few steps back and forth in front of her and back up several paces without her moving.
The key, I think, in teaching her to stay was watching her feet. If you watch carefully, you can see her start to rock as she thinks about moving back or forward and you have to be sure to click before she gets a chance to lift that hoof. A second key: I had to give her carrots from my hand, otherwise she moved every time I threw a treat on the ground and I wanted her to hold her place as long as possible. She only got my fingers once though. Matilda got this one pretty well, pretty fast. No expectation adjustment necessary, Tinya.
I also made "touch" easier for her today by putting the target behind my back when I didn't want her to mess with it. Pretty smart, eh?
I was really surprised by how well all this stuff worked together today and by how well Matilda coped. Maybe she is a multitask-er like me. The basic pattern was as follows: "Matilda, touch" (immediately after she touches it, put target behind back) "back, stop, stay" (I move from side to side, then back away from her slowly) "Come, stop, back, stop, stay, touch" and on and on. Each time she did what I asked, Click/treat!
Now, this was by no means a perfect performance. As I mentioned earlier, she rarely stopped when initially asked. There were many times when I had to ask for a behavior multiple times and there were other times when she stayed or backed when I said "come." All in all, she did remarkably well (I know, I keep saying that), especially with me throwing so much at her.
At one point, I felt like I was back at school (Ah, Camelot... or Pine Ridge) playing "Red Light, Green Light". I would ask her to stay and slowly back up, then turn my back to her to walk away. As I walked I would here that unmistakable "Clop, Clop" of her dinner plate hooves and turn around to take a step or two towards her "Matilda, Stop! Stay!" We repeated this process all the way across the paddock. She would always stay until my back was turned. I am going to have to turn this into an official game down the road.
I thoroughly enjoyed today, but, more importantly, I believe Matilda enjoyed today. Her ears were moving forward and back, she let me touch her on her nose, she was very attentive and focused. Now, if I can just find a halter that will fit her.....
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