Today was more of the same from yesterday, but I started with a twist. I always do some review with Matilda right at the beginning to see what she is going to be like and get us both on happy, solid ground with the familiar. I really had no plan for today and when I looked at Matilda I just couldn't bring myself to ask her to do anything. She was watching me (and the carrot pail) so I just put my hands behind my back and said "What do you want to do today? Show me something." Bet everyone can guess what she did. After some careful consideration, she backed up. Her favorite.
Then she stopped and came forward.... so she could back up again. This went on for a while before I got bored, stopped clicking for backing and said, "Show me something else". Of course, Matilda can't understand me, so she continued backing and coming forward and backing. When she realized I wasn't clicking for it, she stopped and thought about things. (You can actually see the wheels turn). She tried a few more times and was getting frustrated with her ears pinned back and trying to bite the pail. (Yes, back to that, but still not as aggressive as she used to be).
She needed some help and guidance from me. Standing directly in front of her, I took one large step to my right. She followed, stepping to her left with her front feet in order to mirror me. Click! I went back the other way, she followed again. Click! We did this again and again, back and forth. I only looked for movement from her front feet, since I was doing something a little different in not applying physical pressure to her side.
We worked this little project until I could shift my weight onto my right foot, throw my thumb over my right shoulder like a hitchhiker, tilt my head right and say "over" and she would step out to the left. Throw everything the other way and she would step out and to the right. It was like a little dance. I was shifting my weight from side to side and she would step out, cross her leg over and bring her feet together. I thought that was pretty cool.
After a while, though, I wanted more. I really wanted her to move her entire body over in that lateral step that we've been working on. To see if we could take it to the next level, I threw my weight onto my right and said "over", like we had been doing, she took her step but this time no click. I just stood there and waited to see what she would do next. She took another step, but only with her front feet. I had to reward the effort. Click!
We continued on, with me holding out longer and longer, waiting for the hind feet to do something. They finally did but what I ended up with was not really what I was looking for. Rather than moving her entire body sideways in a sort of parallel motion, she would move her front feet a couple of steps sideways and her hind would simply follow making it more of a turn and walk forward rather than the true lateral movement I have been talking about.
That description is a little confusing. Let me rephrase: Basically, every time I shift my weight, she is actually changing direction (with her head towards me, yay!) and walking a step forward. I can see that this could be a really cool thing down the road, if I can keep my focus and stay consistent with my cues and rewards. I hope that makes sense, I don't know how else to describe what she was doing.
We moved back to the hay feeder and target stick exercise, encouraging her to walk forward and turn/change direction by following the target stick. She was able to complete one full walking circle around the feeder today. That sounds easy but she actually gets frustrated when I ask her to walk more than 3 steps at a time so we built up to it and I was really pleased with her for making it all the way around.
So, what next? I am going to keep on with what we did today. I love that change of direction that appeared. I want to continue working on this stuff that we know pretty well and make sure that Matilda is listening to me. When we work on something for a while, that becomes the only thing that she wants to do, no matter what I am asking. With the back, come, whoa and now (hopefully) over/change of direction we should have enough of a variety to mix things up and see if she learns to watch, listen and recognize the signals that I am giving.
I will also continue to work on walking in circles and turn/change of direction. Over the next week, I would like to see if I can get her to either walk in a circle around me without the feeder or walk around the feeder without the target stick. That's a little ways off but we'll see. Anything is possible, it seems.
Now, with two ways of asking her to change direction, I will have to make a decision as to which word I want to use so that I am using the same one all the time, whether out in the paddock or around the feeder with the target stick... or maybe I will ditch both and say "change!" I will have to decide quickly so that I don't spend any more time using the "wrong" word. I guess I can't make things anymore confusing for her. Or can I??
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
What's My Motivation?
Since I had only been at the barn for 1 day in the last week and a half, yesterday was a quiet day of review. No halter or longe line, just the whip, the clicker and (of course) my little pail of carrots.
I was pleased to find everything more or less intact, though her reactions were a little sluggish.
I noticed on my last visit that the halter allowed me to hold her head and prevent her from moving forward when I asked for "over". I continued that experience, by putting my hand on her nose when I asked her to step sideways. It really helped me to gain a little control over the movement. I would love for her to be able to perform this action without me putting any hands on her, but for now accept that I have to give a little help: pressure on the side and hold her head.
She did very well when I tried to send her forward, but wouldn't stop walking away. As soon as I started approaching her haunch, she walked away, no matter what body language I tried to send. She obviously reached the point wherein she understood "the game" and was anticipating my requests. This day was set aside for me to see what Matilda remembered, what I remembered and spend some time thinking about where to go next, so I didn't try to fix anything, just let her succeed at everything she tried and took it all in.
A round hay feeder, like the one in the picture, sits in Matilda's paddock. While I was checking things out yesterday, I thought about that feeder and wondered if I could use it somehow. Perhaps to help Matilda walk around me in a circle? A plan formed in my mind to change things up once again.
This morning I came into the paddock with only my clicker, pail and target stick (remember that thing?). No whip. We started, as always, with a review.
Matilda did PHENOMENALLY well. Back, Come, Over (with my hand putting pressure on her side but without my hand on her nose) and stop/whoa. I wasn't too demanding with it, ie I would only ask her to stop when she was already stopping, but she was so.... present and with me. I'm not sure how to describe the feeling I got from her but I was very proud, to say the least.
We also reviewed with the target stick because we haven't used it in a while. She absolutely remembered it and I couldn't put it in a place too challenging for her. Even when it was too high for her to actually reach, she put the stick between her teeth and pulled it down to a level where she could grab the end.
We finished with the review and I stepped into the middle of the hay feeder, which is about 4 feet in diameter. She came over to it and I held the target stick about a foot away and said "touch", she took a step forward and touched: click! We progressed like that until I realized that she wasn't walking forward so much as she was stretching, trying not to move her feet, to the target. A
h, the fine points of clicker training, since I want her to learn to walk in a circle when I say "walk" I need to CLICK when she is WALKING, even if I use the word "touch" to get her moving forward. That way she will know that I want her to walk to the target, not just touch it, I had only been clicking when she touched the target. So much to keep in mind and figure out here.
Needless to say, within two or three clicks she was walking a quarter to half way around the feeder every time I put out the target stick and said "Matilda, Touch" followed by "Walk". She would even follow the target if I pulled it away from her to entice her into a few more steps around our small circle.
The next layer was to start getting her to change direction. A much desired trait when changing directions is that the horse turns with head towards you, rather than rump. In the current configuration, I knew she would keep her mouth aimed in the direction of the carrot pail, but how to get her to turn? This was an easy one.
I put the target stick 2-6 inches behind her rump. It was so much easier for her to change direction to get to the target faster than going around the feeder. As she backed and started changing direction (with her head facing me) I simply said "turn" and clicked. After she completed the turn, I would move the target away from her so that she had to turn and walk a couple of steps before achieving her ultimate goal of touching the target.
I am in no way saying that she gets "walk" or "turn" but having her walk around me in a circle and turning like this is so much closer to my final vision of what it will be like to longe her and this is so much easier and more positive for her that I will continue on this path. With this method, her motivation is dramatically shifted from going away from something she fears to going towards something. Why didn't I do this before? I guess I shouldn't complain when Matilda loses focus, I do it so well and so often. sigh.
There's one more thing that I noticed over the last couple of days and that is Matilda's relative gentleness. I swear, she hasn't touched me in two days. I was so surprised, when I finally realized this yesterday, that we spent some time just clicking and rewarding when she would not touch me or the pail. She reached her nose forward but stopped an inch from my tummy then, instead of punching it like normal, she would pull her head back. It was the same this morning. She would reach for the pail or me and then stop and pull back, sometimes even step back. I wonder how long this has been going on without me noticing. I wonder if it will continue. I do find Matilda to be wonderfully amazing.
I was pleased to find everything more or less intact, though her reactions were a little sluggish.
I noticed on my last visit that the halter allowed me to hold her head and prevent her from moving forward when I asked for "over". I continued that experience, by putting my hand on her nose when I asked her to step sideways. It really helped me to gain a little control over the movement. I would love for her to be able to perform this action without me putting any hands on her, but for now accept that I have to give a little help: pressure on the side and hold her head.
She did very well when I tried to send her forward, but wouldn't stop walking away. As soon as I started approaching her haunch, she walked away, no matter what body language I tried to send. She obviously reached the point wherein she understood "the game" and was anticipating my requests. This day was set aside for me to see what Matilda remembered, what I remembered and spend some time thinking about where to go next, so I didn't try to fix anything, just let her succeed at everything she tried and took it all in.
A round hay feeder, like the one in the picture, sits in Matilda's paddock. While I was checking things out yesterday, I thought about that feeder and wondered if I could use it somehow. Perhaps to help Matilda walk around me in a circle? A plan formed in my mind to change things up once again.This morning I came into the paddock with only my clicker, pail and target stick (remember that thing?). No whip. We started, as always, with a review.
Matilda did PHENOMENALLY well. Back, Come, Over (with my hand putting pressure on her side but without my hand on her nose) and stop/whoa. I wasn't too demanding with it, ie I would only ask her to stop when she was already stopping, but she was so.... present and with me. I'm not sure how to describe the feeling I got from her but I was very proud, to say the least.
We also reviewed with the target stick because we haven't used it in a while. She absolutely remembered it and I couldn't put it in a place too challenging for her. Even when it was too high for her to actually reach, she put the stick between her teeth and pulled it down to a level where she could grab the end.
We finished with the review and I stepped into the middle of the hay feeder, which is about 4 feet in diameter. She came over to it and I held the target stick about a foot away and said "touch", she took a step forward and touched: click! We progressed like that until I realized that she wasn't walking forward so much as she was stretching, trying not to move her feet, to the target. A
h, the fine points of clicker training, since I want her to learn to walk in a circle when I say "walk" I need to CLICK when she is WALKING, even if I use the word "touch" to get her moving forward. That way she will know that I want her to walk to the target, not just touch it, I had only been clicking when she touched the target. So much to keep in mind and figure out here.Needless to say, within two or three clicks she was walking a quarter to half way around the feeder every time I put out the target stick and said "Matilda, Touch" followed by "Walk". She would even follow the target if I pulled it away from her to entice her into a few more steps around our small circle.
The next layer was to start getting her to change direction. A much desired trait when changing directions is that the horse turns with head towards you, rather than rump. In the current configuration, I knew she would keep her mouth aimed in the direction of the carrot pail, but how to get her to turn? This was an easy one.
I put the target stick 2-6 inches behind her rump. It was so much easier for her to change direction to get to the target faster than going around the feeder. As she backed and started changing direction (with her head facing me) I simply said "turn" and clicked. After she completed the turn, I would move the target away from her so that she had to turn and walk a couple of steps before achieving her ultimate goal of touching the target.
I am in no way saying that she gets "walk" or "turn" but having her walk around me in a circle and turning like this is so much closer to my final vision of what it will be like to longe her and this is so much easier and more positive for her that I will continue on this path. With this method, her motivation is dramatically shifted from going away from something she fears to going towards something. Why didn't I do this before? I guess I shouldn't complain when Matilda loses focus, I do it so well and so often. sigh.
There's one more thing that I noticed over the last couple of days and that is Matilda's relative gentleness. I swear, she hasn't touched me in two days. I was so surprised, when I finally realized this yesterday, that we spent some time just clicking and rewarding when she would not touch me or the pail. She reached her nose forward but stopped an inch from my tummy then, instead of punching it like normal, she would pull her head back. It was the same this morning. She would reach for the pail or me and then stop and pull back, sometimes even step back. I wonder how long this has been going on without me noticing. I wonder if it will continue. I do find Matilda to be wonderfully amazing.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Moving Forward
Wednesday last week was the only day that I could make it to the barn. I went in and knocked all the dirt off of Matilda's back and sides while she munched hay, as usual. I didn't pick up her feet as it had rained the day before and they were super muddy. I just figured I would work on that another day. Getting ready to work, I got my little pail, went to the center of the paddock and called her to come. She totally ignored me. Hadn't done that in a while. After debating for some time whether I should try to coax her into work or just come back later, I decided to just come back later.It started out as another mish mosh of a day. When I came back to the paddock to work, my horse, Bella, was in with Matilda. I ended up standing outside the fence and clicking and rewarding both horses for looking away from the carrot or backing up. I'm fairly sure this was confusing to everyone and it didn't last long, especially when, every time I took out a carrot,
I could see Matilda doing her job and backing up as Bella continued to grab for the carrot.
I put Bella back safe in her stall so Matilda and I were aloneto work. We started with some review of our now familiar exercises. Matilda was slow in response, but did well. I was absolutely tickled when I asked her to "back" and she started side stepping left and right! It was the first time she did lateral movement without me having to apply pressure to her side. Not what I was asking for, but very cool and something to keep in mind for later on.
To keep building on the work we did last week, I brought in the halter. She did a lot of the work Wednesday with a halter on, while I carried the longe line and whip. Again we were not connected to each other, just adding another layer to the appearance and feel of longing.
Adding the halter seemed to create another breaking point to Matilda's behavior. Once again, I pulled out the longe whip and as I approached her she took off, not quite in a panic, but at a good pace of mixed trot and canter. I noticed that she was pausing to shake her head. I guess we hit a nerve and caused a flashback of sorts by adding this new element.
I followed her with the whip and line, not driving her as I had the first day I had introduced her to it, but following slowly at a walk while holding the whip and line up for her to see clearly. As before, the "chase" went on for a while but came to an end as she quietly accepted my approach and I went through the process of touching her all over with the tip and lash of the whip. Clicking and rewarding throughout.
Once she was quietly accepting the whip, we began trying to send her forward. I won't go into the details except to say that it was the exact same process as described in my last post, from tickling to tapping to cracking. The only difference being that this time when I cracked the whip and she finally moved, she trotted. No walk. We worked our way through this sloppily. She wouldn't always let me get close to her right away and I would have to do a little bit of "chasing". Sometimes she would take one step at the walk and I would click to reward just as she picked up a trot and ran away or I would click but she wouldn't come back to me to get the reward.
I spent an extra long time with Matilda that day and we worked back to where we had been the previous week, only better. I could gently touch her hind quarters with the tip of the stick portion of the whip (no cracking necessary) and she would walk forward, turn to the right, stop and face me until I asked her to come in to me. But I didn't stop there.
If I am standing on Matilda's right and send her forward, she should turn right so that eventually she would be going around me. Therefore if I am on the left, she should turn left. I noticed Matilda only turned right, so I got a head start on the left turn too.
I started standing on her left and tapped her gently on the rear. As soon as she started forward, I had to back up, stick my hand in the bucket (a now familiar noise to her) and say "Matilda over here" to bring her attention and head around to the left. Following up with a click as she turned her body to face me. We couldn't do a lot of this, but it was a start.
We worked long and hard on Wednesday and I haven't been able to get back to the barn since. I intend to be there tomorrow, however, and am seeing a lot of review in our near future. I am excited to see where she is and what she remembers after the long weekend break.
Two Weeks Ago (The Shame!)
So, I guess I should just entitle all of my entries "Catching Up" and be done with it. My most avid fan, my mother, says "I don't see Matilda in my Inbox! When are you going to update??" My sister and I bullied her into being e-mail savvy, so I suppose that it is only as much as I deserve. So here it is, Sunday March 20th, and I am trying to look back to what happened the week before last. It's a good thing I take some notes!
Wednesday the 8th was a so-so sort of day. All of the behaviors that we had worked on were there, but they seemed to fade in and out. She would back and stop on cue many times and then I would ask her to back and she would walk away or roll a rock across the ground. The "over" that we have worked so hard on was seen more frequently, but not with any kind of reliability.
I tried to play a mirroring game with her, where she would move with me (she had been doing this a couple of days before when I was trying to do something else, of course) but she just couldn't quite get the hang of it.
I brought out the longe whip. To my delight, she did not run from it. I even wiggled it around her face and she would not budge. You can see from the photo here that she even tolerated my wrapping the lash around her head... clicking and rewarding the entire time, of course.
She was doing so well that I tickled her hind end with the tip of the lash to see if she would move away from it. Nothing. Then I tapped her gently with the end of the stick, still no movement. I swished it past her closest rear hoof, she stood her ground. Hmmm... This was the end of my day and I realized I had created another problem for myself.
She is now so desensitized to the longe whip that I cannot send her forward, away from me. This is, after all, what the whip is supposed to do. It is supposed to be a communication tool between us that conveys, "I want you to move, please." or "Move faster, please." Instead I get NO response at all. It would be nice to find a happy medium.
The next day, the 11th, none of our usual stuff was working. She did a few capable "overs" before she simply shut down on me, so this day became all about sending her forward.
As part of the process of building up to actually longing Matilda, I brought in another piece of longing equipment: the longe line. The longe line is basically a 30 foot leash. This day I had the longe line and whip together. I was in no way attached to Matilda, but I wanted to see if she would have any reaction to it. She had none. I let her smell it and touched her all over with it, lay the end across her back and let her hear the snap of the clip close to her head, where it would be if I were actually attaching it to her. Nothing phased her.
So, standing on her right side, I put the coiled longe line and the clicker in my right hand and the whip in my left. Again this is loosely emulating what I would be doing and what she would be seeing if I were actually lunging her. I stood just behind and to the right of her haunch, looked her in the eye, squared my shoulders (that's the body language the book tells you to use for sending a horse away) and tapped her with the end of the stick part of the whip. She looked back at me. That's all. Just looked at me.
I re-set my body position. This time I tried to get a little glaring, stink eye going as I swooshed the whip behind her leg. Not touching her mind you, just trying to get her to feel the breeze of movement behind her. Nada. (As an aside, I have to say that I was really pleased at how well I had desensitized her to the longe whip at this point.)
So I re-set a third time, standing a little further back, lifted the whip high in the air and brought it down to the ground with a satisfying CRACK! about 4 feet directly behind her rear. Don't you know, she still didn't move?? Brave girl. I moved the whip a little closer and closer and closer until it was about 6 inches away. When I cracked it at that point, she flinched but did not move. I did it a few more time before she took a step forward. A nice walking step forward. Boy was she surprised when she heard "click!" She immediately turned in to me and got her reward.
From there on out it was fairly smooth sailing. I continued to have to combine the strong body language with a strong crack of the whip to send her, but she did it every time. I should say she walked away every time, never in a panic. A far cry from that first day when I lifted the longe whip 10-20 feet away from her and she ran around the paddock at full speed.
She would walk out several paces and stop to look at me when I clicked, then wait for me to lower the longe and collapse my body, rounding up my shoulders (the signal that I am asking her to come into me) before coming for her reward. We did that over and over again, until my little carrot pail was empty.
I should also mention the fact that during our break times, while she is eating hay, I have begun to work on picking up her feet. She is comfortable enough with lifting her feet that, on some days, I can simply tap on her ankle and she will lift her foot with little help from me. I really want to bring the clicker into this to see if I can get her to hold her foot up on her own for longer periods of time but, for reasons that I am sure you understand, I am reluctant to put myself in a position where I am right next to Matilda, with my back to her and a carrot pail attached to my hip. I would like to be able to at least envision this going well (aka not ending with my butt being bit) before attempting it.
Despite all the lack of regular exercise work (back, over, etc) this seemed to be two good days, overall. As always, in writing this, I can see where I could have done things better, made things easier for Matilda, but it is what it is and she will forgive my clumsiness (eventually) and be better and more tolerant because of it. I hope.
Wednesday the 8th was a so-so sort of day. All of the behaviors that we had worked on were there, but they seemed to fade in and out. She would back and stop on cue many times and then I would ask her to back and she would walk away or roll a rock across the ground. The "over" that we have worked so hard on was seen more frequently, but not with any kind of reliability.
I tried to play a mirroring game with her, where she would move with me (she had been doing this a couple of days before when I was trying to do something else, of course) but she just couldn't quite get the hang of it.
I brought out the longe whip. To my delight, she did not run from it. I even wiggled it around her face and she would not budge. You can see from the photo here that she even tolerated my wrapping the lash around her head... clicking and rewarding the entire time, of course.She was doing so well that I tickled her hind end with the tip of the lash to see if she would move away from it. Nothing. Then I tapped her gently with the end of the stick, still no movement. I swished it past her closest rear hoof, she stood her ground. Hmmm... This was the end of my day and I realized I had created another problem for myself.
She is now so desensitized to the longe whip that I cannot send her forward, away from me. This is, after all, what the whip is supposed to do. It is supposed to be a communication tool between us that conveys, "I want you to move, please." or "Move faster, please." Instead I get NO response at all. It would be nice to find a happy medium.
The next day, the 11th, none of our usual stuff was working. She did a few capable "overs" before she simply shut down on me, so this day became all about sending her forward.
As part of the process of building up to actually longing Matilda, I brought in another piece of longing equipment: the longe line. The longe line is basically a 30 foot leash. This day I had the longe line and whip together. I was in no way attached to Matilda, but I wanted to see if she would have any reaction to it. She had none. I let her smell it and touched her all over with it, lay the end across her back and let her hear the snap of the clip close to her head, where it would be if I were actually attaching it to her. Nothing phased her.
So, standing on her right side, I put the coiled longe line and the clicker in my right hand and the whip in my left. Again this is loosely emulating what I would be doing and what she would be seeing if I were actually lunging her. I stood just behind and to the right of her haunch, looked her in the eye, squared my shoulders (that's the body language the book tells you to use for sending a horse away) and tapped her with the end of the stick part of the whip. She looked back at me. That's all. Just looked at me.
I re-set my body position. This time I tried to get a little glaring, stink eye going as I swooshed the whip behind her leg. Not touching her mind you, just trying to get her to feel the breeze of movement behind her. Nada. (As an aside, I have to say that I was really pleased at how well I had desensitized her to the longe whip at this point.)
So I re-set a third time, standing a little further back, lifted the whip high in the air and brought it down to the ground with a satisfying CRACK! about 4 feet directly behind her rear. Don't you know, she still didn't move?? Brave girl. I moved the whip a little closer and closer and closer until it was about 6 inches away. When I cracked it at that point, she flinched but did not move. I did it a few more time before she took a step forward. A nice walking step forward. Boy was she surprised when she heard "click!" She immediately turned in to me and got her reward.
From there on out it was fairly smooth sailing. I continued to have to combine the strong body language with a strong crack of the whip to send her, but she did it every time. I should say she walked away every time, never in a panic. A far cry from that first day when I lifted the longe whip 10-20 feet away from her and she ran around the paddock at full speed.
She would walk out several paces and stop to look at me when I clicked, then wait for me to lower the longe and collapse my body, rounding up my shoulders (the signal that I am asking her to come into me) before coming for her reward. We did that over and over again, until my little carrot pail was empty.
I should also mention the fact that during our break times, while she is eating hay, I have begun to work on picking up her feet. She is comfortable enough with lifting her feet that, on some days, I can simply tap on her ankle and she will lift her foot with little help from me. I really want to bring the clicker into this to see if I can get her to hold her foot up on her own for longer periods of time but, for reasons that I am sure you understand, I am reluctant to put myself in a position where I am right next to Matilda, with my back to her and a carrot pail attached to my hip. I would like to be able to at least envision this going well (aka not ending with my butt being bit) before attempting it.
Despite all the lack of regular exercise work (back, over, etc) this seemed to be two good days, overall. As always, in writing this, I can see where I could have done things better, made things easier for Matilda, but it is what it is and she will forgive my clumsiness (eventually) and be better and more tolerant because of it. I hope.
Monday, March 7, 2011
New Lessons for Both of Us
I am going to gloss over the end of last week, summarizing the largely uneventful days to get to today which was much more interesting. Last week, we continued to work on backing and it is really nice now. Matilda is pretty reliable in backing when I point and stopping when I bring my hand down to my side. We have started doing sets wherein she backs 2-3 steps, stops, then backs 1-2 more steps and stops before I reward her. We have also worked on her backing from a start point of 4-6 feet away. Her first instinct, when she is so far away, was to come into me no matter what, but it didn't take long for her to figure out that back means back and I will find a way to get the carrot to her. I think the distance work also helped solidify the hand signals that I have been using.
With "back" going so well, I decided to revisit the lateral work on Friday. Somehow I had convinced myself that she had a handle on this one, but it was evidently not the case. Her front end moves well, but the rear end? Not so much. It's sort of amazing to watch her pivot on those back feet as the rear legs twist into the most uncomfortable looking positions. It should be so easy for her to just pick her feet up and move them, but even when she does occasionally move them, they go in the wrong direction. Mostly she just spun like a top.
Which brings us to today! We started with a little review to make sure that nothing was lost over the weekend before launching into the lateral work. The review went beautifully. She is still only standing still about 5-20 seconds, but that will come with time. Actually she stands still beautifully for long periods of time as long as I don't ask her. sigh. The backing and stopping and coming to me were exactly like they were on Friday. On to lateral work, aka "over".
I went back to the same routine I had when I tried working this before, using the target stick to put pressure on her back hip and literally press her over. I've tried to think of some other way to convey to her what I want and have come up with nothing. Today, however, I think we made a significant breakthrough. I started on her right side and pressed and pressed I rewarded her a few times for moving her front feet sideways, but then started holding out for the back feet. (We've been through this before, I know). She moved those back feet out and over and I clicked. She did it again, click. I tapped and said "over" - not pressing, just a tap - and her whole body went back and forth and then over! The whole body went over. That means she use her front and back feet to shift sideways!
We did this several times, then it was time to switch sides. As I crossed in front of her, I started switching the pail to my other hip, so it would be farther away from her mouth. As I switched the pail over and turned to face her left side, she moved over! With her front and back legs! I clicked and gave lots of carrots. Tap, "over", tap, "over". Now I know how Professor Higgins felt. We did that several times, too, before I switched back over to the other side so that I could be sure I saw what I thought I saw, you know?
There's still a lot of forward and backward movement preceding each sideways movement, but it's there and it is taking less and less effort from me to get it. Hoorah!
It was time for a break, but Matilda did not agree. Once the carrots were gone, she got all nippy at me again. I didn't want to break out the carrots when she was being so nippy and I had brought down the longe whip today. Over the weekend, I thought it might be time to reintroduce Matilda to Mr. Longe Whip. If you go back, you will recall that one of my primary objectives is to be able to longe Matilda safely. You will also recall that Matilda has a bad longing reputation and that much of that reputation was related to the whip. She was manageable on the longe line, but as soon as you picked up the whip shoulders were damaged or lines were broken.
So, I brought the whip into the paddock. No carrots or clickers for Miss Nips-A-Lot. She has had little to no problem with everything else I have brought in, including a dressage whip, so I figured she would not really have a problem with this. Plus it's been so long, she's probably forgotten whatever incident pushed her over the edge with this thing, right? wrong.
I lifted up the whip while I was still several feet away from her and the end of the lash swung from side to side and she took off. I mean took off. I had an idea in the back of my head from a video I had watched over the weekend, I won't go into the details of it, but the upshot is that I followed her with the whip. I didn't run after her cracking it in the air or anything like that, just walked after her letting the whip move, occasionally swinging it back and forth or up and down. She kept running. I was effectively driving her around the paddock, keeping her on the move. I used the whip and my body to tell her to change directions and keep moving. It was quite exciting.
Eventually she gave up. Once she gave up, I was able to walk up to her and touch her all over with the whip. She didn't move a muscle. I felt triumphant until I looked at her face and realized she had simply shut down. What I had done was not a bad thing, it's sort of a traditional method of desensitization, but it was not OUR thing. I didn't want Matilda to just give up and tolerate the whip, I want her to love and explore it. To not be afraid of it, and to learn that it is a way for me to communicate with her.
I had to walk away and get the carrots. I stood in the center of the paddock with the carrot pail on my hip and the whip in my hand and asked her to come to me. No dice. I put the whip behind my back. Nope. I leaned it up against a tree and took a step away from it. AH! but only a couple of steps towards me. I took a couple more steps away from the tree and she came into me. Once she was with me, she was with me. It was a simple matter to walk with her to the tree where the whip was resting. I picked it up and she did not run away - click! I held it near her - click! On and on until I was again able to put the whip all over her body. During this time, she picked up the tip of the lash between her teeth and pulled it a couple of times and, with some coaxing, walked under it as if it were an arch. Lots of rewards along the way. I won't say that she will squeal with delight next time she sees it, but we are on track with it and the whip is going to be a regular part of her life for a while to come. Maybe one day she will squeal with delight at the sight of it, one never knows with Matilda.
When I put the whip up, I put the carrots up and we took a break. She did one of her beautiful stand stills in the center of the paddock as I walked away and threw stuff over the fence and then down to her hay spot. I turned and looked at her and asked her to "come". She thought about it for a while before coming to me, but the hay was right behind me and I fully expected her to walk past me to the hay. I mean, I didn't even have the carrots. She surprised me again and stopped in front of me. I turned around, picked up some hay off the ground and fed her, playing a little tug in the process.
We ended our morning together by doing a little review. She had not forgotten "over" in all the excitement and chaos. (YAY) and I coaxed her into following me to the gate so that I could give her her apple. It may be my imagination, but something seemed to have shifted. She was looking at me with a little more thoughtfulness, no bull dozing. We'll see how it goes in the next few days. Matilda having a little cautious respect for people is a good thing in the long run, as long as it doesn't dampen her sense of trust and curiosity. I'll go back tomorrow, anxious to see which Matilda I meet in the paddock.
With "back" going so well, I decided to revisit the lateral work on Friday. Somehow I had convinced myself that she had a handle on this one, but it was evidently not the case. Her front end moves well, but the rear end? Not so much. It's sort of amazing to watch her pivot on those back feet as the rear legs twist into the most uncomfortable looking positions. It should be so easy for her to just pick her feet up and move them, but even when she does occasionally move them, they go in the wrong direction. Mostly she just spun like a top.
Which brings us to today! We started with a little review to make sure that nothing was lost over the weekend before launching into the lateral work. The review went beautifully. She is still only standing still about 5-20 seconds, but that will come with time. Actually she stands still beautifully for long periods of time as long as I don't ask her. sigh. The backing and stopping and coming to me were exactly like they were on Friday. On to lateral work, aka "over".
I went back to the same routine I had when I tried working this before, using the target stick to put pressure on her back hip and literally press her over. I've tried to think of some other way to convey to her what I want and have come up with nothing. Today, however, I think we made a significant breakthrough. I started on her right side and pressed and pressed I rewarded her a few times for moving her front feet sideways, but then started holding out for the back feet. (We've been through this before, I know). She moved those back feet out and over and I clicked. She did it again, click. I tapped and said "over" - not pressing, just a tap - and her whole body went back and forth and then over! The whole body went over. That means she use her front and back feet to shift sideways!
We did this several times, then it was time to switch sides. As I crossed in front of her, I started switching the pail to my other hip, so it would be farther away from her mouth. As I switched the pail over and turned to face her left side, she moved over! With her front and back legs! I clicked and gave lots of carrots. Tap, "over", tap, "over". Now I know how Professor Higgins felt. We did that several times, too, before I switched back over to the other side so that I could be sure I saw what I thought I saw, you know?
There's still a lot of forward and backward movement preceding each sideways movement, but it's there and it is taking less and less effort from me to get it. Hoorah!
It was time for a break, but Matilda did not agree. Once the carrots were gone, she got all nippy at me again. I didn't want to break out the carrots when she was being so nippy and I had brought down the longe whip today. Over the weekend, I thought it might be time to reintroduce Matilda to Mr. Longe Whip. If you go back, you will recall that one of my primary objectives is to be able to longe Matilda safely. You will also recall that Matilda has a bad longing reputation and that much of that reputation was related to the whip. She was manageable on the longe line, but as soon as you picked up the whip shoulders were damaged or lines were broken.
So, I brought the whip into the paddock. No carrots or clickers for Miss Nips-A-Lot. She has had little to no problem with everything else I have brought in, including a dressage whip, so I figured she would not really have a problem with this. Plus it's been so long, she's probably forgotten whatever incident pushed her over the edge with this thing, right? wrong.
I lifted up the whip while I was still several feet away from her and the end of the lash swung from side to side and she took off. I mean took off. I had an idea in the back of my head from a video I had watched over the weekend, I won't go into the details of it, but the upshot is that I followed her with the whip. I didn't run after her cracking it in the air or anything like that, just walked after her letting the whip move, occasionally swinging it back and forth or up and down. She kept running. I was effectively driving her around the paddock, keeping her on the move. I used the whip and my body to tell her to change directions and keep moving. It was quite exciting.
Eventually she gave up. Once she gave up, I was able to walk up to her and touch her all over with the whip. She didn't move a muscle. I felt triumphant until I looked at her face and realized she had simply shut down. What I had done was not a bad thing, it's sort of a traditional method of desensitization, but it was not OUR thing. I didn't want Matilda to just give up and tolerate the whip, I want her to love and explore it. To not be afraid of it, and to learn that it is a way for me to communicate with her.
I had to walk away and get the carrots. I stood in the center of the paddock with the carrot pail on my hip and the whip in my hand and asked her to come to me. No dice. I put the whip behind my back. Nope. I leaned it up against a tree and took a step away from it. AH! but only a couple of steps towards me. I took a couple more steps away from the tree and she came into me. Once she was with me, she was with me. It was a simple matter to walk with her to the tree where the whip was resting. I picked it up and she did not run away - click! I held it near her - click! On and on until I was again able to put the whip all over her body. During this time, she picked up the tip of the lash between her teeth and pulled it a couple of times and, with some coaxing, walked under it as if it were an arch. Lots of rewards along the way. I won't say that she will squeal with delight next time she sees it, but we are on track with it and the whip is going to be a regular part of her life for a while to come. Maybe one day she will squeal with delight at the sight of it, one never knows with Matilda.
When I put the whip up, I put the carrots up and we took a break. She did one of her beautiful stand stills in the center of the paddock as I walked away and threw stuff over the fence and then down to her hay spot. I turned and looked at her and asked her to "come". She thought about it for a while before coming to me, but the hay was right behind me and I fully expected her to walk past me to the hay. I mean, I didn't even have the carrots. She surprised me again and stopped in front of me. I turned around, picked up some hay off the ground and fed her, playing a little tug in the process.
We ended our morning together by doing a little review. She had not forgotten "over" in all the excitement and chaos. (YAY) and I coaxed her into following me to the gate so that I could give her her apple. It may be my imagination, but something seemed to have shifted. She was looking at me with a little more thoughtfulness, no bull dozing. We'll see how it goes in the next few days. Matilda having a little cautious respect for people is a good thing in the long run, as long as it doesn't dampen her sense of trust and curiosity. I'll go back tomorrow, anxious to see which Matilda I meet in the paddock.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Words for the Day
Heavy storms came through my area last night and I blew into the barn this morning wondering what kind of Matilda I would be faced with today. Would the charged atmosphere and cooler temps have her charged as well, or would she resemble the calm after the storm?
The answer? I was met by the Matilda who likes to sleep on her side in the mud. Thank goodness I don't have to try to clean this up... yet.
When I woke up this morning two words popped into my head: focus and fine-tuning (well, maybe three words, but you get my drift). It is time for Matilda and I to start fine-tuning these behaviors that we have roughly sketched in to her repertoire. Well past time, actually. Time to turn them into something a little less muddy and haphazard.
Today we started with ye olde reliable: "back", with some "whoa" and "stay" thrown in because they fit together. I wanted to be very specific and a little more knit picky about everything I was doing, aka focused. To keep me focused and on task, I made up random rules for the day:
"Back" - point at Matilda, say "Back". When she moves backwards, lower arm and click as the arm comes down. Click after 1 step back, repeat 3 times, then after 2 steps, then 3 steps, etc.
If all goes well, pointing becomes the cue for backing up, lowering the arm becomes the cue for stopping.
"Stay" - work on building time. Don't try to move around her, keep it simple. Take a deep breath and let your body settle, arms at your side, as you exhale and say "stay". Start with a 3 count and work up to 30 seconds.
I came up with those rules in the car, then wrote them down in my little notebook as soon as I got to the barn so that I would remember them. I love detailed rules like this. Not that I am in any way OCD or anything but they are so helpful. They give you clarity and goals and keep you doing the same thing in the same way every time. Good grief, I may write a love song to little, made up rules later.
Following these rules worked. By the end of our time, which was too short, Matilda was taking 5 good steps back after only one request. She continued to frequently offer the behavior unasked for but I think if I can be super patient and wait for her to stop moving completely before asking her to back up, I can eliminate it. I still have a habit of asking her to do stuff before she has really given me her attention. I get bored standing there watching her go back and forth and jump the gun. The fault is mine. As usual. grrrrr.
She was only able to stand still for up to 12 seconds, but I knew that would continue to be a tough one. I suppose it is difficult to understand being rewarded for doing nothing..... I just realized what I did wrong, too. If I want her to stand for 30 seconds, I should click and reward every 5 seconds for 30 seconds, then every 10 seconds for 30 seconds, etc. Not count until she looks like she is going to move then only click and reward once right before she moves... Shoot, I got that all backwards today. I'll try the other way tomorrow. Something to look forward to.
Also, my big sigh and settling didn't work. Every time I looked at her and took a deep breath she started backing up before I could say anything. She did better when I just stood still, looked at her and said "stay" nice and firm. Wouldn't you know that my breathing gets in her way?
I wish there were infinite hours in the day and that I had a magic carrot pail. One that continues to give carrots as long as things are going well, but dries up quickly on bad days. That would be so nice... So would a billion dollars, as long as I'm wishing.
The upshot: This worked today. Very well. Focus and fine-tuning - not just words for the day, but for the week. I plan on continuing to work just these 3 behaviors for the rest of the week. I want them to be habit for her, reliable for me. It's good to know that, just in the time I've been writing this, I have come up with new and (I hope) better ways to work this stuff. We'll see which Matilda I face tomorrow. I hope it's one of the good ones.
The answer? I was met by the Matilda who likes to sleep on her side in the mud. Thank goodness I don't have to try to clean this up... yet.When I woke up this morning two words popped into my head: focus and fine-tuning (well, maybe three words, but you get my drift). It is time for Matilda and I to start fine-tuning these behaviors that we have roughly sketched in to her repertoire. Well past time, actually. Time to turn them into something a little less muddy and haphazard.
Today we started with ye olde reliable: "back", with some "whoa" and "stay" thrown in because they fit together. I wanted to be very specific and a little more knit picky about everything I was doing, aka focused. To keep me focused and on task, I made up random rules for the day:
"Back" - point at Matilda, say "Back". When she moves backwards, lower arm and click as the arm comes down. Click after 1 step back, repeat 3 times, then after 2 steps, then 3 steps, etc.
If all goes well, pointing becomes the cue for backing up, lowering the arm becomes the cue for stopping.
"Stay" - work on building time. Don't try to move around her, keep it simple. Take a deep breath and let your body settle, arms at your side, as you exhale and say "stay". Start with a 3 count and work up to 30 seconds.
I came up with those rules in the car, then wrote them down in my little notebook as soon as I got to the barn so that I would remember them. I love detailed rules like this. Not that I am in any way OCD or anything but they are so helpful. They give you clarity and goals and keep you doing the same thing in the same way every time. Good grief, I may write a love song to little, made up rules later.
Following these rules worked. By the end of our time, which was too short, Matilda was taking 5 good steps back after only one request. She continued to frequently offer the behavior unasked for but I think if I can be super patient and wait for her to stop moving completely before asking her to back up, I can eliminate it. I still have a habit of asking her to do stuff before she has really given me her attention. I get bored standing there watching her go back and forth and jump the gun. The fault is mine. As usual. grrrrr.
She was only able to stand still for up to 12 seconds, but I knew that would continue to be a tough one. I suppose it is difficult to understand being rewarded for doing nothing..... I just realized what I did wrong, too. If I want her to stand for 30 seconds, I should click and reward every 5 seconds for 30 seconds, then every 10 seconds for 30 seconds, etc. Not count until she looks like she is going to move then only click and reward once right before she moves... Shoot, I got that all backwards today. I'll try the other way tomorrow. Something to look forward to.
Also, my big sigh and settling didn't work. Every time I looked at her and took a deep breath she started backing up before I could say anything. She did better when I just stood still, looked at her and said "stay" nice and firm. Wouldn't you know that my breathing gets in her way?
I wish there were infinite hours in the day and that I had a magic carrot pail. One that continues to give carrots as long as things are going well, but dries up quickly on bad days. That would be so nice... So would a billion dollars, as long as I'm wishing.
The upshot: This worked today. Very well. Focus and fine-tuning - not just words for the day, but for the week. I plan on continuing to work just these 3 behaviors for the rest of the week. I want them to be habit for her, reliable for me. It's good to know that, just in the time I've been writing this, I have come up with new and (I hope) better ways to work this stuff. We'll see which Matilda I face tomorrow. I hope it's one of the good ones.
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