Targeting, I skipped because she simply wasn't understanding it. I had to introduce the clicker another way, and then I never went back to teach it.
Head lowering, I taught while grooming so she'd drop her head so I could brush her face, and I taught her that snuggling is good and she's allowed to let her guard down around me. But I never really taught her to drop her nose to the ground and keep it there to keep her calm.
These are two big holes in our training that I planned on fixing today... but... well, what do I say about lesson plans? Naturally, I didn't get either of these simple things done!
But before I go into why, I think this would be a good spot to explain a little bit of how clicker training works. I've noticed some new readers (hi, new readers! Welcome aboard! :D) since I got featured on Sunday Success Stories (hooray! We're a success!) at Eventing-A-Gogo, and I've never truly explained how exactly I clicker train, so I figure I'll do that now!
Basically, if you don't know what basic clicker training is, just do a google search. It's a pretty simple concept - you click for what you like, and give them a treat after every click. You can start off using an actual clicker. That's usually what I do, to get the horse accustomed to the sound. Later, they'll graduate to listening to a tongue click - you can practice (I definitely did) before you start using this, but it's so much easier because you'll have both hands free for training and horse-related things. The click is essentially the marker: "yes! That's what I wanted! And now I'll give you a treat for it."
You can see the remnants of my rope burn on my ring finger..
it barely hurts anymore, though! Yay!
Tools of the trade! ;)
So I have this super nerdy fanny pack (pictured above..), and I keep the peppermints in the front little pouch, and the carrots in a bag in the bigger pouch along with my cell phone (for photo opps and such!). It takes some mechanical self-training to get good at finding the treats and delivering them in a timely manner, but horses are very forgiving when they know they're getting treats. ;)
Now, I was asked a very good question about clicker training the other day (by my dad, actually...): "Does she ever get grumpy or nippy when you're not giving her treats all the time?"
My answer? Absolutely not! Reina is the most polite horse I've ever had around food and treats. That's because in the initial lessons for clicker training, she learns a few basic ground rules surrounding food that most horses never get. I mean - if I'm going to be a walking treat dispenser, you'd better believe I'm not going to stand for her bothering and nipping and demanding and begging all the time! How would we ever get anything done?
So this is what she learned in her first few clicker lessons:
1. You will NEVER get a treat unless I click first.
2. You will NEVER be clicked for being rude or impatient.
3. When you do get a treat, you are expected to back up out of my space and keep your nose out of my business while you wait for me to deliver your treat to you.
The result? She never so much as looks twice at my fanny pack of delicious treats. She's focused on trying to get me to click; she tries various behaviors until I find one I like... only then does she get a treat! And she knows this. There's no shortcut around it; she tried bumping me for treats - it didn't work. And she also knows that if she puts her nose towards me, expecting a treat, I make her back up away from me before I'll give her anything. So, what has she started to do? Pose! When I click, she'll back up a little, or at least shift her weight from me. Then she'll watch me, tuck her nose in, and wait patiently until I get her treat out.
It's really quite lovely! I'll try to capture it on video one day. Hopefully I'll get someone to video some of our training sessions here soon, so you'll be able to see how delightful she is! She never noses me or nips at me or gets impatient for treats. Well, okay, she does get impatient - but when she does, the way she shows it is she'll tuck her nose in, arch her neck, bob her head a little, and back up. If that's the worst she's got, well... I can handle that!
So anyways, my general rule for training is this: I click what looks pretty or feels good. I read that somewhere when I was reading up on clicker training, and it's worked pretty well so far. It means that my horse has increasingly good ground manners; she gets more patient every day; she leads like a little puppy dog and follows me along on a loose lead; she never steps on me or disobeys me; she backs from light pressure on her lead rope; and even when she's upset, I can get her mind back on me by clicking her for moments of calmness.
So... what did we do today? We worked on confidence! And standing still. Reina's really impatient. I mean, she's not grumpy about it or anything. She just gets restless. I understand.. I get bored standing still, too! But that's no excuse. She's free to nod, yawn at me, etc., but she has to learn to stand still well.
But first things first - I went out to get her in the field, and we had a stare down. I refused to walk closer than... 4-5 feet, maybe? And I just chilled. Every time she looked at me, I'd smile and talk to her. But otherwise, I ignored her. After 3-5 minutes, she took a few steps towards me, ears pricked. Lots of snuggles and love! One day she'll be running to me... one day....
So I bring her in and she walked right into her stall again. YAY! I begin to work on targeting with my little plastic orange cone, but the horses outside are being crazy distracting. We're always in one of the stalls that faces outward; not on the inside of the barn.
Chi says we're free to come inside. Reina has never been inside before; there's lots of concrete, and stalls, and blankets, and an exercise machine (why, I have no idea), and plastic chairs... I'm like, yes! Training opportunity! Really, how could I resist?
So at first, Reina doesn't want to go in. She's like, no way, Mom, it looks scary in there. But Chi and I walk in before her, and she follows the second time through on a loose lead. Click and treat!
Exploration!
She snorts at the leaf blower to the right of us. She looks at it, I click and treat. Then, she walks right up to it and touches it - more treats! She noses it again, and I give her another treat, but soon she's lost interest and is off exploring the rest of the barn.
Sniffing sacks of.. something.
I let her lead me at first, at her own pace. Everything scary that she walks up and touches, she gets a treat. She understands this game. Not once did she spook or hesitate; she bumped the exercise machine, the plant on the ground, that bucket over there, the blankets on the stand, the big huge door, the other blankets on the other side, she poked around in the seats of all the chairs... she even walked over some boards stacked up on the floor without even blinking an eye at them!
The offending boards.
Okay, so, maybe not so offensive after all?
This reminds me... I need to get Nick to trim her again!
Oh my gosh, I was SO proud of her! I mean, her head was up, and she was nervous, and snorty... but she didn't spook, and she was so brave! After 3-5 minutes of this, her head lowered and she began to relax. I started leading her around instead and clicked her for moments of stillness and calmness. She caught on fast.
Soon, she was just as confident in the barn as she is outside. Then we started in on the stalls - they have no stall doors in here yet, so we went in, and out, and in, and out. Soon she was walking into them before me. Yay!!!
Then I tied her outside of a stall (she wasn't quite ready to stay in a stall for prolonged periods of time) and I started clicking her for being still again. Again, she caught on really fast. Within a minute or two she was 90% still, and I groomed one whole side of her - curry, hard brush, & soft brush with HHC sprayed on - and she barely moved! I have such a smart horse. Seriously.
Then I fed her in a stall and groomed the other side of her while she was eating, and I brushed out her mane and tail. I let her wander around at liberty, in and out of stalls, and she was so brave. She was inspecting everything, walking right up and bumping it with her nose, and she kept looking at me like "see, Mom? Look! I'm so brave! What is this thing, anyways?" She even picked up a pitchfork with her teeth! Lol! Oh, it was simply lovely to see. I'm sold on clicker training forever; she used to get so upset she'd be shaking. Now she's walking straight up to things like she owns them! The difference... wow.
What are these...?
Okay, I guess it doesn't matter. Click, please!
The only two slightly bad parts of the day: the first, she stepped on her own lead, and scared the crap out of herself. This leaves me with a dilemma. Usually, she understands pressure - she was fine against a hard tie on the stall door. She'd reach the end of it and be annoyed, but she'd stop and understood she couldn't go any further and she'd take the pressure off herself. But clearly she's never learned to keep calm when she steps on her own lead. What to do? I know a lot of people just turn out in halters with a lead dragging along behind them, but I'm rather loathe to try that... I don't know. I'll have to think about it. I want to fix it, though; it'll be much safer if I do.
She looks ridiculously shiny. That's the HHC; it hasn't dried yet here, haha.
But see? She's standing! Tied! Hooray!!
The weird thing is that she's not dominant with me at all; she's sweet, loving, adorable, and tries hard to please. But she gets grumpy at certain horses sometimes. Maybe I'm just too used to geldings who really just don't care who they're with? She's not grumpy at everyone, but there are a few horses she just really doesn't like at all. Hmmm. Opinions?
Anyways! Yes. There was a fabulous improvement in her confidence today, and I'm very proud of how quickly she calmed down and decided to explore. She's so cute.
Hi, pretty girl! :D
But, Chi is upset because she hasn't gained more weight - and I agree. She's still really skinny - better, definitely, but skinny. She's getting vitamin & salt supplements (one for high-energy TBs especially), a good amount of 16% protein feed, soaked alfalfa pellets, and some beet pulp sometimes too. Plus free choice on a big ole round bale in her pasture. We're going to worm her again, to be safe (I don't trust anything her owner said about her health anymore, not with how her feet were when I got her!!). Hopefully she'll start gaining more soon! Come onnn, mare, gain weight!!
Oh! And we have a trail ride scheduled with Chi tomorrow. Hooray!! I'm excited.
P.S. My hand is almost entirely healed from my mishap last Monday! One finger still kinda hurts, but otherwise you wouldn't be able to tell I had basically fried my skin off. I think I got off pretty easily, considering! Still need to get those riding gloves, though...
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