Donkey Day

 My boys playing bitey face.

I didn't have time to mess with Zep much other than feeding him and petting his face, so today I'll just spam you with pictures lol.  I've been busy all week cleaning out my old house and finally finished it (thank goodness since the renters move in June 1st), but still have outbuildings to clean out so I'll probably be busy again this week, but I'm getting there.  :)  Anyway here are the pictures.

ZepZep rolls a lot because the flies bother him but he won't let me fly spray him.  :( 

 He sure is cute doing it though!!

See he's sitting again!  Told you I trained him to sit lol.  Just kidding.  :) 

Look at that evil expression!  I bet you can't guess what he did next... 

 Yep he stole it.

 I'm soooo dying to get a brush after him!  I wish donkeys didn't take so long to shed out.

Grabbing a drink after all of the fun.

One thing I did accomplish this week is that I got his halter off.  I was crouched next to Chrome while he ate and Zep came up really close behind me.  I twisted around and rubbed him nose, then his face, then his ears, then I reached around with one hand and unbuckled his halter.  When it shifted on his face he spun away from me and then stood there.  It finally fell off of his face.  :)  The reason I took it off is because even though I loosened it a bit it was still rubbing his nose.  I'll just leave it off.  Someday I'll get around to clicker training him to accept haltering.  :)

Belated Donkey Day & Chrome's Nineteenth Ride

 Sorry I didn't post yesterday for Donkey Day!  I was out of town with a moving truck getting the rest of my stuff out of our old house so the renters can start moving in.  :)  I didn't get much done with Zep last week because of the bad weather and my back was hurting... however because I am an amazingly awesome donkey trainer I taught Zep how to sit!!!!!

Haha, just kidding.  He was standing up after enjoying a roll and I timed the picture just right hehe.

This week is going to be very busy, but I'll try to work with Zep as much as possible.  :D  I feel bad locking him up in the round pen though...  I guess I can try luring Zep into the round pen when it's time to work with him.... I'll figure it out.

One last thing I wanted to mention is my ride on Chrome today.  My dad had to work all night so he was out doing yard work today to keep himself awake.  I decided to ride Chrome since the weather was perfect.  I put my helmet on, put his bridle on and led him up to the hay bale we've been stepping over to use it as a mounting block.  I lined him up between the bale and a tree (because that's where it was sitting) and stepped up... it was a little short.  I was feeling lazy so I swung my leg over his back anyway and grabbed the tree and pulled myself onto his back LOL!  It was hilarious!  I didn't plan it, but it worked perfectly.

So I followed dad around while he was pruning trees and doing other yard work.  He was driving the four wheeler around the yard.  At one point he started up the driveway and I started trotting Chrome after him.  Chrome loved "chasing" the four wheeler!!!  As we were trotting along we went over the culvert and on the down slope Chrome tried to canter!  He had lowered his head (going uphill), I was riding bareback and he totally caught me off guard to I pulled him up before he could break into the canter.  If I'd been in the saddle and not caught so off guard I probably would have let him canter.  I'm curious what it's going to be like.  I really like his trot.  This is only his third ride that I've done more than just a couple of trot strides and he's doing so awesome!

I just wanted to share that.  Tomorrow I'll share my plans for Chrome with everyone.  I've been thinking long and hard about his exercise program and I've finally made a decision!  :D

P.S.  I rode him for about twenty five minutes, mostly at the walk, and he was still raring to go.  :D

Donkey Day (and Chrome's stifle update)

 First a Chrome update.  As you can see in the above photo he is back to his old self.  :D I have just been walking him, letting him graze in the yard (he walks around a lot while grazing), backing up in a relaxed posture and walking him over the hay bales.  Tomorrow I'm going to start over on our Couch to 5k workouts, but I guess I'm going to try running with him so he's not on longe circles.... yuck.  Wish me luck lol.

 And now on to Donkey Day!!  As you can see in these pictures I let Zep out of the round pen because we had bad weather for a few days.  I'll probably put him back in as soon as we can build him a lean-to.  If I could find Faran a home I would just train Zep out in the pasture since I could easily put Chrome in the round pen or out in the yard to graze while I worked with him.

Zep tries to help me out and bites Faran trying to get him to go away.... but little donkey teeth don't make much of an impression on the Hulk lol.  

These pictures weren't taken during a training session.  I was actually guarding Chrome while he ate his supper because he eats soooo much slower than the other two and they try to steal it from him.  They were totally mugging me lol.

 We want FOOD!!

 So anyway, on to the training.  Even though I wasn't training when I took these pictures I took pictures of what we've been working on so you could see.  I just snitched handfuls of Chrome's food to reward Zep for cooperating.  :)

 Petting him on the nose.

The first day I took my target (tennis ball stuck to the end of a dowel rod) out and worked on touch.  He quickly remembered the work we'd done with that.  In the first session I was able to get him to transfer and target my hand!!!  :D

 Holding my palm out flat so he can touch it with his nose.  I'm so excited for him to learn the hand target because that teaches him that my hands are good.  :)

In a later session I started holding my hand up toward his face.  His natural reaction was to turn his face away, but I just left my hand in the air.  When he turned back to face me without moving away I clicked and gave him a treat.  It took no time at all before I was brushing my fingers down his forehead and then putting my whole palm on his face.  :D  I can tell he remembers all of this, it will just take time to gain his confidence again.  Hopefully we will have better weather next week and I will be able to work with him more.  We only had three clicker sessions this last week.  The exciting part was that when he was in the round pen he was walking over to where I sit to train him before I could even get in the pen lol.  He loves it!

  As you can see by his total mugging of the camera he is definitely finding his confidence again.  :D

Zep says bye until next week!!

Donkey Day!!!!!

Again, no pictures!  Sorry!

Some of you may remember the Donkey Days I used to do (http://rdxhorses.blogspot.com/search/label/Donkey%20Day), well it's back!  Tonight I finally locked Zep in the round pen... so it's time for Operation Tame Led Zeppelin.  :D  His halter had started to rub his nose a bit, so I had to loosen it!

I was feeding Chrome his supper and as usual Zep was hovering nearby waiting for the handouts he knew I would be giving.  :)  When he took a handful of feed I reach under his chin with the other hand and clipped the rope on his halter.  I called to my husband so he could come help and Zep moved away.  When the rope moved it spooked him and he bolted.  I couldn't let go fast enough to avoid a minor rope burn, but I'm okay.

So Zep galloped all over the pasture because the evil rope was chasing him.... I was kind of hoping he would wrap himself around a tree since it was my super long rope, but he didn't.  We fed Chrome and Faran in the round pen and it wasn't long before Zep went in too.  After locking him in (and removing the horses) we opened up my hay ring that has three pieces pinned together to make a corral.  I gently coaxed him (by following behind him about fifteen feet away)  into the hay ring chute.  I pushed the ring closed behind him and he was caught!  It was really cute.  He fit perfectly in the hay ring lol!!

Once he was caught he stood still and let me loosen the halter.  It's really weird that once he's caught he will let me pet him all over the head and neck and mess with his halter to my heart's content.... weird.  So after loosening the halter I fed him several more handfuls of oats and let him out.  Then I closed the hay ring again so we could feed his hay in it and he couldn't poop in it or sleep in it.  Tomorrow we will set him up with a lean-to just to keep him dry.  I think most of the cold weather is past..... I hope.  This winter has dragged on sooooooo long lol.

So anyway I'm going to start clicker training with him again and I'll post each Sunday for Donkey Day with an update on our progress for the week and hopefully I'll have lots of pictures.  :D

Donkey Day - 6-12-2010

Sorry I'm posting this a day late. I got really busy and ran out of time. I haven't done much because I've been busy with work, but I did want to mention I'm now feeding Zep in his original bucket with me standing on the other side of the fence. I positioning my hand over his bucket so that it touches his forehead when he reaches in for a bite. The first day he jumped every time he came into contact with my hand, but now I'm actually able to scratch his forehead while he eats. :D So we're slowly making progress. Sorry I don't have any current pictures.

5-22-2010 - Donkey Day

Sorry I've missed Donkey Day but I've been so busy that I haven't been taking pictures. You'll like this one though. :) To befriend the skittish donkey I've been doing several things. I've been hand feeding treats. He wasn't very comfortable taking the treats in the next pictures because Chrome was climbing up my back and I was having to push him away which kept startling Zeppelin lol.

Look how he stretches to reach the treat.

He knocked it out of my hand and ate it off the ground lol.

Look at those sad Eeyore eyes. His face is finally shedding out dark. Takes a lot longer than a horse to shed!

I've been holding his bucket while he eats his feed twice a day.

He lets me pet his nose a little.

He's getting much better at it especially if I'm sitting down.

Zeppelin is getting a bit nippy about treats, but he's so gentle I took the chance to get cute pictures!

I LOVE this adorable grimace!

In this one he's snorting. Too cute! Look how puffed up his mouth is lol.

I think Zeppelin is embarrassed. :D

Donkey Day & Chrome's Clicker Training

Picture taken 3-14-2010.

When I went outside to feed I found Zeppelin already in Chrome's stall so I just shut him in and started thinking. I knew I wanted to do something with him, but I didn't want to use the clicker in ear shot of Chrome. I've had this problem with Storm and Jackal before too and I never came up with a solution really . . . I just started training them separately, which is impossible with Chrome and Zep.

I got Zep's feed and tried hand feeding him, but he didn't want to come close to me since we were confined in the stall. He probably felt trapped and it didn't help that Chrome was pacing outside. I finally decided to just let him eat his feed out of the bucket while I was holding it. I'll do that for a while until he gets comfortable with me being in the stall with him. Then I'll proceed from there. If any of you seasoned horse clicker trainers have any tips on training them together without diluting the power of the clicker please let me know. I'd really appreciate it.

Picture taken 3-16-2010.

After feeding Zeppelin I worked with Chrome. We did target training first and I discovered something! The reason I'm having trouble getting him to target closer to the ground is because he's associated the outstretched arm with targeting. I forget how tuned into body language they are! I also realized that he probably has trouble seeing the tennis ball (I don't accept touches of the dowel rod as a target, only the ball). I think I'm going to leave that alone for now because I like the distance it creates between us with my outstretched arm and instead I'm going to teach him to target a small, orange cone. I want to eventually get him targeting the cone on the ground so I can work on 'sending' him to it. I'm hoping this will help us with stimulus control and also reinforce the voice cue (which I feel he ignores or barely notices). Anyway, that will be a while (or not considering how fast he catches on).

After that I worked on Grownups are Talking (which has become his default behavior). He has that down perfect. Then I decided to work on something new. I'm going to attempt something I've never done before and never seen done (if anyone knows of a Youtube video let me know). I'm going to basically 'target' his shoulder to my shoulder, so that he automatically positions himself on my left hand side with his shoulder even with mine. I have no idea if I'm making any sense. Anyway it went really well! He caught on so quickly!

Basically how it went is I walked away from him and stopped with my back to him and waited. And waited. And waited. He started out just turning his head away and held it there. Eventually he came closer and turned his head away. As he inched closer he eventually drew even with my shoulder and I clicked. Within minutes he was positioning himself perfectly every time I walked away. Then I worked on the following game. I forgot to work on stopping though. Oh well. All in all I think it went great! And to think when I started out I wasn't in a good mood and didn't even feel like training. I'm glad I did.

Donkey Day - 5-1-2010

It sure is no fun when little brothers weigh more than you do!

Bratty Chrome enjoys swinging his toys in circles and banging them against buildings and fences . . . and donkeys!!!

How not to desensitize a donkey to empty feed bags . . .

. . . let your colt chase him with one LOL!

On a more serious note, these boys play ROUGH together!

And I'm worried because Zeppelin has sores on his flanks . . .

. . . but Chrome doesn't have a mark on him.

This doesn't mean that Zeppelin doesn't bite Chrome. I've seen him dole out the punishment in their mock fights, but I think Chrome bites too hard. Is there too much of a size difference to make safe pasture/play mates? Zeppelin I would guess is around three hundred pounds and Chrome is close to six hundred. Zep does kick Chrome when he's had enough, but why would he let Chrome cause sores before saying enough?

Anyway the sores aren't too bad. They aren't pouring blood or infected or anything like that. I just don't like Zep being hurt. I was going to get Chrome gelded this spring, but I couldn't get it done before the flies came out so I guess I have to wait until this fall. I don't think I'm going to have enough money to get them both done at the same time unfortunately, but Zep hasn't been aggressive or anything so I might let him wait longer. He turns three this year so it's not like he's going to suddenly turn crazy or anything. Anyway if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them. Thanks!

Donkey Day - 4-24-2010

Zeppelin is slowly calming down day by day. He takes treats from me, lets me touch his face a little bit and doesn't flinch when I pass him while carrying hay or pulling the wagon. He still doesn't like being touched though. I haven't done any clicker training with him because I've been so busy (job change). I took these pictures last night just sitting in the barn with them watching the rain. :)

"You can't see me . . ."

Keeping his ear on me.

Look at Chrome eating out of the hay bucket on the other side of the fence. Dork.

I promise I will start working with them. I just need time to get things sorted out and some motivation lol.

Donkey Day - 4-10-2010

If I look a little unhappy it's because Mom went to a horse festival and completely ignored me all day. She got up and fed me at 5AM totally interrupting my beauty sleep then didn't get home until late and fed me at 8PM! The nerve! She did give me treats though so I forgive her. Heehaw!!!!!

Zep

Donkey Day - 4-3-2010

I've been so busy with the dogs, goats and chickens that I've sort of been ignoring the equine members of the family. :( Sometimes I wonder if I have myself stretched too thin. It'll be okay though.

I've been doing some research on using clicker training to make contact with wild and wary horses (or donkeys) and I think I'm going to start working with Zeppelin and the clicker. I'm worried about messing up Chrome's training though because he's so new to the clicker and I'd be using it in his hearing. I might have to use a whistle or tongue click. I'll think on it.

I don't know when I'll start working on this. I think the reason I've procrastinated for so long is because I'm trying to do too much. Think about it. I have Storm, Jackal, Chrome, Aslan and now Zeppelin that I want to clicker train! Yikes. There are only so many hours in a day. I do think this is necessary though because Zep has gotten a lot more comfortable around us but he still refuses to be touched and I really need to work on his feet. Now that the ground is drying out they're starting to crack. Wish me luck!!