Umbrella Work

I tried working with Chrome on backing away from his hay but he didn't generalize it at ALL! When he's in his stall and I'm feeding him he will back all the way to the fence, but when we're in the open side of the barn (Zep's stall) in front of the hay he just didn't get it at all. It's like he completely forgot how to back on. To be fair we really didn't work on backing all that much I don't think. I really need to work on backing some more with the clicker so he's working for a reward instead of being kept away from something he wants (the hay). He's still doing great in his stall for dinner though. He backs all the way to the fence and has even started to pause.

I also worked with him with the umbrella (but no clicker or treats). I wasn't as patient or thorough as I should have been but it was freezing cold and snowing. I guess what I learned from the whole thing is that clicker training sure makes desensitizing so much easier and a lot more fun for Chrome. I messed with him until I could touch him all over with the umbrella closed, swing it around his head closed, swing it in front of him open, hold it over his head open and touch his back with it open. I think with clicker we could have been a lot more thorough and he would have been a lot more relaxed, but for a quick session I think he did really good. You can see pictures and read more about it on my main blog here.

Training Updates

I know I said I was condensing down to one blog, but I realized that when I start working with Chrome and Zeppelin daily I'd be posting nothing but their training progress on my main blog and that's just not going to work. So what I'm going to do is keep posting about them on my main blog along with everything else, but also post about their training sessions here. :) So for you horse fanatics, donkey fanatics and clicker training fanatics you can come here and read about our progress with clicker training. Enjoy!

Chrome's Monthly Progress Report

Date: 12-19-10
Age: 19 months
Height: 14.3½hh
Height Gain: Approximately half an inch. In another month he should be fifteen hands and not even two years old yet!!! :D
Weight: Approximately 810lbs.
Weight Gain: He gained thirty pounds! I was happy to see this because I thought he was losing weight. I guess it was just a growth spurt that made him look like he was losing weight while he added on height. I better be careful about increasing his feed too much.
Progress: As you know from the post a couple of days ago I finally had Chrome's hooves trimmed again. I think this farrier will be a lot more reliable and easier to schedule with. She was very organized and even had appointment cards and invoices!! He looks a lot better after having his hooves done. Considering she took off almost half an inch it makes me think Chrome probably made it to fifteen hands for a little while at least lol. :)

I did get hay finally, yay. At least selling my goats provided me with enough money to do that. I do miss them though. The farrier also gave me some insight into Chrome's behavior. She said he's very lazy, which I knew he would be because Friesians aren't known for being energetic. She also said that I'm letting him get away with too much, blaming it on him being a stallion. She said I need to make him behave or having him gelded won't do any good. I will admit that I have been letting him get away with stuff. As you know from a previous post he was crowding during feeding and I resolved that. He's been nipping, but all I have to do is reprimand him in a stern voice and he stops, because he knows better, he's just testing.

I need to start taking him for walks again and make him work and pay attention to me before he starts seeing me as a lowly pasture mate. He's not rude at all, he's just started to test his boundaries. I haven't been working on any yielding or softening with Chrome so I think I'm going to use the methods Kate wrote about on her blog A Year With Horses. I think those will help get him softer and listening to me better. I have a head cold right now though so we'll see how that goes later when I'm feeling better.

Goals: My goal is to get better lol. I want to work on the softening exercises with Chrome and start walking him again. If that goes well (I'm super lazy in the winter) I might start trying to clicker train him again. I've just been so busy with the extra hours at work and my husband's doctor appointments for his back that I haven't been doing anything. I haven't even worked with Jackal on crawling. :( I'll do better I promise!! I also need to read blogs. I'm soooo far behind. I have almost three hundreds posts to read. Sorry I haven't been commenting a lot. I am or will read all your posts though. Okay I'm going to rest before work.