Rocky's 1st clicker session+Chrome's ear+Rocky lameness update+lots of videos!

 So handsome!!  His dapples seem to disappear sometimes lol.

Chrome first.  I had to braid his forelock because the hair kept getting stuck in his wound and then I'd rip it back open pulling the hair out.  I hope he doesn't rub his forelock braid out....  The wound is gaping open again, but it's not swollen and it's a lot less red.  We cleaned it today and put more powder on (the rain has made using the powder very difficult grr).

Here is a cute video of Chrome being a goofball.  It also shows a closeup of the wound.  The pictures didn't turn out very good, so the video will have to be good enough.

Direct link here.

Now Rocky.  First of all this is only his third Oxine soak and the improvement is amazing.  I'm a believer in this stuff.

He should dress up as the tin man for Halloween...

he already has the boots!!

Aren't we done with this yet??

Check out these pictures I got of the bottles that I mix the Oxine and vinegar in...

See the gas inside of it?

How about now?

That's the chemical reaction taking place.  That's what happens inside of his boots.  I can't imagine how it must feel, but it does not damage live tissue.  He's a saint to put up with all of this.

It's making a big difference too!  I'll let you see for yourself.  First up is a walking video showing him walking after his trim last weekend and then today.

Direct link.

Then here's a trotting video.  The before clip is short, because it never crossed my mind to get a video of him trotting when he was lame.  He had a huge head bob!  I'm talking he bobbed his head a foot easily.  So the after video is awesome!!

Direct link.

Can you believe that's just from his thrush treatments??  The before clip was taken after his trim.  He was way worse than that before his trim.

He stands under himself.  We're going to start soaking his rear hooves this week too, now that he's so good with his fronts.  I'm going to practice with an empty plastic bag and then a plastic bag with water in it before I use the Oxine.  I have no clue how he's going to react to having something on his rear hooves... I'll update when that happens (and I might get video haha).

Next up is a video of Rocky's introduction to clicker training!  He's never done any clicker training before so this is all new for him.  Sorry the video is kind of long (about 6 minutes I think), but I didn't want to cut anything out.  I had to trim out a couple of sections where I was walking around them (would have made you motion sick) and where I was talking about someone I know by name.

Direct link.

He did such a great job!!!!!!!  Hubby did too hehe.  I don't think it will take long before Rocky moves on to other things.  We are going to do short target training sessions for a few days and introduce following it.  Then we will do the grownups are talking game to keep him from mugging.  After that we will finally be able to work on his hooves.  He's been in so much pain that we can barely clean his feet, much less rasp them.  I'm hoping in another week he will be comfortable enough to at least let us clean them out, do some clicker training to reinforce holding his feet up nicely (and not jerking them away violently like he does now) and then we can start rasping his toe and flares between trims.  :)

I hope everyone had a fantastic fourth of July!  I spent it helping repair a toilet and sink that broke and cabinets that were sagging.  Didn't see a single firework!  We were invited to go see a show, but when we walked outside our tire was flat and it was the only vehicle we would drive that far.  We didn't feel comfortable driving that far on the spare so we didn't go.  Oh well.  We got a lot done around the house and the weather was crappy anyway.  Why did the rain have to come back?????

Sorry, I'll stop whining.  I hope you enjoy the videos.  I'm so excited because hubby is so excited about clicker training Rocky.  I think I'm going to get back into it with Chrome too.  He loves it and I miss it.  :)  I'll update again soon (hopefully tomorrow, but if not it will probably be next week because I just don't have time during the work week).

Chrome's Walk + Clicker Training

Picture taken August 2011

On tonight’s walk we had so much fun. I decided to walk back and forth in front of the house because I didn’t want to miss my husband leaving for class. I took Chrome's target so we could work on trotting since that's really good for the incision. When I went into the house to get his treats and target I was looking for the clicker and he actually followed me into the house with his flanks about even with the doorway lol. Luckily his hooves didn’t mess up the floor.

So we worked on walking, trotting, halts and lowering his head. He did great. He was getting excited and being kind of bratty, but I don’t care because it means he feels good and he wasn’t being ugly or dangerous. He was really into the trotting because he was following the target. The only problem I had with that is that he was getting a little ahead of me about thirty percent of the time and he was biting at the target about ninety percent of the time. Dude has some jaws on him lol.

With the halts I was swinging the target to his chest to get a quick halt and he did well, except for biting at it (which was cute because of the curled neck) and he was lifting one or other of his front legs. Too cute. Maybe it won’t be hard to teach him to do the Spanish Walk and rear (way, way in the future) by targeting his knees to the target. :D

With the head lowering he offers it on his own at the walk and at the trot I hold the target low so that he reaches down. Toward the end of the walk I had the target under my arm and he wasn’t offering to lower his head like he usually does so I reached up and squeezed his crest (top of his neck) and he lowered it!! He did it several times so I know it wasn’t a fluke.

When we were done I led him back to the house and put up his target and treats. Then I led him toward the pasture. This is the most exciting part, he actually pulled me over to the horse trailer!! We have to pass it on our way to the pasture. He hung his head over the ramp like he wanted to load so I lowered it. He immediately walked halfway on with no hesitation and looked at me like he was waiting for his treat. Stupid me had already put them in the house but I praised him vocally. Then he started playing with the bedding in the floor of the trailer. I finally asked him to back off and let him graze a little. I was so excited! He obviously does not associate the trailer with going to the vet and being in pain. Thank goodness!! :D

A Break & Chase the Tiger

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I hurt my arm playing basketball so I had to take a break from training. I couldn't lift my arm away from my body at all so that makes it difficult to hold a target stick lol. I picked training back up yesterday and today though and we had fun. My husband worked with Faran on targeting my orange cone and leading at liberty. He picked both up quickly.

At first he was very hesitant to touch the cone for some reason, but eventually figured it out. When he was touching it while my husband held it he put it on the ground and backed away from the cone. It was so funny because Faran would walk to the cone, stop with his toes next to it and then reach over it to sniff at my husband, then he would resign himself to working for his treat. He would deliberately touch the cone and raise his head back up for his treat. :)

On the leading it didn't take him long to figure out that walking up next to my husband's shoulder got him a click/treat. Then he started following at my husband's shoulder. They made it a full circuit around the round pen (where we work him so Chrome can't interfere) and then he ended it on a good note so that Faran decides working is fun. :)

With Chrome I worked briefly on yielding his shoulders. I want his cue to be pressure where my knee will be in the dressage saddle, but pressure right there caused him to yield his hindquarters so I put my other hand on his neck. I was using only light pressure. It took him a minute, but he finally figured out he had to step over with his front feet instead of his rear feet. He crossed one front hoof in front of the other about four or five times and I left it at that. I'll let it sink in a while.

I also introduced Chrome to Chase the Tiger. Chase the Tiger is a game that was invented by some of the members of the Art of Natural Dressage forum (http://www.artofnaturaldressage.com). You can read all about Chase the Tiger here (http://www.artofnaturaldressage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=475), but I'll also quote their explanation here.

"Chasing the tiger is nothing more or less than letting your horse chase a plastic bag/piece of clothing or something else that you hold in your hand or have tied to a stick/whip/pole. A lot of traditional trainers also use sticks/whips with plastic tied to it, but then in order to let the horse flee away from it in order to make them run. You can compare it to the rope that is flung to the horse in a join-up, or even a lungeing-whip that is cracked in the air in order to 'scare' the horse so that he becomes faster. These training methods reinforce to the horse that the human is the hunter and the horse is the prey, and therefore subordinate to the human.

Training
We do it the other way round. First you teach your horse through rewards that he can put his nose against a plastic bag that you're holding in front of him - and reward a lot for that! Then you just walk a step away from your horse and ask your horse if he wants to follow you and touch the bag again. Then slowly take longer distances, or let your horse touch the bag longer while walking, before you reward. If that's all okay, you can tie the bag on to the end of a whip and start running away from your horse, animating him into a trot or canter while holding the bag in front of him. When you tie the bag to a longer driving/lungeing whip, you can lunge your horse around you like this, let him do the more energetic moving while you're in a safe distance (and a bit less tired ).

Why
The most important reason to do this, is that most horses just love it. They love the fact that they're the hunter instead of the hunted and that they can chase instead of be chased. Because for horses, chasing each other is very natural too, only a lot of horses never chase others because the others always chase them. So giving them the opportunity to change place really can give them a boost of self-confidence.

Chasing the tiger is also a very good way to conquer fears. Clickertrainers already know that targeting a scary object with the nose easily convinces horses that that object isn't that scary after all. Chasing it makes it even more harmless, as obviously the previous scary object is now running away, and therefore scared of the horse. So let the horse be as wild as he wants to be with the bag (or other object) and reward him for that behavior. Touching the bag with the nose is very good, but stamping on it with a front foot is even better, as it means that your horse dares to come closer to it with his body.

Another reason why Chasing the Tiger is a great game, is that it teaches horses to move freely and at higher speeds eventually, even the more timid horses. It also offers a wonderful opportunity to 'make' horses more independent of you, especially those horses who don't play wild games on their own because they don't like to leave you.

The last reason is that lungeing in Chasing the Tiger-style, with the horse following the bag with his nose stretched out down and forwards, is a very good way to loosen the back. With horses who tend to lean a bit too much on the frontlegs when moving, you can also hold the whip with your targetbag more at knee-or breast-height.

Essentially you can play Chase the Tiger with anything: with wooden planks that you drag through the sand, or a jacket tied to a rope so that you can drag it behind you, or a tennis ball or piece of cotton tied to the end of the whip. Start easy, with an object that isn't that scary according to your horse, and gradually you can make the game more interesting by taking more scary materials (plastic, wild colors) and by asking your horse to follow it at higher speed. Experiment!"

I love this forum by the way, so check it out if you want to learn more. They have videos of Chase the Tiger at the link above and a whole lot of other interesting content. I used a whip with a handkerchief tied to the lash. I started with him targeting it in my hand and then on the ground. It didn't take him long to follow it around. He seemed a little hesitant and possibly a bit skittish of it, because if he came near his hooves he'd jump away. It was actually kind of funny. :D After our first session I did some targeting to make sure he was still willing to trot and that there wasn't anything wrong. He was fine.

Today during our second session of Chase the Tiger he did fantastic!! I started with the target to get him moving around and energetic. I also didn't feed him beforehand. Normally I feed first so he isn't so grabby at the treats, but he was just too sluggish. This time he wasn't. He trotted after it and was doing his pretty stallion stomp on it. It was so cute and he was so gorgeous! I'll have to get it on video because it was a lot of fun. :) I'm glad he did so well.

Well, sorry the post got to long. I'll try so get a video tomorrow. :)

Chrome's Liberty Clicker Training

Sorry I don't have any pictures for those of you who can't view videos. Here is a video showing the work I've done with Chrome at liberty. I was working without a target, but he didn't have anything to focus on and was unmotivated in this horrible humid heat. The target has allowed me to work on his trot in hand and to keep his head low so that he learns to use his back correctly. :) I'm excited. He looks so gorgeous doing his pretty trot. Please ignore me in the video. I was moving sticks and rocks out of the little area we were working on so my husband could mow and I look like crap. I also went straight out after work so I wasn't really dressed for video taking or horse work lol. Let me know what you think.

Oh and the things we need to work on are the treat taking. He's coming at my hand with a gaping mouth again. I think it's because I forgot to feed him before I worked with him. The other thing is when we halt he likes to bump into me. Actually he likes to be too close in general which is the main reason I brought the target stick back out. It helps create space between us. :)

Faran's 5th Clicker Session Video & Chrome's Injured Again

We started out our work with Faran today with my husband grooming him at liberty with no rope, completely unrestrained. He's doing so well! Faran still walks away at times when he needs a break, but after a minute let's us approach again and happily stands still for more brushing.

Faran is very curious about the camera so I get quite a few pictures like these lol!

My husband dropped the brush. Faran had to investigate. :)

Checking out his brush again.

Here he's playing with his other brush. I'm so happy to see his confidence and curiosity come out.

He had enough brushing and walked away for a minute, but he's still watching my husband.

Standing at liberty to be brushed. He even returned the favor! Check out this video.

So pretty!

Faran loves playing with the treat bag so we decided to work on treat manners (e.g. no mugging/Grownups are talking, do not interrupt game). We also worked on following the target which he did great! Here's the video.



I didn't get a chance to work with Chrome tonight, although I did a little with him this morning, which was basically review of what he already knows, because I was promoted at work and the hours have been crazy. The sad news is that he's injured himself AGAIN. This time it's a gash across his nostrils. It was getting really dark so I couldn't take pictures. I put Carona on it and will check better in the morning, clean it up really well and medicate it. It wasn't bleeding or deep, so I'm sure it's mostly superficial. Well, that's all tonight. Time for bed!

More Clicker

Picture taken 4-10-2010.

First I want to mention that I'm having problems with blogger comments. I publish them, but they don't show up. I have no idea why this is happening and I'm sorry if your comment doesn't get posted. I really appreciate all of your comments and hope you continue to leave them. Thanks!

Secondly, everyone was right! Zeppelin is watching what we're doing. When I let him out of Chrome's stall he follows me around like he wants to know where his treats are. :) It was adorable. He also followed me around while I was mucking out the paddock. I know he's not as scared as he acts because he stands right by the wagon while I'm tossing poop into it. Silly donkey. They also backed up to the wagon to poop. Both of them missed however lol.

Anyway I worked with Chrome on following the target some more. I also worked on it at a lower height, but I think my crouching was confusing him (or I went too low, too fast). We'll try that again later. He followed me all over. I even had him laterally flexing to touch the target by his shoulder. :)

At one point I was wandering around aimlessly while he chewed and realized he was glued to my side in what you would consider a perfect heel position when walking a dog. On a whim I clicked and gave him a bit of his feed. After he'd done that a few times, with me clicking him when he was in the right position, I started working on whoa. I'd say whoa, then stop and wait for him to stop, then I would click and treat. If anyone has done this before please tell me if it's okay that I was reinforcing him even though he took a couple of steps past me. By the end of the session he was stopping right next to me, so I think he was really starting to figure it out. I ended the session with a jackpot and gave him scratches in all his favorite spots while he finished his dinner. Chrome is such a good boy!! I was very pleased with how it went, because without even meaning to we worked on flexing, leading and stopping. :) Next step is to work on backing.

Clicker & Target Training

Picture taken 1-29-2010.

I had a clicker session with Chrome this evening and it went fantastic!! This was only his fifth ever clicker session (and as my followers know they've been sporadic) and I swear he's the smartest horse I've ever worked with!! I've been reading Alexandra Kurland's The Click That Teaches and picking up a lot of pointers. Things like how to feed the treats, being careful to pause before offering the treat so you don't dilute the power of the clicker, breaking things into small steps, etc. I decided to work today on having Chrome follow the target because he's already doing really well with touching it standing still at all different heights. I'm also still working on pairing the vocal cue, but I'm not sure if he knows it yet. Once I feel he has the hang of following the target I'm going to work on duration.

So I tricked Zeppelin into going in Chrome's stall where I could shut the gate. At first he looked annoyed that he'd been tricked, then he saw the huge bucket of hay all to himself and proceeded to completely ignore us LOL. I started out having Chrome touch the target with me holding it at arm's length. I concentrated on trying to put the target behind my back (after the click of course) before bringing the food bucket from behind my back (this prevents diluting the power of the click). He only seemed momentarily confused, but didn't try to mug me.

Once he had the hang of that I started walking away from him, still holding the target at arm's length (I'm using the tennis ball on the end of a dowel rod for a target). He followed me all over the pasture touching that target. It was so cute seeing him walk as fast as he could with his head stretched out toward the target lol. I was tempted to try getting him to trot, but that would have been adding in multiple criteria at one time and would have confused him.

After we'd done that a few times I noticed I wasn't giving him enough time to chew and he was dropping a lot trying to stuff his mouth full, so I put the target and the bucket behind my back between each touch to allow him to chew. At that point he started mugging me a bit, but I just ignored him until he turned his head away. That's when I realized I was inadvertently teaching him the 'Grownups are Talking' game. I finally put the target away and worked on that by itself. He caught on quick!! He had his head turned completely away from me before I could even get the bucket behind my back again! Then of course the reinforcements were coming so quickly again that he wasn't having time to chew (I was giving him tiny nibbles of his feed for each click, but he kept stuffing it into his mouth instead of chewing and swallowing lol) so I started walking around a bit to give him time to chew. Then I would stop and he would turn his head away and we'd repeat. :)

At the end of the session I sat the bucket on the ground for him to finish it off as his jackpot of sorts and was just holding on to it so he wouldn't dump it. After he grabbed a bite he actually turned his head away again waiting for the click without me even moving the bucket lol. I clicked for him and he turned his head back and finished eating his dinner. It was so cute he had to throw in that extra one lol.

Also I almost forgot to mention. In between each touch he was lifting his nose to my face for a kiss, so it's not going to be hard at all to teach him to give kisses! In fact I'm tempted to work on that one next. If anyone has trained it and knows any tips let me know. :) Sorry I got so wordy today. I was just excited and want to share my success. I'm going to try to have my husband video tape one of our sessions sometime so you all can see how we're doing. For now you'll have to read my long winded descriptions hehe. Later all!!

Clicker Training

I did a short clicker session with Chrome last night and I noticed two things.

Number one. He understands the click. As soon as I click he's looking for his treat. That's what I was waiting on. :)

Number two. He's bored with targeting. I can't blame him. I'm bored too.

Chrome will target high, low, toward his shoulder, toward his chest (he has difficulty with this one because he can't see it) and he follows it around. So now it's time to look in my Step-by-step Clicker Training for your Horse book by Alexandra Kurland to see where we need to move on. :) When I figure that out I'll update again. I am going to try to video tape some of our sessions, but if I don't please don't be mad at me lol.

Smartest Colt in the World!! - Clicker Training

I think Chrome is by far the smartest most engaged horse I've ever worked with. This is why I wanted a weanling and I'm happy it's working out so far. I just did Chrome's third target training session. I'm adding the voice cue "touch" just before he touches the target. I have no idea how long it'll take before he makes a connection since this is the first time I've taught this to a horse. I started out on the outside of the fence like last time, but I quickly realized he was ready to do more.

I went into the pasture and had him walking all around me touching the target. He only went for my hands a couple of times, but he didn't bite me or anything, just smelled them and moved on. I had him walking half circles around me to touch the target and I had him curling his neck under to touch the target next to his chest and around to touch it near his side. I may be able to use this to teach him to do warm up stretches lol.

I'm amazed how quickly he's learning all of this. I'm sure by the next session I'll have him following the target in a full circle and all around the pasture. Imagine how much he'd learn if I trained everyday lol. I'll have to work on this more often. Gotta love my colt.

2nd Clicker Session

I am so proud of Chrome!! I did his second clicker/targeting sessions today and he did fantastic!! And I have a video so you can see it too. I think Chrome may be too smart for me lol. ;)

Sorry it's kind of long. I didn't want to cut anything out, but if you get bored or your internet is too slow to load videos I have pictures below. Unfortunately they're snapshots from the video so they aren't the greatest quality. :)



I can't believe I didn't think of feeding him out of his bucket sooner. It's easy, there's less waste and I don't get bit (intentionally or accidentally). I still can't believe he did so well! He's only done this one other time and that was two months ago!! So anyway moving on to the pictures.

I love the lip action in this one. :)

And this one. :)

Zeppelin was jealous.

He touched it no matter where I held it.

Zep is biting Chrome here trying to chase him away from the feed.

I have no idea what I want to teach him next. I think he's got targeting well enough now that we can move on to something else. I'm pretty sure I saw him flick an ear at the sound of the clicker so he must know what it means by now. I may work on targeting his Jolly Ball which will lead to picking it up. Just have to see how it goes. :)

Charging The Clicker & Targeting

I decided to finally get off my lazy rear and start working on clicker training with Chrome. I'll admit I've been putting it off a while because I'm just so afraid of messing anything up. I know how to train a dog but this will be my first time using clicker training methods on a horse. So after a little more research and studying to reassure myself I went out to the pasture armed with clicker, treats and a target stick (a tennis ball on a wooden dowel rod).

First I worked on charging the clicker. Click, treat, click, treat. I quickly realized I was rewarding minor mugging so I quickly moved on to target training. I'm going to work on the mugging thing tomorrow, because I want it drilled into his little brain that he will not get treats for sniffing my hands or pockets. He's doing so well with the nipping thing that I don't want to encourage it all over again. He hasn't offered to nip in a while now.

Chrome caught onto the target training quick! As soon as I held it out he touched the bright tennis ball because he was curious and had never seen one before. All it took was once. After clicking I would put the rod behind my back while feeding the treat, then I would bring it out again and he would touch it immediately. I did that until I ran out of the pocketful of sugar cubes I had. I'm going to dice up an apple later and put a bit of sugar on it with the hopes of converting him to an apple lover. I just don't like feeding him that much sugar. Apple pieces would be so much easier to train with. Anyway, I kept the session short and gave him scratchies afterward. I think he really liked it. Later when I went outside he came right over to me and kind of stretched his head out looking at me like he wanted to play again. :) I think Chrome is going to be fun to train.