Bridling
Just a short update - we managed to get out for a quick ride in between the awful heavy rain. It's reminding me of last winter, when the rain never seemed to stop and everything flooded.
When I started using the bridle to ride out (we still just use the neck strap in the field), Jackson found the whole procedure very annoying. It took too long and all that fidding with his ears and pulling bits of his mane out from under the headpiece frustrated him. He would either try to bite the noseband as it went on, or frisk all my pockets for treats while I tried to do up the throatlatch. I started clicking for nose away from me. I'm not quite sure what happened (or exactly when it happened), but when I produce the bridle now, it's the bridle that gets mugged. Provided I hold out the cavesson bit, Jackson rams his nose into it, and keeps his head right down until I've got the ears and mane sorted out. Then he stands gazing away from me until I've got the fiddly throatlatch done up.
All I rewarded was the not frisking me behaviour, but I seem to have set up a behaviour chain that he likes - sticking my nose in here and holding my head down means a treat, rather than keeping my nose out of her pockets means a treat.
I'm not complaining - but it does make me think about the difference between what I set out to train, and what I get in the end. I'm glad the bridle is less of an issue (and seems to be a fairly positive thing now).
Our ride was a bit wet today, but enjoyable. Yet again, I'm feeling a bit torn - I want to go away to a lovely hotel and have a nice cosy weekend with D, but I also want to make the most of my opportunity to have a nice long ride without having to rush off to get to work on time. I know D thinks I have a lovely time and get to ride my horse everyday, so what's the problem with not riding at a weekend, but it's just that I want to have at least one time in the week where I can go up to the field and spend as long as I like without the guilty feeling that I should be elsewhere.
When I started using the bridle to ride out (we still just use the neck strap in the field), Jackson found the whole procedure very annoying. It took too long and all that fidding with his ears and pulling bits of his mane out from under the headpiece frustrated him. He would either try to bite the noseband as it went on, or frisk all my pockets for treats while I tried to do up the throatlatch. I started clicking for nose away from me. I'm not quite sure what happened (or exactly when it happened), but when I produce the bridle now, it's the bridle that gets mugged. Provided I hold out the cavesson bit, Jackson rams his nose into it, and keeps his head right down until I've got the ears and mane sorted out. Then he stands gazing away from me until I've got the fiddly throatlatch done up.
All I rewarded was the not frisking me behaviour, but I seem to have set up a behaviour chain that he likes - sticking my nose in here and holding my head down means a treat, rather than keeping my nose out of her pockets means a treat.
I'm not complaining - but it does make me think about the difference between what I set out to train, and what I get in the end. I'm glad the bridle is less of an issue (and seems to be a fairly positive thing now).
Our ride was a bit wet today, but enjoyable. Yet again, I'm feeling a bit torn - I want to go away to a lovely hotel and have a nice cosy weekend with D, but I also want to make the most of my opportunity to have a nice long ride without having to rush off to get to work on time. I know D thinks I have a lovely time and get to ride my horse everyday, so what's the problem with not riding at a weekend, but it's just that I want to have at least one time in the week where I can go up to the field and spend as long as I like without the guilty feeling that I should be elsewhere.