Comments | backyardhorse: pushy on the ground.

madeyemads in backyardhorse

pushy on the ground.

Jun 02, 2008 17:53

Okay. I have had my TB/Australian riding pony mare, Lexie for just nine days. So far she's going really well. I have ridden her six times. Three times in the indoor arena and three times in the outdoor as well as walked her around the property. She's seven years old and 15.2hh, a nice mare without extensive training but with the basics and a ( Read more... )

training questions, lexie

Comments 4

maggies_lens June 2 2008, 08:49:34 UTC

Ahh welcome to mare ownership. Or more to the point, being owned by a mare. You're on the right track, keep her focused on you and you alone. Sometimes when Desi was little I found it helpful to carry a dressage whip when leading her. If she got out of hand I'd reach around behind me with the whip and give her a smart tap on the hip with it, got her attention quick smart! If she gets really boistrous try leading with a bit for a while so you can remind her she needs to listen to you. She won't be seeing you as the leader quite yet, it'll take a bit of time but sounds like she's getting there. Do you use a rope halter on her? They get good results as well.

harnessphoto June 2 2008, 13:27:44 UTC

i'm probably going to get eaten for suggesting this, but invest in a chain shank. put it over her nose. practice walking her past other horses. if she starts to get distracted, jingle the lead. I AM NOT ADVISING THAT YOU SHANK HER (for all those people who are omg anti-chain). if she continues to ignore you, jiggle a little harder, then tug with a pull-release motion. ONLY if she gets dangerous (rears, physically pushes you, etc) do you give her a proper yank. you'll see right away if you have a horse who doesn't tolerate a lead chain, in which case, obviously don't continue using it. but if you use the lead chain properly, you should find that you can get her attention back to you with less and less pressure, until you can put a regular lead back on her and just tug on that to get her back to you.

forestcats June 2 2008, 16:15:11 UTC

I've been using clicker training with my mares for behavior. It is a win/win method of training as opposed to the master/slave methods.
Clicker training USA has many great videos showing training with dogs. It breaks down and shows how to develop behaviors.

Clicker training video on YouTube.com
A Karen Pryor video demonstrating clicker training on trails

People without experience using the method may fear the dog or horse 'mugging' you for food. One of the first things to clicker train is the Leave me alone. The horse first has learned that every time you click that their action made the click and after the click comes the reward. You are not luring you are rewarding for the action. So next the horse figures out "Hey you have FOOD" Gimme gimme gimme... You let the horse push and search but you only CLICK when they have stopped and pause looking at you. This way they figure out the click comes not from pressuring you but from being calm.

penella22 June 3 2008, 04:00:10 UTC

yeah...I'd do some kind of ground work with her that builds more respect...clicker training is great! So is Linda Tellington Jones work, or Parelli Natural Horsemanship. With spooky unfocused horses like that, I think some of ti can just be that they are in a new place, and so of course they haven't fully attached and bonded with a human yet. Of course they are bit obsessive about where other horses are ( ... )