Never Bite the hand that Feeds
Boomerang
So these past few months, in addition to working with Chincoteague Minnow, I have been intensely training my green pony, Chesapeake Boomerang, how to be an exceptional mounted games pony. Boomer has been learning how to play each race, how to move quickly off of my leg, and how to spin using his hind end. He’s progressed greatly over these past few months, but we still have a long way to go.
Recently my focus has been directed to an issue Boomer has with leading. He’s always been sensitive about stuff on his face and I only use a bitless bridle on him now because he pefers to have no bit in his mouth. So the issue that has come into play is when I go to lead him. Some races require that I jump off of him and lead him through an obsticle and then remount. Boomerang is not at all thrilled at the fact that I use slight rein pressure to ask him to move forward and has a tendancy to either try to bite the reins or me when I ask him to move forward. Definitely not an ok option.
So the past 2 weeks I have been working on getting him to match my speed when I move. First we started with me not holding the reins at all and when I would start to run I’d ask him to follow. Then click, reward. It didn’t take long for Boomer to get that part down. So once he had that figured out I added my hand into the equasion. I’d pick up the rein and if he made a move to bite me I’d gently bump him away with my finger. I’d wait until he kept his head straight before I would click and reward him.
I took a video yesterday of the progress we have made. As you can see for a momment Boomer makes a move towards my hand, you can see the push away correction I give him and then he goes back to keeping his head straight. Since he did not bite me and followed my correction I rewarded him at the end. This is GREATLY improved as to how he used to be, not to mention he keeps trotting through the whole drill, even when I drop back to his shoulder to remount (this can be a difficult concept for a horse to learn).
We still have a lot to do with working with this issue, and Boomer still has what I call “grumpy face”. He may not actually be biting me, but his ears are back and I know the thought is there. For right now, since we are still training, I am going to accept the grumpy face as long as he does not make a move to bite me, but as we further this skill I will eventually ask him to keep his ears forward.
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I love the video. 🙂 Mounted pony games look incredibly fun!
I am sure Boomer will realize soon that the less he fights with you while you jog side by side, the less pressure will be put on the bridle! 🙂