Tricks
The Look of Understanding
So I felt badly at not posting much “trick horse” stuff lately. So here is a series of videos of a trick trained horse named Lukas. I love watching the connection Lukas has with his trainer, you can actually see him responding and thinking about her every cue. I’ve noticed that this particular connection between a trainer and horse is particularly present in clicker trained/reward based trained horses. You can tell the horses actually want and enjoy learning. All of my boys have the same look in their eyes that Lukas does. Its a wonderful thing when you can find a way to communicate with an animal – something amazing starts to happen.
-KD
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Make a Wish
Happy Birthday Blitz!
Today Blitz turns 7 years old! He still acts like a yearling sometimes though, I think he will never fully grow up. His younger brother Boomerang (who is 6 years old this year) is more grown-up than Blitz. But thats part of why I love Blitz, he has a playful attitude which is always fun when trick training. So here’s to never growing up!
Yesterday I went out to the farm after work to mess around with the horses. Boomer gets access to a small paddock and his stall during the day because he tends to stock up when left in. I had been leaving the ponies’ pedestal in the paddock because its an easy place to work with them on a regular basis. I had been noticing that the last couple days it seemed as if there were hoof marks on the top of it – indicating that Boomer was using it while I wasn’t there. Well sure enough when I arrived at the barn, there he was just hanging around on the pedestal. Pretty interesting considering just a few months ago Boomer was so awkward and unsure of his feet that he nearly toppled off the pedestal everytime when asked to stand on it. It was evident he was much more aware of his feet now. I was able to snap a few photos of Boomer hanging around on his new favorite spot.
Later I pulled Minnow out and worked on getting him to stand on his pedestal with all 4 feet. We had a breakthrough in that he began offering me 3 feet consistantly and I even got him to stand on it with 4 feet for a few seconds. I think its going to take a few more tries before he realizes how to balance himself – but I’m confident that I can have him doing it by Pony Penning time!
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
Clicks for Tricks
My video for the day is of Minnow and I goofing around at the farm last weekend. I was teaching him to kick the ball while standing on his pedestal. This video reminded me of how difficult Minnow was when he first came to live with me. If I had brought out the ball 6 years ago Minnow would have had his typical reaction – which was to pretend it didn’t exist and he couldn’t see it – mostly he would turn his head all the way around so that he didn’t have to look at it. This was extremely frustrating because if I wanted to show him something (games equipment, a scary rock, etc) I couldn’t even get him to acknowledge its existence. That is until I began clicker training him – then suddenly everything was of interest to him. He wanted to touch everything! In the hopes that it would get him a treat.
Now I love showing him new things because I’m always amazed at how he decides to react to it. Sometimes he bites it, sometimes he licks it, sometimes he kicks it, and so on. In the case of the ball (as you can see) he decided that kicking it is the most fun.
Tomorrow I am taking Minnow to my first meeting with a local clicker training horse group. I’m very excited to meet everyone – as I’m sure Minnow will be too. Minnow loves to travel, especially if he gets to do tricks when he gets there. It should be fun, and I look forward to posting how it went on Tuesday!
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
Good Boy Blitz
The character that is Blitz
The majority of my posts always involve my two Chincoteagues, Boomerang and Minnow, because they are the two that I actually own. But my farm is also home to one more Chincoteague that I consider one of my own, Chesapeake Lightning or Blitz. I actually used to own Blitz, until I sold him to my mom recently. I bought Blitz last May in the hopes that he would be my next mounted games pony after I retired Minnow. I tried Blitz in Maryland one rainy day and he seemed like he might fit the job. He seemed to have some speed, was unaffected by the equipment and was defintely a food oriented pony…perfect for trick training. Not to mention his stunning good looks won me over instantly. I bought him right then and there – well I guess actually I agreed to take him on trial for a few days back home before it was official. During my trial period with him I began to notice that he didn’t seem as speedy. He became a lot more sluggish and slow to move off my leg and I began to have doubts that he’d be the speedy mounted games pony I desired. I contemplated sending him back (even though I had already fallen in love) but my mom convinced me to keep him – thinking the speed would come later. 
After several months of working with him it was evident that he just wasn’t cut out to be speed demon games pony – although I was successful in getting him more forward than he was. I decided it was best to sell Blitz, and I was in luck because my mom wanted to keep him for herself. Blitz is still in training to be a games pony, but at a speed better suitable for him and my mom. So in the end things have worked out – Blitz gets to stay with us and his Chincoteague brothers, and I still get to work with him.
I took a short video the other day of the tricks Blitz has learned so far. Unfortunately there isn’t many – mainly because once I bought Boomerang I didn’t have as much time to spend working with Blitz. But luckily Blitz is a very fast learner, he almost has a dog like personality – I’ve never met a horse quite like him for sure. I think he’d crawl in my lap if he could. He has a quirky attitude that commands everyone’s attention – I think thats why he was so easy to call in love with. I definitely have plans to keep training Blitz to perform, and I have been grooming my mom to teach him new skills as well.
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
Minnow gets ready for the beach
I had a very enjoyable memorial day weekend with the ponies. I did some riding, worked on a few tricks and I even went to the Devon Horse Show with my puppy Ammo (where I saw Bruce Springsteen and his wife I might add – plus I watched their daughter win her division). I mainly went to the show to watch several riders from my local pony club compete – they certainly held their own against many top riders!
So over the weekend one of the main tricks I worked on with Minnow was teaching him to roll out his beach towel (in preparation for his trip this summer to Chincoteague Island). You can watch the video below. This time when teaching Minnow I took a slightly different approach then I normally do. My main thought was to roll treats up inside the blanket and as he unrolled it the food would appear. But before I did that I decided I would see if he could learn how to do it by watching first.
So I put Minnow into his trick halter – I use a specific halter when trick training so that my ponies know that its time to perform, that way I don’t have my ponies offering tricks to me when I really don’t want them to. As soon as that halter comes out Minnow knows its time for tricks. I led him out into the isle and brought out a blanket I had bought for him. The first thing I did was to get his attention and asked him to watch as I unrolled the blanket. I then rolled it back up and placed it infront of him. Minnow looked at me for a second then with one big push he unrolled the blanket. (of course then I clicked and rewarded him). And thats all it took – I swear he simply learns by watching me first. I taught him to paint in a very similar manner. I showed him how when I touched the paintbrush to the paper that a mark was made – and when I handed him the brush he simply mimicked my actions.
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
