Posts Tagged ‘bitless bridle
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.
Trick Horse in Chincoteague
Ok, so those of you following this blog have probably been WAITING for me to post an update on how my trip to Chincoteague Island with Minnow went. We had kind of spotty internet – so posting down there wasn’t much of an option, not to mention my days were packed with pony swim excitement and performing! So anyway, this week I’m going to go over how our trip went – complete with videos and pictures from the exciting week.
Today I’m going to share with you some of the videos I took (well had someone else take) of Minnow performing. The first video is of us performing our beach picnic skit. Considering that Minnow learned some of the tricks only a week before our trip I was so proud of him! We had a few little mishaps during the week, like Minnow not wanting to do some of the tricks, but we pressed on and overall I think everyone enjoyed his performance.
This next video is of the Extreme Pony Race. Basically it is one small “act” in the Chincoteague Pony Center Performance in which some of the ponies/riders are asked to go through sort of an obstical course. The whole thing is timed, and if you have to skip a task (or you don’t complete it correctly) then 5 seconds is added onto your time. Minnow was asked to perform the extreme pony race twice during the week – having never seen or tried it before. I had been buting him all week so that he wasn’t in any pain from his arthritis (normally I never ride Minnow), and honestly, he could use the exercise and its good to use his joints sometimes. Anyway, this video is of the first time Minnow tried the extreme pony race, and much to my surprise we won, infact we were undefeated the entire weekend! Go Minnow! If you watch closely you can see me using the bitless bridle with Minnow, I had many comments after the show from people asking about this unique bridle and how I liked it. Of course I think the Bitless Bridle should now sponsor me because I was quite the spokesperson if I do say so myself!
As you can see I didn’t ask Minnow to complete the backup task. He did back up for me at first, but when I asked again he gave me a big head toss. Now I know my pony well, and I decided he was not happy with this request, so I opted to skip the skill. Some people may see this as me being too “soft” and I should of made him do it, but honestly Minnow has done so much for me, and he constantly performs for me when I ask him to, with barely much of a protest. So when I can tell he’s frustrated and not up for it, I opt to let it go and ask for it another day. This is what makes our relationship so special. If you had a bad day and didn’t feel like doing something – and someone forced you to do it anyway, you can bet that the next time that person asked you to do something you’d start to resent them for asking. This is who I like to view horse training. I pick and choose my battles. If I can tell my horse is definitely not in the mood (maybe they are grumpy that day, maybe the flies are bothering them) then I usually decide to save it for another day. 9 times out of 10 if I respect how they are feeling they will perform bigger and better for me the next time I ask.
After the extreme pony race I was actually complimented by several spectators for not making Minnow perform the back up. In the end those compliments were well worth it to me. Minnow was happy, and specators appreciated my decision to make it more enjoyable for my horse.
So there you have it, a little peak into my week on Chincoteague Island. And for those of you wondering, sadly I did not come home with a new foal, but I swear I will someday! I actually had my eye on a georgous colt, you can hear all about it in this weeks posts, so keep reading!
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
Clicker Training 6 year old Boomer
Yesterday I was able to get some videos of me playing games on Boomerang. I’ve been training him to be my mounted games pony since September of 2008 – but until our recent move to Iron Horse Farm we hadn’t been able to get much detailed mounted games training without a ring. So the last few weeks it has been intense mounted games boot camp for Boomer in the hopes that I can have him competeing in his first mounted games competition in the Masters division at the end of August in New Jersey. He’s really taking a liking to it, and I’m amazed at how this once sluggish pony (the hunter show ring will do that to a horse) now has some get-up-and-go. He’s eager to move off my leg and quickly breaks from the walk to a canter. We’ve even perfected a sliding western stop that will come in real handy when I have him going full out.
So anyway, below you will see a video of Boomer and I practicing in an open field. This was filmed in April of 2009 and its a pretty good comparison to the videos I took yesterday. You can see that he trots most of the bending poles (he was very unbalanced) and his spin around the end pole is definitely not great – he has to break to the trot and he makes a wide loop.
Now watching this next video you can see Boomer is much more balanced and able to canter all of the poles. His spin has improved, but he still gets a little stuck and I’d prefer him to sit more on his hind end rather than putting most of his weight on his forehand. He’s definitely much improved though.
Now this final video is of Boomer and I playing 2 Flag. Races like these can be difficult for a young/inexperienced horse because they don’t understand the concept of running in a straight line when they have no fence to guide them. Especially with green horses they tend to wiggle the line and when they approach the cones most tend to drift away from them making it difficult for the rider to reach the equipment. Unfortunately I don’t have a video to compare this to, but in this recent video you can see that Boomer is running a pretty straight line and his canter is pretty balanced, making it easy for me to gauge when to grab the flags. He requires slight corrections to keep him from drifting, but overall he’s doing pretty well.
The clicker training I have been doing with Boomer has really helped him. I usually run the races and when he completes them correctly I click and reward him when we reach the finish line. Sometimes I will choose a specific skill within the game to work on, such as the spin around the end pole. So if Boomer doesn’t do a nice spin for me he won’t get rewarded at the end. An added benefit to rewarding after crossing the finish line is that Boomer slams on the breaks as soon as we cross the line, which is wonderful because if I ever drop a handoff or need to go back I have him poised to slam on the breaks so we can quickly spin to correct our mistakes.
Overall Boomer is a very eager to learn pony, and I can tell he’s also DYING to learn more tricks. He acts so starved for attention sometimes. As soon as I have Minnow’s trip to Chincoteague over I plan to start working on Boomer’s trick training.
Training on a Misty Day
Mist over the vineyard next to Iron Horse Farm
We had a downpour of rain yesterday just as I was getting ready to leave work and head out to Iron Horse Farm. But I was in luck because the clouds parted and the rain stopped to allow just enough time for me to ride Boomer. I worked on making him into a “western horse” (with english tack). We worked on spins, backing, neck reining and my sliding stop. Boomer is developing a killer stop with all the clicker training work I have been doing with him. I can now ask him into a flat out gallop and by shifting my weight back (and no rein pressue what so ever) he tucks his butt under himself and throws on the brakes. I even had my sister jump on him so she could see how much he has improved over the months. My sister has been away at the University of Delaware up until yesterday, so the last time she rode Boomer he was a kick ride, with no balance and no steering. She was amazed to find that since turning 6 this year Boomer has really “grown up” and he’s definitely no longer a kick ride – now he has speed and more speed (which is good because he wouldn’t turn out to be a good gaming pony if he didn’t know how to go).
I also helped my mom work with Blitz and asking him to move towards the barrels. He has developed a habit of scooting his butt away from the games equipment in order to face it, and we have determined that during some lessons when out instructor placed treats on all the barrels to get Blitz used to it – it completely confused him into thinking now he has to face all the barrels. He’s improved some but I’m hoping some targeting practice with his feet will help. I plan to have him target a mat by placing his front feet on it and eventually moving that mat to the exact spot that I want him to stand when approaching a barrel.
Anyway yesterday was a successful ride for all the ponies. Today I hope to work with Minnow as well and teaching him to stand on his pedestal with all 4 feet.
**hope you enjoy these photos I took yesterday when I left the farm. The neighboring vineyard looked beautiful with the mist that appeared after the rain.
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
New Home for the Boys
Its official – all 3 Chincoteague’s are now moved into my parent’s new farm, Iron Horse Farm. (not to mention their 4 other horsey friends).
Boomer and Kyley place a flag in the cone
Saturday actually started off with a mounted games competition, in which Boomer and Blitz competed in the training division at a local show. We had a few little episodes – Boomer began rearing when the music got turned up – and both ponies thought it was such a blast to be competing again that they wanted to buck all the way to the finish line. Boomer eventually settled (as I clicked and rewarded him when he didn’t buck all the way home) but Blitz had some anxiety. As the day went on he got more and more agitated with my mom – and we knew it was time to take a step back with him. I think part of his anxiety stemmed from the fact that my mom had been riding him in the hackamore for the last few months and for the competition she decided to put him back in his snaffle bit. I could tell he was not very thrilled to have a bit in his mouth again – so I have since convinced my mom to try the bitless bridle I have been using (and its great I might add!). Below are two videos from the competition.
Boomer and Blitz are the first to arrive on the farm
So after the competition we drove the boys over to their new home – and then went back to pick up Minnow. It was such a uneventful move, which I knew it would be, the boys seemed perfectly happy at their new home. I think they all really enjoy their big dutch doors that have a view of the neighboring vineyard. Its such a peaceful and happy place.
The 3 Chincoteague Ponies look out over the vineyard
On Sunday we brought over the rest of the horses, which included my Dressage horse, Nitro and my sister’s gaming pony Jet as well as 2 borders. Nitro notoriously has trouble adapting to moves (as he sees himself as “herd leader” and takes on the burden on making sure the other horses are safe). And after having his 23rd Birthday on Saturday I think he’s actually starting to grow up a little. He was surprisingly calm (aside from his ear piercing whinny’s everytime he hears a sound in the barn – I’m hoping this will pass). I think Iron Horse Farm just has such a relaxing atmosphere that it instantly calmed all of the horses.
Later on Sunday I decided to show Minnow the new Tuff Ball I had bought for my horses. He instantly took to it, and I can’t wait to put the ball in the ring with all 3 of my ponies. I think they will have such a blast playing with it! I could watch the video I took of Minnow playing with his ball over and over again – I just love seeing him enjoy it. It makes me smile to think of how far he’s come. 2 years ago I would never of dreamed of showing Minnow this ball. It would of sent him running for the hills! Now he’s perfectly at peace as he plays with the ball and my dogs run around him like crazed animals wrestling on the ground. I love my little Minnow.
Anyway so that was my very eventful weekend. I’m now recovering from a pulled shoulder muscle and a bout of poison ivy – but I’m happy that my horses are happy at their new home!
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
