Posts Tagged ‘Chincoteague
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.
Farm Life
Today I simply have some photos to share that I took over the weekend at Iron Horse Farm. I hope they are able to brighten your day – a good pony photo always makes you smile! Enjoy the nice weather, and give your horse a hug today!
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
Boomerang taking a roll
Boomer playing with the tuff ball
Ammo wanting to be a trick pony too
My 3 favorite Chincoteague Ponies
Dog and Horse Collaborate
Dog Paddling over to Chincoteague
So I posted yesterday about how Minnow had two new paintings available to purchase that he had created during the Iron Horse Farm barn opening party. In actuality he created 3 paintings, but one I took a liking to and selfishly decided to keep it for myself. Friday night before the party I was sitting on the barn floor painting canvas backgrounds for Minnow. The dogs were somewhere off in the woods hunting for groundhogs or something of that nature. I decided to quickly run some of the still wet canvases into another room to keep them out of harms way. I guess I took a little too long because when I returned there were little aqua footprints all over the cement floor of the barn.
Naughty Ammo
My naughty Dachshund, Ammo, had decided to take a run across one of my wet canvases and had tracked paint all over the barn floor. I quickly grabbed a brush and the hose and began frantically scrubbing the isle floor before it all dried. I fortunately was able to get most of the paint up, and when I was finished I turned to check out my ruined canvas. But much to my surprise Ammo had left his “mark” very neatly all over the canvas – and I sort of liked it. I decided to let his pawprints stay, and when Minnow took to painting it on Saturday it really turned into a masterpiece. I titled the painting “Dog Paddling over to Chincoteague” and I think it fits it well. It is currently hanging up on my apartment wall and while many of you may be thinking – I wish I could purchase that amazing painting – have no fear! I can duplicate colors, and although no two canvases are the same, each one takes on a life of its own. I may even be able to convince Ammo to lend a helping hand too. So be sure to e-mail us if you would like to discuss ordering a custom painting! info@ponypaintings.com
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
Master Painter
Silver Raindrops by Chincoteague Minnow
So as I mentioned yesterday, Chincoteague Minnow created three new paintings during my family’s barn opening party on June 20th. I was able to get them uploaded to the website yesterday, where they are now available for purchase. You can check out all the paintings Minnow has available by clicking here.
Partly Cloudy by Chincoteague Minnow
Next Monday Minnow will be performing and painting t-shirts for a local group of campers at Iron Horse Farm. I think everyone will have a blast with this project – Minnow will certainly enjoy the attention!
In other (unrelated) news – my “Dachshund House” seems to be moving along (the home that I am trying to buy because my Dachshund will love it). The sellers accepted
our offer and now we move onto inspections – keep you fingers crossed for us, my husband and I are very much looking forward to having a place to call our own. We will definitely be decorating the house with artwork done by The Trick Ponies of Chincoteague. And I can’t lie that I contemplated letting Minnow come over and “paint the walls” – you have to admit that would probably be a first, but I’m not sure I could get my husband to consent. 🙂
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
Minnow stands on the pedestal with all 4 feet for the first time
Minnow Performs
On Saturday we had our big barn party to celebrate the opening of Iron Horse Farm. Despite the on and off downpours of rain we had a pretty good turnout. The rain even cleared enough so that Minnow could paint and perform for party attendees. Minnow seemed to be a big hit as all the children gathered around to watch him. He created 3 new paintings – one of which I decided to keep because it turned out to be a colaborative effort between Minnow and my Dachshund, Ammo (who ran across the painting while it was wet giving it some very neat paw print marks). Perhaps Ammo will be the next artist in the barn.
Minnow was definitely on his game on Saturday – as soon as crowds appear he becomes the little showman. He performed all his tricks flawlessly and even for the first time got on his pedestal with all 4 feet. I thought he was quite impressive and I was very proud of him!
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
