Posts Tagged ‘natural horsemanship
Hippo….what?
As promised I have plenty of new and exciting things going on with the trick ponies! I stayed at Iron Horse Farm until 10pm last night working with the horses. I missed them so much after my week-long beach vacation. After spending the week reading my new book “The Click that Teaches: Riding with the Clicker” by Alexandra Kurland I had lots of ideas spinning in my head that I wanted to try with my own horses. So when I arrived at the barn around 6pm last night, the first thing I did was drag out an old bareback pad that I had. I attached stirrups to it as well as some extra thick pads underneath for added cusioning. I “saddled” up Minnow and threw a bitless bridle on him. I think Minnow was a bit concerned because he hasn’t had any type of girth on in well over a year – due to his diagnosis of ringbone (equine arthritis) in March of 2008. (don’t worry all we did was walk)
My plan was to attempt the hippodrome stand. Now if you are hearing this word for the first time you are probably thinking – what the heck? Basically the hippodrome is a trick riding term which pertains to standing on the top of your horse while he usually gallops around the arena. Many trick riders use this in their performances and some even perform the hippodrome roman style – meaning having 2 horses in tandem that they stand on. I’ve never had any trick riding training, and honestly I’ve only ever seen it performed in demos/exhibitions. I secretly wish I could attend a trick riding school because it looks so cool.
So that being said – here is an example of a young girl doing the hippodrome stand on her pony Puddles.
I have noticed that most trick riders perform the hippodrome with a special trick riding saddle that in addition to having lots of extra straps and handles to hold onto, it has 2 foot loops near the front to put your feet into in order to perform the hippodrome. But since I don’t own a trick saddle I figured I’d try to do it bareback (hence the bareback pad). I have seen bareback roman riding – but I haven’t been able to locate any hippodrome stands with a single horse and bareback. Maybe its not possible? Its definitely hard! Lucky for me Minnow is so fat and wide that I had a little extra room to spread my legs for balance. But before I say much more….watch my attempt below:
As you can see when Minnow starts and stops suddenly it is very hard to keep my balance (hence why I fell off at the end). I was trying to experiment with different ways to position my feet for balance. I think I’m going to have to do a bit more research – especially to find out if anyone performs the hippodrome without straps to straddle the horse. This idea would be very similar to the way a jockey rides. Their stirrups are so short that when a jockey straightens his legs he’s almost standing.
So anyway I hope you enjoyed my failed attempt at the hippodrome stand. If there is any trick riders out there I welcome as much help as I can get! Check back on tuesday – because I not only worked on the hippodrome stand with Minnow, but I also taught him a brand new trick. But for suspense you will have to wait till after the weekend to hear about it!
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
Targeting
My new target stick infront of some of Minnow's paintings
I just recieved my new trick whip (or target stick) that I ordered from Imagine A Horse. Its advertised as a foal want because the ball on the end is extra large and soft and the stick is more like the length of a riding crop. I chose it (obviously not because I have a foal), but because I needed something shorter that I could attach to my belt and wouldn’t drag on the ground. I currently had one of their combo whips which I use ALL the time. All of my boys are very target oriented and I use the wand to direct them into positions and even point to objects I want them to pick up. For any of you that don’t know what targeting is, its teaching the horse to touch an object, in my case I use this whip with a ball at the end as my target. I love teaching my ponies to target because it can be used for anything, and its such a useful skill to have in your bag. I have used the target to teach all of my ponies to self load onto the trailer. I also have used it with Blitz to convince him the the wash stall is not a scary place. And imagine your horses get loose at a horse show, all you have to do is whip out the target stick and you quickly have an easily catchable horse. (Sadly I admit this has happened to me a few times – Minnow can have a naughtly streak) 🙂
Targeting is the very first thing that I teach all of my horses. Its also a great way to introduce them to the clicker. Everytime they touch the ball they get a click and a treat.
I’ve also found that my target sticks can be used to give cues too. I use the end of the stick pointed towards their ears to signal them to say “No” (or shake their heads), I also use a tap of the stick to the ankle to signal a bow. I even used the targeting aspect of the stick to teach Minnow to bow. The target allowed me to entice him to bring his head down and between his legs (essentially making him put a knee to the ground in order to do so).
I’ve even used the target to help me free jump my horses – and if you buy the extra long target stick I’m sure you could free lunge your horse as well!
As a little side note, Imagine a Horse has a new DVD out about using treats as a training tool. I haven’t seen it yet, but you can be sure that it will be on my Christmas list!
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
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
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
www.ponypaintings.com
