Posts Tagged ‘trick pony
Boomerang Training Update
As many of you know I have been training my now 7 year old Chincoteague Pony, Boomerang, to play mounted games since August of 2008. I’ve spent a long time working with him and we still have a long way to go. This year was the first year I stepped him up to compete in the masters level of Mounted Games, because I believed he was emotionally ready. And while he is emotionally ready, we still have a lot of specific skills I’d like to work on with him. Our training will never be finished as I believe there is always more we can learn together, but I do think with a few more specific skills he will be pretty polished.
On Sunday we had a clinic at the farm with Natural Horsemanship Trainer, Chris Carlile. I was able to take away a few things that I will start to implement into his training. I plan to do a full post and review on the clinic later – as I’m waiting to get some photos and videos back from my dad.
But in the meantime I do have a video from yesterday.
I was working with Boomer on teaching him to ride with speed to an object, settle into a nice square halt, and then ride off with speed when I gave him the signal. Obviously when we started out we began at a trot and have now worked up to a controlled canter, but the hope is to eventually be able to do this at a gallop. In mounted games, the best ponies are able to ride with bursts of speed, yet quickly transition to a solid halt so their riders can perform tasks like putting a flag into a chute, or placing a ring on a peg. If Boomer can master this skill in the heat of competition, then I will have a valuable “weapon” to use in wining a race.
I love watching this video because I can see Boomer really starting to push off of his hind end more. I’ve spent a long time teaching him to rock his weight back in order to propel himself forward. Boomer is naturally more on his forehand, and its been a challenge to teach him not to be, but this video proves that he’s definitely starting to get it, and build the muscle for it. I’m excited to see more improvement in the months to come.
Painting Pony Website Has New Look!
After months and months of hard work, mostly on my husband’s part, we have finally launched the new Painting Pony Website. The old website was outdated and drab, mostly because it was the product of my tinkering and teaching myself how to design a website on my own. And while I WAS thoroughly impressed with myself and my ability to at least create a functional website, it wasn’t a true representation of Painting Pony.
Painting Pony needed a brighter look that was playful and fun, just like the ponies. I also envisioned a beach-ier feel, after all the ponies do hail from an island, and I wanted the website to have more information about Misty of Chincoteague.
Enter my graphic designer husband. He unknowingly agreed to design me a new site, probably not realizing it would take up most of his free time for the next 6 months. He deserves a big pat on the back for putting up with all my changes and stipulations. I promised him the ponies would sell more paintings so I can take him out to dinner to celebrate!
So to help kick off the launch of the new website I’m offering a FREE 5×7 mini painting with EVERY purchase. Makes a great gift for your favorite horse lover, or simply keep it for yourself! Enter the coupon code NEWWEB in the notes to seller section during check out to get your free gift. This offer will expire on May 31, 2010.
May Paintings
On May 3rd the boys and I were able to paint again. Most of the new paintings created in April sold already, so it was due time to create some new works. I was even able to help Boomerang create two of his first paintings available on canvas. They turned out beautiful! Check out the new paintings below.
"Misty Dreams over Chincoteague by Chincoteague Minnow
"Spring Roundup" by Chesapeake Boomerang
"Waves of the Eastern Shore" by Chesapeake Lightning
"The Littlest Chincoteague" by Chesapeake Boomerang
So what do you think? Do you have a favorite? I think my favorite might have to be “Misty Dreams”, but I do love them all!
As always, don’t forget that we donate 10% of all canvas sales to the Chincoteague Pony Association to help care for the wild ponies on Assateague Island. Many don’t realize, but the volunteer fire department cares for the wild ponies all year round. Dropping hay on the island in the winter, giving inoculations and vet checks in the spring, and just generally making sure the Chincoteague Pony population survives on the island. Painting Pony is proud to support their efforts.
Mid-Atlantic #1 with Boomerang
This week has been crazy busy, so I’m just now finally getting around to posting about what has been going on. Last weekend I traveled to Upper Marlboro, Maryland (and the Prince George Equestrian Center) with Boomerang, the Dachshund, and my husband. The purpose, to take Boomer to his very first mounted games competition in the Masters division. I spent two days competing and camping with my little crew.
What I love about Boomer is his ability to adapt to almost anything. After 3 plus hours of travel Boomer walked off the trailer in pitch black darkness in a strange place. He glanced around, took a deep breath and looked at me like “ok, whats next”? No calling for his friends, no worrying, just a calm relaxed pony.
I pretty much knew that’s how Boomer would be, he’s been like that since he came to live with me in the Summer of 2008 (probably attributable to his great upbringing at 1000 Welcomes Farm in NC). What I wasn’t sure about was how he’d be competing in the Masters Division. For the past 2 years I’ve been training him for this, working on control and the races, and eventually working up to more speed. In my equine sport, this is rare. If you can equate mounted games with anything, its horse racing. Fast, Fast, Fast, all the time. Ponies are thrust into competition and taught to go, go, go. As a result I’ve seen many ponies have meltdowns. Refusing to cross the start line, exploding with aggression during competition. I didn’t want to train Boomer this way. I wanted him to LOVE mounted games as much as I do.
Naturally I’m a more cautious rider, I prefer to have a pony that I KNOW will stop when I want him to, but is also willing to GO FAST when I want him to. I knew what would happen if I just threw Boomer into top-level competition too soon. I’d be faced with a pony that fed off the adrenaline of the other ponies, jumping and rearing on the start, then flying out of control through the races. Boomer needed to learn self-control first. So instead of rushing him, I spent 2 years training him with clicker training. I taught him an amazing stop (in a bitless bridle I might add), I taught him to move off my leg, I taught him to balance his body better (he could barely walk down a hill without tripping over his 5 year old body when I got him), and I taught him to spin properly with the power coming from his hind end (not such an easy task when you have a pony that’s naturally on their forehand) among many other things.
So this was it, my two years of work with him culminating to this moment. As I stood on the start line with him I could feel Boomer’s excitement rising. He felt the energy of the other ponies, riders, and me. No matter how hard I tried to make myself relax, Boomer could still feel my excitement. I could think calm all I wanted, but my body language still said “its racing time”!
Boomer let out a few initial low rears on the start, which is certainly understandable for this newly turned 7 year old – its the nature of the beast. But what I didn’t expect was his off like lightning speed, after spending 5 years as a hunter show pony he was still overcoming his need to keep a steady rhythmic pace. So with the excitement of the day his desire to run kicked in, he kept up with his much speedier competition yet still had himself under control. His halts were amazing as he slowed just to my voice commands for the most part. Boomer even had himself rocked back onto his hind end for our spins. My teammates commented on how they loved how Boomer used his back end to propel himself into the turns and how light he was on his front end. My Boomer? This is not something I ever equated him with. After 2 years I was still struggling to get him to rock back around a tight spin, but somehow this day it all clicked for him.
I was extremely pleased with Boomerang’s performance over the weekend. We had a few issues with him scooting away during hand-offs (because he was scared), but that is certainly understandable since I haven’t had anyone to ride or practice with in nearly 6 months. Luckily one of my teammates was able to help me work on handoffs a little as I clicked Boomer for keeping his feet stationary and not shying away. We will definitely have to work on this more in the coming months.
Boomer was as magnificent as I pictured him to be. Slowly we are forming a relationship and an understanding of each other. – something I have been longing for since I had to retire my one true horse love, Minnow. Nothing will ever compare to the connection that Minnow and I share, but I hope to one day come close with Boomerang. I’m very much looking forward to this mounted games season, and excited to see how much more Boomer will progress. This is only the beginning.
Keep Going Signal
One of the blogs I frequent, Book Ends Farm, recently did a post on the Keep Going Signal used with clicker training. Honestly, I had no idea what that was – never heard of it before. If you have been following my blog from the beginning than you probably know that I openly admit I don’t read a lot of training books. The shame I know. I prefer to rely more on my instincts, and just a process of trial and error.
Minnow putting on the brakes during competition 2007
Don’t get me wrong, I do watch training dvds, and have been known to “internet” browse for training ideas, but I just can’t get into reading books on the subject. Mostly I think its just because I’m a visual learner, so unless there are lots of pictures – you’ve totally lost me.
So anyway, back to the real reason for this post, the Keep Going Signal. Apparently I have been using this method for years and I had no idea. From what I gather, the Keep Going Signal is a cue (probably verbal works best) that you give your horse (or any animal) to let them know you want them to keep doing what they are doing and they will be rewarded shortly.
Here’ are some examples:
Minnow performs at the Pony Centre 2008
When teaching my ponies to paint, once they’ve got the concept of target brush to paper, I use a “good boy” to get them to keep targeting the paper and continue on with strokes until I ask for the brush back and click/reward them.
I also use it in my mounted games training. A “good boy” for a really nice spin around the end pole, but I want you to keep going until you finish the race and I can give you your treat.
The more I thought about it the more I realized I use it pretty much everyday. It must have just developed over time with my interactions with my boys, but I realized they all recognize the “good boy” means your effort was correct and your reward will be coming. When all the ponies hear those two words uttered out of my mouth they offer me a more enthusiastic attempt at what they have been doing, maybe a burst of speed, or a free-er flowing brushstroke.
KD makes a litter dunk on Boomer. PHPC competition 2008
So how did it happen? I think it happened when I first started clicker training each of them. I would ask them to do something, offer up a “good boy” then click and reward them. I think over time, as I began riding them, I began to space them out. The “good boy” would come, then a little later the click/reward. Helps prevent the slamming on the breaks effect when clicker training while riding.
As Book Ends Farm mentions, I guess some people don’t like using a Keep Going Signal, as they feel it complicates things and can lead to frustration in some horses. I definitely could see how this could happen, but I think it also depends on the horse. Obviously if your horse just gets frustrated when you say “good boy” because they are expecting the reward, then you probably shouldn’t use it.
