Posts Tagged ‘trick pony
Rain or Shine
Ammo waits in the car while we ride
On Saturday Boomerang and Blitz attended the Pickering Hunt Pony Club Mounted Games Competition in Ludwigs Corner, PA. I entered the boys into the training division as I’ve decided to finish out this show season continuing to take it slow with the boys. Hopefully next Spring Boomerang will be ready to compete in the Masters division and Blitz will go on to ride in the Veteran (or Fossil) division with my mom. I’m sure we will inquire some separation issues (especially with Blitz) when the boys are no longer riding in the same division. Until then they’ll just trudge along together.
So Saturday ended up being a rainy and mucky day. But being rough and tumble mounted games players there is no amount of rain that would keep us from playing. We were the first division to ride, so of course we got the worst of the rain. Not to mention the ring was really flooded with puddles everywhere. Both ponies were a little weary of the big puddles so we opted to “click” them into it. During warmup we asked the boys to walk into the puddles. Each time a foot touched the puddle they got a click and rewarded. Within 5 minutes both ponies were trotting and cantering comfortably through the muck. Ahh the power of a click.
Cute pony butts
I was a bit bummed that it was raining because I had hoped to use this competition to ask Boomer for a bit more speed. But since the footing was not ideal I decided to not push him and have him fall. If he fell likely it would undo a lot of my training making him fearful to go faster. But despite the rain, Boomer put in a good effort, especially considering the week leading up to the competition I was only able to ride him once. My mom was convinced that my 6 year old would surely give me some bucks since he’d had a little time off. But he didn’t buck once. My Boomerang is growing up.
We placed pretty consistently second in most of the races as we had some tough competition against some much faster ponies. Although I’d like to add that the competition ponies might have been faster than us, but our boys were the best behaved. The fast ponies were obviously being pushed too fast, and most were having “freak outs” at the start as well as some uncontrollable meltdowns during the races. This is usually brought on when a young horse is pushed into racing and going fast without basic flat skills and experiences. Most of the time these young horses get an adrenaline rush when put into a racing situation and they have not learned how to control it (ever see young race horses at the start gate freak out?). So instead of dealing with the stress they feel they blow up, become uncontrollable, or some even shut off and refuse to move. It makes me sad when I see horses like this (and roughly 50% of mounted games ponies have this issue) because it could have easily been prevented had the horses been trained properly from the start.
A mounted games rider tries to control her pony
Too much emphasis is placed on speed in mounted games – although yes it is true you can’t win if your horse isn’t fast. But mounted games isn’t like horse racing, we don’t run a straight line at top speed. We stop and go, spin around, halt, reverse – basically maneuvers you would see a talented dressage horse doing. But lets face it, how many people that like to go fast do you see doing dressage? They are polar opposites. I may be the exception as I love dressage and mounted games, I trained my big guy Nitro up to Second Level Dressage. But the fact remains, that if you want your horse to be a controllable (and calm) mounted games pony then you need to do your flat work first. Not only that but I strongly believe that one of the BIGGEST skills that a mounted games pony can learn is how to deal with their adrenaline. The way I accomplished this with my boys is to take them to an open field and allow them to gallop up a hill as fast as they want to go (which is pretty darn fast) and when we reach the top I ask them to stop, stand, and wait. This is VERY hard for a horse to do. After exerting all that energy (and racing another horse on top of it) they have a huge amount of adrenaline that likely would cause them to rear, buck, spin, or run off if you asked them to stop in the middle of their race. But by using clicker training I have successfully taught my boys how to control this feeling. They now calmly stand after a good gallop. Not only that but they stand like statues on the start line and when the other horses have finished the race and we’re not done yet they don’t become anxious about being the last to the finish line.
A mounted games rider tries to play through her rearing horse
Anyway thats my rant for the day on uncontrollable horses. The same principles in mounted games goes for barrel racing or any type of speed sport.
So onto the competition…Boomer and Blitz ended up taking an overall finish of third place and I was very proud of how they behaved. Both ponies have improved in leaps and bounds from the beginning of this year. I can’t wait to see how much more they learn next year.
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
Ludwigs Corner Horse Show Grounds
P.S. Sorry for the lack of photos from the show. We didn’t have anyone to take photos for us, not to mention it was raining.
Its a Trick Life
On this rainy Friday I’ll share with you some photos of Minnow and I performing at the Ludwigs Corner Horse Show last weekend. Minnow was a bit “sluggish” as he was last year as well. I’m not sure why. He was sort of slow to respond to my requests and sometimes wouldn’t do specific tricks. I really don’t know why he was like that – perhaps it was during his normal mid-day nap….who knows? Maybe he didn’t think it was a “real” performance because he wasn’t on a “stage” per say. But no matter, everyone loved him anyway…how could you not?
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
**We will always remember 9.11.01
A New Addition
Minnow at the Ludwigs Corner Horse Show
Recently I have been training a new addition to the Trick Ponies of Chincoteague. And although he’s not really a pony, he likes to think he is. Ammo, my 11 month old Dachshund, has officially begun his training to be part of the trick pony gang. Last week you saw that I taught Minnow and him to give eachother kisses. This trick was in preparation to have Ammo attend the Ludwigs Corner Horse Show with Minnow and I.
I even made Ammo a shirt that said “Trick Pony Side-Kick”. And a side-kick was just what he was.
Ammo at the Ludwigs Corner Horse Show
I kept having to push the time that Minnow was going to paint back because the organizers of the show wanted him to paint after a specific demonstration (which of course was running really late). So in order to please the crowd that was growing around my small coral I decided to have Minnow do a few tricks. Not his skit, just some fun tricks. So I brought Minnow out and had him up on his pedestal, shaking hands, kissing me, playing fetch. And then I remembered Ammo.
Ammo trotted into the arena and did some of his tricks. The crowd favorite is “Bang Bang” – where I pretend to shoot Ammo with a fake gun and he staggers to the ground and “dies”. It makes me laugh everytime, mostly because Ammo exaggerates it so much. I then had Minnow and Ammo kiss eachother, everyone loved this trick, as do I. Its quite adorable.
I’d love to come up with an act to showcase Ammo’s and Minnow’s tricks someday. I think they would be such a funny pair together. The hard part is that Chincoteague is not the most dog-friendly island. Most of the hotels don’t allow dogs, and you can’t take them into the fairgrounds and many of the parks. It seems to be the one place where horses take president over dogs!
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
Pony Artist
On Saturday Minnow and I attended the Ludwigs Corner Horse Show. Minnow performed some of his tricks and then painted a few paintings for onlookers. This year’s event drew a much bigger crowd for Minnow than last year. Many people had even heard of Minnow and we’re excited to see him. This week I plan to share with you some photos and videos from the event (as soon as I am able to snag them from my dad).
"Adeline's Pinky"
So today I thought I would share with you the two new paintings that Minnow created while at Ludwigs. This was the first time Minnow painted since our trip about a month ago to Chincoteague Island. His first painting was titled “Adeline’s Pinky” aptly named by the 4 year old girl who it was purchased for. She dawned a little pink cowboy hat and was in love with everything pink. So her wonderful grandmother decided to purchase the painting for her. It was evident after Saturday that Minnow needs to get more in touch with his feminine side. All of the little girls were wanting their parents to purchase them the pink painting. Sadly I only had one, but I told them not to worry – Minnow’s always up for custom work.
"Feathers in the Wind"
The next painting was meant for the boys (or girls) – with its bright blue background. This painting I titled “Feathers in the Wind” because the light airy brushstrokes reminded me of floating feathers. This painting is still available for purchase and would make some lucky child (or adult) very happy. So if you are in love with this one you better snatch it up fast. Minnow’s paintings have been flying off the shelf this year and I’m not sure when we will have time again to paint more.
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
A Kiss for my Friend
Time to reveal Minnow’s newest trick – I know you are dying in anticipation! This is the first time I have worked with two animals on one trick. Currently I work each trick pony separately – Boomer and Blitz are too young to work in conjunction with Minnow because they don’t understand waiting their turn. Eventually I hope to have all 3 trick ponies performing at once, but we’re a long way from that goal. So you may be wondering who collaborated on the trick then? Well it was Ammo, the Dachshund.
Ammo and Minnow are great pals. I’ve never seen a horse – dog relationship quite like it. And as I plan to attend tomorrow’s horse show with both Minnow and Ammo I thought it was only fitting I teach them a trick together. They are cute aren’t they? I was clicking when Minnow reached up and touched Ammo (Minnow added the lip flare on his own) and then both animals got a reward. Minnow got grain and Ammo got a cheerio. Less than a minute before I filmed this is when I first asked Minnow to “Kiss the Dachshund” – as you can see he mastered this trick in mere seconds. My amazingly smart wonder pony (and the Dachshund too).
Tonight I’m planning to practice working this trick into Minnow’s beach act. I’m even making Ammo a t-shirt that he can wear for the performance. Sadly I bought him a baby onesie at goodwill (and it fits!) So now the plan is to figure out what to write on it. I’m thinking “I rode a Chincoteague Pony” or “BFF with a Pony” or “Trick Pony Side-kick” – suggestions are welcome!!
I hope everyone enjoys their labor-day weekend. I’m looking forward to mine! I’ll hopefully have lots of photos and videos from the performance to share on tuesday.
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
