I remember writing a long time ago that at times I feel that I am due a bad day. Well it happened yesterday. Ritchie and I decided that we would try and film an online audition of me and Filly. But it was a bit windy, and there were some things in the audition that I was not happy were ready yet and I felt a bit under pressure to get a filming done. All recipes for a bad day and showed my lack of savvy about setting things up for success.
To start with I wanted to check out her reaction to the bag on the end of a carrot stick. In the past this has been fine, to the extent that I had probably overdone it a bit and got her past the confident stage into the completely desensitised stage. When I had done this I didn't know better and thought that the more desensitised the better. James has put me right on that score and the mere word "desensitised" is more or less banned on his yard. We want horse to be confident with objects because they understand they cannot be hurt by them, not desensitised so they don't even notice them.
An analogy my beer soaked mind just dreamt up. You don't want a bomb disposal officer to be desensitised to a ticking clock so that he doesn't even notice them. You want him confident about ticking clocks so that depending on circumstances he can deal with it appropriately, including "run away" if required.
By desensitising a horse to a bag on a stick it can no longer work as a communication device, it doesn't exist.
For Filly she was certainly desensitised to the bag over her whole body and neck, but flapping in the wind near her face was a different story. Big right brain moment, snorting, rearing, striking and backing away. The act of gaining a horses trust and confidence in these situations is one of the things I enjoy most, probably because with practise it is actually quite easy ! It simply revolves around approach and retreat of the scary object carefully timed to her reaction and that's about it. After around 10 minutes she was chewing the bag thoughtfully which was the point to quit. She was not desensitised as she still acknowledged it's existence by munching on it, but she was also confident enough about it to munch on it.
So far so good. The snag now was that we were in a field of lush grass which happens to have some jumps, barrels etc in it. Her field has virtually no grass in it at all, to the extent that her and Moo often break through the fence to get to the good grass.
Now playing with her in this field and having loads of time is one thing, but filming a 10 minute video is something else. The difference of course is the ability when I have time on my hands to let her graze. In fact letting her stop and graze is a great instant reward when she gets something right. It's a field full of reward treats and they can be given instantly rather than having to go to her or bring her to me to deliver them. Thus the treat can be more strongly associated with the action. To make a film in this environment is beyond me however. To keep her attention on me for 10 minutes would have meant putting more pressure on her than I liked and would have looked awful in an audition tape. So having tried for a few minutes I quickly gave up and Ritchie left to do other things.
I should have stopped at this point as my mind set was now wrong for playing in this environment, but I continued. As a result I caught myself be over dominant, endangering the rapport I have with Filly and getting frustrated. Fortunately I did notice these changes and went and sat on a barrel to think.
She had been circling me with constant pressure on the rope as though trying to get away from me where I usually expect the rope to be dragging in the grass a little. She was not grazing at my feet as she usually does, but some way off. I took a risk and removed the rope. She did not flee. Good. I went to the hedge for a pee and she stayed where she was. On returning I just played lots of friendly game. After a while I asked for a circle, and she set off. I thought she was leaving me then but she just worked her way around the jumps and completed a nice circle. I asked her across the 18 inch pole at walk and she confidently walked across. I tried stick to me at walk and trot and she stayed on my shoulder. Phew. What a relieve. She had made it clear earlier that I was applying too much pressure, I had finally listened and after a few minutes she had forgiven me. Thank God for the forgiving nature of horses, if you don't push them too far of course.
The big test was today of course. I went to the field with some trepidation and set up some cones. There she was on the other side of the fence shadowing my every move. As usual she walked happily at liberty to the gate with me and stood quietly as I attached the halter. We did a bit more work with the bag around her head and played a little with crossing the pole at walk and trot with it even higher. Some changes of direction on the circle whilst maintaining gait and I called it a successful day. It might not seem from the outside to be a spectacularly good day, but to me it felt that I had my friend truly back and what could be better than that ?
To start with I wanted to check out her reaction to the bag on the end of a carrot stick. In the past this has been fine, to the extent that I had probably overdone it a bit and got her past the confident stage into the completely desensitised stage. When I had done this I didn't know better and thought that the more desensitised the better. James has put me right on that score and the mere word "desensitised" is more or less banned on his yard. We want horse to be confident with objects because they understand they cannot be hurt by them, not desensitised so they don't even notice them.
An analogy my beer soaked mind just dreamt up. You don't want a bomb disposal officer to be desensitised to a ticking clock so that he doesn't even notice them. You want him confident about ticking clocks so that depending on circumstances he can deal with it appropriately, including "run away" if required.
By desensitising a horse to a bag on a stick it can no longer work as a communication device, it doesn't exist.
For Filly she was certainly desensitised to the bag over her whole body and neck, but flapping in the wind near her face was a different story. Big right brain moment, snorting, rearing, striking and backing away. The act of gaining a horses trust and confidence in these situations is one of the things I enjoy most, probably because with practise it is actually quite easy ! It simply revolves around approach and retreat of the scary object carefully timed to her reaction and that's about it. After around 10 minutes she was chewing the bag thoughtfully which was the point to quit. She was not desensitised as she still acknowledged it's existence by munching on it, but she was also confident enough about it to munch on it.
So far so good. The snag now was that we were in a field of lush grass which happens to have some jumps, barrels etc in it. Her field has virtually no grass in it at all, to the extent that her and Moo often break through the fence to get to the good grass.
Now playing with her in this field and having loads of time is one thing, but filming a 10 minute video is something else. The difference of course is the ability when I have time on my hands to let her graze. In fact letting her stop and graze is a great instant reward when she gets something right. It's a field full of reward treats and they can be given instantly rather than having to go to her or bring her to me to deliver them. Thus the treat can be more strongly associated with the action. To make a film in this environment is beyond me however. To keep her attention on me for 10 minutes would have meant putting more pressure on her than I liked and would have looked awful in an audition tape. So having tried for a few minutes I quickly gave up and Ritchie left to do other things.
I should have stopped at this point as my mind set was now wrong for playing in this environment, but I continued. As a result I caught myself be over dominant, endangering the rapport I have with Filly and getting frustrated. Fortunately I did notice these changes and went and sat on a barrel to think.
She had been circling me with constant pressure on the rope as though trying to get away from me where I usually expect the rope to be dragging in the grass a little. She was not grazing at my feet as she usually does, but some way off. I took a risk and removed the rope. She did not flee. Good. I went to the hedge for a pee and she stayed where she was. On returning I just played lots of friendly game. After a while I asked for a circle, and she set off. I thought she was leaving me then but she just worked her way around the jumps and completed a nice circle. I asked her across the 18 inch pole at walk and she confidently walked across. I tried stick to me at walk and trot and she stayed on my shoulder. Phew. What a relieve. She had made it clear earlier that I was applying too much pressure, I had finally listened and after a few minutes she had forgiven me. Thank God for the forgiving nature of horses, if you don't push them too far of course.
The big test was today of course. I went to the field with some trepidation and set up some cones. There she was on the other side of the fence shadowing my every move. As usual she walked happily at liberty to the gate with me and stood quietly as I attached the halter. We did a bit more work with the bag around her head and played a little with crossing the pole at walk and trot with it even higher. Some changes of direction on the circle whilst maintaining gait and I called it a successful day. It might not seem from the outside to be a spectacularly good day, but to me it felt that I had my friend truly back and what could be better than that ?
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