Just a quick update today. I have been playing a fair bit with Filly but it has just been more of the same. We are still working on getting her draw to be more energetic and to be done with a more willing expression. It is slowly paying dividends. She now draws into me with a reasonable effort, but the expression is still a little sour. On the upside this is finally letting us maintain gait through a trotted figure of 8. Only one lap at the moment but the next session we will increase to 1 and 1/2 laps.
We have also been working on lightness in the sideways game. Larisa has set me a target of sideways to the end of a 45 foot line only using phase 1 or 2 pressure. This is actually going fairly well. I place a carrot on the top of a mounting block, carefully line her up on it and then send her sideways to it to get her reward. Once she got the idea that the destination has a reward on it she started putting real effort in getting there ! There are two advantages to putting the reward at the destination. To start with she can instantly receive the reward on achieving the task and thus link the reward more intimately to the task. Secondly it gives me a fixed destination to send her too which means I have to send her exactly sideways with no drift forwards or backwards.
We have also been working on her zone 5 liberty driving by using the follow the rail pattern. In this task I have to be able to walk behind her tail, guiding her with a couple of sticks whilst she has no halter on. To make this easier I started using the follow the rail pattern. This has the advantage that the wall of the school stops her turning one way whilst I use a stick and plastic bag to stop her turning away from the wall. Forwards in initiated by increasing my energy, focussing on where I want to go and then if necessary using the bag right above he tail to create impulsion. As soon as she is walking I go into neutral and walk, with focus, behind her. I placed carrots on cones in each corner to give her a destination and reward for reaching them. After this pattern was established I placed cones and carrots in the middle of the school and we left the safety of the wall and set off across the school. We didn't get to the cones on a dead straight line, but we did get to all of them which was a good start. As for stopping I just use the signal we use when riding. A breath in followed by a long relaxing exhale, drop my body energy and if this fails then a light pull on her tail and we gently stop. Hence the reason I was working on lead by the tail recently !!
We are also have great success with her friendly game whilst lying down. I know she will always roll in the sand when we enter the school so I have used that behaviour to slowly influence where she rolls. Leaving her online I kneel near her roll spot whilst she looks for the perfect spot. To start with I let that be anywhere she wanted and then moved to her. Slowly I have been using the rope to restrict her range. Now I have it to the point that I am using a 12 foot rope and getting her to roll within 6 feet of me. As soon as she is down she gets a carrot. She will even lay with her head flat out and still take a carrot from my hand. Slowly I am getting to the point where I can move around her and rub and scratch on her whilst she is lying down. And the point of all this. 1) It is a real acceptance of me as a partner, not a predator, to allow me to be near and touch her when she is in this most vulnerable position. 2) If she ever gets sick, such as colic, she is already used to having me around her whist she is on the ground. Thus I can attend to her without increasing her stress above that of being sick. 3) It just feels very special to have that sort of a bond and trust with a prey animal. This is supposed to be fun and rewarding after all !
We have also been working on lightness in the sideways game. Larisa has set me a target of sideways to the end of a 45 foot line only using phase 1 or 2 pressure. This is actually going fairly well. I place a carrot on the top of a mounting block, carefully line her up on it and then send her sideways to it to get her reward. Once she got the idea that the destination has a reward on it she started putting real effort in getting there ! There are two advantages to putting the reward at the destination. To start with she can instantly receive the reward on achieving the task and thus link the reward more intimately to the task. Secondly it gives me a fixed destination to send her too which means I have to send her exactly sideways with no drift forwards or backwards.
We have also been working on her zone 5 liberty driving by using the follow the rail pattern. In this task I have to be able to walk behind her tail, guiding her with a couple of sticks whilst she has no halter on. To make this easier I started using the follow the rail pattern. This has the advantage that the wall of the school stops her turning one way whilst I use a stick and plastic bag to stop her turning away from the wall. Forwards in initiated by increasing my energy, focussing on where I want to go and then if necessary using the bag right above he tail to create impulsion. As soon as she is walking I go into neutral and walk, with focus, behind her. I placed carrots on cones in each corner to give her a destination and reward for reaching them. After this pattern was established I placed cones and carrots in the middle of the school and we left the safety of the wall and set off across the school. We didn't get to the cones on a dead straight line, but we did get to all of them which was a good start. As for stopping I just use the signal we use when riding. A breath in followed by a long relaxing exhale, drop my body energy and if this fails then a light pull on her tail and we gently stop. Hence the reason I was working on lead by the tail recently !!
We are also have great success with her friendly game whilst lying down. I know she will always roll in the sand when we enter the school so I have used that behaviour to slowly influence where she rolls. Leaving her online I kneel near her roll spot whilst she looks for the perfect spot. To start with I let that be anywhere she wanted and then moved to her. Slowly I have been using the rope to restrict her range. Now I have it to the point that I am using a 12 foot rope and getting her to roll within 6 feet of me. As soon as she is down she gets a carrot. She will even lay with her head flat out and still take a carrot from my hand. Slowly I am getting to the point where I can move around her and rub and scratch on her whilst she is lying down. And the point of all this. 1) It is a real acceptance of me as a partner, not a predator, to allow me to be near and touch her when she is in this most vulnerable position. 2) If she ever gets sick, such as colic, she is already used to having me around her whist she is on the ground. Thus I can attend to her without increasing her stress above that of being sick. 3) It just feels very special to have that sort of a bond and trust with a prey animal. This is supposed to be fun and rewarding after all !
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