Not only are Odin the Mustang and I learning together with R+ training, I am also learning about videography and the limits of youtube, facebook, and other social media. Up until today I've successfully uploaded a few (poor-quality) videos to my YouTube channel. Today's video was better quality because I actually centered the camera on the work area, Odin cooperated with me, it was sunny out today, and I figured out how to voice-over to explain what I'm doing in the video. However, the video was a bit too long and YouTube won't upload it.
Every good story needs a conflict and I'd rather that my conflict was not with YouTube. Or maybe I do because that's a minor conflict and easily ignored.
The "conflict" for this story is how to overcome obstacles when working with creatures that don't speak your language, has entirely different motivation, and are much bigger than you.
The obstacles are different for each horse.
Odin the Mustang is learning quickly. He's curious and very interested in R+. Whenever I set up an exercise he comes up to see what I'm doing. Today I set out the red bath mat (mat) and my stick with a string and lash attached. The camera goes on top of a barrel and the trick is to get the camera set up before Odin loses interest in the mat and comes over to poke his nose at the camera.
We started a week or more ago just learning basic targeting skills. He's a pro at targeting anything I suggest he touch with his nose. Our challenge now is to a) stand on a mat, which is good for standing in one place until I release him, b) back up, which is good for strengthening his top line and haunches, balance, adjustability, and getting out of my space when asked, and finally c) lowering the head to feel calm. When a horse has his head up, it's likely he's worried or concerned about something and his adrenaline is up. It's hard for anyone to learn when they're adrenaline is up and since horses are prey animals, anything that changes is worthy of notice. My job is help them learn what is truly worrisome and what they can notice then forget about. Teaching them to lower their head gives them a tool to relax.
My video, that you can't see yet, shows Odin walking up to the mat, picking it up and gently shaking it. I put it back down and ask him to stand on it. He's not actually standing on it yet, just accidentally touching it with a hoof. He gets rewarded for that because I want him to notice that putting a hoof on the mat is the right answer while putting his hoof just anywhere doesn't earn him a reward. We practice that several times as well as backing up. He prefers not to back up very much so I click when he backs up a step but then ask for more backing until I actually give him a treat. The deal is do the job, get a reward. I get to decide within reason when the reward is given.
Odin does all kinds of things to avoid actually backing up. He'll move sideways, forward around me, swing his haunches away, and so on but he does not get the reward for doing anything but backing up. I may have asked too much of him in a previous session where he willingly backed up about 10 steps. I thought, oh cool you can do that, go for it! But that might be a bit much to expect every time, especially now that he's asking me whether he really needs to do that.
At one point, Odin spooked at something and his head went up in the air. Once he took a breath and focused back on me I asked him to lower his head by placing my hand on his poll between his ears. He still doesn't understand that cue but when he lowers it slightly I click and reward. We can work on this exercise every session. Backing is the larger issue for him and I don't want to drill him. I'll keep it fun for him by also doing the exercises he likes.
Beege, the Off The Track Thoroughbred (OTTB), has a different set of challenges. One challenge is that he's always on high-alert and he's a great tattle tale if the neighbors are in their yard doing something. Since he's so concerned about things far away, it's hard to get him to focus. I've been working on just getting him to target, which is a game he sometimes loves, sometimes snorts and wants to run away even if it's the same target we worked with yesterday. With Beege I meet him where he's at and have low expectations about his success.
My goal for him is to feel secure and confident in his environment plus have a little fun with him. Lately he tells me he's uncomfortable by his actions but I don't know why. His abscess blew out his heel bulb so he shouldn't have any foot pain. I've supplemented his diet to help his tummy and I haven't taken Odin out of his sight in a while. All should be well but he tells me it's not. Besides taking care of his physical needs the best I can do is attempt to teach him how to cope. One way to do this is to target and feel successful at it. Every day is a brand new day for Beege though.