anro
Yearling
Posts: 11
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Post by anro on Oct 3, 2009 21:16:39 GMT
sorry if this is in the wrong forum  lol well Ginni is starting to let me put a headcoller on her now so i was thinking of starting to do leading exercises and things with her next week (just keep getting her used to having a headcoller put on and off this week) so does anyone have any ideas? i read in a book that you should start them on circles and wavy lines and build them up to going in straight lines is that right? and maybe some fun games to keep her interested ( maybe something like the pareilli 7 games? any know anything about doing them?) Thank you! |
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Post by Donal on Oct 3, 2009 21:55:38 GMT
Hi Anro To get things started let me throw in a couple of thoughts  "leading excercises"? Exactly what do you mean? I know it sounds like a silly question but have you thought about what your goal actually is here? Consider the 10yr old horse who "leads" perfectly until he spooks and promtly disappears off in the oppisite direction despite the super strong lead rope... I imagine what you really want to do is to show the foal two things: 1. How to respond to pressure ( tension on a rope) 2. what direction he should choose to go when your about or how he should decide on direction when your about. Does that change your ideas on how to approach it? Why on earth would you teach him to walk in circles, wavy lines or whatever, surley he already knows how to walk? The best way to keep him interested is to keep the sessions short.... very short! I cant imagine a young foal having fun with something that he thinks is liable to eat him at any moment... best reward for him at this stage is for you to leave him alone. I'm not trying to be a smarta** just trying to get the thought process going Donal |
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anro
Yearling
Posts: 11
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Post by anro on Oct 3, 2009 22:04:58 GMT
Thanks Donal I suppose she is still quite young ( around a year and a half) but we have to lead them accross a road when changing fields so i wanted to get her used to leading for when we have to change fields (or bring her into the stable in case somthing happens etc.) the circles and wavy lines thing was in a book i was reading somthing to do with it being easyer for them because they dont usualy walk in straight lines. I never really thaught about a "goal" i suppose so that deffinatly has me thinking now about what i want as an end result. thanks |
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Post by Donal on Oct 3, 2009 22:24:53 GMT
If it was me the first thing I would do is start to show her "pressure and release" and remember to cheat (set things up so you already know which direction she really wants to go) that makes it much easier to reward her with a realease when she steps in the right direction. I'd keep the sessions short and look to reward the slightest try rather than looking for faults Donal |
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drifter6
Young horse
Irish Horsemanship trainer
Posts: 69
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Post by drifter6 on Oct 5, 2009 9:32:18 GMT
Hi Anro.
I agree with all that Donal has suggested, the only thing that i would like to add or explain, as i get the impression that your understanding of what you described of a wavy line is not what i believe you understand it to be. while it is true that horses don't generally walk in straight lines the reasoning behind this when leading young horses is that if you try to lead them in a straight line they tend to plant all four feet ,the handler tends to pull straight forward thus setting up a tug o war ,this results in the horse responding with his natural response of pulling against the pressure and if it is not released they will mostly panic and even REAR thus achieving release( so now they have been thought how to find release from the pressure by rearing) But if the handler had moved to the left or the right(WAVY line) they would have unstuck the horses feet by taking him off balance this results in the horse moving off the pressure and as a result has moved forward and has now found how to get rid of the pressure by moving toward the handler thus completing the first very important lesson on how to get rid of pressure .
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anro
Yearling
Posts: 11
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Post by anro on Oct 5, 2009 16:40:28 GMT
I would usually do that rather than get into a tug a war but i understand the wavy line bit better now thanks |
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anro
Yearling
Posts: 11
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Post by anro on Oct 11, 2009 19:03:00 GMT
I've noticed she has been trying to avoid having the headcoller put on at the moment (which is all i have been doing) like walking away when she sees me with it (which i think she might have picked up from merrylegs) should i do more handling with her or just keep trying to get her used to having the headcoller put on?
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Post by Elaine on Aug 31, 2010 17:51:25 GMT
This is a guy I know from NZ who is very good, he teaches a friend of mine. He's just done a DVD on handling foals. Preview up on youtube:
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