I tried posting these earlier but they seem to have disappeared
no idea what I did wrong...
Anyhow - lets try again...
Some notes regarding the clips:
Sorry about quality being not great, we had to reduce the size of the file drastically to make it uploadable so lost a lot of clarity - but it gives an idea of what we do. You can't see the mat very clearly either - but Jensen shows you where it is
. At one clip there's a bit of instability - this is due to our GSD wanting to help Daddy with filming....
This is work in progress, not a finished product so it is not perfect work, far from it. Last year, I had a hormone-overdrive two-year-old who spent a lot of time standing on his hind legs, and was very bitey and snarky and explosive about any close contact work, so to achieve this level of calm is huge for us... much of the work shown is part of our strategy to deal with these issues: The handling of his head & reinforcing it has been crucial in getting biting out of his repertoire; in the 1st clip, he has a little snark which is a flashback from last year and doesn't happen often these days. Last year I couldn't have done 1/10th of what we do in the clips without an explosion so we've come a long way.
We do a LOT of head lowering atm - this, along with teaching solid forward cues, is part of the strategy to get rearing totally out of his repertoire. Absolutely crucial, as he goes absolutely vertical so will not be safe to ride before it's gone. We hardly ever get rearing at home now, it still crops up occasionally when away from home in an exciting situation, but it's going to right direction - all thanks to the quiet work, and the mat.
Another reason why I incorporate lost of quiet work is to get slow, quality steps in the lateral work as he's had a huge tendency to rush - when we started, it was impossible to get any steps of it without him running... so everything we do, is to get calm. I think it's working nicely...
These clips don't show how to teach the horse to approach the mat - Jensen has that fairly well established, so most of the time we can just go there. It'll give you an example of how to utilise the mat as a reinforcer once they've learned to go to it, and to leave it. This is by no means the only way to utilise it - what I do with Jensen is for the reasons explained above, and the only limitation to the number of ways it can be utilised is the creativity from our part, as handlers.
Lastly.... training in grass area gives an interesting challenge, given that I have a typically highly sugar intolerant, good doer PRE who has to live on extremely limited grass - so grass is very desirable, rare treat indeed... which counts for the fact that we have very little duration in head lowering in the clip! I can get loads longer if we're not on grass, but I'll need to work more in the grass area to get it to the same standard. What I tend to do after the session, is allow him to have a little grazing time as a special treat and thank you. What is absolutely endearing that in the end of the last clip, when I give Jensen the permission to go and graze, he actually chooses to follow me instead. I love my horse!
Right, enough rambling - here's the links to photobucket:
Part 1 : Practising polite leading: stop, forward, back-up. A little lateral work, lots of quiet stuff, and Jensen being a horse statue on the mat.
http://s470.photobucket.com/albums/rr62/pikku_karhu/?action=view¤t=MVI_3294_xvid_xvid.mp4Part 2: More of the same
http://s470.photobucket.com/albums/rr62/pikku_karhu/?action=view¤t=MVI_3295_xvid_xvid.mp4Part 3: Little play with baby steps towards SW, and Jensen helping to clear up afterwards...
http://s470.photobucket.com/albums/rr62/pikku_karhu/?action=view¤t=MVI_3296.mp4Modified as I realised I remembered wrong what's in which clip
