Horses Next Door

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Postby furever_pit » April 9th, 2010, 12:16 pm

I have been living on a new property for a month or so now and there is a large horse farm next door. The training/riding pasture is literally next to my house, just on the other side of my driveway. So, my young bulldog (Gator) likes to bark at the horses when they are out there. It is generally annoying and I think it is rude so we are working on it. I have spoken with the woman who owns the farm and she is allowing me to take my dogs into her barn and into her pastures to do some distraction obedience around the horses. I think that is pretty cool.

Anyway, the main point of my post...

This farm recently got a few young colts and this past week they have started training them. I have really enjoyed sitting outside and watching how these young ones are being imprinted and how everything is just a big game. It really reminds me of training puppies. I haven't noticed anyone using a clicker or a marker but I want to ask if they have ever tried it. I've already seen them introducing jumps to the colts - they are just set very low and the handler runs with the horse who has a lunge line attached to his halter and they go over the "jump" together. I just think it's pretty cool...I doubt I will be seeing any horses getting "broken" at this ranch.

If they are using some clicker training I will see if I can get some video of it. It just really intrigues me, obviously. Sorry if this was pointless or boring. lol
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Postby Malli » April 9th, 2010, 1:52 pm

usually as I understand it here from my horse friends, the typical horse training is to remove the stimulous from the animal as soon as the desired result is achieved (i.e. pressure on the reins until the head falls into position). The people I've talked aren't really confident in clicker training and horses(yes, I know I've seen clicker trained horse videos), since the typical training involves body language and respect.

I think what you hear of/think of as far as breaking a horse is actually fairly uncommon - my friend just broke hers and said she was able get in the saddle on the first try and even ride her a little - no problem. Apparently some horses are just like that, I think more often then not, actually.

I do know that as far as working on problem behaviors the same principle applies, so that "never give up" and "end on a good note" are also utilized.

I think another thing to remember is that horses are so large - if a person gets physical with them, it isn't the same as if someone were to hit a dog. My other friend works with young horses getting them ready (socializing them with handling and "scary" things) for showing and riding and eventually they'll be raced; she had an incident the other day with a young colt just over 1 year old(just starting to have his testicles drop and feel his hormones), he pinned her against the fence and then kicked her out of the blue, there was no other way to get him to stop and gain some respect but to get physical with him. I think it's kind of like the prong collar - it looks worse then it is. When you think about it, there isn't much that a person could do on their own to a horse that wouldn't rival what another horse would do. ;)
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Postby Jenn » April 9th, 2010, 6:48 pm

That sounds really neat, I'd be out there watching too!
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Postby tiva » April 9th, 2010, 7:34 pm

Lots of people do clicker-train their horses. Here's one website that contains a lot of information: http://www.theclickercenter.com/2004/index.php
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Postby Rolex+Deebo » April 10th, 2010, 9:07 am

I did some clicker training with my mare, but just to teach her to stretch, and other little things. We do stretches before I ride, like head all the way between the legs, all the way to one side and the other. I also worked on her moving away from pressure from the ground before I actually got on her to "brake her" to ride, with a clicker. Put pressure on her side where my leg would be, she moves away, click, treat. Then you use less and less pressure, and the horse really gets it. Once I got on for the first time, she knew what moving off the leg was, saves a lot of time and aggravation with a young horse. And they enjoy it, cuz they get treats! LOL I think you cant really use for everything with a horse, but there is a lot of things you can use it for, especially with a young horse that you are preparing to be backed. :|
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Postby furever_pit » April 10th, 2010, 9:46 am

Cool info guys, thanks.
I've never seen horses this young being trained so it's all new to me.
Plus, they are soo pretty. I am in love with the buckskin one. haha.
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Postby TheRedQueen » April 12th, 2010, 9:15 am

Have you seen Panda, the Guide Horse? She's been clicker trained to help her blind owner...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLdO2cBAusw
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Postby furever_pit » April 12th, 2010, 1:07 pm

Oh COOL!
Thanks for sharing that video.
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