Vigdis and Susanne
My mare Vigdis is soooo eager for c/t I would never have dreamed of it. She
made me run out of ideas!
She loves to learn new things but is still not so good in "old" tasks like
lifting a leg and holding it relaxed or standing still while I move away. I
am working on that but I would also like to go on with just fun because she
very soon is bored.
Now reading in some of your messages about new ideas gave me hope again,
Vigdis would love to learn how to count or how to say "no"!
My last project (I am just 3 or 4 weeks into c/t, the progress is so fast I
have lost the feeling of time) was playing football. She is now able to
shoot a little ball away from her after having run after it. She gets only
clicked if she shoots it away not if she just scramble (?) it under her
feet. I roll the ball, she runs to it, stops in front of it, tries which leg
would be o.k. - it's so funny to look at that! - and then kicks the ball
more or less :-) forceful.
It is so good for her, because she runs to the ball with her nose down on
the ground and has to think about which foot to use.
It has already helped
enourmously to relax her back and be more precise with her legs - very
important for an icelandic horse with the sometimes difficult tolt!
Playing football has the negative effect that she does no longer target with
her nose but now _kicks_ everything I use for targeting on the ground ....I
am sure she will be able to sort that out as well soon if I want that.
I was a bit worried if I could manage to teach her to kick as she used her
leg for scraping when she was impatient. So I prepared her for the movement
"kick" in connection with the training for the farrier (lifting and holding
the hoof).
The first attempts towards the ball then were indeed scraping and I clicked
her just for moving the ball. The next day I waited with the click longer
and let her touch the ball several times before clicking. And then it
happened: she kicked and it opened the jackpot for her. Soon she understood:
jackpot for kicking. And the next day she kicked nearly everytime. Photos below.
I am learning so much reading this list so let me, too,inform you about the
progresses Vigdis is doing.
- She comes and put her head into her halter, then I c/t.
- She moves back on command now.
- Her tolt is gettin better because of c/t after some fine steps.
- She follows me and stops at whoa and turns around without being lead, just
free walking beside me (... inside the arena...)
- She still kicks the football for hours - with only very few c/t's
- She noses her "first day" targets (blue cups), she did not forget it!!! I
tried it yesterday, she kicked them like her football, but when I did not
click she touched them with the nose til they fell. I could see the light
bulbs behind her beautiful forehead!
When we had a riding clinic last weekend in an environment she doesn't know
well and has never before left with me alone, I left the stable yard and
went into the streets (of a very small village), leading her from the
ground. She was very curious, I whoaed quite often and c/t. She did not run
and was though not relaxed but very brave!
In that village we will spend a full week together, Vigdis and I, with some
other horses being with her on the meadow, but I intend to also ride out
with her alone. Very difficult as she tends to refuse to leave home. Vigdis
has already been in that environment 4 or 5 times, but never alone with me.
I am planning to first walk her the roads we shall be going and c/t her
several times after whoaing. As she dearly loves her football I shall take
one with me on those walks and play with her there in the forest. I already
solved the problem of transporting the ball: I shall buy a "waterball", a
ball you can blow up. Hope I get one!!!
But be sure I shall not forget my cellphone as Vigdis very often just
refuses to go forward in such a situation and stands stiff as a poker,
longest for 15 minutes. When it happened the last time, I was not worried: I
would have called my partner and he would deliver my lunch. I was ready to
spent the whole day on that spot. But Vigdis wasn't :-)) and so she moved
on.
Some photos of Vigdis and her ball:
ClickRyder Home
iceryder@cableone.net
