This message is from: ceacy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hi Susan in Minnesoata,
I often have middle aged horses that come here for training or breeding, and I teach all of them the same thing. I do this because I feel particularly with the mares that are here for breeding that I want to know that this horse will respect the handler, especially while being covered by the stallion. So.... I start outside of the stall with the horse on lead, I make friends with her and stroke her all over with a medium length dressage whip. (I will explain my proceedure without involving clicker training but this is a tool I use more and more.) I do this so that I know the mare is not afraid of the whip. I then teach the horse to back up on cue, first by pushing my thumb into the point of her shoulder, and then tapping her in the chest with the whip as I stand on her left side , in front of her shoulder ,facing to the rear. As I step into her space, I am tapping her with the whip. If I am totally being ignored I will increase the strength of the tap until I get the mares attention. As soon as she gives any indication that she is going to move back, even shifting her weight, I stop and praise her, then start again, until I can step into this horses space and she will immediately step back. The next thing I do is to teach the horse to step forward from a cue from the whip. Standing at the horses shoulder facing forward, I hold the whip in my left hand and reach behind me and tap the horses side . As soon as the horse steps forward I stop and praise etc. If the horse doesn't understand this there are other positions you can use but I don't want to get too complicated here. I then practice asking the horse to move forward and then turning towards the horse and asking the horse to move backwards. I want this to be automatic that there is no pressure on the lead. It is the horses job to watch my body language and to move forward and back with no lead pressure. Next , I teach the horse to step away from me as I step into his space. I hold the whip up along side the horses muzzle on the side I am standing on , as I step towards the horses head , I push the horses head away from, tapping the mare on the side of her muzzle if necessary. Be patient with this part since you are asking the horse to move in an ackward direction. It is critical however that the horse learn that as you step towards their head and hold the whip up they are to step away, again no pressure on the lead rope. The term for this is teaching the horse to yield to pressure. The last thing I teach them is to follow with me as I turn away from their head but this doesn't have any bearing on your question about the stall. So now the horse is in the stall, if you have been successful teaching the previous exercises , when you open the door and that fuzzy Fjord face is right there, you hold the whip in front of their chest and ask them to back up. Only when the horse is doing the behavior consistently do I pair it with a verbal cue , but I always carry the whip to use as an extension of my arm. Because of your previous training the horse should step back at least a step, you can build on that. I then manuevre the horse by a combination of the aforementioned steps into the position I want. Do not be surprised if the horse turns to the wrong direction, just repeat the exercises until you have the horse in the position you want. Now ask the horse to stand still in that position by standing next to the horses shoulder, if the horse backs up, ask them to step forward, if they try to go forward ask them to back up. Give lots of praise when the horse stands still. Next back up and do not let the horse follow you, if she starts to move return her to the stationary position against the back wall. You build on this behavior by getting further away, and eventually turning your back on the horse and walking to the other side of the stall. I didn't say this earlier but when the horse is in the stall I work them without a halter or lead because I want them to just observe my body language and voice commands. However, if your horse is very reactive, and you think there is a possibility they may overeact then keep a halter and lead on but do not use it to give directional signals, it is just there as a safety precaution. When you feel that your horse has this down pat, go ahead and try putting her up against the wall, then you back towards the feeder to give her her grain, making sure that when she perceives that you have grain she doesn't move her feet. Eventually, you will be able to just turn your back and pour the grain in the feeder but for now stay facing her so you can prevent her from moving. At this point she may act like she doesn't remember a thing and try to run you over, be insistent that she stay where she was told to, using the whip as a firm reinforcer not a punishment. After you have put the grain in her feeder, walk back over to her and pet her on the neck, if she tries to move or to turn her head too much into your face, remind her to stay put using the whip as a visual cue. After a few seconds step back and say OK, and leave the stall. Do this every day when you feed or any time you enter the stall if the horse is crowding you. I came up with this stall manner thing myself, but the method of leading is very well demonstated on John Lyons instructional videos, its called "College Level Leading". I was pleased to see another famous trainer , Dominique Barbier, talk about the same thing in one of his videos. He has one whole barn with just stallions in it and all of them are trained to the same principals as I tried to describe. I have taught lots of people this, but I have never done it only in writing ,so I hope this makes sense. Even my babies learn this and it isn't difficult really. Let me know if this was helpful or not. Good Luck. Ceacy
