On the other hand, the trainer I use and like so
much uses carrots all the time. For example, if a horse is one of those
that cannot stand to be left by a buddy horse by so much as 50 feet, she pulls
out a carrot to draw the horse's attention to HER, not the buddy horse.
Gradually, over a period of time and lots of rides with another person on
another horse, she overcame her mount's fear of being left behind. She
keeps a pocket full of carrots with her on every training ride. On
principle it seems like a bad idea, but in practice it works very
well.
This trick is working for me also with my new Arabian mare. She's 11 and
been on her own for the last 6 years and never been ridden in her life. She
just got back from 90 days at the trainer and is very rideable now but she's a
sensitive thing and fearful of everything (was abused in a past life). I had a
dickens of a time getting anywhere near her feet by myself to doctor a bad
case of scratches and the first time after I brought her home a friend helped
me do it. I nicknamed our sessions "The Medicine Dance" since we went through
contortions for every set of the operation, shampooing, picking, washing,
drying and medicating. After two days of trying to do it by myself without
much success, I got out a little bag of Equine Senior out and every time she
remotely stood still, let me touch her leg, anything, I'd give her a few
grains and tell her what a good girl she was. The absolute next day she stood
perfectly still. I have a clicker and did one day with her with it and she
seems like a really good candidate for it. when I get some time, I'm going to
work with that again. In the meantime, I've been using the few grains of
Equine Senior to help me pet her someplace else besides her head (she moves
away from you if you touch her anywhere else), brush her, etc. and things are
moving along. My trainer is not for the treat thing and pretty much shook his
head at me but I figure I want this horse to be my friend and she has a lot of
trust issues. Whatever I can do to become her friend I'm going for it!
How cute! A bunch of horses standing around in mud puddles looking
for carrots. What would they do if you threw the carrot in the
water??
I use horse cookies for rewards in training. After I mount I give
them a cookie. It teaches them to stand for as long as you want
after mounting. It's hard for a horse to walk off when he has his
neck bent around getting a treat. Is great for working with their
flexion and stretching. And if you have a horse with no woe? Try
saying woe. Wait till they woe and give them a cookie. My filly
will go from a trot to a dead stop on a woe now. They try to second
guess you after a little bit, but keep the legs on them and they
soon figure it out. I watched a tape called "on target" so figured I'd
give the treat reward a try to see how it works. My filly really liked
it and worked really well the first time I tried it. The second time I
got on her, I cleared my throat. She stopped. I coughed, she
stopped. I couldn't stop giggling to myself about how she was
acting. Was pretty hilarious. She finally figured out that the
word "woe" is what she needed to hear before she got a cookie. I know
alot of people would be totally against it, but I like it and they
learn 10 times quicker what the right response to a cue needs to be
for a reward. It's a pretty interesting training
technique. Shelley
____________________________________________________ IncrediMail - Email has finally evolved -
Click
Here
