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Excerpts
from The Power of Positive Horse
Training:
Recent clinics:
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Hilo, HI - January, 2007: Update on Pandora
Now nearly four, Pandora is a 14.3-hand mare with a calm,
delightful attitude toward work. She was started under saddle in March,
2006, and entered her first show four months later, earning good
ribbons in novice horse trail and pleasure classes. In September, she
earned a 64.5% in her first Training-level dressage test. In January,
2007, she began learning to jump.
Pandora is featured in the new book, Jump with Joy: Positive Coaching for Horse & Rider, available in January, 2008 from Wiley Publishing.
Kea'au, HI - June, 2005: Pandora
April 25, 2005: Pandora is a two-year-old thoroughbred/QH filly who'd spent all her life in a
pasture herd. She'd been handled occasionally but had never worn a
halter. She was curious, but shy and difficult to catch. Her toes were
uneven and she was covered in rainrot, but she had a kind eye and a
nimble, balanced way of moving while evading capture.
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May 23, 2005: Five days of handling and
training. After lots
of reward-focused, groom-and-touch handling, plus three
sessions of halter training with a butt rope --
perhaps six hours in all -- she learned to walk and trot nicely in
hand,
leading from either side; she enjoyed grooming and having her ears
rubbed;
and she stood quietly to have her bridlepath and feet trimmed.
Thank you to Bird McIver for the great photos!
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June 5, 2005: Less than two weeks of handling
and
training. After she was comfortable with basic handling and understood
the ideas of rewards (voice and touch), we moved on to desensitization,
using all manner of things from crinkly paper to tarps and blankets.
I'm keeping a hand on her withers to provide the reward
scratch-and-rub every time I introduce something new -- here, the
saddle pad being waved and dropped from all sorts of positions: over,
under, and around her body, head and legs.
Pandora's laid-back, trusting nature
makes her a joy to work
with. She instinctively understands the concepts of reward voices and
touches -- though we had to teach her to enjoy carrots.
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June 5, 2005: Part of training a horse to
trust and accept unpredictable human behavior involves creating
potentially fear-provoking "crises" that you can introduce gradually
and safely. Here, I'm abruptly pushing the saddle off her back so it
will land with a crash under her feet. We've obviously done this
before, in small, non-threatening increments. She's so unconcerned with
this exercise, she's more interested in watching the dog than the
saddle. A second later, the saddle dropped to the ground and Pandora
remained calm and accepting.
The saddle is a lightweight, beat-up old Wintec with no stirrups or any
protruding metal parts -- perfect for introducing a young horse to the
feel of flapping straps and a not-too-tight girth.
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© 2005
Sarah Blanchard. All rights
reserved.
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