Hi guys! Welll.. I posted this ages ago.. and Sunrise has since learnt the joys of GOTM.. on a pedestal. I haven't transferred it to the ground yet, but I think it will be quite easy, as her understanding has leaped ahead. Previously she had enormous trouble with the concept of keeping one end still while the other moved.. However.. in the meantime, I taught her to crunch... It took MONTHS for her to get this.. I think she's a bit hypo.. she found duration very difficult, and the reinforcement seemed to distract her... for a very long time. Clicking early didn't help. She just kept on making the same wrong move, and misinterpreting what she was getting reinforced for. So.. kept on wandering towards me.. not getting that she was supposed to keep back feet still. She just couldn't make the connection to be aware of what her back end was doing it seemed..
So.. I finally decided to help her with a prop: I used a cavaletti height pole, asked her to step over it.. named it, "over the log" and spent many sessions just rewarding her for standing straddling it. If she walked over with the back feet, the rewards stopped.
Once she was clear about that, I began asking her to take a step forwards. The moment her back foot lifted off the ground I would "uhuh", and it would touch the pole, further clarifying for her just what I was talking about, then ask for the forward step again. Cogs whirring and clicking into place!!!
She got it! We've been practicing that quite frequently for a couple of months, and just this week have tried it out without the pole. YAY! Just a little bit of correctiong for stepping with hind feet and then she got it! I took a video of it.. will try to post today for some comment.
So... now.. this is how I will teach her the GOTM on the ground also, if she has any trouble with not understanding to keep one set of feet still...
I'm just wondering now though.. for GOTM, would it be better to teach her hind feet to step forward, or her front feet to step back? I'm thinking that front feet back might set her up for better balance and head set.
Cheers, and thanks for the answers!
Sue
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I have not sought the horse of bits, bridles, saddles and shackles,
But the horse of the wind, the horse of freedom, the horse of the dream. [Robert Vavra]