The Art of Natural Dressage

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PostPosted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 9:31 pm 

Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2009 4:33 pm
Posts: 7
Would love to know if anyone would could recomend any games or other excersises i could do to help bring my pony out of his shell. I should probably mention that i have owned him for 6 years for much of which i rode him in a manner which i am not proad of so I am sure it has alot to do with negative associations. In ground and ridden work i find he will go through the motions(particually if there are treats involved!!!) but does not seem to enjoy human interaction, we do mostly liberty work on the ground and very basic flatwork without a bridle( walk,trot, canter, 20m circles), I have tried running around to the point where i nearly pass out and he definatly does not see me as a worthy playmate. If I work him in a way he does not want to work the first warning i get is either a full on verticle rear or an explosion of bucking, its like I ignored his whispers for so long now all he can think to do is sream at me. I doubt he will ever truely trust me but it would be nice to find a way to lower those walls a little bit.


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 9:39 pm 
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You can play Chase the tiger - most horses just love that.

What I find most helpful with non-enthusiastic horses is going with their ideas completely, rewarding just everything they do and in that way showing them that they do have a way to control your interaction with them and earn the treats by becoming creative and active. :smile:


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:24 am 
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Location: Washington, Maine USA
Love Chase the Tiger!!

Also, a dog game that I play with my horses is the Recall Game, or 'Come and Get It'. I modified it a bit for the horses.

You can play it by putting two or more feed pans/buckets around a pasture or arena, not too far at first. Then put a few treats or grain in one pan/bucket, show your pony and let him eat them. Now while he's eating 'sneak' away towards the next pan/bucket. Stop about half way until you see your pony look up at you, then call him and move to the next pan, put treats in, and repeat.

At first it may be slow, he may only walk, but after he gets the hang of it, and you start to run, it can be a lot of fun! My QH Jack is pretty shut down and now this is one of his favorite games, almost always cantering to catch up! We have snow now so I don't use pans, just put the treats in the snow!

I have many video clips but this is my favorite! You'll see that I have a Tiger/target as well to motivate him to run and chase me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYlbfD6GilU

Brenda

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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:50 am 
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Location: Belgium
What I would do (and what I did with my ex bullfighter Horse Don Jamie, who was traumatised by humans for years and then had it a lot better with me but still was used as a 'riding horse' ... So don't feel bad, at least you know now :yes: )

I would let your horse have utter and complete control (As Romy says).
Take his lead a 100% from now on.

If he does not take any lead, just be with him, read a book, or just sit and eat and drink coffee. Talk to him, tell him what has changed in you and why.
Ask him for a second change, but tell him, only if he wants to.
Ask him what he would like you to do.

If he tells you 'just go away' then leave and try just being with him again, the next day.

The other two games, chasing the tiger, and all Brenda and Romy says are a very good idea as well.
But I would wait with any play, until he decides to come to you.
When he does, be overly happy and especially thankful!
Think about what he has been through and still comes to you :)

Rewards within a second when he comes to you and then start to play.
If he is not interested and leaves, then go back to the simply being with him.

It takes time and patience, but it will be worth it :)

Think not about result, think about how you can be of service to your horse.
Think about how you can be a pleasure to be with, think about why your horse can be a 100% sure that he can trust you at all times, that you will listen to him.

Think about how much you love your horse, and why he should love you back.

Think about all your horse can teach you, about horses and about yourself.

A lot of it is all in the mind and starts with absolutely doing and wanting nothing.

Keep us posted. :)

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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 10:09 am 
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Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:18 pm
Posts: 103
Location: uk
Hi,
I agree with Josepha totally. Giving them time and just being with on them on their terms seems to be the best way to show a horse that we have genuinely changed.

Its about taking away all pressures and demands. Sometimes people think that just by not riding they are giving the horse a break, but a horse who doesnt like people very much will see things like being caught, grooming etc as demands on them, mainly because its on our terms and always has been.
You will come in now, be tied up here, move over now, be brushed with this brush here etc.

And initially, the same may go for play and they see it as only more demands. But if we take all the pressure off and really give them a break from human demands (and this can take time, depending on the horses past experiences with people and especially as you have owned him for a while) then when we do come to introduce play, and start right from the beginning on their terms as Brenda and Romy suggest, then they seem to be able to accept it as something new and maybe pleasant, rather than ok, here comes more of the same.

But dont worry, it can happen. I started off with the horse that started on this path with me in a conventional way and we are friends now :D .
Good luck
Colette

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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 2:10 pm 

Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2009 4:33 pm
Posts: 7
I think I will try hanging out with him for a while, I doubt if he's ever had anyone around him who expects nothing from him other than for him to be himself.


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:09 pm 
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Location: uk
:D :D :D
Colette

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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 5:45 pm 

Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 12:03 am
Posts: 760
I had another idea that works with some horses really well. Bring him special treats but don't make him work for them. Ideally make the kind of treats you can share with him, like apples or carrots, doing something enjoyable together is the key. The first couple of times you may have to sit down and not give eye contact so he knows that you don't expect anything. :)


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 9:32 pm 

Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2009 7:57 pm
Posts: 146
My horse can be very uninterested, until I found out what he liked and helped him do that, and stopped bugging him to DO stuff.

So I just hang out with him in the field, or when he is eating his haynet I just sit with him and do nothing at all. We spend many hours grazing for weeds and looking for little patches of clover up our drive (obviously I don't graze for weeds! but I take him to them) as he is a real gourmet and likes different tastes. I hide carrots around our yard and help him to find them. I don't know how food orientated your horse is but one thing my horse liked was when I put a small treat on 4 plastic blocks (or buckets) in our arena and we walked to one and I pointed out the treat, then we went and looked at another block and he found the second treat. Soon he was going quite happily from one block to the next looking for treats. After a bit he would offer to trot between them so I got more enthusiasm for movement from him, but I was not making him. It gave him a purpose to go somewhere with me. I also thought if he doesn't want to move, I wonder how slowly we can do everything! So I go as slow as I can and so does he and he gets a reward for it. Soon he is bored of going slowly and wants to move and I reward for that too. When we stop I stroke him and tell him how beautiful he is too. He stops very often, but that is ok, I wait until he is ready again. Plus we have great halts now. :D Now he is more motivated to have fun, but it took me probably 2 years or so to show him I could be as interesting to him as his own ideas, and I still give him much time to do his own thing too.

I also found if I was focusing too much on him or in trying to get him to do something he stopped, whereas if I was interested in doing something else while he was there, he suddenly got interested too. Klaus Hempfling does that alot with people and horses. He gets them to play with something in an arena and ignore the horse. The horse gets interested because your energy changes when you play and there is no pressure and no agenda. Then you can play with them not do things to them. If that makes sense? So you could chase the tiger yourself and see if he will join in!


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