Glen Grobler wrote:
Hi, Karen and Romy
Great minds think alike!
Yes, you are both correct. I have read that thread (and not for the last time either!) I have been doing some of the "Together we can eat cougars" things. Of course I know what Jocelyn meant about preparation (did I sound grumpy in my answer to her? If I did I am sorry), but that preparation training takes some time and the bad situation is now, and as I can't prevent other people's stupidity I have to plan around it.
He has spooked with me now 4 times since I got him on 10 January, which isn't bad at all. Only this one time he went "irrational" which is a very good sign indeed. The other times he "came back" within 5 strides. One was under saddle and I only sat back - I didn't need the reins. 2 spooks he was free and turned back to me himself. The remaining one he was on a 30m line which I released and he turned towards me.
He hides behind me if the monkeys are visible!
So I think we're doing OK for where we are in this relationship (please correct me if I'm complacent.) I know he hates "surprises" behind him and these 2 dogs chased him ... so I can't blame him, but I NEED a way to get his attention if it happens again - and I don't want to pull his mouth around. So I thought "how can I go bitless fast" and this hackamore is available ... but I don't like what I'm learning from you all about it's severity. So I will have to modify it to prevent the nutcracker effect, and even then there are issues with turning signals, so I don't know.
Teach him to associate fear with pleasure.
In other words, positive operant conditioning.
Any time he starts, use a bridge signal, something very clear and easy to identify, like a sharp click with your tongue, and then give him a treat.
The better the response, the bigger the reward.
If you haven't looked at my vids do. The reason that Dakota puts his nose on a rotten deerskin, and why he's standing in one still pic, with his nose near me, saddle (you can see the skirt corner in the lower left of the frame) is because of click training.
We were, in the last picture mentioned, just commencing a very terrifying (for a horse) game of "Being Chased By the Black Plastic Tiger." I was just about to back the Tiger off, as Dakota had just startled and leapt foward.
And at that precise moment the offside girth strap on the old saddle I was using for training snapped. The saddle and rigging went down over his rump, the rear cinch tangled in his legs.
Could anything have better simulated a predator attack?
In three stride, approximately, he slammed to a halt (I clicked with my tongue when I saw the saddle part company with him), stood tall, and gave me the, "Okay, now THAT deserves a treat," look.
You can see in the pic that I just came up to him, about four or five strides, and he stood quietly for his treat.
That was one day before the first encounter with the rotten deer hide...and I mean that thing reeked.
I rode him into a sawmill, all kinds of junk on the ground inside and out, rattling things on the wall, and all he did was eagerly, even though on tip toes and anxious, touch his nose to everything he could reach.
Of course with a bride click for each one, and a treat following each click.
He's almost boring to ride now. I like crazy rides for some reason. Bucking makes me laugh out loud. A good spook reminds me to pay attention, and that even when I don't, I have over 20 years of so much riding experience my body, even as old as it is, takes over, and I'm still on top when the spook stops.
I've described my various tactics (the strategy is the clicker training itself) for various situation.
Simply look up my profile, and click on the link to see all my posts.
It's all there.
When working with bucking, shying, and spooking, even bolting, you DO NOT HAVE TO WAIT until he stops to click.
The click itself, if you have 'charged' the clicker with both reward, and taught targeting is all you need.
I know others will argue that if you bridge signal during the actual 'run' action, you will make IT the action you want, according to the horse.
It is not true.
Horses have a time shift factor that's hard to describe, but I'll try. We humans have it too, by the way.
"Logic," as the brain understands it is not based on fact. Not items or chronology are slave to facts.
The concept of deja vu is one of the examples that comes to mind.
As is that odd sensation we get from time to time that we dreampt because something was actually happening in the real world, only to awake and discover ... no it wasn't.
And also the sense that we vaguely remember, when an event occurs, that we predicted it ... when in fact we did not.
But that's the brain for you.
Now if you have NOT charged the clicker with reward, and if you have NOT done targeting, and you have not practiced a bit under controlled circumstances with with anxiety provoking situations, and helped Freckles associate pleasant things with that feeling of anxiousness, you can click all you want and probably get nothing from your horse during a fear bucking session.
But once you have the anchor of Fear Event equals Pleasant Reward event you have the tool to deal with bigger fears.
And being exact in when you click become far less important.
Besides, there is a next step.
And that after the event, your click, him stopping, you rewarding, you go ON to do a session of desensitizing right then to the event that startled him.
Let's chase chickens, those little Sabertoothed Tigers.
And click away and reward away.
Deliberate reaction reduction is a must if you want to stay uninjured.
Just begin with easy things, and work up.
Other reading this are probably tired of me offering it, but I prefer the horse and the human remain as safe as possible.
And good training is correct path to safety.
Have you 'sacked' him with a lead rope yet?
You just stand quietly off his shoulder, far enough to not get run over, and softly pitch loops of the rope over him, front to back, easing off, and repeating the pattern, when you see him start to get anxious as you move in any particular direction with the rope.
That's been around hundreds of years. You probably know of it already.
One just does it until the horse becomes thoroughly bored with it. It's preparatory to other work handling him.
Best, Donald Redux