Alright, I'm back -- thank you so much for all your fabulous answers!
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I kind of doubt that Cisco will ever be the kind of horse that will be capable of doing them. He's just a very grounded horse. But you never know!
You taught him rear though, right? Being naturally rather grounded, did learning the rear help him come "up" more in the collected exercises?
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or that the horse won't just offer it up as a way to mug for treats
Wow, that brought some funny images into my mind!
I can just imagine…
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Naming a behavior, even if it's not a real cue, is a good idea though...Body language cues are fine...touch cues are fine...but a verbal cue gives you more options for eliciting the behavior, and a "don't do that now" kind of verbal cue is always a good one to establish early!
That is an interesting thought -- I hadn't thought about naming the leaps, etc, they're doing even if I don't actually reward them. Perhaps then I could get some control over them without actually "encouraging" them to do it all the time. That may be a good compromise.
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Beau will be 5 this month and thus I do not really try to train things yet, I do try to click for it and then try to get it on a voice cue + other cue and ask it from time to time, but I mostly just let him play with it.
… He only shows his movements when he is feeling safe and if my energy isn't powerful enough he will not feel like doing more, he needs me to be superproud of him Smile
That is a good idea as well -- encouraging the playing, but perhaps not turning it into a concentrated exercise. And if he only does it when YOU have the powerful energy, I can see how that would be fabulous stimulus control in itself -- that he won't be as likely to offer them at inopportune times, because they have always great stemmed from your energy, not his alone.
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But everything what you learn your horse you have to think why you learn your horse that particular movement. Just for fun or do you want something more?
I'm not sure at the moment. For fun, yes, for strength and improved dressage/liberty work as well, and to free their minds to playing.
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But concerning the off button, you might just have hit the nail on the head. I have made this experience with Summy´s rearing. Since we have incorporated it into our training and consciously learned that it only gets rewarded when cued, he does hardly ever do it without me asking anymore. This is great, because before that it had been his response to being overexcited: his hooves were flying around my head. And he was overexcited A LOT! Now he sometimes does a little rear while we are playing or doing other wild stuff sometimes, but I don´t need to feel endangered anymore.
Aha, that is a good thing to know. So it seems that when Summy learned to rear on cue, he was able to realize that he could be calm and concentrated mentally even while physically active? Maybe "counterconditioning" the overexcitement?
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From my experience I can tell you that its better to cue the jumps and ask them at training time than you dont have cues and horse is offering jumps voluntary arbitrary. And there is involved on/ off button.
We do right now pesades and centavos. He offered pesades already long ago. I had to cue pesades and we practise at training session, because the situation got little dangerous. Firstly, Esprit was practising voluntary pesades in his living space (at stable 3x3 box) all the time. Imagine how dangerous is practise pesades in small 3x3 box (possibility to injure itself). Secondly, Esprit voluntary offered pesades arbitrary, while we walked together or trained, suddenly Esprit voluntary rears (it was dangerous to me). When I cued pesade and I started to ask a few pesades in training session or he voluntary did pesades at playing time, Esprit was satisfied and happy. After that he was very calm in his living space at stable (no pesades there) and he did not offer anymore these arbitrary/ sudden pesades near to me. So there is no dangerous situation anymore and no risk to get somebody injured.
What is centavo, exactly?
I looked it up in the Encyclopedia but couldn't find anything
That is also good to know -- it seems like Espirit's experience was similar to Summy's. If they're already offering it, put it on cue control so that they know when they should or shouldn't express it.
One of the main reasons that I was asking is that Caspian, when he gets overexcited, right brain, very distracted, etc, will get to the point where mentally he can't take it, and will begin leaping around in maniac grasshopper imitation. But a 1300 lb grasshopper… and a very athletic one at that. So that leads me to the dilemma that he is beginning to offer more and more leaps, rears, jumps, etc, and on one hand, they're stunning
and on the other hand, I don't want to teach him anything that could be dangerous OR exacerbate the leaping that he's predisposed to. Hence my question about whether it gives you an off button (and thus would help calm that leaping behavior) or if the horse just gets better at it (worsening the leaping).
I'm wondering if perhaps I will very carefully put a cue/name on it, try not to ask for it too much, and be very sensitive to the mental/emotional state it's putting him in. I don't want to compromise him or me just because I want him to do cool airs.