DefinitelyDressage.com

Hi guys,
I may be taking a break (possibly forever) from riding my horse. I have bone metastases from breast cancer and, long story short, I tried riding for a while but am having pain so I think I may be done, either for the winter or forever...

I'm not quite sure yet what I'm doing with my horse, but he's not sellable due to an old injury.

So i'm thinking of teaching him some tricks or something with him this winter just for fun. I'm trying to think of things I can do from the ground. Currently I'm trying to teach him piaffe, LOL. Not quite sure why if I'm not riding, but what the hell...
I might try to teach him to bow and spanish walk. Any other ideas?

Well I do a good bit of in hand work just about every time I work with them. Starting with SF, SI, HI, renvere, HP TOH, it all at walk at first and then into trot. Good way to help me get fitter keeping up with these guys in the trot! I love in hand work.

As for tricks, teach him to fetch, agility type obstacles (actually obstacle work is great fun with horses of all ages), I also really enjoy liberty work. Lots to do even on the ground.

So sorry you are dealing with metastasized breast cancer, jingles for you.

~~Jingles~~ for you Cookie!

when my mare had a broken leg, i kept her entertained by teaching her to touch a cone, then to move the cone, then to pick up the cone and place it. she happened to be restricted to her stall, so it was something i could teach her to do in her stall. I enjoyed the progressive success and surprisingly it made her less of a treat hound, because i used the clicker and treat, and after a while she realized she was only going to get a treatr for doing something.

I like clicker training because there are so many different ways to do it. One can sit in a chair in the middle of the ring, or on the other side of the fence, and click behaviors and then drop the treat in a bucket. Or, one can do in hand work and just click the highlights, or clicker train from the saddle.

It's fun to go out with some sort of a plan and then think about what happened, and then formulate a new plan and go back out and try again. The horses love it, which may be for the same reasons people love it: because it's not only rewarding but is very much like play.

Jingles for your health Cookie. Today a young girl was working her horse in hand and teaching him to kick a large rubber ball. They both seemed to enjoy it and have fun with it!

There was an interesting article in the "My horse is a wimp" thread about the Norwegian Veterinary Institute teaching horses to indicate whether they wanted a blanket or not by symbol cards. They said the horses averaged 11 days to learn how to do it. I don't know how they taught them but I guess some sort of clicker training. Kande might know how to do it. Sounded a bit complicated to me but if a horse could learn it in 11 days maybe I could eventually figure it out

Thanks for the jingles.

khall, How would you teach a horse to fetch?

demi,

I would look into groundwork such as TTeam/TTouch (Linda Tellington-Jones), and Connected Riding (Peggy Cummings). There is SO MUCH you can do that is beneficial, doesn't have to take long (you could do just 5 mins, if that's all you were feeling up to) and will help you and the horse at the same time. Both have books and dvd(s), and a progression of exercises that are mostly very simple and easy to learn/do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAnEaCLB7_w

Does not go into actual steps but shows end product. Take a look at Karen Pryor or Alexandra Kurland.

Cookie wrote:Thanks for the jingles.

khall, How would you teach a horse to fetch?

demi,

...first teach you horse to take the object into it's mouth and give it back to you on cue (clicker/treat in exchange), then teach him to pick it up and hand it to you, then increase the distance...

Fist of all: jingles for you!

I've always done quite a bit of groundwork with The New Welsh but it got much more serious, once we started to train with our current trainer(s). We do in hand work prior to riding, long lining, trick training (I'm not good with a clicker, so we use treats) and long reining. There is so much you can do from the ground. But I do think that a good trainer is needed to give pointers, saftey advise and input/ideas if things aren't working the way you want them to. Once a month is more than enough, but I know without, I would have been stuck many times.

I have a couple of videos, they are about a year old. Lots of room for improvement, but thankfully there is no need for perfection in trick training.

Dancing (his favourite)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MIW7t6srC0

Yielding
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro66INFGeXs

Work in progress: (plie, leg lift, fetch)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgEPG1wRyuE

That's great video khall! Love the cone work. I always wanted Crispin to put the cones back up (he loves to knock them down). I think I now have an idea how to do that!

Jingles for your health!

I clicker train, too. If it's a process that appeals to you, you can get a lot of joy out of it. All of this can be done on the ground. Honestly a lot of it could be done sitting in a chair, once you both know the game.

Things I have taught: bridling himself (reaching for the halter/bridle, sticking his nose in the halter or grabbing the bit and lowering head to let me apply headstall over ears), smiling, saying yes/no, fetching, giving a hug (gently wrapping head/neck around me), picking a foot up and holding it up on command, giving me his ear on command (for clipping), waving, Spanish walk, bow, honking a bike horn, waving a little flag, reining spin, putting himself on the bit, loftier trot, half pass, piaffe, orienting himself to the mounting block on command so I can get on. Probably more I've since forgotten about.

Still working on lie down, been getting the behavior but not yet consistent or on command. My white whale behavior *laugh*

Kelo wrote:
Still working on lie down, been getting the behavior but not yet consistent or on command.

When I first started clicker training I was really into teaching mine to bow, because it was a complex enough behavior that it was a challenge, but it was something none of them already knew how to do, so when I got it I knew I'd gotten it from CT.

For some reason, the way I was shaping it my mules usually ended up lying down, and when they did I'd jackpot and then they usually had that, too.

Oh Cookie. I'm sorry to hear about the bone metastases.

Chancellor and Sunshine, thank you. :/

Amitybee, bailey, kelo, khall, Kande50, chisamba and silk, thanks for the ideas!

PM your address if you wish and I will send you an in-hand DVD if you wish.It would make me happy to do so while you regain your strength.

I think clicker training is a great tool, helps the horses and helps us learn more about training. You are in my thoughts and I hope you feel better.

This is my favorite book on clicker training. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/clicker-training-for-your-horse-alexandra-kurland/1002506281/2672744672188?st=PLA&sid=BNB_DRS_Marketplace+Shopping+Textbooks_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP20421&k_clickid=3x20421

Thinking of you, Cookie.

This might be a little "out there", but since I deal with illness interfering with my horsey life at some level I thought I'd share. I really enjoy using the Masterson technique on my horse, and in fact I think it reminds me a lot of reiki----it is very soothing and relaxing to both the receiver and the practitioner.

Cookie, jingles for your return to good health.

And, thanks for this thread. I tend to ride much less in cold weather, but my horse loves human interaction. I have taught him to pick up a rubber feed pan and place it on a stump (oh look, oats magically appear in it!) Now I have so many more ideas to work on. AmityBee and her New Welsh have set the bar pretty high!