So the last week I've been trying to finish my Photography editing and doing some research into how to actually go about all this training. I've talked to a couple other people who've trained horses and two names that keep popping up are Clinton Anderson and John Lyons. The funny thing is I had seen a partial show on RFD-TV with Clinton Anderson the day before and read an article by John Lyons the day before asking people who to look at lol.
Now while I know who to look at, it's a bit more complicated and expensive than I imagined. Part of my problem is that most of what these and all the other trainers talk about involve the use of a Round Pen. While that sounds great and I would LOVE to have one, it's a LOT out of budget right now. I've found various links about building a permanent one for cheaper than buying one, but still several hundred dollars is a little much right now. (I'll put a list of links related to this blog at the end). So I guess I can use a lunge rope, but I'll get to that in a minute. The other problem is that while I can see these guys really know what they're talking about and I can see that it works, their a little more pricey than I planned on being able to spend, the cheapest being $150.00 for John Lyons. Now The Clinton Anderson Downunder Horsmanship sounds even better and you get big discounts off his stuff if you're in his No Worries club, but again at 599, not going to happen!
In the meantime, the internet has been my friend lol. I've just watched RDF-TV and watched some You Yube videos, not to mention the dozen of online articles and forum posts. My main focus has been how to curb the nipping and where to start exactly in the training of Flash.
My findings are that making sure that I can "catch him", making sure I can easily get the halter on 100% of the time and that I can then lead him by the lead rope, and finally that he'll stand still while being groomed or when I'm not asking him to do something are the First STEPS in this process lol. Oh yeah and did I mention that him not biting me is a good one lol.
I actually have the first one down I think because he so far has come to me from across the pasture (he actually races to me lol) I guess it's because he's so used to getting food anytime someone comes out, so tomorrow when I go out I'll try not giving him a treat and see what he does the next time I come out lol. As far as the halter well that's coming I can get it on, but I had to relearn where to put my own hands and arms so I could reach both sides lol.
Today we worked on the whole process above, the whole time I kept in mind what the trainers have been saying about continuous pressure and then releasing AS SOON AS they do what YOU want them to do. That and not releasing until they do even if they start acting up, that's the hardest part because you want to make sure you're safe during this process, but as my one horse friend says you just got to keep shooting calm out of your butt lol.
I'm actually really impressed with our progress today he mostly stood still and let me brush him with two different brushes all over his body and actually appeared to enjoy it. After some repetition he was being led in circles forward and backward. I tried getting him to move around me on a "lunge rope" (or rather something fashioned to be one lol), but it just wasn't happening so I guess we'll work on that later. I tried ending on a good note like they say to do, but he got really pushy and started nipping again once my boyfriend came out to see what was going on.
Overall it was a good day and I look forward to our continued progress, though more research is to come, which you can benefit from lol.
some links I found helpful, though be mindful you have to use your own research, preferences and common sense here and please be careful when working with horses.
- http://horses.about.com/od/horsetraining/a/buildroundpen.htm
- http://www.ehow.com/list_5946405_ideas-building-60_-round-pen.html
- http://www.equusite.com/articles/ground/groundHalterBreaking.shtml
- http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1745456/understanding_horses_10_horse_training_pg2.html?cat=53
- http://www.infohorse.com/hilton.asp - I'm going to look for a bristol brush for this, right now my knee and lots of hugging is what I'm using, pray for me lol. Though for the brush I'd have to have one on my shoulder, my leg, and my stomach lol.
- http://www.equinetips.com/2009/04/how-to-tie-lead-rope.html - Not quite sure about how it's started, but the rest is good
- http://www.helium.com/items/322963-how-to-teach-your-horse-to-stand-still?page=2
- http://www.horsemanship101.com/Catalog/From-Ground-Saddle.html
- http://www.horses-and-horse-information.com/articles/horse-training-young.shtml
Oh and here's a couple pics of Flash from last Christmas lol.
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