Yay! My filly backed on command today! (Pics added)

[Chickerdoodle13]

I know this seems like a silly little thing to be excited over, but I've been working with my little 2 year old filly every day for about 15 minutes-a half hour for the past week since I've been home from college. My dad had worked with her before then and got her started with leading. Today she backed on command without any pressure! I was sooo happy! She is my first young horse project, so I am learning things little by little. She is doing very well, but still not quite as good with her Whoahs. I am working on that though.

She's a very smart little horse. She waits for me to put the food in her bucket and is very friendly. We are still working on personal space though. She still doesn't get that she can't just come into my little "circle". Again, its another thing we are working on. I've also started taking her out of her little pasture into the yard. She gets a little excited, but is doing better every time I take her out. The first day she just wanted to run in circles. Now she will actually walk along with me. Once I get her leading and paying attention to me outside of the barn area we are going to take her to the round pen for some trust and desensitizing exercises. So far she's done really well with plastic bags, bottles being dropped around her feet, swinging ropes, and loud noises. She has a long way to go though.

Ah well, thanks for reading about my little horse excitement!

 

[sanctuaryworker]

whoo hoo!!! Thats such a great feeling... what style of training are you using??? I am clicker training a horse right now and really enjoying it... he also has a problem with personal space, I think he always has the best of intentions though.

Congrats again!

(any pics of the baby?)

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

My dad and I have been watching Clinton Anderson videos, but really our training is a combination of lots of styles. My dad is also a fan of John Lyons and I use some of the tricks I've picked up over the years working with my other horses. I would like to try clicker training, but I haven't yet picked up a clicker! I've heard wonderful things about that method too. I mostly use pressure-release which seems to work well for just about everything.

I have a few pictures of the baby. I think she's going to be a smaller horse so I'm trying not to get overly attached just in case I have to sell her down the road. She's about 13.3-14.0 hands, so I expect her grow another one or two inches. She will be two on May 16th.

Here's Cheyenne

And just for fun, these are my other two projects. The first is the new horse we brought home on Sunday. She's been good so far except for the time I was walking from the gate and she turned around and got me in the corner. It was my fault though and I was lucky she didn't kick me. She just sort of jumped around like "Oh man, what the heck are you doing back there?!" We took her to the round pen today and she was amazing. She just needs to be refined a bit.

This is Sedona:

And my other project (mostly my dad's) is Stetson. He was quite the devil in the beginning of the spring. He was actually very nasty with us. We finally decided to switch his feed and he's made an amazing turn around. He's been very good while riding now, but I'm still having a bit of a time getting him to trot and I haven't started working on his lope yet. He gets a little crazy in the lope, so that'll take time. He's doing well though and I'm finally beginning to build a trust with him.

 

[sanctuaryworker]

your horses are beautful!

this is Euree:

He is the first horse I have ever trained. I have some experience with training primates and large carnivores, but horses are so different its been exciting.

I chose to start with him for two reasons. the first is because from the day we showed up to rescue him he decided we were best buddies and second is because he is naturally submissive and wants to please. So its been tons of fun. I dont ride and he can not be ridden, but I have gooten a lot of joy out of working with him.

Good luck with your babies, keep in touch with how it goes!

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

He's gorgeous! I love the pattern on his face! I've always been a fan of palominos and paints. Our old gelding is a solid palomino.

Why is it that you cannot ride him? I'm just curious really. I don't plan on breaking my filly to ride myself. We will either send her out or hire a trainer to start her here. However, I hope to get her to the point where I can get a saddle on her and a bit in her mouth. Even if she is too small for me to ride, we should still have her ridable before we sell her.

My filly is a little pushy yet. She still tries to rub her head on me and every once in awhile she'll go to nip. I put a stop to both of those behaviors real quick though. She's finally starting to get to the point where she realizes that I'm not happy when she does either of those two behaviors! She does really want to please though, and she is very smart. My goal is to get her to the point so that I can show her in a halter class by the end of the summer, but we'll see how that goes. She can only keep her little filly attention on my training for so long before she wanders! I'm real happy with her so far though.

 

[sanctuaryworker]

we rescued him a few months ago from a pretty crappy situation. Supposedly somewhere in his bloodlines there are champion horses but we was being given away as a meat horse becuase he had an accident about two years ago where a large stallion TB crashed into him full speed. So Euree has some medical issues and his gate is all messed up.

Supposedly he could carry small small children, but we dont ride any of our rescues anyways.

I like it though, I have started working with him from day one without a halter or lead or anything, which I think is fun, he is trained to wear them, but I like to work without them whenever possible.

 

[rinnith]

ah horse pics!!! this is JayJay or Joker's white lie
has the same personality as the joker, he'll do anything to make himself laugh!
http://s43.photobucket.com/albums/e...tz/?action=view&current=DSCF0970.jpg&newest=1

http://s43.photobucket.com/albums/e...tz/?action=view&current=IMG_1177.jpg&newest=1

http://s43.photobucket.com/albums/e...tz/?action=view&current=DSCF2761.jpg&newest=1

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Beautiful horse! Such an unusual color.

Sanctuary Worker,

I think its a lot of fun working with my little girl, even if it is just ground work. I need to start slow anyways, as this is my first young horse project and its a little different because she has no background training at all, other than a bit of leading. Its nice because she hasn't been given the chance to be "ruined" yet either. I'm able to use whips, crops, etc as tools and she doesn't freak out every time she sees one. These tools that some think are so "evil" are really useful when you aren't using them to whack your horse! LOL I get so angry when I see people abusing their horses and calling it discipline. 99% of the time, there is no need for it and I've come across several horses ruined by that sort of treatment. That's the number one reason I wanted a baby! (Not to mention she just sort of fell into my lap!)

 

[sanctuaryworker]

Yeah thats my main problem is that people often dont use tools properly. I also just enjoy working with a horse in such a natural way.

Just fell into your lap?? it must be hard to get around with a broken pelvis!!!

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Quote:
Haha, I think if she were a bit smaller, she would WANT to get into my lap! That's why I'm trying so hard to teach her about personal space!

She is just a real attention hog.