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which_chickI was going to post a few words about strategic losses and the very entertaining HP fanfic Methods of Rationality and exactly how much Some People could learn from the aforementioned topics but instead I'm going to talk about my horse again.
I've been working on ground driving with Nick. Actually, I would like her to be able to drive as if she were a draft horse, in harness, like to pull (small) logs around and stuff. I don't really need a reason for embarking on this project but suffice it to say that I think it'll be amusing as hell on several fronts. Anyway.
Since I have no idea what I'm doing, I screwed up at the outset and laid her out on the ground a couple of weeks ago by attaching her to a tire before she really understood what was going on there. She blew up when the rope hit her back legs (the tire was dragging on the ground behind her and, as she turned, the rope hit her back legs) and got wrapped up in it and laid herself out on the ground, scuffed up a hock to where it was skinned and bloody. This was because I am an idiot.
A day or so after I laid her out on the ground, I again attached her to a tire (but differently) without taking the time to explain to her, in very small steps, about the rope-n-back-legs interaction and she, yes, blew up again when the rope hit her in the back legs. I am sometimes alarmingly dense. Laid her out on the OTHER side that time, slightly smaller skinned up mark on the other hock.
With Two Large Steps Backward to my credit, I re-evaluated my training program. My horse does not like to be laid out on the ground and I honestly don't like to do that to her, even through cluelessness. So I started again, the goal being to AVOID HAVING THE HORSE LAID OUT during any portion of the training process. (Yes, this would seem to be an obvious goal for most aspects of horse training. However, I apparently can't be brilliant all the time and so Nick had to demonstrate the importance of valuing this goal the hard way. Sorry, there, Nick.)
So I got some good scary objects on strings -- one is made of strips of dog food bags, kind of like a cheerleader pompom, only not as fluffy. It's on a big long piece of braided bindertwine, weighs nothing, has no sharp edges. It rustles and shakes effectively and looks very scary to horses. The other thing is a bunch of plastic milk jugs (empty ones) attached to a different long piece of braided bindertwine. It is also lightweight and harmless but rattles when drug along the ground. And I started again, from the beginning, to sack my horse out with these objects.
We've made some progress. The skin on her hocks that was scuffed up got scabbed over. The scabs have now fallen off and there's bald grey skin there now. Hair will eventually grow in, but we're not there yet. *sigh*
I can walk alongside my horse and have her pull either drag (the jugs or the strips) on the ground behind her. The rope (attached to the drag) can rub alongside her barrel and the drag can rattle or rustle merrily along behind her. She walks almost straight, head just about withers height. She's not totally relaxed yet, but she's getting there. A couple of more weeks, maybe. I want this to be amazingly solid before we move forward -- I tried moving forward before she was ready and that totally did not work. Twice it didn't work. I think I'm done with that now, honestly. Got it all out of my system.
I can toss the drag over her back and pull on the rope to bring it closer to her and up and over her body to fall on the ground on my side. I can throw it on the ground in front of her, behind her, beside her and tug on it to come back to me without her taking much of an interest. She needs more drill on this, too, but at least it doesn't take me half an hour to be able to touch the horse with the drag now.
And new, for today, while she is "pulling" the drag (It's really in my hand. My hand is resting on her shoulders.), I can turn her so that the drag rope hits her on her back legs and she does not blow up. She's tight but not panicked... it's progress. She needs a lot more progress in this direction, because this is what blew her up the first time around. and I do not ever want to have her blow up like that when attached to an actual load. But today, we did some very slow walking turns with the plastic jug drag and though she hunched up her butt and got a worried look on her face, she whoa'd when I said whoa and stood there and did not panic. It's progress.
I've been working on ground driving with Nick. Actually, I would like her to be able to drive as if she were a draft horse, in harness, like to pull (small) logs around and stuff. I don't really need a reason for embarking on this project but suffice it to say that I think it'll be amusing as hell on several fronts. Anyway.
Since I have no idea what I'm doing, I screwed up at the outset and laid her out on the ground a couple of weeks ago by attaching her to a tire before she really understood what was going on there. She blew up when the rope hit her back legs (the tire was dragging on the ground behind her and, as she turned, the rope hit her back legs) and got wrapped up in it and laid herself out on the ground, scuffed up a hock to where it was skinned and bloody. This was because I am an idiot.
A day or so after I laid her out on the ground, I again attached her to a tire (but differently) without taking the time to explain to her, in very small steps, about the rope-n-back-legs interaction and she, yes, blew up again when the rope hit her in the back legs. I am sometimes alarmingly dense. Laid her out on the OTHER side that time, slightly smaller skinned up mark on the other hock.
With Two Large Steps Backward to my credit, I re-evaluated my training program. My horse does not like to be laid out on the ground and I honestly don't like to do that to her, even through cluelessness. So I started again, the goal being to AVOID HAVING THE HORSE LAID OUT during any portion of the training process. (Yes, this would seem to be an obvious goal for most aspects of horse training. However, I apparently can't be brilliant all the time and so Nick had to demonstrate the importance of valuing this goal the hard way. Sorry, there, Nick.)
So I got some good scary objects on strings -- one is made of strips of dog food bags, kind of like a cheerleader pompom, only not as fluffy. It's on a big long piece of braided bindertwine, weighs nothing, has no sharp edges. It rustles and shakes effectively and looks very scary to horses. The other thing is a bunch of plastic milk jugs (empty ones) attached to a different long piece of braided bindertwine. It is also lightweight and harmless but rattles when drug along the ground. And I started again, from the beginning, to sack my horse out with these objects.
We've made some progress. The skin on her hocks that was scuffed up got scabbed over. The scabs have now fallen off and there's bald grey skin there now. Hair will eventually grow in, but we're not there yet. *sigh*
I can walk alongside my horse and have her pull either drag (the jugs or the strips) on the ground behind her. The rope (attached to the drag) can rub alongside her barrel and the drag can rattle or rustle merrily along behind her. She walks almost straight, head just about withers height. She's not totally relaxed yet, but she's getting there. A couple of more weeks, maybe. I want this to be amazingly solid before we move forward -- I tried moving forward before she was ready and that totally did not work. Twice it didn't work. I think I'm done with that now, honestly. Got it all out of my system.
I can toss the drag over her back and pull on the rope to bring it closer to her and up and over her body to fall on the ground on my side. I can throw it on the ground in front of her, behind her, beside her and tug on it to come back to me without her taking much of an interest. She needs more drill on this, too, but at least it doesn't take me half an hour to be able to touch the horse with the drag now.
And new, for today, while she is "pulling" the drag (It's really in my hand. My hand is resting on her shoulders.), I can turn her so that the drag rope hits her on her back legs and she does not blow up. She's tight but not panicked... it's progress. She needs a lot more progress in this direction, because this is what blew her up the first time around. and I do not ever want to have her blow up like that when attached to an actual load. But today, we did some very slow walking turns with the plastic jug drag and though she hunched up her butt and got a worried look on her face, she whoa'd when I said whoa and stood there and did not panic. It's progress.
