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which_chickWent over today to play Finn while the in-laws of Trys were at church. They religion, I do not, so it's a good time to play horse while they're not around.
And I caught idiot baby Finn by myself, in under ten minutes, without having to run him into the barn with a helper so that I could work in an enclosed space. Idiot baby Finn is turned out completely naked (as are all the horses I associate with -- it's safer for them) and he's not what you might call friendly just yet. Like, TOUCHING him when he was loose in the field was nigh-impossible when he arrived and he's still kind of unsure about the whole touched-by-humans business.
Prior to today, we had to lead Casper (elderly mare who is his teacher/companion at the moment) up to the barn, have him follow her, and then close the barn doors to trap him inside. Once he was contained, he was totally catch-able because the environment felt similar to his box stall that he was raised in. If he was loose in the field, though, he did not feel he needed to be touched by human hands.
You used treats, right? Ponies like treats!
The fuck I did. I do not treat ponies to catch them. Heck, treats are not a thing 'round these parts. We are not treat-ers. I do not catch ponies with feed. I TEACH PONIES TO BE CAUGHT BECAUSE THAT IS A SKILL THEY SHOULD HAVE. Treats-for-catching is not the way.
Yesterday, as part of body-touching skills, I flopped the lead rope around Finn's neck, head, and shoulders until he realized this was just a thing people do and not horrifyingly awful. We also did some circles of groundwork and stuff in which "stop, turn, and face me" was the correct answer a lot of the time and resulted in pauses for rest and contemplation of his correct and peace-generating life choices. We did an endless amount of touching which only let up when he stood still and relaxed... so more drills in which stand still and relax was the correct response. So, yeah, there were some building blocks in place for "stand to be caught" but I wasn't sure if I had enough to work with yet. However, no time like the present to see!
Today, I walked into the field with the halter in my hand and when he walked, I walked. When he changed direction, I changed direction. When he stopped and looked at me, I stopped and looked at him and said "Good Boy!". And then I waited a little and then edged a little closer. We played this game for ten minutes and voila, I was petting the Finn. Like, a lot. Not one gentle skimming swipe against him as he wandered away but for real rubbing pets with some muscle behind them. He was standing himself still for this, quite the good boy. So, I took the lead rope end of the halter and looped it over his neck (no big thing, as I said, we did this yesterday quite a lot so he knew it wasn't a major threat of some kind) and then he was caught. He took about four steps backward against the lead rope on his neck and then... stopped. And put his head down. And chewed. (Using all the answers we'd worked on yesterday... stop, face me, relax is the right answer.) And I haltered him and petted him and that was that. Good boy, idiot baby Finn.
We left Casper in the field, went up to the barn BY OURSELVES, Finn leading like a good horse, got some chow (Dumor Senior Horse because it's what Casper eats) and then did one quiet, easy circle each direction of Stupid Rope Halter Trick effort, had some petting, and got put back in the field. It was literally five minutes, eight if you count the three minutes for the chow portion of the program and the effort-from-Finn asks were intentionally super easy so that he could score 100% correct. My feeling is that the first day you catch the horse without having to run him into the barn should NOT be the day you work the horse for forty minutes in-hand. It should be the day where he goes, "Wow, that's all you wanted? And there were a couple of bites of CHOW too? SCORE! This catching gig, I think I'm down with it."
Is he 100% fixed about catching? Probably not. There will be better and worse days going forward, but today was Finn's First Day of Being Caught as naked horse in the big field. That's a milestone and he aced it. Until he's confirmed at catching, in-the-field catches get some chow at the barn before a light work day. Run-into-the-barn catches do not get chow and come with more work. There aren't ANY no-catching days. Every day I set out to catch him, he gets caught one way or another.
Anyhow, he's a clever little guy, he'll figure it out in short order.
And I caught idiot baby Finn by myself, in under ten minutes, without having to run him into the barn with a helper so that I could work in an enclosed space. Idiot baby Finn is turned out completely naked (as are all the horses I associate with -- it's safer for them) and he's not what you might call friendly just yet. Like, TOUCHING him when he was loose in the field was nigh-impossible when he arrived and he's still kind of unsure about the whole touched-by-humans business.
Prior to today, we had to lead Casper (elderly mare who is his teacher/companion at the moment) up to the barn, have him follow her, and then close the barn doors to trap him inside. Once he was contained, he was totally catch-able because the environment felt similar to his box stall that he was raised in. If he was loose in the field, though, he did not feel he needed to be touched by human hands.
You used treats, right? Ponies like treats!
The fuck I did. I do not treat ponies to catch them. Heck, treats are not a thing 'round these parts. We are not treat-ers. I do not catch ponies with feed. I TEACH PONIES TO BE CAUGHT BECAUSE THAT IS A SKILL THEY SHOULD HAVE. Treats-for-catching is not the way.
Yesterday, as part of body-touching skills, I flopped the lead rope around Finn's neck, head, and shoulders until he realized this was just a thing people do and not horrifyingly awful. We also did some circles of groundwork and stuff in which "stop, turn, and face me" was the correct answer a lot of the time and resulted in pauses for rest and contemplation of his correct and peace-generating life choices. We did an endless amount of touching which only let up when he stood still and relaxed... so more drills in which stand still and relax was the correct response. So, yeah, there were some building blocks in place for "stand to be caught" but I wasn't sure if I had enough to work with yet. However, no time like the present to see!
Today, I walked into the field with the halter in my hand and when he walked, I walked. When he changed direction, I changed direction. When he stopped and looked at me, I stopped and looked at him and said "Good Boy!". And then I waited a little and then edged a little closer. We played this game for ten minutes and voila, I was petting the Finn. Like, a lot. Not one gentle skimming swipe against him as he wandered away but for real rubbing pets with some muscle behind them. He was standing himself still for this, quite the good boy. So, I took the lead rope end of the halter and looped it over his neck (no big thing, as I said, we did this yesterday quite a lot so he knew it wasn't a major threat of some kind) and then he was caught. He took about four steps backward against the lead rope on his neck and then... stopped. And put his head down. And chewed. (Using all the answers we'd worked on yesterday... stop, face me, relax is the right answer.) And I haltered him and petted him and that was that. Good boy, idiot baby Finn.
We left Casper in the field, went up to the barn BY OURSELVES, Finn leading like a good horse, got some chow (Dumor Senior Horse because it's what Casper eats) and then did one quiet, easy circle each direction of Stupid Rope Halter Trick effort, had some petting, and got put back in the field. It was literally five minutes, eight if you count the three minutes for the chow portion of the program and the effort-from-Finn asks were intentionally super easy so that he could score 100% correct. My feeling is that the first day you catch the horse without having to run him into the barn should NOT be the day you work the horse for forty minutes in-hand. It should be the day where he goes, "Wow, that's all you wanted? And there were a couple of bites of CHOW too? SCORE! This catching gig, I think I'm down with it."
Is he 100% fixed about catching? Probably not. There will be better and worse days going forward, but today was Finn's First Day of Being Caught as naked horse in the big field. That's a milestone and he aced it. Until he's confirmed at catching, in-the-field catches get some chow at the barn before a light work day. Run-into-the-barn catches do not get chow and come with more work. There aren't ANY no-catching days. Every day I set out to catch him, he gets caught one way or another.
Anyhow, he's a clever little guy, he'll figure it out in short order.
