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- Continuation
of Session
One
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- Now in halter,
Cassie is ready to learn head yielding.
Sylvia starts with teaching Cassie to drop
her head, using pressure and release (releasing
the pressure when Cassie gives even a baby-give
downward). Teaching the horse to drop her
head as first yielding lessons serves two helpful purposes:
1) A lowered head is a relaxed horse; a
high head is a tense horse. Therefore, teaching
Cassie to lower her head on cue, helps to
instill relaxation in her, and
2) It is the easiest pressure-release/head
yielding lesson to begin with Cassie
without stressing her.
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- Here Cassie begins to respond to the
steady pressure downward, by lowering her
head a little; the pressure ends instantly.
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- Cassie lowers her head farther, but
note Sylvia's open hand (the release!) when
Cassie "gives." All horses
learn from the release of pressure what
it is you want, not the pressure itself,
so it is important to get the release timing
split-second accurate when the horse gives
a try.
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- Cassie receives the loving, bonding
reward for lowering her head, making this
relaxing spot a desirable place to be. Is
this the same horse earlier that didn't want
to be touched?!
- Cassie now drops her head easily with
only the tiniest amount of pressure. Leave
it while it is working, and time to move
on to teach Cassie more new behaviors. If
you leave something while it is working,
when you come back to it later, even another
day, the horse will often be farther along
than where you left them!
- Since Cassie had a tendency to run into
Sylvia, in her new zeal now to be with
the human, but not respecting Sylvia's
space in the process (which can be quite
dangerous unchecked), Sylvia decided to
teach Cassie right then how to back
up on cue. This way, Sylvia could use that
cue in the future to guide Cassie to back
off at those pushy, space-invading times.
Cassie is an extremely bright horse and
she learns very quickly how to back
up on cue when asked. From here on, Cassie's
learning curve went extremely fast. It doesn't
take Cassie long to learn anything, showing
she is actually a highly intelligent and
perceptive horse, and a true joy to
work with. From this point forward, Cassie is
no longer a wild, fearful horse, but a normal
horse on a normal learning curve, but she
learns remarkably fast, showing what an
exceptional horse was buried under that
initial fear barrier!
- Since Cassie was badly in need of hoof
trims, and the hoof care specialists had
been waiting to be able to trim
her, Sylvia focuses on teaching Cassie to
give her feet willingly, first starting
with using the rope, and pressure and release,
until Cassie learns to give her feet softly.
- Sylvia moves on to desensitizing
Cassie to foot handling, simulating what
the farrier will be doing with her feet
shortly after Sylvia leaves.
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- More foot handling desensitizing,
this time on the other side.
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- Pleasureful leg messages help the
horse to become accustomed to foot handling.
- After Cassie has learned to pick
up all her feet, she has stood
still long enough. Time for some movement!
Sylvia works on teaching Cassie to respond
to pressure and release, to learn to
follow properly on the end of a
lead rope. Now that she knows the cue
to back up, she can be taught to lead
more easily and respectfully.
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- Click here for more Training Cassie
pictures:
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Training Cassie - Roanoke Valley Horse Rescue Horse
