Goodies are great way how to positively train equines and love to see you had immense success! :) I had quite opposite effect with one of my huculs. She really, REALLY loves to eat and when you don´t have something to nibble on - veeery angry! But after they knew they won´t miss anything after returning from work, it was fine. So I usually avoid giving goodies from hand :) Just a little note that sometimes positive reinforcement can turn into negative - if you forget to bring goodies :D
Hi, yes you're absolutely right. When training with positive reinforcement, you need to fade out the treats, just use them for new or in this case extending behaviours. If you're seeing frustration, try using a lower value feed like chaff or hay, feed big handfuls ( chewing encourages relaxation), and read body language carefully, when you see low levels of anxiety ie tightness around the mouth or wrinkles around the eyes, stop training and get relaxation again with scratches or moving to easier behaviours. Hope that helps 🙂
Wow that square really is her happy place. I think I will retrain and start my 2 big ponies this way also. It can be so useful for everything from saddling to the dentist or farrier coming over. Mounted archery to keep them in a straight line is another application.
Brilliant to see gentle, considerate training for carriage horses.
Fantastic video!! keep up the good work. Pixie is lovely. She reminds me of a pony from when I was a child. Bessy was her name. 😊
I have trained about 30 animals to drive, and very glad I saw this before training the newest one (first mini!)
Goodies are great way how to positively train equines and love to see you had immense success! :)
I had quite opposite effect with one of my huculs. She really, REALLY loves to eat and when you don´t have something to nibble on - veeery angry! But after they knew they won´t miss anything after returning from work, it was fine. So I usually avoid giving goodies from hand :) Just a little note that sometimes positive reinforcement can turn into negative - if you forget to bring goodies :D
Hi, yes you're absolutely right. When training with positive reinforcement, you need to fade out the treats, just use them for new or in this case extending behaviours.
If you're seeing frustration, try using a lower value feed like chaff or hay, feed big handfuls ( chewing encourages relaxation), and read body language carefully, when you see low levels of anxiety ie tightness around the mouth or wrinkles around the eyes, stop training and get relaxation again with scratches or moving to easier behaviours.
Hope that helps 🙂
Wow that square really is her happy place. I think I will retrain and start my 2 big ponies this way also. It can be so useful for everything from saddling to the dentist or farrier coming over. Mounted archery to keep them in a straight line is another application.
Yes it's a really useful tool. I use it to teach the big guys to line up at the mounting block too.
Using a tambourine is so smart
Thank you 😊