back to clicking

My first time out to see Shyloh since the show and all the work she put in there. She was totally fine and did not appear to be sore. . .in fact, she was rather spunky. 

She is also very clean from the rain we have had!

I decided to try something we have not done in six months or so. . .clicker training! I wanted to do something with Shy and it was too hot and humid to do anything else. So, I grabbed the clicker and some hay pellets and got to work.

Um. . .I had not planned this in advance and just thought about doing it on the way to the barn and I had a hard time recalling what we have went over. Bad clicker trainer. I ran through our tricks. Click and treat. I practiced having her pick each foot up. Click and treat. We worked on yielding her hind quarters. Click and treat. We worked on side passing. Click and treat. We worked on backing. Click and treat. I was amazed by how Shy retained all of the stuff we had been doing! Click and treat!

Then I decided to get our mat out. I put it down and told Shy to go to her mat. And she did!

Hurrrrr, I'm on the mat!

We had not done anything with the mat in an even longer time. But Shy remembered like a pro! I worked on having her stand on the mat while I walked around her. I worked on having her walk to the mat from a distance. She was even able to fix her feet when I asked by making sure both hooves were completely on the mat. 

I think Shy likes doing this stuff because we were doing it completely off the lead. Shy could have walked away or ignored me at any time, but she chose to stay. Happy me!

By now, I was dripping in sweat from the heat. I decided to have a little  fun with Shy and I put her in the pasture with the pond. I wanted to see what she would do. 

Splash face in pond

Wade in pond

Watch duck in pond

Eat grass near pond

Run from me

And when I was ready to bring her back, Shy wanted to play catch me if you can. I finally caught her when she stopped to pee. Otherwise, I think I would still be chasing after her.  I am thinking I want to get back into clicker training with Shy and teach her a few more tricks and useful things. 

jolly ball beatdown

What a seriously fabulous day at the barn! Except for maybe the Jolly Ball beatdown. But I can look past that in light of how great today was.

I did my usual spiral lunging with Shyloh. She looked better to me and was really forward. No problems there. But the best part. . .when I ask Shy to stop she normal turns in to me. The other day she took a step forward to me, but stepped on the lunge line and stopped herself. Today, she walked all the way in to me! She has never done that before! And it wasn't a fluke, she did this more than once. 

I think we have reached another new level in our relationship. The last significant level up was in December of last year. . .almost a whole year! Now, Shy is letting me catch her in the pasture without treats (as long as she was not just let out) and it just seems we have morphed into something new and better. 

We lunged, mostly at a trot in both directions. I used the timer feature on my phone to time us, just to make sure I am lunging both sides evenly. Then we went through our stretching routine and I lunged her once more for less time. Great results again!

Shoulder release down and back

Bringing the  hind legs forward

The chiropractor was scheduled to come out today, so I kept Shy busy by working on some clicker training with the mat. I used a new mat and not a piece of wood. Now she does not tap dance on it. 

What a cutie!

Then I tried something new. I moved Shy a few feet from the mat and told her to go to it. She did! I was stunned! We did it a few more times, clicking and treating each time. It was really cool to see her do that!

We were still waiting on Dr. Dave, so I put Shy back in her stall. The Jolly Ball, which I have never seen her interested in, except when I introduced it to her as a click and treat exercise, was not the object of her affection. All on her own, she kept picking the ball up and swinging it around. Then she got me. . .right in the nose on one of those swings! Ouch!! She got me again in the chest. I was stunned! Beat up by my own horse! I was still awestruck by how she was all about the Jolly Ball!

Finally, Dr. Dave got to the barn. Shy was dropping her right shoulder kind of hard, which crosses over to that darn left hip. Shy got her adjustment and was very well behaved for Dr. Dave. He said the lunging, backing, hills, and stretching were the best thing for her. He also said to add stretches where she bends between her front legs (like practicing for bowing), and this will stretch her withers. And then he said to add a saddle to the work. This way, she gets used to the saddle and will have a little extra weight on her. He even said eventually to put sand bags around the horn to add even more weight. The saddle and no rider should also help with her breathing. Shy will learn to breathe, since she trends to hold her breath for a while when we start working. Then she does a series of blows and starts breathing. 

Overall it was a great night! Shy is doing well with her chiro work and her strengthening exercises. And she seems to be connecting with me on a new level. Happy dance!!

Super relaxed pony

autumn fun day!

Today is the first day of autumn and Shyloh and I had a fun day! We did do a little bit of work. . .spirals on the lunge line in the arena. It was raining all day! But after that, we had a lot of clicker fun!

And Shy was featured in the Stale Cheerios blog for the Almost Wordless Wednesday this week! It is a blog on clicker training and it has a ton of great resources for anyone who wants to try it. 

For our Autumn fun day, we. . .

• Did a lot of at liberty clicking, see, no halter, no lead! Shy was amazing. She walked right up to her "new" mat without a problem. The old mat was leaving chunks all over the arena. The new mat is a little too narrow, but that didn't stop Shy!

On the mat!

• Played with cones. Lots of cones. Shy was all about cones today! I was trying to get her to hold them for longer so we can work on more tricks. 

There is something on my butt. . .

A cone on the butt. . .a cone in the mouth!

• Kicked the ball and licked the pole. I was trying to teach Shy to kick forward, but she likes to kick back. Something to keep working on.

Then we got some horsey friends out and played with them. Casi and Robbie wanted to play way more than Shy did!

And. . .I found another toad!

Toad on Shy's butt

Toad on Shy's head

Shy liked the toad so much she tried to eat it. I had to pull it out of her mouth! Poor toad. . .I put it in a safe place, far away from Shy's chompers. 

The first day of fall gave me and Shyloh some good old fashioned fun, even though we were stuck inside because of the rain.

dancing feet

Shyloh was a dancer today! She was dancing on her mat and dancing over ground poles! She makes me laugh!

First, I tacked Shy up and took her to the round pen where I had laid out some poles. I had a set of three and another set of two. I think I can see some improvement! She did a great job going over the poles! She seemed to me to be really lifting her legs and placing her feet well. I took video, but it was horrible, since I had the camera set on a stool outside the round pen. I can't even pull a good still from the video. You will just have to take my word that she looked good.

After I fed all the ponies, I pulled Shy out of her stall to do some clicker training. Fun stuff after the hard work of trotting over poles. I got out the mat to start with, but I forgot the clicker, (duh, most important part) so I went back to get it. I figured Shy would go roll or something in the few seconds that I took to retrieve it. 

Nope, she went straight to the mat. I missed the click! Fail on my part. I did a bunch of at liberty work with her and the mat. Shy kept dancing on the mat. I think she likes the noise her hooves make when they step on the wood. Either that or I am continuously clicking when she steps on the board and I need to be more mindful of that. But it sure looked like she was dancing! And sounded like she was tap dancing!

We did some backing, too. Shy did very well again. So I gave her a treat of some timothy pellets. Shy LOVES soaked timothy pellets. While I was soaking them, she did everything in her power to try and reach her bowl.

Over the stall guard. . .

Under the stall guard. . .

Success!

And, Kathy found a toad!

Yeah, I got peed on. .  .

monday musings by shyloh #52

Dr. Dave, the chiropractor came today. He had terrible news. Horrible! It was awful, I tell ya, just awful. 

He said. . .

Super sad face

He said. . .

He said basically that I was fine and I needed more work (!) to strengthen my muscles, especially my rear end muscles. They were very, very tight. More work! Riding work! Trot poles! And a massage to boot.  He told Allie that I was passively using my rear end, but not actively. So I was always prepared for it to be painful and expecting pain, even when there was none. He sure figured me out. He had not one good bit on news for me, except the massage part. 

My back is fine and I won't be seeing Dr. Dave for six weeks. Good, I say! He brings me bad news!

Bad news all around today. Allie kept talking about a fun and special trip we were going to go on today. At first she wouldn't say where, but she did say my buddy Casi was coming, too. Then it rained all day and we didn't go anywhere. Allie told me that we were gonna go to the lake nearby, where they have this bay and we were gonna try to swim! But this was the closest we got to swimming today. . .

Puddle at the barn

Oh well. I also got to work on standing on my mat. I got a ton of treats for that! I am so good at it.

Looking for dropped pieces of grain

So I guess I need to come up with more ways to get out of work. I have a feeling I will be getting into shape in no time. I am open to any ideas to not work! Poor poor pony, I am.

~Shyloh

semi at liberty

After working with Shyloh on the mat clicker training the other day, I just knew that there had to be a better way. While she did stand on the mat, I had to prod her, and tap her legs, and basically make her get up there. So I did some research. . .and I found this website. Aha! I just knew that there was an easier way for Shy to learn the mat!

When I got to the barn, I got Shy ready for our clicker training session. I even used a handful of grain - a prime treat - to reward her behaviors. I kept her lead line attached and called it semi at liberty because another horse was working in the arena and I wanted to have something to redirect Shy with if she lost interest or got distracted. 

Holy what a difference Batman! I clicked Shy for stepping closer and closer to my new mat, a piece of wood I found at the barn. Being the curious horse that she is, this was an easy task for her. Click and treat. Then when she put a hoof on, click and treat. Then went she put both on, click and treat treat treat! No whip, no pulling, nothing. It was all on Shy! She was doing it because she wanted to do it. Awesome!

My apologies for the video. . .heads cut off, sunlight gleaming in. . .I could have chosen a much better spot to practice! And all of Shy's smiles got cut off.

When she started pawing at the mat, I would walk her away and start over. It was so much fun to watch her work through what was wanted of her! Of course, she went through her repertoire of tricks, checking to see if each one was the desired behavior to get her the precious grain. It was amazing when she finally got it! I stopped our session and gave her a break.

Then a while later, I went back to it, giving Shy even more freedom. I sat at the mounting block and clicked when she chose to step on the board all on her own! Yay pony!! But then Beth got the hay cart out and Shy was highly distracted and kept trying to walk out of the arena. So I had her stand on the mat, clicked and treated, then put her in her stall. I am so excited about this new work we are doing! And so glad that Shy is figuring it all out. 

In off-ness news, I think the news is good. I put Shy in the round pen with just her halter on and had Beth watch her. Shy walked/trotted/cantered/bucked! Ha! Beth did not believe that she ever bucked! At a slow trot, Shy was slightly off, but Beth also noticed that she seemed to twist herself a little to compensate for something. And with her canter to the right, she would often switch up her back leads. But when Shy had a nice forward trot both ways, she was fine. Then Beth had me tack her up with the surcingle and side reins. Immediately, she was off. But not off off, if that makes sense, more like a guarded off. We are back to our initial thinking that she is protecting any would-be pain by stepping short because she is using muscles she is not used to using. When she is without tack, she is able to compensate by using other muscles. 

So, the new plan is to round pen forward trots and walks with the side reins and not use transitions. Let Shy know and feel that forward movement is not painful and work the muscles that she needs to do those movements, while still keeping a close eye on her for and more short tracking up. If she does well with that, then slowly move on to transition work. 

I feel good with this plan, as Shy has no heat or swelling in any legs, hooves,  hips, or back. The chiropractor comes out Monday and I will double check the plan with him and get his opinion on her status. Whew!

the mat

I am so glad that I read this post from Shannon over at It's Quarters for Me. She uses clicker training for her two horses and I needed something new to do with Shyloh, since she is out of commission for now (more on that later).  Shannon discussed using a mat as a mark for her horse Gwen to stand on. I have also seen this at Equine Affaire, I believe with Double Dan Horsemanship. It was just the thing for me and Shy to work on.

Since I didn't have a mat handy, I dug up a cardboard box and flatten it. Tada! Mat! I put the "mat" on the ground, grabbed some almonds, my clicker, and Shy and got to work. 

Can I eat it?

At first Shy refused to step on it. She stepped around it and over it. Then she tried to eat the cardboard mat! With much prodding and pleading, I finally got her to put a hoof on it! Click and treat. The other hoof was proving much harder for her to put on the mat. So I went and got a dressage whip so I could tap her legs and place them where I want them.

Almost there. . .

Backfire. I had initially used the dressage whip to tap her legs to teach her to wave. So I got a waving, pawing pony and a messed up piece of cardboard. Good thing we have tons of empty SmartPak boxes. Ugh. Because of her hoof antics, the cardboard made it difficult for her to stand on it. . .sometimes she would flip the cardboard up and one hoof would be on it and one hoof under it. 

But eventually Shy got it! Every time she got both hooves on the mat, click and treat! When she finally got both hooves all the way on the mat, click and lots of treats! We have more work to do on this new behavior, but we have a start!

Fuzzy photos. . . 

It is hard to take a photo, hold a dressage whip, and click at the same time. I finally gave up on holding the lead line, she was staying put just fine!

As far as Shy being lame. . .I have no idea. Beth thought maybe it was a stifle issue (she had been reading up on it for one of her horses and thought Shy fit the bill), but she does not have any swelling. None of her legs or hooves have any heat or swelling. She is showing no pain reactions. I think she is faking. . .just kidding. I am still thinking it may be sore muscles from being asked to use her rear end for movement, but Beth thinks that would not cause lameness. She shows no lameness at the walk, so I am reluctant to bute or keep her on stall rest. She does not run in the pasture. She really shows no signs of pain and never fought going into the trot even even she was tracking up short. The chiropractor is coming out Monday, so I will see what he thinks then. Other than that, Shy is off work, once again until I have some answers. 

Smiles! Proud of herself for doing a good job! I promise I was not asking for smiles while we were working on this!