Post by Zoe RA on Feb 21, 2010 20:44:37 GMT 1
Archie is a 3 year old New Forest gelding who Nicola has owned for the past two years.
As a result of having been hand fed with treats at the last yard Nicola and Archie were at, Archie now nips when people stand by his stable door. He also nips if he is given a tread (something Nicola has never done by the way!), nips after he has been given a treat, and nips if he isn't given a treat. And being a baby, having things in his mouth comes naturally to him anyway!
Archie can also be bargy, and plants his feet sometimes when he is being lead. Nicola would like to show him in the Summer, so obviously the nipping, barging, and planting need to be ironed out before then.
The weather was vile, but thankfully a covered school was available for us to use.
Nicola has done a number of Intelligent Horsemanship Courses, so my job was a lot easier than it might have been
We did leading and backing and changes of direction and halts and more changes of direction, and moving the quarters, and moving the shoulders.
I was able to tell Nicola that Archie is an absolute sweet heart, and on a scale of 1 to 10, compared with a lot of the horses I work with, Archie's nipping and barging is probably about 2.5 ;D
He takes direction very well, and if he is corrected every time he thinks about nipping, he will stop very soon. I pointed out that if Nicola keeps him out of her space then he CAN'T nip her, and it is very easy to gently push his cheek away so that he knows he is not allowed in there. The planting is just a case of stepping out to the side whilst still asking for the forward step, and releasing the moment he is caught off balance and moves.
I suggested to Nicola that when she wants to start trotting him up etc to get him ready for showing him, that she puts him in the head collar/bridle that she is going to use to show him in so that he gets used to being lead from the shoulder rather than having his eye level with Nicola's shoulder, which is going to be his every day positioning.
Here he is at the end of the session standing like a super star
And really miffed at having been turned back out in the field with his mates, in the pouring rain. Poor, hard done by ponio - who says they are happier being turned out?! ;D
As a result of having been hand fed with treats at the last yard Nicola and Archie were at, Archie now nips when people stand by his stable door. He also nips if he is given a tread (something Nicola has never done by the way!), nips after he has been given a treat, and nips if he isn't given a treat. And being a baby, having things in his mouth comes naturally to him anyway!
Archie can also be bargy, and plants his feet sometimes when he is being lead. Nicola would like to show him in the Summer, so obviously the nipping, barging, and planting need to be ironed out before then.
The weather was vile, but thankfully a covered school was available for us to use.
Nicola has done a number of Intelligent Horsemanship Courses, so my job was a lot easier than it might have been
We did leading and backing and changes of direction and halts and more changes of direction, and moving the quarters, and moving the shoulders.I was able to tell Nicola that Archie is an absolute sweet heart, and on a scale of 1 to 10, compared with a lot of the horses I work with, Archie's nipping and barging is probably about 2.5 ;D
He takes direction very well, and if he is corrected every time he thinks about nipping, he will stop very soon. I pointed out that if Nicola keeps him out of her space then he CAN'T nip her, and it is very easy to gently push his cheek away so that he knows he is not allowed in there. The planting is just a case of stepping out to the side whilst still asking for the forward step, and releasing the moment he is caught off balance and moves.
I suggested to Nicola that when she wants to start trotting him up etc to get him ready for showing him, that she puts him in the head collar/bridle that she is going to use to show him in so that he gets used to being lead from the shoulder rather than having his eye level with Nicola's shoulder, which is going to be his every day positioning.
Here he is at the end of the session standing like a super star
And really miffed at having been turned back out in the field with his mates, in the pouring rain. Poor, hard done by ponio - who says they are happier being turned out?! ;D