Last night, I worked quite a bit with Amigo. We started 2 new training exercises, slapping the ground with the stick and string, and the 4 methods of backing up. He reacted in opposite ways for the two exercises. When starting to slap the ground with the string from the front position, he was bonkers. But when I moved up close, and slapped the ground near his hind feet, it was as if he had done this all his life. Then, when I went back to the front, he was stoic and yet relaxed. Then we started the back up exercise. I don’t think this horse has ever hit reverse gear. There are increasing levels of pressure to get the horse to move his feet backwards: with the stick in front of him, tap the air; if he doesn’t move, tap the string; if he doesn’t move, whack the clip under his chin; if he doesn’t move, whack his nose.  Most horses starting out will move on step 2 or 3. Not this boy. I had to whack his nose 4 times to get a half step backwards. Not only that, I had to do it several times before he started moving with me whacking the clip. That went on for several minutes before he started moving with tapping the string. After a good 10-15 minutes, he finally started backing up very tentatively by tapping the air. When I was satisfied that he had the concept, we started the “wiggle, wave, walk, and whack” method.  Once again, he ignored the first 3 levels of pressure, and required the whack to get his feet to move. Only this time, he figured out that it was easier to move than to get whacked each time!  So he progressed quickly through the “wave” step, and started backing up on the wiggle.  Finally, the last method yields his hindquarters, then moves him backward on just a light touch of the lead rope under his chin. He said “I’ve got this, boss!” and did it like a champ.  That was a lot of work, but Amigo can now go in reverse!  I continue to work with his feet. Modest improvement each day. We just finished the 2nd day of “approach and retreat” trying to scare him while tied. I am at the arm-waving stage of approach. He’s doing better than I expected him to.  He seems to be more fearful from his left side while standing, and his right side while moving.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 14th, 2016 at 2:50 pm and is filed under Horses. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.