Sunday, March 24, 2013

Cowgirl or Girl fool with her horse.. you decide ;-)

Oh yeah, just to be funny, I have been messing around with Sunny about laying down.  So, over the past month, he'll lay down after a ride.  Yesterday, in the windy conditions, as you can hear... Sunny isn't too worried about it and this is the second time I stayed on him while he got up.  I try not to do it too often so I don't break his trust about laying down near me... but as you can see... towards the end of the video.... he's pretty relaxed about the whole situation! lol... what a guy. 
After I hopped off, I took him back the paddock and he layed down two more times!  I didnt' get on him though.  Just patted him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oItxZQnVikE
If you see the trailer in the back of the video... that's our 'new' round pen!  Can't wait to starting messing around in there!  And... I played one of those 'game' of desensitizing / trust building and had him sniff, touch, paw and climb up with front feet on  the trailer!  Fun!

5 comments:

  1. That was SO great Cyndi and Sunny!!!! What a beautiful curly he is!!! Thanks for sharing Cyndi!!! Keep up the great work!

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  2. that is awesome, funny I was just telling my husband I want to learn Freedom to laydown ;-)
    Good job he is a nice boy you have there!

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  3. Cowgirl, definitely, and I loved the video. He is so calm and relaxed and happy, and what a beautiful boy he is! I like his coloring, 4 whites and a blaze.

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  4. He's from Karalee Bell at Whirlwind Curlies. From the pictures I've seen, he looks just like his mother.
    The lay down.... it's a funny thing! I tried for 2 months to get him to lay down. I knew I wanted it to be a 'trick'. There are lots of ways to lay a horse down using ropes (some more gentle than other but still...) I just wanted (and hoped) he would do it out of trust. So, I lured him with treats and clicker trained him too. Two months, I had him going down on his front knees but never a full lie down on 'my' request or prompt.. So I waited... When I could see he WANTED to laydown, after a ride, I would walk with him kind of slowly, looking down and 'pawing the ground with my foot, almost no eye contact, very 'unthreatening' and then I would squat down as he was beginning to go down. The first few times, I just stayed where I was and calm and just watched him. Then each time after that I got closer, always staying relaxed and non-threatening. Then I got closer and offered treats RIGHT TO HIS FACE so I could interupt the roll. Probably within 5 times of that, he was very quickly (as you can see, he offers to do it before we are even back in the paddock!), He knows I become the human pez dispenser! Then I started standing up near him while feeding, then sitting on him and feeding, straddling and feeding and the video is the second time I stayed on him. As you can see from the video... probably because I have taken things slowly, he very 'relaxed'... and it's not because he had to pee... because I got off of him right after, walked him to his paddock and he layed down twice more! Waiting, hoping for the human horse-treat pez dispenser to come! lol...
    Now, I prompt with "lay down" before he goes down.... one day hoping he will do it on a verbal prompt or visual (seeing me paw the ground or squatting). That'll be cool!

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