Ground Driving Snafu

Ground Driving Snafu

Ellen and I had our plan to introduce Trifecta to ground driving with the help of clicker training.  My first step was to teach Trifecta to stand still so I could attach the lines.  He didn't like standing still, but with a couple of sessions of clicker training, he learned it well.  His cue to stand still is me rubbing his neck.  That way, even if I don't click him, he enjoys the cue.

My next step was to teach him to move forward from the word "walk."  We did that on the lounge line.  When I used to use a whip for lounging, I just moved the whip.  We gave up the whip by this time, so I had been just waving the line.  Now, I only wanted to just use the word.

In the beginning, I would say the word and nothing would happen so I waved the line.  When he moved, I clicked him.  There has to be space between the 2 cues, and the one he knows has to be the second cue.  After he was getting this pretty good, I tried the word only.  He just stood there, thinking.  I tried a few times before he actually moved off at a walk.  Of course he got clicked for that.  We practiced it a lot more.  As we were doing it, I had him walk more and more steps before he got the click.  Soon, he was incredibly consistent.  Since then, we have worked on walk, whoa, walk, whoa, walk--then click--only with the words.  He is still not that great with his trot transitions, but I think he might just be a little lazy...

Anyway, back to our first day of ground driving.  We started out just introducing him to the reins.  I previously spent time getting him used to the lounge line touching his sides, so this wasn't too tough for him.  I ran the reins through the rings of the surcingle--that went well, too.  He stood like a champ.

The next step was for Ellen just to lead him, so he could get used to me walking behind him.  That sounds easy, but that is where we hit our snafu.  All he wanted to do was play with Ellen.  He tried to bite her, bite the lead rope, bite the long reins, dance around and bite at her again.  It was constant, too.  Those are all the things he was doing for me that was driving me crazy--before we started clicker training.  With clicker,\ those behaviors diminished precipitously.  

We found a big hole in his training.  He had learned only to listen to me. Ooops...

We called it quits for the ground driving lesson.

The next day, Ellen planned to teach him to lead. He started out simply horrible!  He was just as bad as the day before, but he added in prancing, dancing and threw in a temper tantrum with a small rear.  Poor Ellen.  These are not things she is used to.  She later confessed that she wanted to quit, but forced herself to keep going.

With clicker training, we are waiting for the right behavior--and when it happens, we click and treat so the horse knows he did the right thing.  Ellen struggled with Tri for what seemed an eternity, but was probably about 5 minutes--and then the miracle happened.  He walked a few good steps.  She clicked him--and he got a surprised look on his face.  It was as if to say, "You can play that fun game, too?"  After that, he continued to improve very quickly and soon he was walking beside her like a gentleman.

We practiced this lesson a few more days before we attempted ground driving again.  She cut back on the clicks, started chaining the ones that she was doing with other behaviors and clicking him when he was very excellent.  Now, we start most of our lessons, regardless of what we are doing, with a few minutes of Ellen leading him around.

The last thing I need is for my horse to only listen to me.  Soon, Shari and Kevin will be doing the same thing with him.  Leading like a gentleman should apply to whoever happens to be leading him.