I had my nice photographer (Erik!) there for my lesson on Wednesday. He wanted to come so he could see how nice Pro is for Gayle. Well...Pro had different ideas. We started off fairly nice, reviewing the inside/outside rein rules and playing at the walk. Then Gayle explained the next step...told me all about how Pro has gotten me QUITE nicely trained to drop my hands just a few inches. He's actually conditioned me to do this!!! And here I thought *I* was training him. Nope. He used to put up a huge fuss about putting his head down. Once he realized that was futile, he figured that if he had to put his head down, he would (subtly!!) only put it down if my hands were lower, so he could slack off a bit and be on his forehand.
He actually has me on a negative reinforcement schedule (meaning, he keeps his head up until I drop my hands, and then he "rewards" me by dropping his head!!). Anyway, so Gayle has explained how horses are negative reinforcement animals. Meaning, you train them best by applying an aversive stimulus until they give you what you want - and then you reward them by removing that aversive stimulus. So, when Pro was spooking - we'd kick him repeatedly with the inside leg until he relaxed, and then we'd stop kicking. Turns out HE'S training ME now!!!
So at the trot, she explained this, and then had me put my hands up to their proper place. He immediately puts his head up. Not giraffe-level, but still. He was clearly saying, "Mom we've been through this...be a good mommy and put your hands back down so I'll put my head down." I didn't. You could almost see the aghast-ness in his eyes as he realized I'd figured him out. Then he was MAD. Ohhhhhhhh was he mad. Gayle said that he wasn't doing anything new - her horse tries to get her to drop her hands, other horses do it, too. She said ponies are famous for it. But I can't let him get me to drop my hands, nope.
We tried to do figure-eights but since he was already pissy about my hands, he threw a MAJOR tantrum by the bunny tree. We pushed through it a few times (Gayle had me just kick with inside leg, push my inside hand forward) but eventually he just stopped, threw a fit, and flung himself sideways. Such a toddler!! Gayle had us move to the other end of the arena (thankfully - she said that I wasn't paying her to work through silly tantrums) and he quieted.
My left shoulder was killing me - he was hanging on it - so while going to the left, Gayle had me let go of the left rein. Which was SO hard to do...I was so frustrated that he wasn't bending left (practically counterbent) but Gayle persisted and had me let go. Eventually at the end of the lesson, we got him going softly.
***I'll try to upload the videos later today - they're being stubborn!!
5 comments:
Can't wait for videos!
That sounds like a tough ride...phew. I like Gayle's comment about not getting paid to work through temper tantrums.
So funny/annoying that Pro had been doing so well lately...he was just trying to save it all up for the lesson.
Haha I figured that if you can post your lesson videos, I can be brave enough to post mine. :)
John Lyons says the same this about the negative reinforcement.
Im glad you figured him out arent putting your hands down for him. I bet he was mad. haha, poor Pro.
I'm glad you finally figured him out, but goodness, you have a way of telling a story. You had me giggling here reading about it all. :-)
I've been trying to tell you he is smart! He's going to keep you on your toes!
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