Silver Pony Farm

Clinic In Bowdon Georgia

2009-02-04T12:15:00.000-08:00

Clicker Training Clinic
With Meg Eades
February 22, 2009 10:00a.m. - 4:00p.m.
Free training demo on February 21st, 12:00 - 4:00pm
Red Horse Stables
2800 West Hwy 5 Bowdon, GA 30108
$50 per person

Join us at Red Horse Stables to experience first hand the magic of clicker training. Includes lunch, starter kit, and participation with your horse or a lesson horse. Learn the skills to be your own trainer using positive reinforcement. Teach your horse manners, tricks, and behaviors that lead to riding and performance success. Learn how to motivate your horse without escalating pressure. Experience the joy of having your horse actively participate in the learning process. Create an empowering win - win collaboration with your horse, with a language and teaching method that you can both understand and enjoy!

For information or to register, contact Bob Crowe
678-787-1578
bluecrow@bellsouth.net

Class Announcement

2009-01-13T17:10:00.000-08:00

Clicker Training Class

With Meg Eades

February 28, 2009 Noon - 2:00pm

At Hold Your Horses

980 Birmingham Rd, Suite 302 Alpharetta GA 30004

$25/person per class

Come in out of the cold! Join us for a warm, cozy class on training your horse using positive reinforcement. Learn about the meaning and timing of the “click,” using treats safely and effectively, and motivating your horse without escalating pressure. Develop the skills to teach your horse just about anything, using this gentle and precise method that is safe, effective and fun for people and for horses!

Includes snacks, information, and a free starter kit.

Mary Litterilla

770-772-9533

holdyourhorsesll@bellsouth.net

Successful Haltering

2008-12-11T15:56:00.000-08:00

Spirit is a 20 year old Mustang gelding, who has lived in captivity with my aunt Brigid and her family for 19 years. He has had quite a bit of training, and is a nice riding horse. But he has always been difficult to catch. Even with buckets of feed and pockets full of treats, if approached in the pasture with a halter, he would decidedly leave. In a smaller enclosure, if he felt cornered, he would threaten to kick. Obviously, he could eventually be coerced, otherwise they never would have done such a nice job training him to be a riding horse. But as many of us know, difficulty catching and haltering a horse can be a major frustration.

It was late September in Northern Wisconsin. Late morning sun cast a magical glow about the quiet farm as the previous nights chill began to dissipate. Spirit regarded us with wisdom and suspicion as we eased the gate closed between him and the rest of the herd, so that he was in a smallish area, with a nice, safe gate that we could work through. We started with some simple targeting. I would hold out a tupperware lid, he would get curious and sniff at it. Click and treat. Within ten minutes, he had a pretty clear understanding of this game, and his expression was starting to change a little. "Hmmm. This is actually kind of interesting." We gave him a little break. And then I did some targeting inside the pen. He was quickly learning to follow the target with his nose as it moved. So I stepped back outside the gate and exchanged the target for the halter. As soon as he saw the halter he walked away. "Not that again!" So I wadded the halter up in my hand and waited for a minute. Spirit decided to experiment. He came back and tentatively reached to sniff the halter with his nose. Click and treat. With each click you could see the wheels turning in his mind. Gradually I unfolded the halter more and more. Another short break, and then I stepped back inside the pen with Spirit. Eventually I was holding the halter open. And when his nose would get close to the space in the middle of the open halter, click and treat. As you can see by the above picture, Spirit is still tentative, but is choosing to put his nose into the halter. This was his very first clicker training session. And we worked a total of about 30 minutes. He was still engaged in the game of putting his halter on, but he was starting to get slightly stressed. It was such a big deal for him to even be staying with me while I was holding a halter, much less participating in getting his head into it. So we ended on this wonderful note, with a handful of treats in his food bowl, and me quietly letting myself out the gate. A few minutes later, we simply opened the gate, so he could join the herd. I guess his usual routine would be to blast off out the gate, away from halters and confinement as quickly as possible. But this time he sauntered off almost lazily, and stopped to look back at us like, "There could still be a catch, but so far I kind of like this game."
The most exciting part of all is that I recently got an e-mail from my aunt Brigid, and she reports that they can walk out in the pasture and put Spirit's halter on any time now!

May '08 Clinic

2008-08-14T12:53:00.000-07:00

Hercules, my 10 year old Connemara/Welsh gelding, at our May, 2008 clicker training clinic with Alexandra Kurland. This was his first time away from home without other members of his herd. And I was so excited that he was relaxed enough to lie down at the end of our lesson, which is a behavior I have been free shaping.