Pony that won't Stop

Q: Hi Gwen!
Oopsie is still not Perfect! I just wanted to give others a chance to get some answers before requesting more help with her! (hahahah!!!) But... since the group is quiet....here goes! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLP!!!! Perhaps I did not understand your directions to get her from stopping while I'm leading her on a lead. It's not all of the time, mind you. It is keeping her from working with most of the kids though. I see a lot of differently abled children daily and she is not first on my list because of this problem. Usually it's myself or Rebecca my daughter working with her as we don't take her bratiness personally! Can you explain the exercise again...I printed it to see if reading it as I worked with her would help. I guess I'm just not "getting it"

A: One of the first Q&A's was about leadership, I think. That's the crux of any relationship between human and equine. The horse or pony HAS to have a leader and if there is ANY doubt at all as to who that leader is, the horse or pony WILL take over that position. So ... Any time a horse or pony does not do what we ask we have to be sure we're asking in a clear, concise manner that is easily understood by the horse and then look to see if perhaps our leadership attention is slipping a wee bit. You must know how kids will start running rampant the second you answer the phone? They can be 3 rooms away, quietly playing or whatever but the SECOND you get on the phone, man - they're RIGHT THERE IN YOUR FACE! I've found horses and ponies are much the same. It's like they have radar that senses when your attention is taken away from them. And, actually, they do in a sense. Where horses and ponies are minute to minute critters in their thoughts and beings, if we let our attention wander we drop the leadership ball in their eyes. That leaves them with a feeling of, "Hey! Where'd she go? What am I supposed to do now? Hey! Come back! OK, fine ... I'll be the leader now!." Now, of course your kids can't understand this but you can ... And Oopsie sure can! So, its back to the drawing board and working with Oopsie so she'll KNOW to stand or walk with a child no matter what! That she is to FOLLOW the LEADER .. And the human is always the leader. Even when the kids "can't" be the leader. Clicker Training works for this, too (it works for just about anything and everything! Especially with ponies!)

Think of this as a GOAL. GOAL is you want Oopsie to stop ANYTIME a human stops. Period. Start working that Goal in small steps ... Break it down. Think "what is the opposite" behavior of walking forward? And set upon teaching that. In this case I think it would help to teach Oopsie to stop and BACK UP 2 steps after stopping. So now you've got a couple other steps to accomplish with your goal ... Teaching her to stop when the human stops and then to back up 2 steps and wait. Oops, now we have 3 steps ... STOP, BACK UP, WAIT. So, you'll need to teach each step separately then put them together to form the GOAL - STOP anytime the HUMAN STOPS. Stop, back up 2 steps and Wait. All are "opposite" from "walking forward".

Anytime we have an unwanted behavior with a horse or pony we need to think in terms of a "replacement" behavior that is OPPOSITE to the one we DON'T want and set about teaching that. Once we set about teaching the "opposite behavior" with CT the old, unwanted behavior will become extinct - it will "go away" with no further ado. Horses and ponies are just like humans in the respect of doing what feels good. Utilizing Clicker Training (positive reinforcement) teaches that a behavior "feels good" so the pony or horse will keep on wanting to DO what makes them feel good!

So, set about working on your "opposite behavior" with Oopsie. Make her feel like the BEST PONY EVER when she stops and waits. Make her FEEL GOOD about stopping and waiting! :) Keep us posted.