Unexpected Magic through ‘Movement Challenge’ with Odin

To keep my miniature horse, Odin, in top form and prevent him from resembling a round ball of fur, daily exercise is a must.

Since choices are limited for a non-ridden horse, I have to move with him, for instance taking them on walks in the forest.

For me exercising my horses, to keep them in shape, is hard. The hardest part for me is to start! Once I’m out the house, it’s fine…. But getting started, is the hard part.

Finding the Threshold

Therefor I wanted to know what my biggest struggle actually is. It’s not that I’m not enjoying my horses… It’s not that I hate hand walking them or training them at liberty. On thee contrary! I always enjoy those activities very much!

Then, what is it?

What’s holding me back so often, from exercising Odin on a regular bases, I asked myself…

The biggest threshold is to start! Having read Atomic Habits (James Clear) really helped me to overcome the “starting” struggle of exercising Odin.

But… there was more!

My 2nd Biggest Struggle

The second biggest struggle is not knowing what to do: lack of a plan. Before making a proper training plan, I often did…. Nothing!

Yes, I went to Odin, but without a plan I often stayed in my head, having endless inner conversations about what I should do. Here are some examples:

• “When I want to long rein, I actually should have proper tack. Since I don’t have that, I can’t do long reins with Odin.”
• “Now I have the proper tack, I need to train him to understand rein aids, but today I want him to exercise. Reins aids will take more than one session, and movement is my priority. So long reins is out of the question.”
• “I would like to exercise Odin at liberty, but Fionn will interfere, so I can’t do that”
• “When I take Odin out, Fionn freaks out and will be upset and might hurt himself. I better take both of them. But since they will need some more training to each stay on their own side, they will probably fight over the clicks and treats”

I hope you recognize it and that I am not really crazy!

These inner conversations (with the goal of making no mistakes and trying to be prepared of everything) are exhausting. And repetitive! This is kind of how I put up more thresholds and took less action. This was until…

Turning Daily Exercise into a FUN Challenge for my Horse

I figured out the threshold to start, which was: not having a plan. The answer was to set up a Challenge. I love challenges! I made a commitment to accomplish a small daily challenge. Just to get me starting…

My 10 – 10 Challenge

I decided to make the threshold to start very, very low: only 10 minutes of hand walking for 10 days in a row. Just like what James Clear recommends in his book: Start small.

Ten minutes of hand walking Odin wouldn’t be too much stress for Fionn, who would need to stay behind in the paddock… I would walk Odin on the road for 5 minutes uphill and then turn around and come back so I would have my 10 minutes of walking. In my head I made it even smaller and called it my 5-minute walk. 😉

Simple, but Not Easy

Sounded easy, but it wasn’t. It was a simple plan, not easy! You should have heard the conversations going on in my head… The easiest way to shut up those voice was: “I am going to do it, no matter what! It’s only ten times! “This helped to shut down my eternal inner “why NOT to do it”-conversations. Which was really amazing!

The second rule I made (also learned from the experts in creating new habits) is never skip 2 days in a row! Life happens, and there can always be a really, really good reason not to go, but skipping a day can only happen once…

My 10-day, 10-Minutes Challenge

It gave me a clear plan:

• 10 minutes of hand walking Odin
• 10 consecutive days
• I was allowed to skip one day (but didn’t) and never 2 days in a row
• Knowing it would be only for 10 days, and having an end date made me actually do it!
• Having a plan for 10 days, helped me not to break the streak and kept going. Even on days it was hard to do it
• The sooner in the day I walked Odin, the sooner I could cross it off my list of Things To Do (which gave me a really amazing feeling of Accomplishments). Mornings rule!

Here is where the Magic started to happen

It was hard to start, but with a clear plan it became easier every day! I didn’t have to make any decisions: I already knew what to do (10 minutes of walk), how to do it (take him on the road on a lead) and when (as early as possible in the day).

Fionn got really quickly adjusted to the new situation of being left behind (I did prepare him before the Challenge, to help him manage his separation anxiety).

Predictability is Key

On day 3 or 4 Fionn was already expecting some hay and treats scattered around to keep him busy while I was walking Odin. Fionn became used to this ritual very quickly and really exceeded my expectations! He stayed calm being left behind and actually started to eat the hay. Once the daily walks with Odin was something he (and Odin) could predict, it really helped him coop. Every day Odin would leave for 10 minutes and then came back!

Odin got used to this ritual as well. There was no more fighting over me -the resource- and everyone knew the drill. Hay and treats for Fionn and Odin would get haltered for his daily outside trip.

Helping Fionn manage his separation anxiety was not something I would have expected to happen when I started! Bonus!

Day 7; More Magic

It was still a challenge to take Odin out every day, but having a low threshold of 10 minutes was really my Key to Success!

I also didn’t want to stop the streak, and that made it way easier to actually do it. Having an end day, was really helpful too: only 3 more days and then I can stop for a few days before starting again.

On day 7 my husband asked me if I wanted to go for a hike in the forest. Our property is adjacent to crown land and we have miles and miles of trails in our back yard. So I took Odin with me, since he had not yet had his daily walk.

My Bucket List Item happened!

On our walk Odin was so good! I decided to take him off the lead rope and see what happend….
He was really, really good! He responded so well to his name and my voice. Turned out he has a really strong recall! It was SO MUCH FUN to have him off leash! He could trot and canter whenever. snack on grass (with my HippoLogic Grass Training it was easy to ask him to stop eating and start walking again).

We hiked for about over an hour and Odin stayed with us -at liberty!- all the time. Yes, he trotted off for a bit, but when called he, stopped and came back.

This was on my bucket list for such a long time: walking my horse at liberty in nature! Now it happend!! It was FANTSTIC!

Without starting my 10-day 10-minute Movement Challenge it wouldn’t have happened!

I didn’t expect this: to cross off one of my long-term bucket list by simply starting to hand walk my horse 10 minutes a day! I know for sure, that without my 10-days, 10-minute challenge this wouldn’t have happened!

Fionn got really used to being left alone for longer periods of time (so another Win!) and hand walking Odin became the highlight of my day instead of a thing to dread!

Next blog I will write more about Grass Training and how it helps to have a Grass Trained Horse on trails!

Want to join me in my next Challenge?

I will do more Movement Challenges this Summer. Care to join me? I will take HippoLogic Academy members on this journey. There are only a limited amount of spaces, because my capacity to offer 1:1 coaching in our group is limited by my time and energy.

If you love to be a part of an active membership in which you learn to train horses with positive reinforcement, apply to become a member!

Ready to take your Clicker Training to the next level?

Join the HippoLogic Academy! I coach and support you personally getting your dream results with positive reinforcement, so that you can bond with your horse in the process. Create a connection build on mutual trust and understanding, a clear two-way communication built on love.

In 2024 the focus besides giving you a solid foundation is R+ Movement Training: Exercise your horse with positive reinforcement and transform your WHOA-horse into a GO-horse or get your Fat Horse Fit in a Few Months. Like all good things, learning a skill takes time. Therefore you’ll get one year personal support in the HippoLogic Academy.
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Not sure? Start with a free clicker training assessment to get taste of what it feels like to work with me. When you have a specific struggle that you want to overcome, don’t hesitate to contact me.

In this assessment you’ll discover what’s holding you back from accomplishing the things you want with your horse. After our conversation you’ll know exactly what to do, in order to move forward towards your goals.

FAQ’s about Grass Training for Horses

Are you a tiny bit curious what happens in HippoLogic’s Grass Training?  Here’s what people asked me: >> ‘If my doesn’t respond to the click I tap with the lead rope, is that OK?’, asked one of the participants in my Grass Training course with coaching. This is such a great question! I understand where it’s coming from and I was glad she asked. The answer is ‘No’. Don’t mix R- (negative reinforcement) or P (punishment) with R+ (positive reinforcement) in Grass Training. You want to keep Grass Training 100% positive reinforcement if you want predictable and solid results that last. >> ‘It’s Autumn here and almost Winter, can I start Grass Training’? wanted an Australian clicker trainer know. Yes, and Winter is actually the best time to start! Why? Because the grass you’re competing with (over your horse’s attention) is not as enticing as super lush, sweet Spring grass. You can start lying the fundamentals now of this important training and you’ll reap the fruits when you need them! In the course I will teach you how you can setup your Grass Training without grass.  >> ‘My horse is overweight (has EMS) and is on a strict diet and can’t have grass. Is this training for us’?,   Yes, and it’s actually the best course for your horse! In Grass Training you train your horse to ignore grass (and you’ll be more interesting!) and teach your horse a Stop Grazing cue with positive reinforcement, so that your horse will choose NOT to graze. Especially when your horse has EMS or is overweight you get into endless tugs of war with your horse over grass, right? What if that stops? What if your horse will ignore grass by choice? Wouldn’t that make everything more fun? It was for me! Why R+ actually works so well and all other details, I explain in the course. I also teach you how to setup your Grass Training without grass! Learn more

What can I expect from the HippoLogic Grass Training course? After this course if you follow the step-by-step instructions your horse knows Stop Grazing and Start Grazing-cues. You’ll understand why everything you’ve tried before didn’t work and what you need to do instead in order to get predictable, positive and long lasting results. The aim of this course is to teach you how you can train your own horse so that you can enjoy your horse more when you trail ride or have to lead him near or over grass without getting into a tug-of-war. What is included? Step-by-step instruction videos Written instructions Detailed Shaping Plan ‘Grass Training’ Practical printouts that will make training easy Happy Grass Training! You are the trainer! Sandra

Continue reading about Grass Training your Horse

Here are some blog for you:

• 10 Benefits of Grass Training Your Horse
• Grass Training Step 1
• Grass Training Step 2

Want to start today? Buy the course!

10 Benefits of Grass Training your Horse

What is grass training? Teaching your horse with positive reinforcement to ignore grass in training, leading and riding. In Grass Training you teach your horse to leave grass with a Stop Grazing-cue, and a Grazing-cue. It’s easier than you think, as long as you’ll use the right approach and don’t use R- or P.

Benefits Grass Training

1. Yummiest training ever for your horse! He will immediately pay attention to you when he understands there is a Start Grazing -cue. This will be the quickest learning of a cue.
2. By giving your horse something she wants, you immediately have her positive attention!
3. No more unsolicited grazing on trails! You can ride, lunge and train at liberty on grass without losing your horses attention!
   
4. If you do fun stuff, your horse will trust you, looking out for your next visit. It’s a great foundation for friendship between you and your horse
5. It will give you incredible results. You’ll notice how annoying and frustrating it was, once you’ve solve it.
6. Your horse won’t snack on grass during at liberty work, leading or riding!
7. Your horse will become easy to get of out of the pasture. Simply call his name.
8. You both stop being frustrated while grass is available during riding or training
9. It will improve your communication
10. It will enhance to bond with your horse

Join the HippoLogic’s DIY Grass Training and get some fun and useful training time done.
Happy Horse training!

Sandra

https://clickertraining.ca/product/diy-grass-training/

 

 

 

Grass Training Step 2

Is your grass diving horse the most annoying in Spring? When the grass is lush and green and enticing? Is that when you think about teaching your horse to Stop Grazing on cue? Start today! Any day is better than Spring in full action!

Read Grass Training step 1 here.

Spring Problems

Do you know why this is the most challenging time of year to start Grass Training? Right: when you need it the most!

It’s also when you need it, it’s hard(er) to take the time to train it and practise patience!

It’s also the hardest time of year for your horse: when the grass is like candy, sweet and juicy and their body’s want to store energy for court shipping, breeding and maybe even already for Winter.

Horses just can’t help themselves and then they have to deal with being pulled on their lead ropes all the time. Struggling between their owner, who they love, and juicy sweet grass which they love a bit more.

Southern hemisphere

If your living in the Southern hemisphere you might think this is not the time to start Grass Training. Winter is coming and you have other things on your mind…

I’ll let you in on a little secret: it would be the Best Time of the year! You can start with less enticing grass (or even hay!) and make the Stop Grazing behaviour already a strong habit then when the grass starts to grow YOU are prepared and your horse won’t even try to dive into grass.

Most important for Grass Training your Horse

In my previous blog I wrote about why positive reinforcement (R+) is the best way to teach your horse to Ignore Grass-cue, Stop Grazing-cue and a Graze Now-cue.

Step 2 is: Start before you need it! If you can… Just like all other training, start before you need it. Sounds unbelievable?

Grass Training works! Even for EMS horses on restrictive diets!

The year after I perfectionate my 100% R+ approach to grass training, Kyra got Equine Metabolic Syndrome. And, laminitis. I had to exercise her AND put her on a restrictive diet. Vet’s orders!

She went from 12 hours of pasture with friends to 24 hours solitary confinement. During the day she lived in a small paddock and at night in a stall, just like the other horses.

I had to hand walk her over the road at the end of Summer when the grass was just about to do another grow spurt… See picture left: Kyra with her special boots, offering Key Lesson Patience so I can make a picture. She’s ignoring the grass!

I was so afraid that I would have to struggle with a grass diving, hungry horse. I worried that I had to battle a tug of war over grass and that I would loose. I was already in pain, seeing my horse suffering. It wasn’t the case!

Kyra was so good near the grass It was truly amazing!

R+ Grass Training offers lasting Results!

Honestly, I couldn’t believe that I still reaped the benefits of the grass training we did that year before! Kyra didn’t pull me towards the grass and in the moments it did happen (occasionally) I cued her to stop and she listened! Once you a behaviour becomes a habit, it will be very, very strong!

Video: Before and After Grass Training

Start today!

Start today, making ‘heads up’ a habit on grass! You never know when this comes in handy!

Join me in Grass Training if you want to get rid of the grass diving. I show you how you can teach your horse to ignore grass, teach a Stop Grazing-cue and make this a great training for your horse and for you: both get what you want! How does that sound?

Click here to buy the Grass Training course and start today!

Happy Horse training! You are the Trainer! I believe in you!

Sandra

Want to start today?

Here is a great resource for you: my online course Grass Training that helps you train your horse to behave on grass: leading, riding and at liberty will be easy with a Grass Trained Horse. This is what people say about the course: 

Grass Training course

HippoLogic Grass Training

Teach a horse to lead (or lunge) on grass *grass training done successfully*

A step-by-step training guide can you find in my article that’s published on Horse Rookie. One day I realized that my horse kept pulling me toward grass and it made me feel like an inadequate horse owner. Here I was, with over 30 years on horse experience and still I was pulled towards juicy patches of grass. Sound familiar? I decided to make a training out or it, but whatever I did nothing worked long-term. Next day it all seemed forgotten. Which it wasn’t really, it was just the pull of the grass that was so much stronger than my pull on the lead rope. So the behaviour was very much self-rewarding. Only one thing to do: become more enticing than the grass! The only way to do this is with 100% positive reinforcement.  In the article I wrote for Horse Rookie I describe two ways of approach, depending of the level of clicker training your horse had before. All horses like ‘grass training’ because it’s a win-win: either grazing or not grazing is rewarded. READ THE ARTICLE HERE Imagine how much frustration you’ll avoid!

Join our FREE grass training challenge

Take this Challenge and transform your horse’s behaviour. Enjoy the accountability and group learning. Put your name on the waiting list and get emailed when we start!

Join HippoLogic’s Facebook group

Join our group on Facebook where you can ask questions, interact with like-minded people and get support on your clicker journey. In the last quarter of 2019 I will do weekly LIVE videos in the Happy Herd. Don’t miss out!  

Sandra Poppema, B.Sc.

I help horse owners get the results in training they really, really want with joy and easy for both horse and human. I always aim for win-win!

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Join the Clicker Training Academy if you want personal support

What is the HippoLogic Clicker Training Academy? It’s an online place where you can learn to train every behaviour you have in mind with R+. We have a small, all-inclusive community in which students can thrive and develop.

• Professional, personal positive reinforcement advice on your training videos
• Super affordable
• Student levels are novice to very advanced clicker trainers

Join the HippoLogic Clicker Training Academy and become one of the 25 ‘founding members’ (those who receive extra The first 25 founding members get an additional 90-minute coaching session with me for free (value $150 CAD).

Grass Training: Teach Your Horse to Ignore Grass

Haven’t we all experienced that a horse pulled you towards some grass in order to grab a few bites? Isn’t that annoying? I think it is!

I didn’t want to be pushed around anymore by my horse every time there was some juicy patch of grass growing around. Grass is everywhere! 

I decided to look for a proper, force-free way to teach my horse to behave on and near grass.

I tried a so many different approaches, before I found one that works well, gave me a solid result and is totally force-free. I would like to share it with you.

Define ‘proper behaviour’ around grass

It took me a while to teach Kyra to behave ‘properly’ around grass. With ‘properly’ I mean: no more pulling me towards grass, wait until I give the ‘graze’ cue and ‘stop grazing and come along’ if I ask her to. I was tired of pulling Kyra off the grass.

Preparation

I must say before you can start training this you need a bit of preparation and… lots of practice time. After all, what is more enticing than grass? Well, a click can be…

What really helps is already have a solid history of click & reinforce. Secondly a horse that walks with you properly and the key lessons ‘head lowering’, ‘patience’ and ‘targeting’ are required to make this challenge most likely to succeed.

Shaping plan Grass Training

Here is a summary of my shaping plan:

• solid reinforcement history of the clicker
• teach Kyra to walk on a lead rope
• halt
• key lesson patience
• key lesson targeting
• key lesson head lowering

How I trained it

I started to reinforce lifting Kyra’s head while grazing. Why? Because this is the first step to move away from the grass. I began with leading her to grass and I would cue her to graze. Then I just waited (very, very patiently) until she lifted her head by herself. That is the moment I wanted to capture and reinforce.

I can’t stress how important it is to wait until the horse moves (his head) away himself. I tried other methods like pulling the head up/preventing the head from going down or asking Kyra to target while grazing in order to lift her head, but reinforcing her own head raise worked best.

High value treats

Every time she would lift her head , I clicked and reinforced Kyra with a very high value treat. One that could compete with grass. After she ate the treat I immediately gave her the cue to ‘graze’. Here is when the key lesson ‘head lowering’ comes is really handy.

I also clicked and reinforced the ‘graze’ cue. But instead of offering a treat off of my hand, the reward was to graze as long as she wanted.

Every time she would lift her head again, I clicked, reinforced and would then give her the ‘graze’ cue.

Next steps

After a certain amount of training sessions, which Kyra enjoyed very much (!), I noticed that she started to lift her head more often during grazing sessions. This is a perfect time to add a ‘lift head up’ cue. The key lesson targeting helped me a lot.

So my next clicker session looked like this:

• walk to the grass
• give the cue ‘graze’
• wait until Kyra lifts her head
• click and reinforce
• give her the cue ‘graze’
• let her graze until I thought she was likely to lift her head up again, ask ‘touch’ target stick
• click and reinforce
• cue ‘graze’
• et cetera.

In this way she is always reinforced for whatever I ask.

Raising the criterion

After several sessions I noticed that Kyra didn’t seem to mind lifting her head up anymore. She was eager to see what I had to offer her. The ‘diving into the grass’ behaviour was gone. She seemed so much more relaxed on grass.

I thought this would be the perfect time to raise a criterion. Now I wanted to lift her head and take one step forward before I gave the ‘graze’ cue again. I literally built this behaviour step-by-step.

The final step in this process was to teach her to wait for the ‘graze’ cue when we would walk on or approach grass.

Result Grass Training with Positive Reinforcement

Now I can ask Kyra to leave grass at any time. She is very willing to come with me. She never pulls me towards a patch of grass and I never have to pull her off of the grass. Win-win, for her and for me.

Kyra turned from a I-need-to-graze-now-and-store-fat-before-winter-comes-horse into a I-see-grass-so-what-horse. She knows she can trust me and is allowed to have her share… only when I say so.

Join my online Grass Training

Amazing Fun Fact

Today I wanted to make a video for the Facebook Grass Training group. Kyra didn’t want to graze, so I couldn’t show how to start. Never thought I could be in that position: a horse that doesn’t want to graze because training is way more valuable.

 

 

Sandra Poppema, B.Sc.

HippoLogic helps establish, enhance and excel horse-human relationships

 

 Buy the HippoLogic Grass Training for Horses that lead to a well behaved horse on grass.