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 putting Stop Grazing on cue?

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. They just can’t help themselves and then they have to deal with being pulled on their lead ropes all the time. It’s just not fair….

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.

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

Sounds unbelievable?

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.

She went from 12 hours of pasture with friends to 24 hours solitary confinement. During the day 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.

She was so good! It was truly amazing!

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!

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?

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Sandra Poppema, BSc

Teaching horse people to make training a win-win and bond with their horse so they can enjoy their time together.

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Grass Training Step 1

Here is step 1 in your free mini course Grass Training. If you want to join our in depth 2-week online course, then click here. If you’re more of a DIY person and want the self paced course, click here.

Biggest pitfalls in Grass Training

Do you know the biggest pitfall most horse lovers fall into, when they want to teach their horse manners on grass? They use negative reinforcement or punishment to train it .

They don’t do this on purpose. And hey, to be honest: I’ve fallen into this pitfall myself!

This is what happened:

• I held the lead rope extra short so my horse couldn’t reach the grass, if he pulled he’d feel pressure. Especially with a rope halter. Yes, it can hurt when they dive strong and quick into the grass and yet … he would dive into the grass the next opportunity he got! 

So no real training (behaviour modification) there. Only prevention. And only as long as I kept the lead rope tight!

What else did I try?

• Yes, I wiggled the lead rope when my horse took a bite until he’d lift his head. In training terms this is P+ (positive punishment: adding an aversive in order to decrease a behaviour (the grazing)). This tactic hasn’t given me long lasting results…. You? (In the course I explain why this won’t work)
• I mixed these together with a click and treat for good behaviour.

It still didn’t work. With these techniques I never gotten long lasting results. Only very short -in the moment- results and my horse seemed to forget the whole spiel already after our ride. So frustrating!

Therefor I didn’t had the confidence to trust the process of pure R+ (positive reinforcement) until…

I started to be really precise and take a good look what was I doing that was R-, R+, P- and P+ in my training? I let go of everything NOT R+ and …. I got really, really good results!

This was a difficult process, but since I’ve been through this myself and helped hundreds of people do it, I can do this very efficiently now.

So don’t fall into the pitfall of using R- or P+ in Grass Training. Not even a little bit!

Step 1: Start using only Positive reinforcement and TRUST the process!

• Click and treat for desired behaviour
• Use high (enough) value appetitive to reinforcer the wanted behaviour
• Start small: make a shaping plan to help you start small

In the course I will explain in more detail how you can shift to 100% R+ and why you will get long lasting results.

I also share 6 other reasons people are not successful in teaching a solid Stop Grazing-cue and what you can do to change them.

What do you think is your pitfall in Grass Training? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Happy Grass Training!

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Sandra Poppema, B.Sc.

Helping horse people to bond with their horse and get the results they want.

Click HERE to buy  the HippoLogic Grass Training course

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What goes on in Grass Training for Horses?

Are you a tiny bit curious what happens in HippoLogic’s Grass Training?

Here’s what people asked me in the course:

‘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. 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 quickly.

‘It’s Autumn here and almost Winter, can I start Grass Training’?

wanted an Australian clicker trainer know. Yes, and it’s 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 on a strict diet and can’t have much grass. Is this training for us’?,  

Yes, and it’s actually the best course for your horse! In Grass Training you teach your horse a solid Stop Grazing cue with 100% 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 I explain in the course. I also teach you how to setup your Grass Training without grass!

I don’t clicker training my horse, is this still for me?

Everything that is trained in this course will be trained with 100% positive reinforcement. If you have a strict policy against working with treats this is not for you.

If you had bad experience with training with treats but your ready to give it another try (under professional guidance and with clear step-by-step instructions) this could be right what you need.

The upside of this training is that it doesn’t interfere with your regular training. If you decide that you don’t want to use food rewards for other training, that’s OK. This will still work.

What can I expect from the HippoLogic Grass Training course?

After this course, which comes with two whole weeks of personal online support, participants:

• can train Stop Grazing and Start Grazing-cues that work!
• understand why everything they tried before didn’t lead to long lasting results
• know what to do in order to get predictable, positive and long lasting results

Get the online Grass Training course for the early bird rate before May 28, 2020!

-> Only 48 hours before the price goes up! <-

Don’t miss out on a good deal! This 69 dollar price for 2 weeks of online support will never come back!

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
• Two weeks of personal online support! (Get this course before May 28, 2020 and get a 30% discount)
• Life time access to the course materials and all future updates! Happy Horse training!

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Sandra Poppema, B.Sc.

Helping horse people to bond with their horse and get the results they want.

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Teach Your Horse to Behave on Grass (Grass Training)

Grass is growing everywhere (if you live in the Northern hemisphere 😉 ) and frustration is building up:

• In horse owners for being pushed over and pulled when grass is in sight and in
• horses because they want grass but it’s never without being pulled or shouted at.

Some horses like this game of “get-a-bite” and never will give up: this is just how play and reinforcement works for them. The bite is their prize! They will get it on an intermittent schedule (sometimes it works, other times it won’t) so we create a really strong pulling behaviour in our horses!

5 Benefits of Grass Training

• Your horse follows you when your leading him with slack in the lead rope and ignores grass (he won’t even try)
• No more frustration because your horse is being naughty or behaving like an ass (which is just another equine!)
• Your horse will trust you more because you give him clarity: To Graze or Not to Graze
• No more feeling like a failure. Now it will be clear to anyone that you’ve trained your horse well.
• You’ll be proud and enjoy your horse more!

What I’ve tried (and didn’t work)

I’ve been pulling on ropes, using rope halters, ‘punishing’ my horse for unsolicited grazing (it’s not punishment if the behaviour doesn’t decrease🤣) and trying to avoid grass patches all together. Which is hard if grass is growing in your arena and liberty work will be out of the question during Summer months.

I tried it all: keeping the lead rope short, wiggling the rope, pulling and jerking (not proud of it) and later offering target sticks calling and using Kyra’s name and giving other cues.

Nothing gave me long-term results when grass was available, until I used clicker training.

Sandra Poppema

What worked

This only gave me short-term result. Sometimes only 5-second results, to be honest! Nothing worked long-term until…. I switched over to 100% POSITIVE reinforcement to teach my horse what I wanted.

Grass training works! If you use 100% positive reinforcement. ~ HippoLogic #grasstraining

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Grass training when your horse is on a restrictive diet

The year after my grass training Kyra got laminitis and she needed to be on a strict diet. From a full day on grass to restricted soaked hay. That was hard for both of us. I had to exercise her (hand walking) to help her lose weight and the only place was on the road. With juicy grass growing next to it! I was worried…. And you know what? She didn’t push me over to get a bite! She didn’t pull on the lead rope to gorge on the grass. She was an angel! My new method paid off!

‘The Grass Trained Horse’:

• Listens to his name and comes to you in the pasture
• Can be lead on grass with slack in your lead rope
• Can be ridden on grass without causing blisters on your hands
• Is amazing at liberty training in Spring and Summer when greens are growing in or along your arena
• Won’t snack leaves on trails
• Doesn’t dive into grass when you get him out of the paddock or pasture

HippoLogic’s Grass Training

Since then I helped dozens of horse owners implement my way of grass training and they all got results. The relationship with their horse improved (no more frustration and anger even before riding started) If you want to join us in the HippoLogic Grass Training, we start in June again let me know.

Get started yourself: Grass Training (blog with video and step-by-step plan)

Or join me in an online grass training course. Click the link to get free tips https://mailchi.mp/04323b1356e8/grass-training We start June 5th

Questions about Grass training?

Book a free discovery call with me and get some advice what your next step in training will be.

Sandra Poppema, B.Sc.

Helping horse people to bond with their horse and get the results they want.

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‘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 more desired behaviour around grass.

I tried a few 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

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 step

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

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 Sign up here

Today I wanted to make a video for the FB Grass Training FB Group. Kyra didn’t want to graze, so I couldn’t show how to start walking on grass when all your horse wants to do is graze. 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.

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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