Natural Horse NZ

World Equestrian Games 2010

Kiwi Culture 101 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:57:15 +0000

I don’t know about you, but I’m really starting to look forward to next year and all it brings. Specifically the WEG. I’ve just started to keep up with it and here are a few sites that look interesting.

http://2010radioshow.horseradionetwork.com/

http://www.kentucky.com/weg/

http://twitter.com/2010weg

http://www.alltechfeigames.com/

This last one is the blog for a Carriage Driving Organization, and she’s keeping up with updates at the KY Horse Park, including pictures!!! She also has lots of neat stuff on carriages and combined driving and just driving in general.

http://carriageassociation.wordpress.com/

Camel Dressage

Kiwi Culture 101 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:50:23 +0000

A friend shared this with me and it just knocked my socks off, not to mention produced a few smiles.

Parelli Sale

Kiwi Culture 101 — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:04:48 +0000

For those of you who find the Parelli stuff a teensy weensy bit to expensive for your budget (like me), they are having a big sale that closes soon on some items.

Ginger’s Sores

Kiwi Culture 101 — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:49:36 +0000

Ginger has an odd looking scab growing on her udder. I think it is a fungus because there is no blood. And it doesn’t look like a growth to me, either. I’m treating it with lavender and tea tree oil. So will see how that goes. She does have a tendency to get skin infections. She is a white Appaloosa so she hasn’t got a lot going for her in the complexion department. LOL. Will try and keep everyone updated.

News

Kiwi Culture 101 — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 03:17:52 +0000

Hi all, Sorry about the lack of updates, but I’ve been pretty busy lately. Sonny is doing well. Clicker training is working wonders. I’ve just trimmed his front hooves and am about to go do his hinds. I’m really happy with they way his mustang roll is comming along. His hinds have some really bad cracks that until now I’ve ignored, but I’ve picked up a few ideas on how to deal with them and can’t wait to try them out. More later.

Sonny Update

Kiwi Culture 101 — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:58:46 +0000

I posted this on the Click Ryder Forum and thought I’d post it here for you guys.

Well, we’ve made another break through. Yielding the front end. This was a major no no in Sonny’s book. I could move his HQs around all I liked, but his front end was going to stay right where it was, thank you very much. If I persisted, backing or charging forward were the two options offered. Not a good look, as my riding teacher says. Well I tried it with clicker training and now after two days we are doing splendidly. This brings up an interesting point that I would like some feed back on. Do you find that your horses are more willing to learn new things with CT? Especially those things that they resisted before you started CT. Sonny is much more patient with my fumbling around trying to show him what I want him to do than he was before.

Some other fun things we are learning are: heeling (If my dog can do it why can’t my horse?), standing still calmly (he gets this little coy look that is soo cute.), head down, and walking with are ears pricked forward. Backing up on command is getting really solid too.

Sonny Update

Kiwi Culture 101 — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:58:46 +0000

I posted this on the Click Ryder Forum and thought I’d post it here for you guys.

Why CT Works

Kiwi Culture 101 — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:53:58 +0000

I had a major breakthrough just now. I was out training Sonny and I decided to try turns on the HQs. Now to appreciate what I’m about to say, you have to understand that Sonny takes Opposition reflex to an art form. I have tried for years to get him to yield his front end to no avail. He’s happy to move his HQs but any attempt to move his front end round resulted in him charging forward. Today I just applied gentle pressure on his shoulder and he soon caught on to what I wanted. I at first, just asked for a hoof moved over to the side. He started off with small moves, and yes sometimes he did try moving forward but he wasn’t charging, he was experimenting, but as soon as Sonny caught on to what I wanted he was moving that front end for me quite happily and those HQs stayed planted. (I didn’t even have to ask for that, as long as the front end moved in the desired direction I was happy.) So this brought up the question, why does Clicker Training make horses more responsive to pressure? The answer, at least my take on it, is that when you just go out and start asking your horse to move around, he thinks your just bullying him around senselessly, and resents it, thus the opposition reflex. However, when you add the clicker, the horse doesn’t mind you asking him to move around because, a. the clicker changes the way you ask, b. he knows he’s going to get something out of it, and therefore doesn’t mind you asking for things.

Now that probably doesn’t make alot of sense, but I just wanted to jot it down before I forgot.

Sonny Update

Kiwi Culture 101 — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 05:32:04 +0000

Clicker training is going well. One problem that we have overcome is his not liking his hooves trimmed. I click every so often while I’m trimming his hooves and someone hands him a treat, so I don’t have to stop working, and he is quite happy for me to work on his hooves now. I’m working on the basics with him. But he is making huge strides and I think that we will be able to start on some proper tricks very soon. Now ain’t that excitin?

Click Ryder Forum

Kiwi Culture 101 — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 06:51:04 +0000

The Click Ryder Forum (yahoo) is a wonderful group of ladies who come from all walks of life and are devoted to clicker training their equines. I’ve recently joined and I just can’t get over how friendly and informative they are. I’ve linked to them off to the side. You’ll find it under Clicker Training. Or you could jsut click here