We gave Estrid 6 weeks just to settle in, get to know her new pony friends and human slaves. We’ve still been bringing her in for a groom, picking her feet out in the field, practice loading and generally giving her a fuss, which is all progress in a young horses education but now the more structured training has begun.
I started off with just halter control and verbal/body commands. I tend to go with the technique of pressure = wrong and release = right. So as soon as she’s doing what I’m asking her to do there is no pressure on her headcollar, sometimes this is a yoyo game, especially on her first walk where she’d jog, I’d put pressure on, she’d walk, I’d release, she’d jog again, but in reality it only took 5mins for her to ‘get it’ and for me to walk her on a slack lead rope.
The other thing I like them to learn is body language commands. I like to lead from both sides, and generally do everything on their left and right, so if I lean one way with my arm out I want her to go that direction. I do everything with voice, body language and pressure to begin with, until either just voice and body language or body language alone is enough.
Estrid is now pretty good at ‘woah’, ‘stand’ ‘walk on’ and ‘trrrrrot’ verbally and she’s also got left and right down just from body language. It’s super fun getting to know her personality. She’s a thinker, she’s still quite highly strung, always the first to notice anything but so far she doesn’t panic, she’ll snort, prance and neigh but she seems to keep her head, which is a great trait.
Also in the video is a review on the Nettex V.I.P So sound supplement I was gifted to trial over the last 3 months. Definitely a positive experience, with similar ingredients to what I usually use, and the added bonus of very slightly cheaper!
Beth Endurance 