Palomino's Training Journal-Showtime!

[Palomino]

Wow! How did you teach him to do that?

He's very smart, and it certainly wasn't a conventional way. I taught him to shake hooves on a pedestal. He still does that, but only on a pedestal to keep it clear. After a day or two he came to associate the word shake with the action. He loves showing off and I noticed that he very expressively offered me his hooves on his first day at liberty. I stopped shaking his hooves with my hand when he offered and rewarded him for raising them up and forward when I cued him with the word shake. By gesturing on either side of his head, I decide which leg he raises. I also asked for more action by repeating the word shake until he got really fancy with his hooves, then I rewarded him. Soon he was doing it with both front hooves and alternating for a few steps in place. It is difficult for them to learn the Spanish step at first because of the coordination it requires with their back legs. Now I don't even have a whip with me when I'm working him and if I tapped his back legs anyway, it would probably make him sidepass instead. So I incorporated the cue of follow where I walk backwards and he follows me. He got the idea, but as long as he was alternating both front legs, he kind of shuffled with the back legs. That was the first day and it probably took less then 5 minutes for him and me to figure all that out.
Now he does a Polka version of the step. He leads with one front leg and steps normally with the rest. It helps him develop forward motion and coordination so that eventually he will be able to do the full Spanish Step which is supposed to take 1-2 years to teach. At this rate he should have it down sooner though!

 

[Baymule]

I am in awe.....

 

[Palomino]

I took another screenshot to show the range of the Step.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

Very very impressive

 

[Palomino]

Very very impressive

Thank you!!

After rewatching the video, I see why he offered it now. I was asking him to "hook" which is where they bring their head and neck forward and their neck makes a hooky shape, think Arabian type conformation. Anyway, you can bait a horse in halter classes to get that and bait ranges from candy wrappers to coonskin caps to peppermints to large plush ducks. I use their feed because it's easy to give a small quantity that they can chew quickly before the next judge comes, because a chewing mouth is not a pretty picture. So, this time, I asked him to hook and he did it twice, but I didn't give him his bait, so he gave me the Spanish Step and as I was done asking him to set up anyway, I gave the bait to him. Clever Horse! Now I'll have to undo that tomorrow. Sometimes he tries to train me.

 

[Baymule]

haha, I am so impressed with what you can do with your horses!

 

[Palomino]

Tried something new today.....First jump double. This is very rare for minis, only at nationals do they occasionally have one of these in hunter classes. There, both poles are the same height, 24" max, and they are much closer together. But I decided to make it more challenging, so the first pole is 31", 2nd is 35" and the total width is 52".

Going up and still climbing to give the 2nd pole plenty of room

Coming down, I love how his back legs are preparing to clear the 2nd and higher pole.

And finally,

Total length of his jump was, 9ft 4in!!! He did it so effortlessly, I couldn't believe that, but I measured his hoofprints and compared it with the video to double check. I'm going to have to edit our world record application for long jumping, because I had it at 8' and he just crushed that.

 

[Baymule]

Is he hiding wings? What an awesome little guy. Give him a big hug and a schmoochy kiss and tell him his Aunt Baymule is proud of him!

 

[Palomino]

Is he hiding wings? What an awesome little guy. Give him a big hug and a schmoochy kiss and tell him his Aunt Baymule is proud of him!

Sometimes I think he's doing just that! I don't think he'd stand for a hug, but I'll give him a shoulder scratch for you

 

[Bruce]

Maybe she feeds him beans and he has a little extra thrust

Total length of his jump was, 9ft 4in!!! He did it so effortlessly, I couldn't believe that, but I measured his hoofprints and compared it with the video to double check. I'm going to have to edit our world record application for long jumping, because I had it at 8' and he just crushed that.

VERY impressive!