There is no reason for a horse to be afraid of the girth. Introduce it in little steps and associate it with something the horse wants, such as midline belly scratches. Managing perception is the key.
Task 43: Wearing a Girth
Month: September 2020
Nomination to the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board
Facebook message from the BLM
Here’s your opportunity to get involved! BLM is seeking nominations to fill three positions on the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board. The three open positions represent the areas of natural resource management, public interest (with special knowledge of equine behavior) and wild horse and burro research. The Board plays a vital role in advising the BLM and U.S. Forest Service on the protection and management of wild horses and burros on public lands. Nominations are due within 45 days of this announcement. Visit blm.gov/whb for details about completing and submitting a nomination packet, or contact Dorothea Boothe at dboothe@blm.gov.
FEDERAL REGISTER NOTICE Deadline is 2 November 2020
My Response
Hmmm….
Well, here is my CV if you would like to nominate me.
I have done this before and it turns out that it doesn’t matter how many regular people nominate you. It matters if your congress person nominates you. Important people with influence. Maybe you are that person?
Nominate me for the Wild Horse and Burro Research position. Thanks.
Task 42: Blanketing
Blankets are simple. We want to turn them into signals that something good is about to happen.
The subtasks in blanketing include targeting nose, then withers, to the blanket; being petted with the blanket, and emotional conditioning to give a positive spin on wearing the blanket.
Follow Bravo and John’s adventures learning to blanket on our webpage at the Magic Mustang Tamer. Subscribe to the page there to never miss a chapter.
Task 41 Stationing On A Rope
We are about to want to introduce some tack, so let’s first train the horse to stay put while we work around him. The hardest part for the horse is to notice the rope. The hardest part for the human is to put it on a variable schedule of reinforcement to make the behavior durable.
In the blog on the Magic Mustang Tamer we discuss the problem with actually tying a horse as well as how to train this particular behavior. Be sure to check it out for more information.
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Task 40: Yielding Hips in Response to Belly-taps
Prepare the horse to understand single sided leg pressure as a cue to move it’s hind legs laterally. This is the matching element to the one-rein stop we will be installing in Task 55.
For more information about this task, check the blog on The Magic Mustang Tamer. More video and discussion of the principles used to train.
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