Oct 25, 2018
Ground tying ☑️
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Ground tying ☑️
In this clip, Patrick gives some thoughts and tips on helping your horse to stand in cross ties, ground tied, and basically just wherever you put him. ------...
What horse? I can barely see him because he’s SO FAR AWAY 😕
Oh um
Did I mention we worked on ground tying today?? I dropped the lead rope and walked all the way around him and ugh I’m so over the moon right now. He’s getting so good 😍
Working on ground tying. love how I tried to get him to stand square and he practically stood on top of his own feet. I’m so happy with him!! This was only the second day ever we’ve worked on this (the first being yesterday). I love him
One of the key lessons in my positive reinforcement course is mat training. In mat training you teach your horse to stand on a mat with the two front feet. Once your horse knows what is expected of him, you can turn this exercise into a powerful tool to teach new behaviours.
Applying Mat Training
Once your horse is happy to stand on a mat you can:
Build ‘duration’. This will help to teach your horse to ground tie.
Use the mat as indicator for your horse where to stand, aligning next to the mounting block
Teach him to step onto other objects like a pedestal, tarp or trailer ramp. You can start placing the mat on or next to the new object first if your horse doesn’t respond to the cue for ‘step up’ or if he is nervous
Teach him to put one foot on a stool as preparation for the farriers hoof stand
Place mats in the arena and use them to send your horse from mat to mat.
teach your horse to go over bridges or step into water
Send your horse from mat to mat with a pole or small jump in between
And so on
If you want to know how to start mat training with your horse, read this post.
Every horse has a different learning curve
At the SPCA barn were I teach the horses with positive reinforcement, I work with 5 horses. Last week I introduced the mat (a foam puzzle mat) to four of them. It was really interesting to see how each horse reacts in a different way to the mat.
Horse #1
Horse #1 tried to avoid the mat in the beginning and did everything not to step on it. He didn’t even sniff the mat at first. So my first criterion with him was clicking for ‘moving a hoof closer to the mat’. It didn’t take long before he figured out that the mat had something to do with the clicks and he started pawing the mat. Well done!
Horse #2
Horse #2 sniffed the mat right away. It could be that she had seen that the mat had something to do with earning a click and reinforcer or maybe she just has a different personality and training history.
After sniffing, she started touching the mat with her nose. She knows how to target a target stick and a cone with her nose. My first criterion is always ‘interact with the mat’, so I reinforced the sniffing and touching with the nose.
Then I raised the criterion to ‘touch with a hoof’ and I had to ‘set it up for success’ by manipulating the environment a bit. I put the mat in front of her feet and asked to touch the target stick which I held far enough for her to do one step. Indeed she touched the target and stepped onto the mat with one hoof. Then I faded out the target stick and she figured out quickly that touching the mat with her hooves was the way to earn clicks and food.
Horse #3
Horse #3 started pawing the mat right away. This horse has a habit of lifting her legs in order to ask for attention, during feeding time or if she is stressed. If she doesn’t get what she wants, she often alternates legs.
Mat training is a good way to teach her to ‘keep her 2 front feet on the floor’ since this is incompatible behaviour with the leg lifting she does. She is amazingly smart and was the first horse that stood properly with both of her feet on the mat within the first session. It seemed to ‘click’. I have clicked for ‘4 feet on the ground’ many times during previous training sessions. The mat clearly helped her to focus on ‘standing’. I can’t wait until our next sessions to build duration.
Horse #4
Horse #4 stepped on the mat right away as if he wasn’t aware of it. Of course I clicked and reinforced for stepping onto the mat, even though it really looked like he didn’t see the mat. After reinforcing stepping onto the mat a few times I placed the mat a bit further away and he immediately walked over there to stand on it. Bravo! He did step on the mat on purpose.
Mat training was an excellent preparation for stepping on a horse scale. Our clicker trained horses were the best behaving clients that day
Each horse reacts differently to a mat, depending on his character, history, experience with new objects, clicker experience and so on.
How did your horse do in the first session with the mat? How did mat training helped you in other situations? Please share your story in the comments below. Thank you.
Sandra Poppema
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Fun Friday: Mat Training One of the key lessons in my positive reinforcement course is mat training. In mat training you teach your horse to stand on a mat with the two front feet.
“What do you MEAN I have to practice ground tying?
Ugh bitch I hate you so much rn.”
-Dusty, probably
(the lighting made me look like a blob)
A few days ago I asked about ground tying, so I tried it today
oh and I picked up her hoof bc she usually tires to walk when I do that
am I doing it right, and if not, what am I doing wrong?