Lunging Our Horse For The Second Time: An Update On Nayyerah's Training
Hey Steemit! I'm excited to bring you the latest in our current project. Many of you will know that we are breaking in our mare, Nayyerah. She has an adorable nature but has a strength of spirit that you don't want to be on the bad side of! Her name means "full of light" and it's certainly fitting.
This morning we walked her down to the sand arena in order to try her lunging again. She's only done this once before. For those who don't know, lunging is where a horse moves around a person and responds to their commands. It's a good way to practice attentiveness, control over the gait, transitions of speed and general harmony.
Nayyerah has always struggled to keep distance between her and the person, wanting to always come to the inside of the circle. We've recently had to use a little force which doesn't sit well with me. I wrote about that here. She respects us now for it however and just look at the progress we've made together.
We've managed to teach her that we're asking her to do is walk around us in a circle and not stop until we ask. By making the walking easier than protesting or playing up, she's quite happy to do so when she understands what we're asking her to do. Horses are intelligent, especial Arabians, and she seems to have figured it out. This morning we lunged her for only the second time.
You'll note that in the start of the video she was again trying to come into the centre of the circle. My wife tells her off for this and she yields. There is a point where she turns her rump in. This is to be discouraged. It's dangerous as it usually is an indication of the horse wanting to kick. I've seen it many times.
When this happens, more pressure is applied, the whip it raised as a visual deterrent (just raising arms is interpreted as pressure) and the volume and tone of sound is elevated. In this case, she again responds well by yielding. She'll learn that unacceptable behaviour such as showing the rump is met with pressure where respectful cooperation is met with pleasure. I know that @wisewoof will be keen to see her in action! Enjoy!
Ahh wonderful! Scarab really knows his lunge. Nayyerah is clearly getting the hang of it though after only her second go that's impressive! Interesting to note that raising arms is interpreted as pressure. I'm grateful to be learning so much from these posts! Thankyou!! She seems very happy & relaxed rolling around right after the training session. Didn't much want to stick around to see Scarab do his thing though haha.
Yeah Scarab's a gorgeous boy. An old hand and very accommodating. We actually just did another session with them both this afternoon and Nayyerah was even better still. Keeping up the pace when they first get the hang of something helps to reinforce what they've learned.
Lessons only need to be very short. I think this afternoon we would have only spent 5 minutes with her. A couple of circles in each direction (symmetry is important) and all done! A positive experience for her. She also knows that work doesn't have to be drawn out or boring.
I'm glad you noticed her run off in the video. I found that funny too! You can imagine her thinking "oh to hell with that!"
So glad you like the videos! Thanks so much for all the positive feedback.
Thanks so much for all the information!! I have been taking notes like how you mention the short length of training sessions and reinforcing what they learn with consistency. I look forward to more posts! ^_^
You're most welcome!
Wow this is really wonderful. I love and love horses. My dream of life is to ride and play with the horse. I thank you with all my heart. Thank you for all this.
Today I learned a new lesson about horses, thanks @nolnocluap
My pleasure @walid.larbi. Thank you so much for such a lovely comment. I post fairly often about our horses and so does my wife @beulinator. We live with them on our property and we love being able to hang out with them every day. They're very gentle and intimate animals if treated right. It sounds like you have an attitude that would suit horsemanship very well!
Beautiful lady! she is so relaxed and reallylistening to you,is she an arab? following you, not got enough horse in my life right now!
Hi @steemama! Lovely to meet another horse lover. Yes well spotted she's a pure bred Egyptian Arabian. Scarab is too. We bought her from the breeder. When she was transported to us it was the first time she'd left the property where she was born on. Thanks for following and for the lovely comment!
Ohhh my favourite! I lived in Egypt for 4 years near Cairo and had lots of contact with Arabian horses, my own there was half, I really love the character. We just did a 2 month trek with two horses and pur kids in the mountains Herr in Spain. The smaller made is half Arabian (so they said!) There's a post/blog on it on my page :-)
How interesting! Its amazing the history and experience that can be revealed by steemit members. They're a lovely breed. Intelligent, strong for their size, robust and heaps of character.
They apparently can have have fewer ribs than other breeds (depending on cross breeding) to allow their lungs to expand more so that they can work harder with more air. They're well suited to heat and cold. Just a gorgeous and capable breed. Very intimate when trrated well and very firey when not.
They have a bad reputation among the barn-which community because they tend to resist all the bad handling techniques that are so common with most horse owners. I find it's never the horses fault!
I'll have to check out your post later today. Thanks!
Well done, all of you! She's definitely caught on to the basics and will be responding like a dream in no time.
On a side note, I'd always wondered what the purpose of this exercise was. Now I know! Thanks for the education!
Thanks again! Yes it's a good way to get the communication working well before being on their back. You're more vulnerable there so you want the bulk of the learning done on the ground 😊
Interesting and informative.
🙏
Andreas
I quite commend and appreciate your efforts towrds what you are doing to boost steemit activities, keep it up. You earn my upvote.
beutiful, i like horses
Thanks!
such a great work thats how we should do, im glad for you having thoese upvotes , my best one 0.4 maybe lol the begainnig on steemit is a bit hard , we need some encouragement from you mates I belive in relation with this beautiful commuity, waiting to see your next professional work
I've been here a couple months and the insincerity is the first thing that stood out. There are people who share thoughtful comments and you can tell they're just trying to get a vote, but at least they put some time and effort into what they're saying.
The group that bugs me are basically e-beggars with lazy, low-effort "thank you for posting"-type content. It's like chicks fishing for compliments and attention on Insta, but instead of putting SOME work into a cute photo they just snap a pic of themselves laying in bed, messed up hair and face pushed back showing off the double chin.
Soooooo you liked my video then?
Oh, you mean like the insincerity of leaving the same irrelevant comment in half a dozen posts back-to-back and then upvoting your own comment?
Thank you for the stellar example of exactly how NOT to do things on Steemit. You've been here long enough to know better. This little effort has earned you a flag. Congratulations!
EDITED TO ADD CORRECTION: Upon further investigation, it seems that comment is your go-to in every post you respond to. You'll notice flags on those comments, too.
Brilliant!
Thanks. ;~p