Latest Blog Posts

• Jo Bloggs; Banging the drum.03 October 2022

  

  Banging the drum is a bit of a tradition here starting with my first Rhodesian Ridgeback Balou over ten years ago. Then I started to wonder if my Thoroughbred Mare Missy would do it, which she learned in super quick time. She features here in a blog I did a few years ago https://fb.watch/fSydjT_JEf/ To my surprise, far from being scared of the bang, she seemed to really enjoy whacking that pedal. The drum was something curious to be worked out and not be scared of. The drum was then packed away for a while until the time I started to consider doing some work to de-spook Sully. There is a reason that I have put off de-spooking so long. Firstly I want him to keep unpacking his bags I don’t want to take a step too far and him feel like he has to start folding his pants back up and putting them in a suitcase. Secondly, you can look at three bomb-proof horses and while it all looks the same result, the process can be very different, the horse can be genuinely cool and not worried about a scary object or it can be a kind of chronic shutting down, checking out, or sensory overload. I want Sully to be genuinely confident and OK with the scary stuff, even curious about it. It will take more time, but it will definitely be worth it. So, I decided to see what his reaction to the nemesis of horses everywhere - The plastic bag. I taped over the open end of a plastic sack to make sure that he couldn’t get a foot stuck, and tentatively put it in the arena with Sully. My plan was to use a very gradual reduction in distance and tasty rewards. I wanted to start working at a distance where he was curious but not worried. As usual, Sully was wearing no headcollar with the option to go eat hay instead of working with me. Well knock me over with a feather, if he didn’t march straight over to the bag and start trying to figure out what would get him a reward. His favourite trick with it seemed to be scooting the bag underneath himself with a front hoof. I rewarded every interaction with it. There was no wrong answer and no worry to be seen. With my next session I decided to try the drum. My intention was only to let him investigate it and perhaps hear the sound it made. First the pedal need to be made more stable and hoof friendly, so I tottered off into the Other Half’s man cave with a bit of wood, carpet and the pedal. He broke off from repairing a punctured tyre inner tube to a ‘Can you just make this hoof friendly?’ request from me.

  

  Hoof friendly pedal and drum ready. Enter Sully. I honestly expected the first session to be ‘look at this, it’s nothing to worry about’ But in true Sully style, he started to figure, and soon worked out that it was something to do with his hoof and the pedal. Within minutes we had a bang. Rather than being scared, he looked kind of pleased with himself, confirmed by my delighted whooping and jackpot of treats. I try to keep my sessions short and finish while he is still engaged in the game. I have done a couple of sessions since, one where he decided to roll on the wet rubber surface to become a blue roan for the day.

  

  Of course, it would be rude not to give Chase, our Rhodesian Ridgeback a go. He too nailed it within minutes. I absolutely love it that both boys straight away viewed the drum as a thing to be figured out.