Marjon's Icelandic Horses
Icelandic Horses being clicker trained in the Netherlands.
"jong geleerd is oud gedaan"
Otra came in my life at 6 months old, I loved her
at first sight. When she was 1 year old she went
to a kind of wildpark with a lot of other
Icelandic youngsters, where she grew up, developed
socially and physically (real herd dynamics) until
the age of 4. Then, finally, she came home! But
first she 'visited' a stallion of friends of
mine, after 5 weeks we were certain she was bred
and expecting (hopefully). Wow, after 4 years
waiting she was finally there. First I let her
settle down, get used to my geldings and her new
environment. I soon realized what a cool type of
horse she is, she was already easy with moving her
around in trailers etc, but now, at home I really
discovered her character. How different from the
guys! At the age of 4 1/2 I was ready to start
with her ground training (I thought). I didn't
know about Clickertraining at that time, but was
familiar with other NH methods like Hempfling,
Roberts and I used TTEAM already with the guys.
Ok, I tried a kind of join-up first, in a 'closed'
part of my arena, which I always use for liberty
longeing. No way! that she is going to move, she
didn't run around and around or even moved a foot.
I quickly realized she is just too cool for that,
but when I 'ignored' her in the arena after a
while, she perfectly 'joined' and followed a few
steps behind me. This also made me realize that,
in my opinion, there's no reason first to make
your horse run in a sort of fear, so it can
'submit' to you afterwards, first you act like the
preditor and after a while you say, well you may
'surrender' I'm not going to eat you after all..
there's no logics at all, certainly not from the
horses point of view. Maybe this kind of join-up
is really meant to be done with really wild horses
like mustangs, but not with horses who are used to
the company of man!
I went on with groundwork, and it was kind of
'frustating' . During that time I got into a
somewhat emotional period in my life, really a
good period of interacting with a 'green' horse
and so in that disturbing period, I tried it
all: leading work, with and without a small
obstacle course, took her for walks, tried liberty
longeing, tried playing and having fun, nothing
worked out with her. She just didn't want to move
her legs! She already learned basic leading and
ground manners as a filly, but now I was
confronted with a totally uninterested horse, who
didn't look happy at all. I even bridled her
completely, with a girthed saddle, she didn't care
at all!! So I decided (just in time, thanks
heaven) to just stop all training with Otra, also
considering the fact she was expecting. People
told me 'just to mount her' because of her beeing
so cool, but I still want a firm "ground" basic
before I even mount her.
Her filly came, and with that my emotional
balance. Also C/T came into my life, and with that
the big, huge lightbulb; I'm so glad I waited long
enough to find out that that's the way for Otra
and me: she needs to have a 'reason' to work and
learn!
The first lessons went great, she reacted so
quickly at the trigger ( a hardplastic can) I
hardly couldn't get up with her speed: touch/click
and treat, left/right left/right...the second day
she showed me that she really understood , she
immediately took up the game, I placed the can in
a corner of her paddock, gave the verbal cue I
already used, together with a handsignal, and on
she went. Touched/C and back for her treat, again
and again. She already looks at me in a different
way, more 'light' in her eyes, more happy. She is
also far more quicker in her responses than the
guys with C/T, they took more time before making
the connection.
The first lesson liberty longeing also went good
with C/T, she gave much more response and was
willing to move away from me, she also did some
'walking the cavaletti' in liberty and was really
enjoying herself with that. I know it's important
not to hurry things, I think I'm going to watch
HER to make the next move, let her lead me into
her world, her level of understanding and
willingness....
Me and my mare Otra, picture taken in a kind of
wildpark where she grew up the first years of her life (is common use
over here with Icelandics 1-y till 3 or 4 y old).
This morning I "zapped' a little around on our television, when I
suddenly found myself looking at a childrens program on national
television. It's a program where children may ask a question about
whatever they want to know, and there was an item now in a circus. I
missed the introduction/question of this little girl, but it was sure
about training lions and tigers. Standing by the cage of two 5-month-old
lions, she asked him how he trains them. He put his hand in his pocket,
took something out, and there it was: "our" clicker! He also had a
target stick, and then the girl was asked to help the trainer with the
little lions first lessons: she did the "click" when the stick was
touched, he did the treat.
Well, we all know about that first lessons. Next step was in the bigger
arena: sniffing a seat, C/T, climbing the seat C/T. The girl (very
clever one) asked about the training of the older, he told that he uses
C/T with new tricks, and goes on when the tricks are "settled" with
vocal/non-vocal cues. It really sounds all familiar don't you think. I
did know of course about C/T other animals, in fact operant training
started years ago with dolphins and other, but it was nice to see it on
television. I was surprised by the dutch host of the program, he
translated some stuff (the trainer was foreign) and he perfectly told
the basics of CT, all by himself, not as a translation, more like
something he already knows well. I do hope a lot of children watched it
and are as clever as this young girl, "jong geleerd is oud gedaan" dutch
saying: teached when young, done when older.
The stallion Birki, sire of Saela
Saela,
born april 1999
My 14-y old gelding
Himbrimi (meaning Icediver = a bird) call him Brimi. he's my 5-gaited
Landrover for long distances, and a real joy to have around, tends to be
introvert but you must know
how to play with him, he can be very clever and full of jokes, likes
hugs and massage
(not like Rodull, is more the independant "I don't need that kind of
stuff" horse)
My 22-y old gelding
Rodull (now I really mis the icelandic keyboard function) : taken this
summer, a real delight to ride, four distinguished gaits, a real
"sportscar" , a
lot of temperament, very honest and safe to ride, not the "spook-seeing"
type when riding, only during daytime routine and groundwork (great for
C/T work). I love him and his independent Icelandic-import nature.
Otra
Rodull
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