If I had received a cent for every time I repeated something to a pony, I would have been a millionaire by this time. I begin by hammering it into a horse’s head I’m essentially making an attempt to communicate something to him. When he has finally got the idea that I am really attempting to tell him something, I need to let him know whatever it is that I needed to let him know such a lot of times I start sounding like a scratched LP record. This causes me to do foolish things on occasion. I train a few horses at assorted steps of training simultaneously. In itself, this is problematic, because I have track of where I am with each pony. If I’ve a particularly difficult time with any pony, then it takes me a while to remember where I was with the remainder of the horses? And frequently I don’t do a good job of recollection. The plus side is, when a pony finally begins to get an idea of what I’m on about, he frequently starts liking it, and then the teaching gets way easier.
My clients have all heard from me that a homo sapien breaks a set habit only after 2,000 repetitions of the ?drop the habit? Tune have been drummed into his head. A human being also need nothing less than 2,000 repetitions to pick up a new habit, and eventually, he makes a habit a unconscious uncontrolled response just when it has been drilled into him 10,000 times. When I explain this to my clients, they get it; they know what can be predicted when they give me a pony to coach. You’ve got to have a look at the other side of the coin, the horse’s perspective. When he first is brought to me, he hasn’t any idea he is preparing to attend school. He really doesn’t even know what a school is. He would be astonished if he were informed that he is going to be taught lessons, and that he is expected to learn them well. When you look at it from this viewpoint, you become more understanding of horses.
The repetitions may change with each horse: each has his own learning curve, just like human scholars.
You might make bar charts out of a horse’s learning curve. A horse can be bafflingly inconsistent: he is going to do good, bad, good or bad with each repetition of the same lesson. Obviously, when you initiate the lesson, he will be at his worst. Just assume that your horse’s response to repetition number 121 has been enjoyable. Just when you are feeling like giving him a pat, he absolutely muffs repetition 122. Your urge to pat him with your hand all of a sudden becomes a yearning to pat him with a sledgehammer. But you cannot afford to show your frustration, so you swallow the bile and go on to repetition 123. He will probably surprise you once again. When you have reached repetition 307, say, you will find that all of a sudden he has had an ‘Eureka!’ moment. He’s got the concept, you’re teaching him something. Though the odd glitch may continue to surface, you will pretty much have smooth sailing with him after that.
You’ll get a lot of variations due to individual pony characteristics, but the general pattern will be the same. When you’ve got past the great wall around the horse’s brain, you’ll be able to see faster progress. The more time you spend with the pony, the better he learns. He may even surprise you by behaving like he enjoys the lessons.
When does a pony become a good learner? 2 factors establish this point: your teaching methods and the horse’s nature. My general experience with the more difficult horses has been that it takes 5 days a week of classes over three months to succeed, but I must advise you that it is best you don’t work to fixed schedules with horses. Don’t also push your pony too far or too fast. Think repetition, and then think more repetition. Your horse at the initial stages could be wondering why you are trying to show him things he just can’t do. Persistence is going to win that battle for you.
Horses are Heather Tomspassion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers click here
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