Insomnia

[orchidcactus]

Random bout of sleeplessness. At least once a month, I can't sleep... generally it's because my brain won't shut off, but tonight it's the dreaded restless legs. I know when stretching and ibuprofen don't work, it's going to be a long night.

So... horses.

I haven't ridden in a while... after one of my rescues dumped me a few times, finally crunching my back and laying me up for weeks, I find I'm not as confident. Go figure. The older I get, the less I want to risk having parts of my body maimed by a half-ton animal. I'm particular to my brain box, and unless I want surgery, my left shoulder can't take too many more hits.

I still like doing ground work, though, quite a bit. I use conditioned response methods of training, which works for someone as small as I am. There is no way someone my height/strength can 'make' a full-size horse do anything. (Now, some of the ponies we've owned, I could pick up. :-) )

I really dig clicker training as a supplement to more traditional methods. If you've never read about using clickers to train animals, take a minute to Google it.

I've taught horses to load in the trailer without using anything but a clicker. Sure, I could have put a halter and a butt rope on them and worked them in with a lot of sweating and cursing... or, I could make it a game where they earn lots of treats.

My favorite horse behavior to correct is 'hard to catch'. The hard to catch horse sees a lead rope or halter and takes off, sometimes staying just out of reach. They're nice horses, generally, but don't want to work... and being caught means they have to do something other than fertilize the field.

I know some folks hate working this type of horse... but, for me, it's amazing to be able to finally put a halter on a horse that someone told me was uncatchable.

Fixing it is so easy, too... when the horse walks away from you, you chase. When the horse stops, you stop and give him a break. If, when you take a step towards him, he doesn't move, you reward by backing up a few steps. Pretty soon, the horse figures out it's far less work to stand still and let the silly human flop around. Then it's only a matter of working ever closer.

I end up looking like Grover  though. "Neeeaaar.... ffaaarrr..."