Dan starting to learn spanish walk... what next?! :)

Sol

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Made up a quick vid of Dan starting to learn Spanish walk tonight. Well, that's the eventual plan. It's taken months of me occasionally coming back to it before he even clicked onto lifting his foot more than an inch off the floor, but all of a sudden I tried the other day & *clunk* the penny dropped. :D So far I'm just working on left leg, and trying to get it so he'll respond to my cue, me lifting my left leg & then I'll try & add a vocal cue to help teaching it on board (may take years!).

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=513897605331911

I have found though, that if I do too much of one thing, he switches off, or goes the other way & gets stuck on repeat & wont stop whatever he's doing & gets a bit manic. I'm sure part of it is just we're both new to it, I've tried reading up on clicker training but most of it goes over my head, so I'm just feeling my way with it tbh. We're making progress so can't be doing totally the wrong thing :o He stays with me & so I presume is happy enough, but I found if I mix it up with some other things (such as moving about, or tonight I tried asking for 'back up' which he sort of knows anyway, it's better & keeps his attention & keeps him fresh.
Only issue is, 'back up' is, I think for now, too easily confused with the leggy lifts. So I want something a bit less confusing & fairly simple to work with, but I'm not sure what? Has anyone got any ideas? :) Normally I wouldn't try & teach 2 things at once, but, as usual, Dan has thrown all 'normal' reasoning out of the window :rolleyes:

Orange & dark choc cookies available... if my boyfriend hasn't eaten them all first :P
 
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Aww, that's no fun :( I wouldn't know as not even my phone does internet! I'd upload to youtube but it takes years :o (or so it seems... I'm not good at being patient with technology, as it usually breaks half-way through uploading!)
 
Well done great start, we went from 0 to this in 21 days....

This was day 1 forgive the music

[youtube]3z58FtX6LYA[/youtube]

This was day 21

[youtube]F4pOrfsS47g[/youtube]

As you tap and when he lifts the leg make a clicking sound with your mouth or lift you leg as you were doing and give a treat when he performs the movement well. However clicking works well if you want to be able to perform the movement whist in the saddle without a schooling whip. Repetition is the key but in short sessions max we did was about 15 mins per session.
Good luck and keep at it.
 
Well done great start, we went from 0 to this in 21 days....

This was day 1 forgive the music

[youtube]3z58FtX6LYA[/youtube]

This was day 21

[youtube]F4pOrfsS47g[/youtube]

As you tap and when he lifts the leg make a clicking sound with your mouth or lift you leg as you were doing and give a treat when he performs the movement well. However clicking works well if you want to be able to perform the movement whist in the saddle without a schooling whip. Repetition is the key but in short sessions max we did was about 15 mins per session.
Good luck and keep at it.

Thanks, I'm pretty clued up on teaching Spanish walk as it's probably one of the most common things to teach now really! (well, so it would seem) and I've ridden it also previously which helps. What I'm looking for is something entirely different to teach him along side this which ISN'T Spanish walk, to prevent him from becoming stale with it as I explained above. So far my only idea has been to teach him something target based, such as standing on a small square of plastic, and build it up to perhaps using a pedestal as it should involve less touching/gesturing which tends to just make him flail various body parts!
 
What about fetch? It's fairly easy to teach. Start with a small cone and with a clicker. Once they touch it click and treat. Repeat for a while. Then start only occasionally giving clicks, just give a rub instead. They soon start experimenting to get their clicks. When they eventually put their mouth over the cone, click treat and lots of fuss! Then once they're doing that consistently, again just odd click. They soon start bringing it back to you! Might help with rewarding Spanish walk for clicker training. Penny might drop then! Besides, it's no fun having a one trick pony, Dan is just reminding you of that :-D
 
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