UnfilteredCowgirl
Active Member
Hi y'all!
So I have two miniature donkeys, and when I got them, they had very little training. Or at least, that's what I thought. As I worked with them, I learned that they had been very well trained once upon a time, but they have learned that they don't have to do what the hooman says, and that they are correct no matter what. We have worked past that, and they are now halter broke, and they come to me, they target my fist, they lift their hooves, I can pick their hooves out, they are pretty well desensitized to ropes and stuff like that swinging around them, they allow lots of weight to be on their back, and for me to fold over top of them and wiggle my arms around on them. But they will not lead! I have been working on it for a really long time now. And some days they are so great! They follow me so well, and they speed up when I do, and slow down when I do. When I start to move out, they are already waiting, and I hardly have any pressure on the halter to tell them to move out. So some days they are awesome! Then other days, they refuse to move. At. All. They will dig their heels in, and lean back, and good luck moving them. They weigh 320 and 340 pounds, so I can't really do much about it. I have tried like smacking their butts with the end of the lead, as I have pressure on the halter, but that doesn't seem to work. At all. I have also tried like, diagonal leading. So, making them transfer their weight before asking them to come forwards. That works but takes forever!!
So I dunno if they are scared, or what the heck they are doing. Do you guys have any tips? I can't seem to figure this one out. I am currently using a lot of different training techniques/styles, I mostly focus on +R, +P, -R, and reward-based equine clicker training. These methods have worked really well in the past for everything else they are learning, but not this. Any ideas? Thank you!!
So I have two miniature donkeys, and when I got them, they had very little training. Or at least, that's what I thought. As I worked with them, I learned that they had been very well trained once upon a time, but they have learned that they don't have to do what the hooman says, and that they are correct no matter what. We have worked past that, and they are now halter broke, and they come to me, they target my fist, they lift their hooves, I can pick their hooves out, they are pretty well desensitized to ropes and stuff like that swinging around them, they allow lots of weight to be on their back, and for me to fold over top of them and wiggle my arms around on them. But they will not lead! I have been working on it for a really long time now. And some days they are so great! They follow me so well, and they speed up when I do, and slow down when I do. When I start to move out, they are already waiting, and I hardly have any pressure on the halter to tell them to move out. So some days they are awesome! Then other days, they refuse to move. At. All. They will dig their heels in, and lean back, and good luck moving them. They weigh 320 and 340 pounds, so I can't really do much about it. I have tried like smacking their butts with the end of the lead, as I have pressure on the halter, but that doesn't seem to work. At all. I have also tried like, diagonal leading. So, making them transfer their weight before asking them to come forwards. That works but takes forever!!
So I dunno if they are scared, or what the heck they are doing. Do you guys have any tips? I can't seem to figure this one out. I am currently using a lot of different training techniques/styles, I mostly focus on +R, +P, -R, and reward-based equine clicker training. These methods have worked really well in the past for everything else they are learning, but not this. Any ideas? Thank you!!
