Emlaw
I am wondering if hit is the umbrella that they are afraid of of if it is because it is black. Black looks like a big hole to them, When showing in Santa Barbara, CA the arena had overhead lights that are suspended on cables and they cast a black shadows on the arena floor during the day. We had a mare that was terrified of the shadows and made it really exciting showing her!
My horse hates water so when it rains our game is to see if I can get him to walk though a puddle. So far he is winning! I tricked him into walking through 2 puddles so far.

Playing games that desensitizes your horse is not only fun but you get to find out what they think are monsters. My horse thinks tractors are the biggest monster around and boy is he fun to ride when one is operating. I make him pass by the tractor, which he hates, but being such a willing horse he does it. Peruvian Pasos are really beautiful when they are scared. They get really big and their gate is quite spectacular! I always though that if I could get him scared just before going into the show arena he would always win hands down.

Cheers

Hi Emlaw, this is a great idea for casual desensitising! It's a lesson and the horse doesn't know it :-) I was refilling a trough in a day yard i have for my mini by bucket one day and i had to walk in and out of the paddock my brumby is in. He is really inquisitive so kept coming closer every time i waked by with the bucket, he was snorting as if it was scary but he just had to know what it was. I thought i'd be sneaky so i put it down and just stood to see what he did. He drove his head right into the full bucket then tried to pick it up! I emptied it into the trough in the day yard, came back and sat it on the ground empty. He picked it up by the edge and proceeded to swing it around! I guess he is not scared by white buckets! I am going to get him a big ball to play with in his paddock and we might use it for some games too...see if i can teach him to play soccer with me lol!
Janelle

Hello
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We had a horse that was scared of small horses pulling wagons. NOt good if u go to shows... We got a friend to come over and drive her pony around for a bit to desensitize our horse in the same manner and it worked well. We incrementally progressed to riding him beside the wagon over the space of a week. I did find that he still spooked a little at the next show, but got over it quickly.
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Kind regards,
.
Gen

Hi, nice to read that I am not alone playing around with my horse. There is a nice game equine fellows (horse and donkey) like to play very much.Chasing a plastic bag. I fix it on a long whip and just swing it araoud. At first the plastic bag lies on the ground, when they reach it and try to pick it up, I just move it a little further. They learn to follow it and at the end they might end in a very nice trot in a circle stretching their necks. A very usefull exercise anf fun for them.
@Dennis
Are the peruvian pasos like Columbian pasos or are they bigger. I lived 3 1/2 years in Columbia, Bucaramanga and could admire these beautiful horses.

Hi,
My horse was so afraid of traffic when she was on the road that she would freak out.
I had her on her dually and long lead and had my husband drive the truck around the property.
At first she was afraid but within a few minutes she was licking the back end of the truck, funny. He honked the horn, reaved the motor and made as much noise as possible. I kept her close to all this.
One day my son-in-law was over with the tracker and I had him reave up the motor several times, very soon she was curious and not afraid at all.
It's wonderful to see them overcome thier fears.
She still has a long way to go yet!!!
Ronda

Christina
Columbian Paso is a Paso Fino which originated in the Caribbean. Paso Finos take much smaller strides that the Peruvian Their feet move quite fast, where the Peruvian takes a longer stride and swings their front legs our so it looks like they are swimming. This is called termini and the Peruvian is the only horse that does this naturally.
I compare the two horses this way The Paso Fino footfalls make a sound like tick tick tick and the Peruvian Paso makes the sound paca paca paca paca Both are very smooth riding horses and generally I think the Peruvian Paso is a title large than the Paso Fino

Cheers

Yes, I remember the sound, they used to let them pass over a wooden surface with microfones attached. One could hear very well the tic-sound.

I had a pony that was also terrified of tractors - she never did totally overcome her fear. We got her good enough that she wouldn't bolt when one went past, but you could feel the tension mount and she was always a bit worried. We currently live next to a vineyard and there are always tractors around, my two boys aren't at all phased by them, nor cars. The neighbour has an offroad motorbike which does worry them a bit (but then he does drive it like a lunatic).
I've got a few other things up my sleeve which I will be testing out - a large purple swissball (the kind you sit on to do core stability exercises)and I think I will try the plastic bag on a stick idea as well, Cristina. I saw a TV programme about a guy who used similar methods to Monty and he used a big red and white flag and waved it all over the horses head and body, rather like Monty does with the bunch of shopping bags on a stick. Oh yes, and I have a nice big crinkly blue tarpaulin which I think will be interesting!
Dennis - I don't know if they thought the umbrella was a black hole, but they did look very puzzled to see me waving around over my head! They did some lovely elevated paces though and looked rather showy prancing around the paddock.

A nice game is also to hide treats under different objects ( buckets, plastic bags, pieces of wood, in a box ecc.) in several places in the paddock. Once he discovered a treat under a new object, he might get more curious and will explore the others. Very helpful to find out more about the character of your horse.

I quite like the idea of trying to use a ball with my ponies. Janelle, what type of ball would you use and how big? Also, how do you play with them - do you just roll it in their direction and see what happens?

I really like the idea of using an umbrella - hadn't ever thought of that and it'll be great to desensitise them to that for when they eventually go out for a walk on the road and pass people holding umbrellas up (rains alot here). Lots of tractors pass too but I don't have access to one of those to practice with unfortunately!

Hi Lizzie,
you could just place the ball in the paddock and see if your horse is interested. Maybe he is curious or afraid ! How to proceed depands on his first reaction. If he is afraid, you should let him touch the ball with his nose, making shure the ball would not move at the beginning. Or just sit on the ball and call the horse to stay close to you.
The paddock of my horse and donkey ar full of objects, which I find often on different places, what means that they play with them also when I am not there.
I think a bigger ball is safer, so they can't step on it.

Here is a video playing with the horse and donkey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59JjGph0KMU

If you look in youtube you will find so many videos about people playing with their horses.

Games that everybody can play with the horse and test their ground manners.

http://www.thehorseagilityclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Jan12-OLHA-Starter.pdf

http://www.thehorseagilityclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Jan12-OLHA-First.pdf

http://www.thehorseagilityclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Jan-12-OLHA-Medium.pdf

http://www.thehorseagilityclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Jan12-OLHA-Advanced.pdf

Hi Lizzie, you can buy special equine balls for in the paddock. They are uv stabilised and are puncture resistant. They come in different sizes, small, medium and large usually and are like a fitball that we use for exercise. I haven't got one yet but plan to get a small 30 inch ball for my mini and brumby to play with. The one im looking at is called a 'Jolly Mega Ball' Jolly being the brand :-) I am in Australia, don't know where you are so not sure if you can get the same but have a look online and you might find a store that will post to you, that's what i am doing as my local saddlery doesn't have what i want :-(
And def check out the horse agility websites that cristina has posted as they will give you ideas what to do with it...i will be doing the same! Hope this helps :-)
Janelle

Those games sound interesting Christina, thanks for posting the links.
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My friend got her colt a ball to play with. When he first saw it, he wouldn't have a. At ofit. But it didn't take long for him to figure out how to play with it. He really gives it a doing now! He loves it :-)

Hi Christina and Janelle - thanks for the links and details of equine balls - I wouldn't have had a clue where to start so this is brill. Don't you just love this forum, it is packed with people with useful info. - love it! Lizzie

My daughter plays a lot with her mare and they really have fun together. You can really have fun with your horse and it is good for him. It teaches him not to be scared of anything ! Have a look atone of her vidéo.

http://youtu.be/ggQFMuiyElA

You can also get balls that you can hide treats in like pony nuts - the horses have to roll the ball with their nose to get the treats to fall out one by one. I think they were designed to be used in a stable as a boredom breaker, but no reason why you couldn't use one in the paddock too. One of my horses loves to pick up his feed bucket when it's empty and swing it around and toss it up in the air - it is one of those squishy rubbery ones.

I don't know if the link I gave here above works well to go on my daughter's videos. Anyway, just write Taïga&Allison
to see her videos and how she plays and have so much fun with her 4 years old mare.

No time to be board in this paddock.
A very touching video.

http://www.youtube.com/user/estremofilo?feature=watch#p/u/19/AqlFQzShaGU

Ah Ha! I believe Cristina just solved a mystery I have with one of my hourses. He is a Kleptomanic. Tool boxes, jackets, gloves, hats, even my DSLR camera bag full of lenses and cameras.... if he can get to them, he grabs and runs a "safe" distance, then dismantles the items as best as he can as if he is looking for treats! Up until now, I assumed it was boredom or mischevious behavior. Now I am wondering if it a product of training.

@ SPearson
HAHA!Very selfish horse, doesn't want to share! I think something went wrong in the training, he should have brought the objects to you, not steal them. Or he doesn't like you making photos of him.

I once went to view a horse when I was looking to buy, and the lady selling the mare confessed that the horse had once picked up her young son by the hood of his coat, lifted him off his feet and carried him a few feet before dropping him in a heap. I did not buy the horse!

@Cristina.... I just got him a few months ago from a family with kids. He acts more like a dog than a horse! I'm pretty sure they hand fed him treats alot, because he tries to get in you pockets whenever possible!

@emlaw... that horse was probably schooling the boy to keep out of his personal space. Much better than a hard bite or a swift kick!

isabelle.p.66
Very funny video. Your daughter is really enjoying her horse and the horse seems to be tolerating the game if not downright enjoying the playtime. It is nice to see a horse that is playful. If you watch horses long enough eventually you will start to see some of the games that they play, like King of the Mountain. A few miles away from were I live a rancher had a large pile of dirt in the pasture where his three horses were. I watched them chase each other pretending that they were the boss!

Thanks for the entertainment

Cheers

Hi, here is video that shows, that also horses among themselves play with object to explore them. They pick them up, share the game and also compete, trying to take away the toy. We can learn a lot about our horses, just observing them from a save place outside the roundpen/paddock or pasture when they are interacting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87R2kDySudo

@ SPearson - My dogs don't behave like, they don't search for food in my pockets. This horse behaves as if he has never been taught to stay out off the “respect zone “ of the person. This can be very dangerous while working with the horse. Some people think it is cute and sweet, especially kids, because they interpret it as a gesture of affection. The sad thing is, that very often nobody teaches the kids the real meaning of the body language.

cristina
If you and the others continue to post these videos, I will never get anything don! ;) I love the Friesian horse. They have such elegance and grace.
Thanks for all the videos

Cheers

I posted the video, to show, that horse play among themselves, without interferance of humans. They are also good to study their body language. I watch these vids instead of television and other useless stuff.

When I was a little kid, we lived on a cattle ranch for 5 years, and my dad and older brother would feed the cattle in the winter. The owner, an old lady who ran the place by herself, hade 4 horses, all very old, one was a huge draft horse named Pete, whop would chase the cows away from the food, so had to be tied when feeding. One day, my brother, who was 6 feet, went to get Pete, and Pete grabbed him by the collar of his coat and carried him back to the barn, dropped him, and took off. My brother was yelling, "Pete, put me down!" His feet were at least a foot off the gro0und. And my dad and I were laughing our heads off. I dont know if he was playing or not, but it sure looked like it. When my brother went to catch him again, he came along very nicely.

@Cristina.... I agree 110%!

Phantommustang - that paints a very funny picture in my mind! As long as your brother wasn't hurt. I wonder if Pete was playing or just showing him who was boss? I guess it's not the sort of thing one wants to encourage, but all the same it must have been hilarious to watch!

If anyone is interested in groundwork/playing for keeping the horses mind awake and curious, if you have new ideas and want to share them with others, you could visit my facebook page :
"working with the horse in liberty"
all language appriciatetd:
English,German, Itian, Spanish, French

http://www.facebook.com/pages/lavoro-con-il-cavallo-in-libert%C3%A0/287680477928004

Cristina

Thank you Dennis for your comment on my daughter's video. Sure that both of them enjoy playing together. This allowed
to reinforce the trust the mare has in my daughter.
Allison is also doing rhithmic gymastic and she had the
idea of playing with ribbons. The end of the video is really
funny because it was a windy day, so, see what happened and
how quiet our Taïga is ! Cheers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnUfkaU49ws

Isabelle.p66
I really enjoyed watching Allison try to get Taïga to react to all the action around his head. I really enjoyed watching Allison and Taïga go camping. Very funny!
Horses seem to enjoy playfulness and your daughter has certainly got the imagination to keep Taïga and you entertained!

Cheers

You are right Dennis, Allison is very imaginative ! Her last
invention was to give Taïga the end of a skipping rope and the other end to me ! Our mare really enjoys this new game,
and she even seems very proud to take part in it. No time to
be bored in our paddock ! Just have a look at the video !

http://youtu.be/JNuFBkgmlyo

Cheers

Between Allison and Cristina I no longer watch tv. This is much more entertaining!
Now if Allison can get the horse to jump rope the you got a great act!

Thanks for the video

Cheers

Sure, it would be great to have our Taïga jump rope ! We saw a horse doing it in a show last summer !
I agree with you Dennis that Cristina is doing wonderful things with her horses too. I visited her facebook pages and
I found her work, ideas and relationship with her horses
really exceptional ! She gave us new ideas to train our mares, ans new games to invent. Thanks Cristina, that's great and your horses are really lovely.

Cheers

@isabelle.p.66
thanks for "up grading" my donkey to a horse. It is difficult to invent new games, because they learn so quickly. In the moment I can't go on a walk with them, because the fields are cultivated with grain, and Carolina, the donkey lady likes to jump in the fields and serve herself. Not so good for the relationship with the farmers. So I also have to tie her, and she can't run around. I have a round pen, but the soil is too slippery, so I can't let Degas get rid of his energy. I spide off this we play in the big paddock.

It is beautiful having the horse living with us, but if we don't have the facilities like a protected arena, it is very difficult to work and maintain a certain concept. One always has to adopt the activities to new circumstances. That's why I am so concerned about finding different ways, not to let my animals get too board in their paddock. Further more not everybody lives in a climate that permits a constant way of work. I just think of Ronda in Canada. I think you need a lot of fantasie, energie, good will and passion to take care of horse in such long winters.
Very often we answer to a topic o question in the forum, but I think it is almost impossible to give advice on distance, knowing almost nothing about the circumstances of life, of the person and the horse.

Hi Cristina, tell your pretty Lady donkey that I am sorry to have confused her with a horse ! (In fact, I thought you had several horses and the donkey) !

About the last sentence of your message, I agree with you
when you say that it is difficult to give advice without
knowing the people and their horses, how their history began, their environment, their goals, and also what led them to the method of Monty. May be we shoud create a post where each of us would tell something of his history and the history of his horse(s), why such a passion, how this all began, and so on, in order to know each other a little more. My 2 mares for example (Taïga and Réo) were saved from the butcher. They are 4 and 6 years old, trotters but not going fast enough to race. In spite of being the great-grand daughter of the famous champion Ourasi, our Taïga was
about to be killed like thousands of other trotters in France every year, because they aren't fast enough.
I am sure that we all have very interesting histories to tell.

Cheers

Hi everybody,

Here is a new video of our work (groundwork) with Taïga.

Snow has arrived everywhere in France, but in our little
corner of southern France, it is still sunny and we take
advantage of it to play with our horses !

http://youtu.be/zNvGKbUY_w4

Another entertaining video. You guys are having way too much fun :}) Enjoy the weather and your horses.

Cheers

Thanks a lot for your video. For me it is another example how horses can be motivated.
Rudi

Hi isabelle,
So sorry, I can't watch your video, because of the music you added, which might not have legal rights where I live!
This has happened to me before, not all countries support all music.
Please post your videos without music, so all of us can see them.
Thank you,
Miriam

Emlaw, my brother wasnt hurt, and I am sure Pete was playing with him, when he took off it looked like he was laughing. Donald was just disgusted because we were laughing at him.

I have started another game. Because I am short of time an there is too much ice outside I have started to bring two or three horses into the riding hall. They are very motivated, run together. They can be handled with the usual Equus language. It's fun. (I tried to register a film, but I did not manage to registrate and communicate with the horses at the same time.)
Rudi

Try to place the camera in an angle somewhere, so you aslo appear on the video. Would be nice watching!

I bought a tripod today...

I put the video on YuoTube: I tre cavalli (The three horses)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY2h9zmGPtU&context=C3550746ADOEgsToPDskKNWL6ezhMH8u9c7W1JxAez&noredirect=1

Hi Rudi,
That was so nice, I bet it was early in the morning, as you described elswhere, you have the arena to yourself (and three lovely horses!). Everbody had fun, that much is clear.
Thank you for sharing this moment,
Miriam

You are right, Miriam, it's on 6 o'clock in the morning.