INTRODUCTION:

This is a superb flexion exercise because it causes the horse to become super aware of what his feet are doing. It also encourages the horse to pick up his feet and stretch his stride, so it aids muscle lengthening and hock flexion.

It is also an example of how we can gradually build the complexity of a task until eventually the whole task is done with one click&treat at the end.

Sadly, not all horses are aware of exactly where their feet are and what their feet are doing. Horses raised in flat paddocks or those who spend much of their life stabled have not had opportunity to develop good proprioception. Horses who can move freely in rugged country will have a much stronger sense of where their feet are.

We can purposefully teach tasks that encourage foot awareness. See ‘Related Resources’ 8 at the end of this post.

PREREQUISITES:

1. Horse and handler are clicker savvy.
2. Horse responds willingly to ‘walk on’ and ‘halt’ signals when the handler is beside his neck/shoulder. (See ‘Related Resources’ 1 at end of this post.)
3. Horse knows about nose and/or foot targets as destinations where a click&treat occurs each time. (See ‘Related Resources’ 2 at end of this post.)
4. Horse confidently steps over rails, ropes, logs or similar. (See ‘Related Resources’ 4 and 5 at end of this post.)
5. Horse confidently walks onto and over unusual surfaces such as tarps, boards, and so on. (See ‘Related Resources’ 6 at end of this post.)

ENVIRONMENT & MATERIALS:

• A work area where the horse is relaxed and confident.
• Ideally, the horse can see his buddies, but they can’t interfere.
• The horse is not hungry.
• Five or six hoops. Make hoops with ropes laid into circles or make hoops using plastic water pipe pieces held together with a strip of large or smaller diameter pipe so the hoop can come apart if the horse gets in a muddle.
• A destination where the horse will receive a click&treat after negotiating the hoop(s). Put the destination, either a mat or a nose target, at a spot an equal distance from either end of your (eventual) line of hoops so it works in either direction of travel.
• Halter and lead kept loose as much as possible, as we want to use body language for communication as much as possible, rather than rope pressure.

AIM:

To smoothly walk (and maybe jog) across a series of five (or more) hoops staying together in the shoulder-to-shoulder position.

VIDEO CLIP:

#172 HorseGym with Boots: Building Task Complexity using Hoops

https://youtu.be/h0sVZqLfNI8

NOTES:

1. Boots’ demonstration on the video is the sum of many short training sessions over a long time. During the teaching or acquisition phase, we played with one hoop for a long time before adding the second hoop. As she gained confidence, we added more hoops one at a time.
2. It’s good to first build confident stepping over things such as rails and as many other safe objects that you can find.
3. Remember to keep each session short. We don’t want to drill this. We want the horse to learn that stepping through the hoops cleanly earns him a bonus click&treat.
4. When we have accomplished the task fully, we will be able to cross a series of hoops cleanly in either direction with the handler on either side of the horse.
5. Some people like to teach everything on both sides from the beginning. Others prefer to get it all smooth staying on one side of the horse and then teach it again from the beginning on the other side of the horse.
6. Be careful to keep the shoulder-to-shoulder position intact so you are consistently moving in a synchronized way.

SLICES:

1. Lay out one hoop and set up your destination (mat or nose target) a good distance away from the hoop so it is not immediately distracting.
2. Approach the hoop with the horse; click&treat for any interest he shows in the hoop. Allow him to sniff it and paw at it for as long as he wants. Click&treat when he finishes sniffing and/or pawing, walk away from the hoop to the mat or nose target destination; click&treat at the destination.
3. When the horse is ho-hum about the hoop, ask him to step his front feet into the hoop and halt; click&treat. Walk on to your destination; click&treat.
4. Ignore any clipping of the hoop with his feet as he steps into it or out of it. Most horse will correct themselves with practice. It is addressed in 8 below.
5. When 3 above is smooth, ask him to walk through the hoop with his front feet and halt with his hind feet in the hoop; click&treat. Walk on to your destination; click&treat.
6. Alternate between 3 and 5 above, walking on to your destination each time for a second click&treat.
7. When the horse feels confident about halting with either his front feet or his hind feet in the hoop, begin to ask him to walk right through the hoop and on to your destination.
8. At this point, ignore any clipping of the hoop with his feet, BUT when he walks right through CLEANLY, CLICK right after he has cleanly exited the hoop, and deliver the treat. When he does clip the hoop, there is no extra click&treat. You simply move on to your destination; click&treat.
9. Repeat 7 and 8 until the horse can walk across the hoop smoothly without touching it most of the time. The first time he walks through without touching the hoop, celebrate hugely with a bonus click&treat or a jackpot before walking on to your destination for another click&treat.
10. When the horse walks across the hoop cleanly almost every time, add a second hoop. Allow him time to investigate if he wants to.
11. Repeat as above with two hoops, then three hoops, then four hoops, then five hoops, then more if you want.
12. Be sure to stay with each number of hoops until the horse is super confident and moving across them cleanly almost every time. The easiest way to make it all fall apart is to go too fast or to try to do too much during one session.
13. By keeping the sessions short and fun, he will be keen to do it again next time.
14. Ensure that the horse is confident working in both directions.
15. Ensure the horse is confident with you on his left side or his right side.
16. When it feels ho-hum to walk across five or more hoops, start the whole process again with one hoop and ask him to jog or trot across it.

GENERALIZATIONS:

1. Set up hoops in new venues; slopes can make it more challenging.
2. Set up hoops where there are different distractions.
3. If you have a friend that trains in the same way, ask them to do the exercise with your horse.
4. Use the exercise regularly as part of your warm-up or cool-down gymnastics.
5. See ‘Related Resources’ 7 below for more ways to play with hoops.

RELATED RESOURCES:

1. Blog: Smooth ‘Walk On’ and ‘Halt’ Transitions: https://wp.me/p4VYHH-5TT
2. Blog: Using Mats: Parking or Stationing and Much More: https://wp.me/p4VYHH-5S9
3. Destinations: Video Clip: #3 HorseGym with Boots; Stationary Nose Targets: https://youtu.be/TcRjoAnDYPQ
4. Video Clips: a) Precision with a Single Rail: https://youtu.be/bJzwDq-NvtE 
5.                      b) Same task at Liberty: https://youtu.be/kvIso5iv-gA
6. Unusual Surfaces clips:
   1. Thin-Slicing the One Meter Board: https://youtu.be/pLLqtbQJqMs
   2. Tarp and Water Surface: https://youtu.be/AOhKu6oHdkk
7. Hoops Playlist: First clip in the playlist: Single Obstacle Challenge Hoops 1 https://youtu.be/AfDIAQSOmE0
8. Video Clip: Foot Awareness: https://youtu.be/7bEkFk0w_gk