Tag Archives: ground-tie

The WAIT Game

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Introduction

Once we have taught our horse to park on a mat, we can begin to teach WAIT. WAIT is parking with duration. Along with duration, we can teach WAIT while we go further and further away from the horse.

We can then generalize by asking the horse to:

  • Wait in unusual places including over, between or on obstacles.
  • Wait to be invited through gates, into and out of wash-bays and stalls.
  • Wait as a way to explain ‘being tied up’ to the horse.
  • Wait for mounting/dismounting or harnessing/unharnessing.
  • Wait while we go out of sight.
  • Wait to enter a trailer/truck and wait to be asked to exit a trailer/truck.
  • Wait during husbandry care – grooming, tending feet, vet procedures.
  • Wait while we adjust our camera position.
  • Wait while we move around obstacles we are using for training.
  • Wait anytime and anywhere. Maybe paired with ground-tying.
  • Wait while we talk to another person.
  • Wait for our turn at a competition.

AIM

Horse and handler agree on WAIT signals and horse is able to WAIT in a variety of situations.

PREREQUISITES

Horse understands that going to a mat yields a click&treat. https://youtu.be/xMaZWt5gK2o

Horse is keen to target feet to a variety of mats in a variety of venues. https://youtu.be/GotLjG8931I

Generalizing mats to different places.

https://youtu.be/wdptBQ0EtK4

VIDEOS

Park and Wait: https://youtu.be/UvjKr9_U0ys

The horse can’t be wrong when he is learning something new. We have simply not YET explained what we want clearly enough in a way that he can understand. Never make him feel wrong if he needs to move.

Wait: https://youtu.be/ktwTUGvXNwM

Once it is solid with halter and lead, it is fun to generalize to liberty.
An older clip from when Boots was first learning this.

Parking out of Sight: https://youtu.be/X4rmbVvE6nw

You can see that Boots is not yet comfortable with me staying out of sight for long. We are in her paddock, not somewhere strange and new.