A baby tooth!

Horses continue to loose their baby teeth and gain adult teeth until they are around five years old. 

Chewie is three, currently, and she certainly looks like an adult horse now. 

But, finding the baby tooth was a good reminder that she is still growing and her body is still going through plenty of changes. 

I often get asked if Chewie is trained as a riding horse or if I have any plans to ride her. 

I do, but not yet!

A horse’s skeleton continues to mature until the horse is around six years old. And, the growth plates in their spine — right where a rider sits — are some of the last to finish developing. 

So, we don’t have any plans for riding for the next few years. 

But, there is plenty of training that we can do on the ground that is fun for both of us and that will help prepare Chewie so that she can be an excellent riding horse when the time comes!

This week, we’ve been staying busy with some horse agility training, continuing to build duration for Chewie’s chin rest behavior, and making some changes to her fly mask routine. 

And, when I’m not there, Chewie is keeping herself very busy grazing on the summer grass.

And, Chewie is still in good hands with my wonderful pet sitter!

My pet sitter always sends me a handful of pictures every day. The photos let me get a little glimpse into what Chewie and Liberty have been doing.

I’m also keeping an eye on Chewie using her GPS tracker and the solar-powered security camera that I have on the property.

And, I’m also thinking and planning for some of the training that we are going to be working on when I get back to Texas!

Chewie and I are going to work on some duration-related projects in July and August.

One project we’ll be working on is to continue building duration for Chewie’s new chin rest behavior.

I would also like to start working on teaching Chewie to stay while I walk away from her. Right now, she is usually inclined to follow me!

As well, I’m planning to revisit some of our hoof care routines.

Last year, Chewie and I spent a lot of time building duration for hoof handling. (You can read more in the posts from Week 25 and Week 41.) I trim Chewie’s feet myself, and she does really well, most of the time. But, I feel like there are some parts of our hoof care routines that we could clean up.

I’ll report more when make more progress on these projects!

Chewie and I have a game we play when I’m scratching her. I will pause after scratching her for a bit and take a step away, to make sure she wants me to continue scratching. 

She will usually approach me to confirm that she wants more scratches.

In addition, she will use her nose to point at various parts of her body to tell me if she wants to be scratched in a certain place — perhaps her back or her belly or her shoulder or her hip. 

Also, if I’m scratching her in the wrong spot, she will turn her head and indicate where I should be scratching, instead!

I am traveling internationally currently, but my awesome pet sitter is taking great care of Chewie.

And, my pet sitter reported yesterday that Chewie had taught her to play this same game! The pet sitter would scratch for a little bit. Then, Chewie would point at a new body part that needed scratches.

Chewie was also quite considerate and used her big nose to scratch the pet sitter’s back.

One thing I love about animals is that, if we listen, they are quite good about telling us what they need. I often think they are much better trainers than we are!

Recently, I’ve seen her go for a swim on two different days when I have been at the barn in the late morning. She generally starts on the edge of the pond, taking a drink and then splashing around a bit in the shallow water.

Then, she will wade in deeper and swim a lap or two around the middle of the pond. The pond is deeper than usual right now because of all the rain we’ve had. Still, Chewie can touch the bottom of the pond almost the whole time, and she only has to swim when she is in the very middle.

Last fall, when I first moved Chewie to this property, I know that she went swimming quite a bit, as she was sometimes wet when I showed up in the afternoon. And, the neighbor reported seeing her in the pond several times. But, this month is the first time I have actually seen her in the pond.

Chewie’s recent aquatic adventures have gotten me thinking a lot about reinforcers — how reinforcers are different for different individuals and also different for the same individual at different times or in different situations.

Chewie’s donkey buddy, Liberty, does not seem to like swimming. You can see him supervising from the bank in the photos in this post.

Also, Chewie seems to really enjoy swimming, but she certainly doesn’t want anyone to spray her with a hose! Perhaps, however, there may be some creative ways that I could incorporate swimming and the pond, as I continue to working this summer on teaching Chewie how to take baths.

(You can read here about the progress I made last summer on teaching Chewie how to take a bath.)

She has been wearing her Tractive tracker most days. As I wrote about earlier this summer, the tracker gives me a general sense regarding where she is spending her time and what she is doing. In addition, I have a solar security camera set up so that I can watch where she is and what she is doing.

Here’s a screenshot of a six-hour period from noon until 6:00 pm today.

During this period, she spent almost the entire time grazing in a pasture in the southeast corner of the property. She also made a brief visit to the road around 4:00 pm. She didn’t spend any time in the barn or any time in the shed where their hay bags are located.

The boarding barn where Chewie lived last summer had decent-sized pastures, but too many horses. As a result, the pastures were overgrazed and filled with weeds. By midsummer, the horses had given up on grazing and were spending most of their time standing around at a big round bale of hay.

At our current barn, I’m also dealing with land that has been overstocked and overgrazed in the past. However, since Chewie and her buddy Liberty are the only residents, currently, I have a lot more control over how the land is managed.

Right now, Chewie and Liberty have access to only about one-third of the property. The rest is divided into five small pastures so that we can do some rotational grazing. They have access to one pasture for about a week or so. Then, I close it off and give them access to another pasture.

This is also how the tracker and the security camera come into play. I can get a rough sense each day regarding how much time Chewie is spending grazing and how much time she is spending eating hay. I can also see where she is spending her time. These data points are helping to inform my decisions about pasture management.

As a result, we still have quite a bit of grass. And, rotating through the pastures is letting the grass and soil start to recover some of its health. It also means Chewie is spending quite a bit of time grazing and moving around, rather than standing still at a hay bag. Long term, I’m looking forward to healthier pastures and a healthier horse.

Here’s how this behavior works:

• I hold out my hand, under Chewie’s head
• Chewie backs up a couple of steps
• She stops when the underside of her head touches my hand
• I reposition my hand slightly so my hand fully contacts her head
• She holds her head still, maintaining contact with my hand

Long term, I’m hoping we can use this behavior for some veterinary tasks and daily care task.

Once the chin rest is solid, it will give me a way to ask her to hold her head still if I needed to examine her eyes or something on her face. As well, I could use this behavior when using a rag to put fly spray on her face or when applying ointment to a wound on her face.

The chin rest will also give her a way to opt-in and opt-out when we are doing veterinary tasks or other tasks that might potentially be unpleasant.

Right now, however, we are just working on the basics for this behavior!

Chewie can do a really solid chin rest for a handful of seconds, and we are working on gradually building the duration for this behavior.

One of my goals for this year is to build more long-duration behaviors and to experiment with different ways to build duration.

Once we have built up to a modest amount of duration, we will start gradually incorporating other tasks and distractions into this behavior, such as me touching her face while she maintains the chin rest.

I’ll share more as we continue working on this behavior.

Here’s 24 hours of tracking data from a recent day.

Chewie and her donkey buddy, Liberty, live on approximately two acres.

They always have free access to the barn, which is in the middle of the photo above. I have been doing some rotational grazing this summer. So, on the day shown above, they did not have access to three of the pastures, which are shaded in the photo.

You’ll see a couple of data points that are in the off-limits pasture in the bottom of the photo. Occasionally, the tracker does send a data point that I know is inaccurate. I think this may sometimes happen when Chewie is in the metal barn — the tracker does not get great reception when she is in the barn.

At the top of the property is the road and also the pond. Chewie likes to drink from the pond, and she also likes to splash in the pond when the weather is hot! As well, Chewie and Liberty sometimes like to hang out near the road and watch what’s happening in the neighborhood.

On the right side of the photo, in the middle, is a small run-in shed. I have been putting their hay in the shed as we’ve been getting a lot of rain on and off. Chewie and Liberty are spending most of their time grazing these days, but they do also have free-choice access to hay in several slow-feeder nets.

The photo below shows this same data, but it is now broken up into six-hour chunks.

Midnight to six am: Chewie spent time grazing in the pasture in the bottom left corner of the first photo. I gave Chewie and Liberty access to this pasture the day before these data, and they were enjoying grazing on some new grass! Chewie may have also been sleeping during part of this time. (Horses generally only sleep for several hours a day.)

Six am to noon: More grazing in the bottom left pasture. Chewie also spent quite a bit of time in the barn while I was at the property. She made one brief visit to the shed and two visits up to the pond/road area.

Noon to six pm: Chewie spent a chunk of time near the shed during the mid-afternoon. Otherwise, this period of time looks pretty similar, overall, to the previous six hours.

Six pm to midnight: Chewie spent most of her time grazing in the lower left pasture. She also made one trip down to the pond.

Note: The tracker sends a new data point every several minutes. So, it shows overall movement patterns and an overall distribution of activity. However, the lines may not always be accurate, especially if Chewie is moving a lot or moving quickly.

Overall, I’ve found it interesting to watch where Chewie spends her time at different times of the day. As well, it’s been interesting to see how her activity has changed when I have given her access to a new pasture, shut off a previous pasture, moved the hay to a new location, or made other changes to the property.

Long term, I’m hoping that some of these observations can help me make more informed decisions related to pasture rotation, enrichment activities, and more!

I had a nice time at the convention!

I got to see a lot of friends and a lot of interesting presentations. I also had a lot of fun giving a two-hour skill-building session about animal training with Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz and Maia Huff-Owen.

We talked about building reinforcement systems and introducing animals to positive-reinforcement training. We had a great audience, and they seemed to enjoy both the video examples and hands-on activities.

As well, I served as a chair for a two-hour symposium about using PORTL for research.

The symposium included four short presentations about recent research projects, covering a wide range of topics, including resurgence, training skills to zoo keepers, and the effects of errors of commission during shaping.

The presenters all did a great job, and it was really fun to see their results.

Now that I’m home, I have lots to think about and some ideas for some new projects.

Chewie and Liberty were well-taken care of by my awesome pet sitter. But, they did seem happy to see me when I got back to Texas!

It’s a Tractive tracker, which is often used to track the activities of a dog when out walking or hiking. Or, to be able to find the dog if the dog gets lost!

I generally only visit Chewie one time per day.

So, I’m curious to use the tracker to learn more about her behavior. How much does she move around? Where does she spend the most time on the property? How does her behavior change in response to other events — if I give her access to a new pasture for grazing, if I put out more enrichment activities, or if it is raining?

At first, I tried putting the tracker on the top of her fly mask, behind her ears. However, over the course of four days, she managed to remove the fly mask twice, which she usually does not do.

I’m not sure if wearing the tracker was uncomfortable and if she was purposefully removing the mask. Or, it may have just been unbalanced and easier for the mask to come off on its own.

So, we are now trying a new location — attaching the tracker under her chin. So far, this arrangement seems to be working much better.

She has worn the tracker successfully for several days without removing the fly mask.

I’m curious to see the data I collect and what I am able to learn from it.

I’ll report back later on and share more about our tracking adventures!

Last week, I wrote about introducing Chewie to a fly mask. This week, Chewie and I have continued to practice putting on and taking off the fly mask.

In this week’s post, I wanted to share a video with you of our current fly mask routine, as well as some big ideas that I have been thinking about.

In the video, you will see the predictable routine that we have established and that I now use each time I put on the mask. You’ll see that Chewie starts the routine by coming over and touching the mask. Then, she earns several clicks and treats throughout the routine.

Watch on YouTube: Chewie’s Fly Mask Routine

Here are some big lessons that have helped us establish a successful routine with the fly mask.

Big idea #1: Predictable routines create more opportunities for “yes” and “no”

We’ve established a predictable routine with the fly mask. I always start the sequence in the same way. And, I use the same steps each time, in the same order.

Having a predictable routine makes it easier for me to see when Chewie is saying “yes” and when she is saying “no.” Of course, Chewie can’t actually talk to me, but she communicates very clearly through her behavior!

As part of this routine, Chewie has two opportunities to approach me. At the very beginning, she starts the routine by coming over and touching the fly mask with her nose. Then, after the first click and treat, I walk several steps forward, giving her a second chance to approach me.

At both of these points in the routine, I’m checking to see if she willingly and eagerly approaches.

In addition, Chewie is loose in the barn (no halter or lead rope) and the gate is open. So, she can leave at any time, if she wants.

Having a predictable routine helps me notice signs that Chewie may be concerned or unhappy, such as hesitating to approach me, turning her head away, backing up, or tense body language.

Big idea #2: What adjustments can make our interactions even smoother?

I video almost all of my training sessions. Watching the videos allows me to assess what’s working well, what is almost working, and what’s not working.

When we first started practicing with the fly mask, I could tell that Chewie was sometimes unhappy with me lifting the mask over her eyes and putting her right ear in the mask.

I have been experimenting with different ways of initially placing the mask on Chewie’s head or neck. I’ve found that it is easier for her if we start with the mask on her neck and then swing it around. I’ve also been experimenting with different ways to hold the mask and move the mask as I bring it over her eyes.

I haven’t tried to teach Chewie to tolerant these parts of the routine or tried to reinforce her for keeping her head straight. Instead, I’ve tried to find adjustments that I could make to my behavior that would help her be comfortable and happy.

Whenever I’m training, I’m always looking for adjustments, big or small, that will help the animal and I be more successful together.

Big idea #3: Don’t be greedy with your reinforcers!

I find many horse trainers, dog trainers, and pet owners are eager to reduce or eliminate the treats once the animal “knows” the behavior.

Our current fly mask routine takes about one minute, and Chewie earns four clicks and treats.

Long term, I may work toward having this function as a longer chain of behaviors, with one click and treat at the end.

But, for now, I feel like Chewie and I are both happy with our current routine. I love that Chewie is eager to participate and comes right over when I hold out the fly mask each time.

So, why try to fade out the treats? I think it’s perfectly fine that we are breaking the fly mask routine into several steps and that Chewie earns a click and treat for each step.