Recently I posted on my blog about protected contact. During protected contact training, the trainer and animal are separated by some sort of physical barrier. Protected contact can be a very helpful tool in certain training situations. I encourage you to read my recent post Why train with protected contact, for more information about when and why to use protected contact.
Now, I’d like to share a great video from my friend Janet. Some protected contact situations limit the types of behaviors a trainer can train. For instance, if you’re working with the horse behind a stall door, it’s pretty hard to work on trotting or other behaviors that involve lots of movement.
The answer? Trainers have to get creative with protected contact! One innovative solution is to have the trainer inside of a small pen with the horse on the outside. Hannah Dawson calls this “around the round pen” and has some great information about it on her website here.
Watch on YouTube: Around the round pen with Gordy and Garrow
I really like the idea of “around the round pen.” Trainers could use this technique in lots of different ways. For example, you could use it to teach a young horse how to lead or other basic skills, while greatly reducing the chance of pushiness or other unwanted behaviors. For more advanced horses, you could use this as a great way to begin liberty work at the trot and canter. Some horses can get very exuberant at higher speeds and this technique would protect the person while the horse learned proper balance and emotional control. Also, this would be a great way to introduce people to clicker training if they were new to clicker training or even new to horses in general.
What do you think? Have you used “around the round pen” or other similar techniques while training your horses (or other animals)? In what ways do you see this being helpful for your training?
The “around the round pen” idea is really great. Does this work to in other animals in a smaller scale? Any advices for me?
Thanks for the comment.
The “around the round pen” is one version of protected contact training. (More about protected contact: http://stalecheerios.com/blog/horse-training/protected-contact-training/)
Protected contact was first used with zoo animals. So, it certainly can be used in many forms and in many types of situations and for other species of animals, both bigger than horses and much smaller than horses.
cheers,
Mary
I love doing this, so many uses for it! As you say, some types of protected contact are a bit limited, and this is a great way to overcome that. It’s also fantastic for horses who have been aggressive (I’ve worked with a couple who would have just charged through the tape to get me if I *started* like this, so only use it once they are safe/trained enough behind a solid barrier) – I’ve found that going directly from behind a solid fence to being in the paddock with them is too big a step for some horses, so this is a nice in-between step that allows me to be in their paddock, but still with some level of protection. One day I plan to set up a solid round yard for this purpose.
Loved your protected contact post, too – not sure if I commented. Protected contact is great not only for the human’s safety, but I think the animals sometimes feel better about it, too. It stops ME being pushy, even accidentally. Once, I was trying – and failing – to get a horse used to a spray bottle. This was an experienced clicker horse, and I’d broken the training down into tiny steps, so I couldn’t work out what the problem was. I tried behind a fence, and had instant results… I had thought I was standing still and clicking him for coming to me, but I must have been accidentally leaning/moving towards him, I think! The fence stopped all of that, and so he felt safe to come right up to the spray. Now I almost always use protected contact at first when teaching about sprays, hoses, and other unpleasant things, even if it isn’t necessary for safety.
Hi Kate,
Great point that the “around the round pen” can be a nice stepping point between protected contact and totally free contact. Big changes can be too fast for a lot of horses. I hadn’t thought about using “around the round pen” as a transition stage in this regard, but it’s a great idea for how to gradually shape the environment from protected contact to free contact.
And I really like your story about the fly spray. I was chatting recently with a dog trainer about protected contact. Most of the dog trainers I know don’t usually (if ever) use protected contact. She pointed out that for dog trainers, protected contact can be helpful in some situations not for safety, but for teaching the person how to shape, without being able to use physical prompts. I think protected contact can help make us better as trainers!
cheers,
Mary
Interesting! I have never heard of that. Unfortunately, I don’t have the use of a round pen anymore, but I can see where that would be useful. I had never heard of protected contact either (from the other post). I love reading your posts, always a great source of information 🙂
Hey, thanks for the idea and the illustration! I’m going to try this today! Unfortunately, there are two trees just outside my round pen, and they will be in the horse’s path. But I’ll see what we can come up with.
Let me know how it goes! 🙂
~Mary
OK, here’s my try: https://www.facebook.com/LifeWithOden
That was SO MUCH FUN! Thanks for the idea!
THIS IS BRILLIANT! I am going to use this method to teach the horse I’m working with the four speeds using clicker training. I want to go from ground work to tackless (the horse is saddle broke but was trained by punitive methods and I want to start over with him) Am I crazy? Well, we’ll see. 🙂
Hi Kate,
I’m glad you liked the “around the round pen” idea.
Since posting this article, I’ve had a few friends try it and have said that they and their horses both enjoyed it and found it a useful exercise.
If you give it a try, I’d love to hear how it goes!
cheers,
Mary