Recently, Apollo and I have been practicing standing on mats. This is a seemingly simple training exercise that has many practical uses.
A mat can give a horse a concrete place to stay during other activities, such as grooming, saddling, or veterinary procedures. Mats can also be used to direct a horse to go to a certain location, and they are used in some exercises to help the horse improve his balance and coordination.
I initially used Alexandra Kurland’s runway lesson to introduce Apollo to mats. In this exercise, the trainer practices cuing the horse to take one step forward and one step back. This builds a communication system that the trainer can use to get the horse on and off the mat.
Recently, I introduced Apollo to a new mat. It was a piece of cardboard that was brown on one side and blue and white on the other side. (It’s interesting to note that blue is one color that horses see quite well. You can read more about a horse’s color vision in this post.)
We started with the brown side. This was no problem. Apollo eagerly approached the mat and stood on it.
Then, I switched to the blue and white side. The first time we walked up to the mat, Apollo snorted and made a wide arc around it. This clearly was a completely different piece of cardboard! After a bit of work in the vicinity of the mat, Apollo was willing to approach it and stand on it again.
Finally, I switched back to the brown side. Apollo walked right up to the mat.
Then, however, he stopped in front of it and pawed it several times before standing on it.
This training session was a great reminder to me that our animals are always noticing changes in the environment. I didn’t expect Apollo to paw at the cardboard when I switched back to the brown side. But, he noticed that it was different.
We have only worked with a limited number of mats so far. It will take more practice for Apollo to understand that mats can be many different colors and that mats can even change colors during a training session!
During our next few training sessions, Apollo and I will be experimenting with mats that vary in color, texture, and size. Our goal is that, eventually, when a strange-looking mat appears, Apollo will be able to walk up to it without hesitation and stand on it with confidence.
You might think about saving some colors or shapes for future training. I’ve had good luck using frisbees for “go to” (so place your foot in this specific location and stop there) and mats for “go over” (to indicate paths of movement). I didn’t start that way, but things sure got much clearer for my horse when I spit the meaning of the props up. We do a lot of horse agility and liberty obstacles.
Yes this is great training as you never know what you might have to grab as an emergency mat one day! he is looking beautiful and engaged Mary. Well done.
Linda, thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. This is a great thought. I love that you use one type of object for “go to” and another for “go over.”
It can be helpful to think ahead and make these types of decisions at the beginning of training. Since our horses are so in-tune with the environment and notice small differences, we can capitalize on that to teach them that one type of object or color of object means one thing, and something else means something different.
But, it’s harder to do this type of concept training if the horse has already learned that all colors of mats are “go to” mats.
I think I need to do some long-term planning!
Thank you, Kim! He is definitely enjoying the mat game and is very engaged when we practice with the mats. 🙂
And yes, practicing with many different mats can be helpful in an emergency situation!
Can you clicker train a horse with other horses nearby that are just in a stall or out at pasture? Would that confuse the other horses and lesson the connection of the click to the reward?
Hi Fable,
Thanks for the comment! Somehow I missed this comment when you left it originally.
Yes, you can clicker train a horse with other horses nearby. What I generally find is that the other horses are interested at first, but then they realize that the clicks aren’t for them.
The horses can learn that, when a person is actively working with them, the clicks are for them. When the person is actively working with another horse else, the clicks aren’t for them.
A similar situation — when I’ve taught group dog training classes in the past, the dogs do a nice job figuring out which clicks are for them. Same thing if we have more than two people in the arena, each clicker training their horse.
I think an equivalent analogy might be having a conversation with someone in a room with other people who are also talking. You might occasionally stop to listen to the other people chattering. But, you know who is talking to you and you’re able to focus on that individual.
Hope this helps!
Best,
Mary