Grumpy Ears Contemplations
Gunny will put his ears back in the presence of feed but most of the time it feels to me like a defensive posture rather than offensive. It is almost like he is putting them back because he thinks that I am going to drive him away from his hay or the grain, which then causes me to drive him away from his feed, which sets up a vicious circle.
The reason I am contemplating this, is because I have tried driving him away and that really doesn't change things for the next time. It also adds another level of tension to the whole food topic.
Last night I put some hay in a different than normal spot to be out of the wind. As I was bringing the hay to this spot, I had to walk beside him from behind. I was going between him and a building. He put his ears back as I got to his shoulders. I dropped the hay and grabbed his ear and wiggled it to say, "that's not nice!" He flopped his ears to the side and softened his expression. I went to get another armful and as I squeezed by him he put his ears back again, but it was as I threw the hay and seemed more to be about him being unsure about what I was going to do. So I stood beside him and asked him to raise his head with upward pressure under his jaw. I used Carolyn Resnick's idea of asking and then releasing as if he had done "it" and then asking again. After about ten seconds of this, he started yawning and yawning. After I had yielded his head up and over so I could change sides, he kept yawning and then went to eating with a soft expression and ears flopped to the sides.
So that got me to thinking that maybe his ears back is more about what he thinks is going to happen to him when food is around, or that he thinks he is going to be prevented from eating, than about agression over the food. When he has his ears back in this way, he is usually looking at me, but is not making any gestures or motions (not even a lean) towards me.
So, what to do? Does this mean that he needs to be desensitized to the idea of being prevented/impeded from eating? Or that he needs to find out that nothing is going to happen to him when food is around as long as he doesn't make an agressive move? Or that "the closer you get the slower I go"; as in the more you try to hurry me by putting your ears back, the slower the feed is going to arrive? Or?
I know from the past, that ignoring the behavior and feeding him anyways makes it get worse plus it starts leaking over into other behaviors. Driving him away from the spot causes him to want to stay away when I feed and wait until I leave. But it doesn't fix the problem of moving around him in close quarters in the presence of feed.
I would like to be able to move around him, fork new hay into the feeder, have him move around me and be relaxed and just go back to eating or keep eating. To realize that it's not the end of the world if he needs to pick his head up for a moment or step to the side, etc.
The catch-22 is that if I try to show him that nothing is going to happen while I am around and he is eating, if he has his ears back during this time, he is thinking that he is preventing something from happening by having his ears back. But if I drive him away for having his ears back, then he continues to put his ears back because he is trying to prevent me from driving him away.
Last summer, one day I was going to get on him and he was grazing at the mounting block. When I went to mount, he put his ears back. I realized that he thought that if I mounted I was going to make him quit eating, so I just held onto the reins and waited. He tried to put his head back down to graze but I had the reins short enough that he couldn't reach the grass. It took a few times of me reaching over to mount and him putting his ears back and me holding onto the reins but otherwise doing nothing before he realized that he wasn't eating anymore anyways. So he relaxed and let me mount. We then rode off to the next grass spot. (that was all I was planning to do that day, was sit on him while he grazed) While he was grazing, I would periodically ask him to go to a new spot. At first, when I would ask him to go, he would put his ears back rather than walking forward. I would increase the pressure of asking him to go until he went. After a few times of that, I realized that he thought that my asking him to go was preventing him from grazing. So I changed tactics; I would ask him to go and if he put his ears back, I would shorten the reins so that he couldn't graze anymore and wait for it to sink in that he wasn't eating anymore. Then I would see a change and I would ask him to go and he would walk off nicely, so we would go to a new spot of grass and repeat. After a few times of this he was walking off at my initial request to walk off and wasn't pinning his ears.
So with that in mind as well as what happened last night, I think I will try the same sort of strategy. If he is putting his ears back at me, in that moment he is not eating because he has raised his head to put his ears back. So if I quietly prevent him from eating until he softens, maybe he will make the connection that putting his ears back is impeding his eating rather than thinking that my requesting him to move over is what is impeding him from eating. Then I can turn it into actually making a request and have a chance that he won't feel defensive about it.
I have been playing with putting his feed down and letting him start eating and then asking him to pick his head up and not eat until I give him the go ahead again. This works pretty well and he actually doesn't have too much trouble with this after the first round or so of the game. It is very similar to how I taught him to eat or not eat grass when we are out and about, so I think he "gets" the game from doing that before.
Tonight I set it up so I had his feed mixed and needed to carry it into his paddock while I was leading him into it. When we got to the spot I was going to put the feeder I stopped my feet and Gunny put his ears back and tried to reach into the feeder. I just slid my hand down the leadrope and prevented him from reaching his nose in and waited. At first he startled as I reached for the leadrope, which confirms my suspicion that it is more defensiveness about what will happen when feed is in the picture. Anyways after a couple of times of asking him to keep his head away while his ears were back and releasing the rope when his nose was away he started to get the picture that he shouldn't just dive in and that putting his ears back was slowing things down. So he relaxed his ears and I put the feeder down. I used the leadrope to prevent him from diving in right away and made sure he had a nice expression before he did. Then I walked back and forth in front of him while he had his head down eating. I think that one time he tried raising his head to put his ears back, so I just prevented him from putting it back down. After that he kept his head down and was actually enjoying the scratches on his neck as he was eating. Overall a success. We will see where this goes.
The reason I am contemplating this, is because I have tried driving him away and that really doesn't change things for the next time. It also adds another level of tension to the whole food topic.
Last night I put some hay in a different than normal spot to be out of the wind. As I was bringing the hay to this spot, I had to walk beside him from behind. I was going between him and a building. He put his ears back as I got to his shoulders. I dropped the hay and grabbed his ear and wiggled it to say, "that's not nice!" He flopped his ears to the side and softened his expression. I went to get another armful and as I squeezed by him he put his ears back again, but it was as I threw the hay and seemed more to be about him being unsure about what I was going to do. So I stood beside him and asked him to raise his head with upward pressure under his jaw. I used Carolyn Resnick's idea of asking and then releasing as if he had done "it" and then asking again. After about ten seconds of this, he started yawning and yawning. After I had yielded his head up and over so I could change sides, he kept yawning and then went to eating with a soft expression and ears flopped to the sides.
So that got me to thinking that maybe his ears back is more about what he thinks is going to happen to him when food is around, or that he thinks he is going to be prevented from eating, than about agression over the food. When he has his ears back in this way, he is usually looking at me, but is not making any gestures or motions (not even a lean) towards me.
So, what to do? Does this mean that he needs to be desensitized to the idea of being prevented/impeded from eating? Or that he needs to find out that nothing is going to happen to him when food is around as long as he doesn't make an agressive move? Or that "the closer you get the slower I go"; as in the more you try to hurry me by putting your ears back, the slower the feed is going to arrive? Or?
I know from the past, that ignoring the behavior and feeding him anyways makes it get worse plus it starts leaking over into other behaviors. Driving him away from the spot causes him to want to stay away when I feed and wait until I leave. But it doesn't fix the problem of moving around him in close quarters in the presence of feed.
I would like to be able to move around him, fork new hay into the feeder, have him move around me and be relaxed and just go back to eating or keep eating. To realize that it's not the end of the world if he needs to pick his head up for a moment or step to the side, etc.
The catch-22 is that if I try to show him that nothing is going to happen while I am around and he is eating, if he has his ears back during this time, he is thinking that he is preventing something from happening by having his ears back. But if I drive him away for having his ears back, then he continues to put his ears back because he is trying to prevent me from driving him away.
Last summer, one day I was going to get on him and he was grazing at the mounting block. When I went to mount, he put his ears back. I realized that he thought that if I mounted I was going to make him quit eating, so I just held onto the reins and waited. He tried to put his head back down to graze but I had the reins short enough that he couldn't reach the grass. It took a few times of me reaching over to mount and him putting his ears back and me holding onto the reins but otherwise doing nothing before he realized that he wasn't eating anymore anyways. So he relaxed and let me mount. We then rode off to the next grass spot. (that was all I was planning to do that day, was sit on him while he grazed) While he was grazing, I would periodically ask him to go to a new spot. At first, when I would ask him to go, he would put his ears back rather than walking forward. I would increase the pressure of asking him to go until he went. After a few times of that, I realized that he thought that my asking him to go was preventing him from grazing. So I changed tactics; I would ask him to go and if he put his ears back, I would shorten the reins so that he couldn't graze anymore and wait for it to sink in that he wasn't eating anymore. Then I would see a change and I would ask him to go and he would walk off nicely, so we would go to a new spot of grass and repeat. After a few times of this he was walking off at my initial request to walk off and wasn't pinning his ears.
So with that in mind as well as what happened last night, I think I will try the same sort of strategy. If he is putting his ears back at me, in that moment he is not eating because he has raised his head to put his ears back. So if I quietly prevent him from eating until he softens, maybe he will make the connection that putting his ears back is impeding his eating rather than thinking that my requesting him to move over is what is impeding him from eating. Then I can turn it into actually making a request and have a chance that he won't feel defensive about it.
I have been playing with putting his feed down and letting him start eating and then asking him to pick his head up and not eat until I give him the go ahead again. This works pretty well and he actually doesn't have too much trouble with this after the first round or so of the game. It is very similar to how I taught him to eat or not eat grass when we are out and about, so I think he "gets" the game from doing that before.
Tonight I set it up so I had his feed mixed and needed to carry it into his paddock while I was leading him into it. When we got to the spot I was going to put the feeder I stopped my feet and Gunny put his ears back and tried to reach into the feeder. I just slid my hand down the leadrope and prevented him from reaching his nose in and waited. At first he startled as I reached for the leadrope, which confirms my suspicion that it is more defensiveness about what will happen when feed is in the picture. Anyways after a couple of times of asking him to keep his head away while his ears were back and releasing the rope when his nose was away he started to get the picture that he shouldn't just dive in and that putting his ears back was slowing things down. So he relaxed his ears and I put the feeder down. I used the leadrope to prevent him from diving in right away and made sure he had a nice expression before he did. Then I walked back and forth in front of him while he had his head down eating. I think that one time he tried raising his head to put his ears back, so I just prevented him from putting it back down. After that he kept his head down and was actually enjoying the scratches on his neck as he was eating. Overall a success. We will see where this goes.
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