Panda Project--Guide Horse

The Panda Project:

Guide Horses For The Blind.

Report 1

Panda at her first clinic.

I'd like to introduce my newest training project. Her name is Grosshill's

Panda Bear, and she's a tiny, 24 inch, nine month old miniature horse.

Up until the middle of August she was in the midst of a successful show

career. She is now in training with me to be a guide for one of my

clients, Ann Edie. Ann is blind and has been a guide dog user for nine years.

Ann and I have lamented many times the fact that our other horses are

too big to be guides. Certainly her Arabian, Magnat, shows great talent

for the work. In the past we've thought about using minis, but the only

ones we had ever seen were in the thirty inch range, too big to be

practical. So it was an idea we talked about, but never pursued.

Then last year two things happened that made us look more seriously at

the idea of using horses as guides. In October 2000, Ann's eleven year

old guide dog, Bailey, became ill and died very suddenly. At the same

time we began to hear reports of a mini that had been trained to be a

guide. Ann had actually heard rumors of this the year before and out of

curiosity had contacted the trainers, the Burlesons. At that point the

Burlesons were in the early stages of their project. They had trained

one of their pet minis to do guide work, and they were starting to train

another horse, Cuddles. They were hoping to place Cuddles with a blind

user at the end of her training.

Ann was intrigued, but her guide dog was still in good health. We were

both fascinated by the training possibilities and what it would mean for

horses in general to have minis working as guides, but the need to

pursue it further was not there.

That changed after Bailey's death. After nine years of service, he left

a huge hole in Ann's life. She couldn't bear the thought of getting

another dog right away, but as time went on she missed having a guide.

We were hearing more and more reports about Cuddles and the successes

the Burlesons were having with her. Ann contacted them again. We both

had so many questions. It was hard to believe that a horse could

actually work as a guide. Could it truly be house broken and go to work

with you? Could it ride in cars and travel on buses? Could it fit into

all the tiny spaces a guide dog routinely was asked to negotiate? And

was it healthy for the horse to be used in this way?

We had more questions than a phone call could answer, so in May we went

down to North Carolina to meet Cuddles and the Burlesons. We also met

Cuddles' new owner, Dan Shaw, who was in the final stages of his

training with her. He would be leaving with her within days to take her

home to Maine.

Over the weekend we went out on several training runs and watched them

working together. Cuddles and the Burlesons answered many of our

questions, but for every question that was answered, we discovered we

had ten others. Most of these questions were centered around issues of

management and health. How healthy was it for a horse to live and work

in heated buildings? Could a grazing animal adapt itself to the demands

of our work schedules? That would include being house broken. The

Burlesons had indeed house broken Cuddles. She traveled with us all day

with no accidents, but could she live overnight in a house like a dog?

Could she stay overnight in a motel? What special accommodations would

need to be made for her? And was it healthy for a horse to live like this?

We also had questions about mobility. At 55 pounds Cuddles was indeed

tiny, but could she fit into all the crowded human environments a dog is

routinely asked to go? Just how practical was it traveling with a mini?

What, if any, limitations would there be in terms of mobility and access?

It certainly appeared that the Burlesons had addressed all these health

and mobility concerns in their program, but it was still hard to imagine

living with a horse. I was having trouble scaling my thinking down from

the big horses to grasp just how flexible and adaptable a mini could be.

As I watched Cuddles, it was clear she could do the guide work. She

handled traffic, navigated Dan around obstacles, stood quietly by his

side during a long dinner in a restaurant, and correctly carried out all

his requests to find the car, find the door, follow the people, etc..

She could do all the tasks that would be asked of a canine guide, and

furthermore, she did them well. We were impressed by her training, but

we still left North Carolina with many questions.

As Ann and I discussed our trip over the following weeks, we both

decided that these were questions that needed answering. Ann had begun

the process of applying for a new guide dog, but at the same time she

was intrigued by what we had experienced in North Carolina. Horses live

so much longer than dogs. With modern health care, it is becoming

increasingly common to see horses living and working well into their

thirties. Ann had been lucky. Her guide dog had lived to be eleven, and

she had been able to keep him in work right up to the time of his death.

However, many guide dogs need to be retired after just a couple of years

of service. If horses could indeed work as guides, the payoff in terms

of a longer working life could be huge.

But the questions were still there, and the Burlesons did not have

another horse ready to go. They weren't planning on training another

guide until the following spring. Ann did not want to wait that long,

nor did she feel comfortable risking her mobility on such a new concept.

So, she went ahead and arranged to get a new dog. But in the meantime we

continued to explore the idea of horses as guides. We started looking

for potential candidates. The first challenge was finding a mini that

would be small enough. Don Burleson felt that the minis should be under

26 inches. There aren't that many minis that size, especially since we

were excluding dwarfs from consideration. We were concerned that horses

showing any signs of dwarfism might have hidden health risks.

Our search via the internet turned up only four possible candidates, one

in Oklahoma, one in Wisconsin, and two at Grosshill Miniature Horse

Farm, just outside Ocala Florida. One filly in particular at Grosshill

caught my eye, a beautifully proportioned, black and white pinto. She

was nine months old which meant she still had some growing to do, but

Jack Burchill, the owner of Grosshills, thought she would mature under

26 inches. She had two older siblings who had each stayed very small. It

was a risk buying a horse who had not yet reached her full height, but,

on the other hand, there were training advantages to starting with a

weanling.

We flew down in the middle of August to meet her, and discovered she was

irresistible. Panda is an elegant, beautifully proportioned,

sweet-natured little charmer. Her manners were impeccable. She was calm,

easy to handle, exactly what we were looking for in a guide. As long as

she stayed tiny we would be all set. From my point of view she would be

a horse I would welcome into our training family. It was up to Ann to

decide if this was a project she really wanted to pursue. The answer was yes.

A Horse in the House!

So Panda became ours. She arrived from Florida on Sept. 19. I very

quickly discovered that she is an astonishing little horse. She is

certainly answering far more quickly than I would ever have imagined the

questions I have about using a mini for a guide.

The first day she arrived, I walked her up the backsteps into my house.

Now I should say at the outset that my house would not win any prizes

for neatness. The dining room doubles as my office and a store room for

books and videos. Panda had to negotiate an obstacle course of boxes and

other clutter. She looked at nothing. She walked through my house as

though it was the most ordinary of events. My three cats shadowed her

from room to room. She sniffed noses with Lucy, my youngest, which

pleased me that neither one of them seemed unduly concerned about the other.

I loved the sound her tiny hooves made on the stone floor of my kitchen.

Tic-a, tic-a, tic-a, tic-a, she pattered across the room and on into the

garden room. There we paused to take pictures of this most extraordinary

sight: a horse in my house! Then I took her down the three steps out

into the back garden. Panda followed me without hesitation. Going up

stairs, going down stairs, going into strange spaces, nothing bothered

her. I was floored. She was so mature, not at all like the rambunctious

young horses I normally get to work with! Grosshills had done a superb

job with her "puppy raising".

Over the next couple of days we faced more training challenges. Our most pressing need was getting her used to riding in cars so she could travel with me to the barn. I didn't feel comfortable leaving her home unattended for the four or five hours that I spend at the barn every night. Ann uses a mini van which she specifically chose because it gave her guide dog more room. I, on the other hand, have a subcompact, not

exactly the ideal vehicle for transporting a horse. But Panda very

quickly learned to jump up on the back seat. Her first few attempts were

not very graceful, but she now jumps right in without the least bit of hesitation.

She is also well on her way to being house broken. She relieves on cue,

even on pavement. And she has had no "accidents" indoors. It's been her

clear choice to avoid eliminating in buildings.

She has had several shopping excursions with me, the first to Petsmart

to buy some supplies for her. I've never had such good service! Every

employee in the place came over to meet her. I was astounded at how well

Panda handled everything. Nothing startled her. Nothing got her excited.

Shopping carts, small children, towering stacks of pet supplies, nothing

bothered her. She treated her adventure as the most ordinary of events.

Our next shopping trip was to the post office where she got to stand in

a long line. Panda waited patiently next to me. She also answered

another major concern I had, which was how she would handle the

different surfaces she would have to walk on. Slippery floors were not

an issue for her.

Clicker Clinics and Training Sessions

The weekend after she arrived, I was giving a clinic about an hour north

of where I live. Ann and I loaded Panda into her mini van. Another one

of my clients drove, and we put Panda to yet another test, could she

travel in a car for that length of time? The answer was an easy yes.

During the ride I used the clicker to work on "table manner" issues. She

was at the stage with the clicker training where she knew that certain

behaviors got me to click and hand her tiny tidbits of grain, but she

didn't yet understand that in between she couldn't help herself to my

pockets. So I reinforced her for keeping her head straight. During the

car ride I was able to build duration and add ears forward as a second criterion.

The clinic proved to be a training bonus. I was able to stay with her

throughout the day. While we worked in the arena, we put Panda in a

temporary stall. I could stay near her and still teach, which let me get

a head start on many training projects, including house breaking. During

the breaks, Panda came with me into the house. At lunch on Saturday she

lay down in the middle of the living room and took a nap. Just inches

away from her, Ann's new guide, a german shepherd, was curled up, also

taking a nap. It was a great picture, but, of course, no one had a

camera handy.

At home during the week, I took Panda for daily training walks. It was

clear from the beginning that she led well to the left, but to the right

was another matter. She wasn't comfortable with me on that side. She

pushed into me with her shoulders, and even at one point kicked out at

me over her frustration of having to deal with such a "stupid human"!

Didn't I know where I was supposed to be!

Guide dogs are normally worked from the right, and Ann felt it would be

best to train Panda to work with the handler on this side, as well. So

it was important to get Panda comfortable with this notion. That was an

early priority, as was the pace at which she walked. I reinforced Panda

for working out slightly in front of me, and for keeping a steady pace.

I was not yet focusing on formal guide training. That's a long way down

the road. I regard this phase of her training as the "puppy raising"

stage. I am exposing Panda to a variety of situations and teaching her

basic handling skills. But I do have her future job very much in mind as

we do this. Much of guide training comes from being consistent, so when

we're out walking around my neighborhood, we always stay by the edge of

the road. We stop at all curbs. We don't take shortcuts, and I always

use the same signals to indicate turns. By the time I'm ready to shift

the responsibility for finding the way onto Panda, she will already be

routined into the patterns I want her to follow.

And, of course, everything is clicker trained. When Panda keeps a

consistent pace without pulling, click she gets a treat. When we stop at

a curb, click she gets a treat. When she stands quietly while a

surprised neighbor stops to admire her, click she gets a treat. From her

point of view she has no idea that she is having a lesson. She just

knows that she's out for a walk with an indulgent "nanny" who offers her

goodies for the simplest of tasks.

I generally manage to fit two training sessions into my day. In the

morning we go out for a walk, then I give her lunch and leave her in the

stall I built for her in my garage. When she arrived, I was still

working on the third video which meant long hours on the computer. The

computer is down one flight of stairs which Panda definitely was not

ready for. She can negotiate my back steps, but she tends to rush down

them. Until she has learned how to step down slowly, a full flight of

steps could be dangerous. And, of course, that was another major

question. Could she learn to go up and down stairs?

I hadn't yet established enough of a foundation in the leading to tackle

that question. So while I worked on the computer, Panda stayed in her

stall. In the afternoon I would take her out for another training

session, and I generally also gave her some play time in a small fenced

in garden. I wish I'd gotten pictures of that before the frost hit. Most

of my garden has been eaten down by the deer, but this is the one area

that's protected enough to keep them out. In the center of the garden is

a large circle planted in hostas. It was the oddest sight seeing this

perfect little horse zooming around with the hostas towering above her.

As one person commented, it would make a great ad for miracle grow: look

at how huge my plants are!

Her afternoon lessons usually focused on basic handling skills. She

wasn't comfortable having her feet picked up, so that was a priority. I

very quickly found that the best way to work on that was to bring her

into the house so I could sit on a couch. Otherwise my back very quickly

started screaming at me. Other lessons included going up and down my

back steps one at a time. She got so highly reinforced for stairs that

she turned into an eager mountain goat!

I might mention that while I am writing this she is having one of her

afternoon sessions. I've got my laptop on the dining room table, and

Panda is standing next to me. The lesson we're working on is called:

"the grown ups are working now, please don't interrupt." One of the

skills a guide must have is the ability to wait quietly while his person

works. Panda has learned the location I want her to stand in relative to

me. Right now I'm working on duration.

In the evening, she rides in the back of my car to the barn. The first

night my normally ten minute drive took considerably longer. I crawled

at a snail's pace through town while Panda learned to balance on the

back seat. I had been concerned about her being able to fit in my car.

It turns out, she has plenty of room, and can turn around on the back

seat just as easily as any dog. She seems to enjoy looking out the

window, and, now that she's figured out how to do it, she's eager to

jump in my car for a ride.

At the barn we play musical stalls with her as we juggle horses in and

out. At first, she whinnied plaintively for me. She didn't want to be

left alone! Learning to let me out of her sight was another step in her

training which the clicker helped with. She now settles right in at the

barn. She whickers a greeting to me as I walk past whatever stall she's

in, but it's just a "hello", it's not a distress call.

John Lyons Symposium

On October 5-7 John Lyons gave a symposium in the western part of NY. I

very much wanted to go, but we had the issue of what to do with Panda.

She wasn't ready for an overnight in a motel, so we decided to drive out

with a trailer. Panda could easily spend the night in the front box stall.

After her transport up from Florida, it was clear Panda was going to be

stressed by another solitary trip, so I rode in the back of the trailer

with her for the four hour trip out. Naturally, I couldn't just sit with

her during the trip. I had to train something, so I built the foundation

for teaching her to lie down.

Friday evening when I walked into the arena where Lyons was holding the

symposium, I thought: what in the world was I thinking bring Panda! The

place was packed with people. We weren't two feet into the arena before

she had a crowd swarming around her. She was wearing a guide harness,

and a sign identifying her as a guide-in-training along with a reminder

not to touch her. That didn't matter. She was too cute for people to

resist. They were all over her. Panda isn't yet solid about being

handled, so I had to watch her closely to make sure we stayed within her

comfort zone.

Lyons had a round pen set up in the center of the arena with metal

chairs surrounding it ten rows deep. We found a spot off to ourselves at

the back of the arena. Panda's lesson for the evening was on moving her

hips over and lining herself up next to my chair. Lyons worked for well

over two hours during which time she stayed quietly by my side. She

fussed a couple of times, so I took her away from everyone and offered

her a chance to relieve herself, which she did not take advantage of. I

had no idea what the limits were to her bladder control, but if she had

needed to go, she could easily have used the bark footing of the arena

as her "liter box".

After the symposium ended, we went back to the trailer where she finally

relieved herself. Her bladder was very full, so she had clearly been

controlling herself until she could return to her preferred location.

I slept up in the gooseneck so I could keep an eye on her during the

night. Everyone else headed off to a warm night in a motel. Spending the

night with her was another training bonus. I wanted her to develop a

close bond with me, but I also needed her to be comfortable with being

left alone. By staying with her, but out of sight, I could help her

adjust to being alone in an unfamiliar location.

Saturday was a further test of Panda's suitability for guide work. Lyons

was working an unbroke horse. Panda ignored everything: the people

walking past her, the commotion of the horse, the loud speaker, the

applause of the people. She again treated her surroundings as perfectly

normal and remained focused on what I was asking her to do.

I trained Panda as I watched the clinic. I had to pick a lesson that

didn't require much movement, so I continued to work on teaching her to

lie down. I shaped her to drop her head, and to yield her front knee

into my hand. I could draw her knee back so she was starting to kneel.

Click and jackpot: a tiny bit of carrot. Once that was consistent, I

let the clicker take over. At first she wasn't sure what to do next.

This was not the way horses naturally lie down, but as I let her sort

out the possibilities, she quite abruptly folded her legs underneath her

and dropped to the ground. She didn't stay down more than a second, but

that was long enough for me to click and reinforce her.

Throughout the morning I continued to work on lying down. It took just a

few minutes to establish a consistent trigger for the behavior. Once she

was down, I clicked and treated, clicked and treated in rapid fire

succession. By keeping her on a high rate of reinforcement I was able to

built duration into the overall behavior.

Lyons took one break during the day, shortly after noon, which meant

that Panda was in the arena working with me for over three hours.

Remember, this is a nine month old horse, so any of you who are worried

about your horse's attention span, relax. When lessons are fun, horses

can play all day!

Panda got a mid-day lunch and nap break. Then from 1:30 to 6:00 she was

back in the arena. It was never my intention to keep her in the arena

that long. I was expecting Lyons to take a late afternoon break, but he

worked straight through to the end. Panda seemed perfectly at ease with

his program. She lay down at my feet and took an extended nap. She

didn't even stir when people stepped over her on their way back to their

seats. Astounding. She was still napping when Lyons finally finished up

and applause broke out. Not even that disturbed her beauty sleep. I was

truly amazed.

After the symposium I took her out for a walk. She was full of energy

and wanted to go exploring, but our walk was interrupted by a cold rain.

I took her back to the trailer and worked on some basic ground control

lessons just to give her some exercise. When it was too dark to see, I

gave her her dinner and slipped away.

Sunday Panda was every bit as good as she had been on Saturday. I now

had two useful guide behaviors to work on, lying down, and standing

quietly by my chair. The lying down was solid. I had only to touch the

front of her chest and she was plopping herself eagerly down on the

ground. I let her snooze by my feet most of the morning, and in the

afternoon we worked on having her tuck herself in close beside my chair.

That would be a very useful skill in restaurants and other places where

Ann might need her to wait quietly by her side.

Lyons ran the day again as two long training sessions. I watched Panda

for signs of fidgeting or discomfort, but she seemed very much at ease.

One of our concerns, and one of the arguments against using horses as

guides, is that of the whole question of the work schedule. People argue

that horses are herd animals and asking them to work in this manner will

be too stressful. Panda on the contrary has shown me that for her this

is not an issue. She seems ideally suited to being a guide. Panda loves

being with people. When we got her, she bonded almost immediately to me.

So from her point of view the weekend was great fun. She got to spend

the entire day with me. She was perfectly happy playing funny clicker

games with me all day long, even surrounded by all the people and

commotion. Rather than being a stressful situation, the clinic gave her

something horses very much need, social contact.

Tufts Animal Expo

Panda's next huge challenge came just a few days later. I was scheduled

to be one of the presenters at the Tufts Animal Expo which was being

held at a convention center in downtown Boston. I couldn't leave Panda

at home because there was no one to horse sit her during the day. But if

I took her with me, Panda would have to handle city traffic, elevators,

slippery marble floors, the exhibit hall and conference rooms, and long

hours indoors. The overnight accommodations were taken care of by Sarah

Stuurman. She arranged a stall for Panda at the barn where Sarah keeps

her stallion, Gregor. By Tuesday I had decided to wimp out and leave

Panda there during the day. There were just too many unknowns and

stresses for such a young horse. My first presentation was at nine

o'clock. If she couldn't handle the elevator, or refused to walk over

the marble floors of the convention center, I'd be stuck.

That was Tuesday. Wednesday I decided that it was less stressful for

Panda to go with me than it was to leave her by herself in a strange

barn. Sarah was going to be with me. If Panda couldn't cope with the

convention center, I could always leave her with Sarah. If she could

handle her stallion, Gregor, she could certainly handle little Panda.

I drove to Boston Wednesday afternoon. Panda dozed during most of the

three hour trip, settled into her overnight accommodations, and didn't

make too much of a fuss when I slipped away out of sight. She had

learned at the Lyons' clinic that it was all right for me to disappear.

It didn't cause the stress that it had just a few days before.

In the morning we got held up by commuter traffic so she was in the car

longer than I would have liked. Before we went into the conference

center, she had her first major test. Would she relieve on-cue in a

parking lot? I put a couple of handfuls of shavings down on the pavement

and gave her her cue. Without any hesitation Panda responded. I have to

say, my mouth dropped open. I was not expecting the house breaking to be

this easy!

Panda relieving on cue in a downtown Boston parking lot.

I continued to be astonished by this little horse. Elevators, city

traffic, slippery floors, crowds of people, she handled everything like

a seasoned pro. My first presentation was at nine and lasted two hours.

Panda showed off her repertoire of clicker-trained behaviors. Then I

played some videos. The videos were projected up on a giant screen. The

first horse I showed was a clip of Fig, taken from my first video. Panda

watched the screen along with everyone else! Ann is going to have to get

cable so Panda can watch Animal Planet!

When the tape stopped, Panda lay down for a nap. It didn't matter that

she was surrounded by people. She stretched flat out on her side and had

a long, and, I trust, wonderful dream.

After my presentation Panda had another potty break outside. As we

headed back to the parking garage, the streets were full of people. We

couldn't go two steps without somebody coming up to us to ask questions.

Most people had heard about minis being used for guides. The response to

Panda was incredible. Everyone was so gracious, and so very accepting of

her. That was especially true at the conference where people were

thrilled to see her. And, of course, everyone wanted to touch her.

Panda in downtown Boston.

That was the one area that caused some training concerns. Panda is not

yet entirely comfortable being handled. She fidgets for grooming, and

she doesn't like people rushing at her. One of the principles of

training states that "you can't ask for something and expect to get it

on a consistent basis unless you have gone through a teaching process to

teach it to your horse."

That's a fundamentally important principle. I had not fussed Panda about

her lack of good grooming manners because I had not yet built the ground

control that would let me ASK her to stand still. I could MAKE her stand

still, but that would have undermined her training and the relationship

we are building. With Panda, and indeed with all my horses, I want to be

able to ask for specific behaviors, and have them respond because they

understand clearly what is wanted and are more than willing to comply.

My horses are in the habit of saying "yes" to me, because I don't put

them into situations where the only option they see is "no".

Panda was getting flooded with people, and she didn't yet have enough of

a foundation to know how to accept all the attention. I discovered that

most people greeted her by putting their hand under her muzzle. I hadn't

yet taught her "leave it", so she was nuzzling them, expecting food, and

then getting annoyed when there was nothing there. That was not a

problem for me. I could regulate her behavior and keep both Panda and

the people safe. But as a working guide this would present problems. Ann

would not be able to see when Panda needed to be shifted back from

someone's hand. So I made a mental note that I would need to pay

particular attention to this aspect of her training.

Morgan Spector, the author of "Clicker Training For Obedience", was also

presenting at the Expo. On Friday morning he helped me with one

important element of this. He played the "leave it" game with Panda. He

placed his hand under her nose. She nuzzled his hand, and then

eventually looked away. I immediately clicked and reinforced her. Panda

caught on fast, and has since enthusiastically played the "leave it"

game with others.

In her training I use my hand as a positive target, as does Ann. Panda

understands that she can orient to our hands, but with everyone else she

is figuring out that the best way to get reinforced is to draw her nose

away from their outstretched fingers.

During the Expo, she showed me that she has another ability a guide must

have: she knows how to take opportunistic naps. When I stopped to chat

with people, she would stand next to me dozing. At one point I was in

the Exhibit Hall next to the Sunshine Books' clicker training booth. The

aisle was packed with people, and I was answering a barrage of questions

about clicker training and mini guides. Panda decided it was time for a

nap. She lay down on the floor, and, in the midst of all those people,

sacked out on her side for a long, deep snooze. I was astounded that not

only did she feel comfortable enough to lie down with all the noise and

commotion around her, but that she also was relaxed enough to sleep. I

was truly amazed.

Panda joined me for lunch with Karen Pryor, and later participated in my

afternoon presentation. We didn't leave the building until almost five.

On our drive out of Boston we got stuck in commuter traffic. There were

a couple of accidents that slowed everything down to a snail's pace, so

we didn't get her settled into her stall until almost seven.

Friday morning we left even earlier, but this time traffic was flowing

smoothly, so we had a little extra time before the conference started.

We took Panda out for a training walk.

Panda at a street crossing.

The day before I had shown Gale Pryor how the clicker can be used to train

obstacle avoidance. I walked into a traffic barrel that was blocking a cross walk,

then reinforced Panda for finding the way around. Friday morning we decided to

video Panda experiencing Boston. I walked her towards the same barrel with the

intent of crashing into it again. Panda walked me around it. I would have had to

push her to the side to walk into it. I approached it a couple of times, and each

time she maneuvered me around it. That was after just one exposure! I was again

astounded at both Panda and the power of clicker training.

Panda taking me around the traffic barrel. I was trying to walk into it, but Panda took me very deliberately around it.

We had a chance to work with an overhead obstacle, a chain strung

between two posts to direct pedestrian traffic into a tour bus queue. I

gave Panda the command forward. She could walk under the chain without

any problem. I, however, crashed into it. I said "oops!", backed her up,

and told her to go forward again.

Panda reached up with her nose and sniffed the chain. I told her to go

forward which she did, and I crashed into the chain a second time.

I backed her up, and gave her the forward command again. Without

hesitation she turned to the left and took me around the chain! Click

and jackpot! What a smart horse! I have not begun her formal guide

training, but she is clearly showing me that, just like Cuddles, the

ability is there.

Friday was a repeat of the first day. I had another two hour

presentation beginning at nine. She had a quick bathroom break

afterwards, then I joined Karen Pryor and Morgan Spector for the last

hour of a training workshop they were giving. After that Panda was

clearly getting tired of people, so I found a quiet corner off by

ourselves where we could both have a break. Later I sat in on Irene

Pepperberg's presentation on parrot language acquisition. Panda slept at

my feet. The nap revived her enough for her to return to the exhibit

hall for my final commitment of the day.

That was the end of the conference, but not the end of the training.

Friday evening Sarah needed to get Gregor out, and her husband, Martijn

was teaching a dressage lesson in the arena. While I waited for them, I

entertained with Panda in her stall. The big horses were practicing

their shoulder-ins, so we practiced ours. I worked Panda at liberty,

getting her to yield to the pressure of an imaginary rein. By the end of

our session she was stepping over sideways in very pretty shoulder-in.

I've been adding Robin's pose into her training, so she's already using

herself like a performance horse. This isn't just for fun. Adding the

high school work will give Ann greater control over leg speed, something

that I've seen with the canine guides is much needed.

Stairs

Saturday morning I again drove in to Boston, to Karen Pryor's house for

an editorial meeting on the next book, "Clicker Training With Your

Horse, A Step-By-Step Guide in Pictures". We had chosen to meet at

Karen's house rather than the Sunshine Books office, because Karen's

front porch offered us the perfect training ground to teach Panda to go

up and down stairs with control.

Karen's steps were long, so I could turn Panda sideways and let her do

only one or two steps at a time. If we had let her, the little mountain

goat would have been only too happy to clamber up right to the top, but

she probably would have crashed coming down. So Karen positioned herself

on the step above Panda to discourage her from going up too far, and

Morgan handled the clicker. The goal was to click her for placing her

hind feet one at a time on the steps. We wanted her to become more aware

of how she was using her hind end instead of just hopping up the steps.

Karen Pryor, Morgan Spector, and myself helping Panda learn about stairs.

As the handler I couldn't see what she was doing with her hind feet, so

I was delighted to be able to turn the timing of the click over to

Morgan. As a dog trainer, he knew more about teaching stairs than I did.

This isn't a behavior that normally comes up in horse training!

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed working with Morgan and Karen. What a

treat! There was not one bad click in the entire session, not one piece

of misinformation. When Panda learned to go up and down the stairs with

control, we let her go all the way up onto the porch. Success! And there

was another question answered. It looked as though, with a little more

practice, she would indeed be able to handle stairs.

Inside Panda had to pose for more pictures. I had to rein in Karen who

wanted to teach Panda to lie down on her sofa, and pull carrots out of

her refrigerator! Ann would have had something to say about that! But I

did let her shape her to open her kitchen cupboards: a useful

service-animal skill. During our meeting on the book, Panda stood next

to me, dozing, and eventually lay down on the carpet for a real nap. It

made for a most unique and delightful editorial meeting!

What's next for Panda

Panda and I left for home mid-afternoon. She is now back in her more

normal routine, at least for a couple of days. Next week, I'll be taking

her with me to the clinic down in Virginia, at Darcy Donahue's. She'll

be joining Crackers and Sindri as one of our clicker-demo horses. In the

meantime she is going for her regular walks and continuing to learn new

things. I have been monitoring these training sessions carefully,

looking for signs of stress. If she came back from either the Lyons'

clinic or the Tufts Expo and started spooking at things that had not

worried her before, I would be concerned that I had pushed her too fast,

too far. But on the contrary, she is becoming increasingly solid in her

work. In fact I've just added an important new element to her training.

I was able to let her off lead in my house for the first time. She

followed me around just like a puppy. When I sat down on the couch, she

lined herself up in heel position and stayed right beside me.

All of her training has been done with the clicker. Nothing has been

forced on her. I'm now at the stage where I am building, bit by bit,

duration into all of her behaviors. She is showing me that she

understands what I am asking of her, and she is also showing me an

enthusiasm for her work. She doesn't realize that she is having a

lesson. She is more like an energetic toddler with an indulgent

grandparent, one who is willing to play with her all day long. Panda is

clearly most content when she is with me, even if she is just being

asked to stand quietly by my side. That's exactly what we want in a guide.

Ann and I both regard Panda's training as a research project. We have,

as I said at the beginning, many questions. I could not be more pleased

or astounded at the progress Panda has made so far, but we are very much

in the beginning stages of her training. She has clearly demonstrated

that she makes a delightful companion. Whether she will also make a

guide remains to be seen.

I am going to be keeping a training journal, and posting regular updates

about her to this web site, so you can follow along with her progress.

And now that you've read this report, if you find yourself shaking your

head in disbelief at all the things I've been asking Panda to do, I

would have you remember another important training principle: "Go to

people for opinions, and horses for answers." The Panda Project is

important not just for service-animal users. Through Panda I am

questioning many commonly held beliefs about horses and what they can

and can not do. Panda is rewriting the script. Over time that may have

important implications for all our horses. She is already being a

guide, leading me to places in my training I would never have imagined I

would be exploring.

Alexandra Kurland

theclickercenter.com