KBR Training Case Study:"Keno"
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Keno has always been ear shy and worried about any fast movements around her face. We decided it was time to spend time desensitizing her so that we couold move around her head without her ducking away and also get her clipped. We started out with some basic round corral work just to get her into response mode. Our objective at this time was to get her to respond at a walk, not rush through the round corral drills. She settled in fairly nicely and so we did some rope work, flipping the lead all around and over her, and eventually "flossing" her with the lead rope. Next came handling her face with our hands. She would let us work our way up to her ears and even massage them, but reaching directly for those ears was a real no-no. We kept touching, then rubbing, then massaging for about 15 minutes until she was pretty well desensitized. (We should note that by tomorrow, Keno will probably be uncomfortable about having her ears touched again. This is something we will actually need to work on several days in a row.) After that we tied Keno to a post next to where one of the mules was being clipped. When it was Keno's turn, we first had her target the electric cord, then the clippers with them not running. Then we had her target the cord, Sharon's hand holding the clippers, then the clippers all while they were running. If we directed the clippers toward Keno, she would back off. If we asked her to "Touch it!" she would usually step forward and touch the clippers. After touching her mouth and muzzle a couple of places Sharon began to clip Keno's face. The vibration tickled her and Sharon had to take frequent breaks and get Keno to target the clippers again. At one point Keno had enough and backed out. We had to make several attempts at getting her to target the clippers and each time Sharon tried to resume clipping, Keno would head off backwards, although each time she would come right back to where we were standing when asked. Eventually Keno settled back down and Sharon made a couple more successful passes with the clippers. Since Keno is head shy, we didn't want to push too far and break the bubble again, plus we would need to repeat this exercise several times for Keno to get solid with it. |
Showing Keno the clippers
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Going up Keno's muzzle
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Going across Keno's nose
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| The next day we went back to the tie pole with a little more deliberance. Keno knew the clippers wouldn't hurt her so she just needed to keep her wits about her. We started at her previous "safe zones" and worked through her muzzle, chin and bridle path with the clippers. After a few minutes she was standing reasonably calm. |
Look Ma, no whiskers!
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Later this training really paid off
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Continue to Keno in UtahReturn to Part 11Return to BeginningPress "Back" to return to the page that brought you hereReturn to Case Study SectionReturn to Training SectionReturn to Wild Horse MentorsReturn to KBR World of Wild Horses and BurrosGo To
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