Silent Flower Dressage
Welcome to my tutorial on what I am calling Silent Flower Dressage. This is my first time putting something like this into words so try to understand when I make this into a horrid mess, please?
Introduction
This training method emphasizes a trainers control over their Pony and requires the pony be able to follow commands at a moments notice. This uses the Flower dressage rings, but has no verbal communication from the trainer to the Pony. After some deliberation and help from other people I have worked to add in as many aspects of normal Flower Dressage as I can.
Starting out: There are many steps to learning to do this training, So I advise taking your pony out day by day to master this technique. Therefore I will break down the lessons into Levels of Skill.
Level 1
This is your first day of training your pony. The rules here are slightly different to normal activities so you need to etch this into their minds. During this training a Pony must not move without input from the trainer.
They cannot Start, stop, turn left, or turn right unless their trainer commands them with the whip.
If they disobey this rule, correct their behavior and remind them to only respond to the whip. This helps enforce their dependence on their trainer for direction.
For a Pony on Level 1, We will be using the Outer ring. This is the line that encompasses A, C, E, and G. It passes through the outermost circles, B, D, F, and H. To begin, Instruct the Pony to stand on the outer ring, Right next to one of the letters. You, The Trainer, will stand at the very center of the rings (Where the pony usually begins in Normal Flower Dressage)
Instruct your pony on the commands they will be learning today. They are very similar to Cart training:
While standing still, Left and right commands (Three whips and four whips) will direct the pony to make a 90 degree turn on the spot without moving. Four left commands will have the pony turn around to face you again.
When you crack the whip once, The pony must start walking in the direction they were facing, No matter what. A good way to test if the pony is paying attention to the rules is by having them face you in the middle of the circle. Command them to start walking and if they stop before running into you or try to turn out of the way, Correct their behavior and remind them that they can only stop when you command it.
When you crack the whip twice, The pony knows to stop, But they cannot stop just anywhere. The pony can only stop in front of one of the four outer letters, B, D, F, and H. So the Pony must keep following the outer ring until they reach one of those letters.
Reminder: When punishing the Ponies behavior, Do not just walk over to them. Have them stop in front of one of the letters, Turn them to face you, and command them to approach, While remembering to give the stop command before they hit you. You can then punish or reward your pony without having to move at all. After that, Send them back out to the edge and resume training.
Level 2
After you are confident in your ponies ability to follow commands, You can begin letting them take the inner circles. A, G, E, and C will now be open to your ponies routines. Start as on level one and begin by having the pony walk along the outside edge of the flower dressage. If they are going clockwise, Command them to go right. If they are counter clockwise, Command them to go left. They should follow the next circle they reach.
If you wish them to resume the outer circle, command them to go (One whip). They must follow the outer ring once more once they touch upon it again. If you command stop (two whips) while a pony is on the circle, they must keep walking until they meet the outer ring and then come to a stop in front of one of the letters.
Once they have mastered this, Have them swap circles by commanding left or right while they are in motion around the rings. You can have them change directions around the outer ring without having to stop this way.
Level 3
This is a big jump for both Trainer and Pony. So far you have learned all the necessary steps to enter circles and exit circles, how to turn and when to turn. You as a trainer have probably realized the importance of giving your pony enough time to follow the command to get the result you want. But the gaps for turning into the outer circles, B, D, F, and H, are exceedingly small and lag can be a big problem here.
The solution to this is double commands.
Imagine if you are coming to a few Y intersections close together on the highway. Your directions might say "Keep left, Then, keep right." So you know to take the first left split, Then take the next right. Let's apply this to the training. https://my.secondlife.com/elaema Start your pony at B facing in a clockwise direction. Command them to start and then immediately command them to go right. Wait for them to reach the point on the circle closest to you and comhttps://my.secondlife.com/elaemamand RIGHT again, and then Immediately Left. This tells the pony to ignore the transfer to circle A and then proceed to the correct left turn, on B.
Commanding a stop here would require the pony take the next exit off onto an inner circle, Then follow that onto the outer ring, and then stop, finally at a letter.
Commanding a go here would send the pony back in much the same way except they would follow the outer ring waiting for commands.
If you have additions or requests please contact [Elaema]