What's My Motivation?

Since I had only been at the barn for 1 day in the last week and a half, yesterday was a quiet day of review. No halter or longe line, just the whip, the clicker and (of course) my little pail of carrots.

I was pleased to find everything more or less intact, though her reactions were a little sluggish.

I noticed on my last visit that the halter allowed me to hold her head and prevent her from moving forward when I asked for "over". I continued that experience, by putting my hand on her nose when I asked her to step sideways. It really helped me to gain a little control over the movement. I would love for her to be able to perform this action without me putting any hands on her, but for now accept that I have to give a little help: pressure on the side and hold her head.

She did very well when I tried to send her forward, but wouldn't stop walking away. As soon as I started approaching her haunch, she walked away, no matter what body language I tried to send. She obviously reached the point wherein she understood "the game" and was anticipating my requests. This day was set aside for me to see what Matilda remembered, what I remembered and spend some time thinking about where to go next, so I didn't try to fix anything, just let her succeed at everything she tried and took it all in.

A round hay feeder, like the one in the picture, sits in Matilda's paddock. While I was checking things out yesterday, I thought about that feeder and wondered if I could use it somehow. Perhaps to help Matilda walk around me in a circle? A plan formed in my mind to change things up once again.

This morning I came into the paddock with only my clicker, pail and target stick (remember that thing?). No whip. We started, as always, with a review.

Matilda did PHENOMENALLY well. Back, Come, Over (with my hand putting pressure on her side but without my hand on her nose) and stop/whoa. I wasn't too demanding with it, ie I would only ask her to stop when she was already stopping, but she was so.... present and with me. I'm not sure how to describe the feeling I got from her but I was very proud, to say the least.

We also reviewed with the target stick because we haven't used it in a while. She absolutely remembered it and I couldn't put it in a place too challenging for her. Even when it was too high for her to actually reach, she put the stick between her teeth and pulled it down to a level where she could grab the end.

We finished with the review and I stepped into the middle of the hay feeder, which is about 4 feet in diameter. She came over to it and I held the target stick about a foot away and said "touch", she took a step forward and touched: click! We progressed like that until I realized that she wasn't walking forward so much as she was stretching, trying not to move her feet, to the target. Ah, the fine points of clicker training, since I want her to learn to walk in a circle when I say "walk" I need to CLICK when she is WALKING, even if I use the word "touch" to get her moving forward. That way she will know that I want her to walk to the target, not just touch it, I had only been clicking when she touched the target. So much to keep in mind and figure out here.

Needless to say, within two or three clicks she was walking a quarter to half way around the feeder every time I put out the target stick and said "Matilda, Touch" followed by "Walk". She would even follow the target if I pulled it away from her to entice her into a few more steps around our small circle.

The next layer was to start getting her to change direction. A much desired trait when changing directions is that the horse turns with head towards you, rather than rump. In the current configuration, I knew she would keep her mouth aimed in the direction of the carrot pail, but how to get her to turn? This was an easy one.

I put the target stick 2-6 inches behind her rump. It was so much easier for her to change direction to get to the target faster than going around the feeder. As she backed and started changing direction (with her head facing me) I simply said "turn" and clicked. After she completed the turn, I would move the target away from her so that she had to turn and walk a couple of steps before achieving her ultimate goal of touching the target.

I am in no way saying that she gets "walk" or "turn" but having her walk around me in a circle and turning like this is so much closer to my final vision of what it will be like to longe her and this is so much easier and more positive for her that I will continue on this path. With this method, her motivation is dramatically shifted from going away from something she fears to going towards something. Why didn't I do this before? I guess I shouldn't complain when Matilda loses focus, I do it so well and so often. sigh.

There's one more thing that I noticed over the last couple of days and that is Matilda's relative gentleness. I swear, she hasn't touched me in two days. I was so surprised, when I finally realized this yesterday, that we spent some time just clicking and rewarding when she would not touch me or the pail. She reached her nose forward but stopped an inch from my tummy then, instead of punching it like normal, she would pull her head back. It was the same this morning. She would reach for the pail or me and then stop and pull back, sometimes even step back. I wonder how long this has been going on without me noticing. I wonder if it will continue. I do find Matilda to be wonderfully amazing.