lol i love this journal lol i use to worj on a horse ranch i have been or seen a hourse since 2014 when my friday died. so this is awesome. (also been pregnant or nursing since july of 2012 ) i miss working with horses they are so much fun and can be complete pains in the butt when they want to be.
So, a few weeks ago, I shared a video I found of hay bags attached to a saddled horse. That video's goal was to work on getting the neck supple to the left & right shoulder.
I decided to use the idea of self rewarding for Flugi to stay "awake" with me.
Like I thought, even though she wanted the alfalfa hay, she turned into a statue that needed to be spoon fed.
She wouldn't reach for it on her own, at all. I would bring her head over & hand feed. She eventually did try, once, on her own, but then went back to freezing.
I led her around, flopped the hay, hand fed.
Then, I lunged her a few times in each direction, half circles, and she finally would try to get a bite on her own! But again, soon froze.
Decided to change the goal, so that we could end on a good note, and that is the video. I held a net to her in one hand & with the other hand, I flopped around the net over, under, behind her and on tree for the sounds & pulling feelings.
As she chewed her mouthful of hay, she stayed much more thawed out!
At the very end, I pulled a small pile out onto the ground, dropped the lead & I was able to undo cinch, hang up stirrup & cinch from the off side & remove the tree without any wincing or twitching. She stayed animated, reaching for her snack, looking over to me, head at a more relaxed level, eating.
Frozen
Flugi's FIRST session of Target Training!
My first as well, which you can tell by all the flailing around & disorganization...
She caught on so fast
I need a fannypack now. This is what they were invented for, it must be!
Phone slips upwards at around the 7min mark & I don't notice until the 8min mark. So, skip past that part or take a quick weewee break.
I'll work on correcting the pushiness once I'm sure she understands to touch the blue end & I get myself in order.
The alfalfa hay wasn't working out.