Behavior Shifts

I wish I could say that clicker training is fast (and sometimes it is when a horse just "gets it") but in Daisy's and my case, it's creeping along. Considering how abused she had been and how strongly dominant she is at present, this may be a long process, to get her to shift her trust to me and treat me as her "herd" (a herd being a  safety zone for her).

Pat Parelli comments that the things a horse needs, in order, are:
1--to feel safe
2-- to feel comfortable
3--to play
4--food and procreation

Daisy now whinnies enthusiastically at me. She looks forward to those positive clicker lessons which produce so many treats and cause her to feel some sense of confidence in actions. She feels safe while we are going through the clicker--treat lessons, until someone starts mowing the grass nearby or the horses in other pastures trot off. Then she feels the need to stick her neck up, giraffe-like, and stare at what is going on around her.

When that happens, I put the target down on the ground where she can see and reach it, and sit back and wait. Her fly mask compromises some of her vision, so I tap on the plastic bucket lid target to help her figure out that it is available and waiting for her on the ground.

Yesterday, I got very good results when I sat down on the ground just beyond her pasture gate. I could not be stepped on, but was close enough to manipulate the bucket lid-target and feed her treats.

As a major goal is getting her to lower her head and carry it lower, sitting on the ground and feeding her near the ground caused her to quickly figure out that it was just too darned much trouble to keep raising her head again each time. Why bother?! She started keeping her head near the ground to be ready for the next "touch and stay on the target" and the treat.

When I start working with her, I have to go back to "touch the target" but not ask her to hold her nose on the target, on the ground. She doesn't want to put her head down more than for a touch-and-go initially.

I wish I could halter her and go in with her, to vary the training and work on backing from a light touch on the point of her shoulder, but I gave my word that I'd stay out of her pasture until the bandages on the broken/dislocated arm come off. So all I can do for now is work on head lowering by working from the ground myself!

Daisy does not like her rope halter. It is not all that comfy to wear, and was not designed for comfort. She was fond of her webbing halter with the soft covers over the nose and crown pieces. I stopped using this halter when she dragged me hither and yon. It may e time to go back to it, and see if clicker training can make a lady out of her with it. After all, clicker training is about staying safe, AND not using force.