Today Tandy was taken out of the round pen and long lined around the horse pens and he responded to Doug and the bit
well. The last time we did this he was not ready, or reacted to a previous memory that was not good, and freaked out and got wrapped up in the lines. We have discovered that he is very afraid of whips, fly spray and the horse clippers. It makes me wonder what happened when he was in professional training a year ago. Anyway we can retrain him and it is progressing well. Next up is Doug riding him.
What a shame he apparently went to the wrong trainers. I hope you can desensitize him to these things (I have used clicker training/positive reinforcement in the past with success).
ReplyDeleteI know and we were told that the trainer was chosen for being good !! Yes clicker training is very useful. I use it by saying good boy instead of using an actual clicker sound.
ReplyDeleteI also use verbal praise instead of a clicker. I have no doubt that Stella could be quickly ruined by a trainer who 'forced' things, as reactive as she is. That is why I'm doing it all myself, slow as that is.
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