Recently I have been using a verbal bridge and target with Smoke and he is getting very calm with taking the treats. I made a target using a Kidz carrot stick with a glove on the end as I thought this useful for taking out riding. He follows it very well now.
Now Liz is back riding I thought I had better do some more work with Benny.
Today I went to work some more with my target stick with a glove on the end. Different glove today but they both (Benny and Smoke) targeted immediately. This glove is partly yellow so will be good to take out riding. The problem I have is that they all want to come into the arena. First I wanted Benny but he wouldn’t squeeze past Mel so Smoke got in first. Then after working with Smoke I opened the gate and let Benny in. Smoke then followed the target to the gate and eventually went back in to the field – with plenty of treats of course. Both were very good although Smoke seems to stick with me following the target for longer. Benny was very good at lateral flexions using the target. All at liberty as it stops me inadvertently adding a pressure cue from the rope. I really must train them to station but haven’t quite got the method fixed in my head.
This is all fascinating stuff and well worth the effort to perfect.
Positive Horsemanship. 