I worked Jackson for about 45 minutes. I
wanted to try to train him to lunge long and
low. I really haven't done any of that and I
know it would be good for him. So I lunged
him with the cordeo and I figured I would
try to shape (clicker) him to put go forward
with his head down. We started at the walk.
I would click whenever I saw his head go
lower. We did quite a bit at the walk
without too much progress until he put his
head down to sniff something. Click, bingo!
Then I had him walk, he dropped his head.
Click, treat! I did that 3 more times just
to make sure he had it pretty firmly in his
mind. Then I wanted him to keep his head
down for 3 or 4 steps. The first time he put
his head down and then brought it back up.
No click. He kept walking and put his head
down for longer. Click, treat. Then I asked
him to trot and do it. It only took a minute
or two before he got the idea of dropping
his head. I was only asking for a momentary
drop of his head. Repeat lunging to the
other direction. Rapid progress. I stopped
the lunging then. I am curious to see how he
does the next time I go out.
I do have a question though, what kind of
signal/ cue, should I give for long and low
verses normal verses collected?
Then I worked on rearing. Jackson is really
starting to get the idea of holding his big
rears. He will hold them for a second or
two, waving his front feet! It looks pretty
cool! I am excited about that trick. Once he
gets that down, I guess I should see if I
can get him to do the courbette (?).
Then I rode him with just the cordeo. I
wanted to see how quickly you can train
bridleless riding using the clicker. I don’t
think we made much progress. I was just
asking for turning and stopping to start
with. I would click and treat when he turned
quickly to my cues or stopped quickly.
However, he didn’t seem any more responsive
when we finished today as when we started.
Is that just something that takes weeks? Or
am I not clicking as well as I could?
I am trying to be very subtle with my seat,
legs, and cordeo. I am trying to sit quietly
and just shift my weight and touch with my
legs and cordeo. I certainly trust him much
more than I did earlier this year. Also, if
I have to bale off, I have a foot of snow to
land in! I loped him. He wouldn’t always
slow on cue, but he didn’t race off. So I
just stayed with him.
