I worked Jackson for about an hour. I was
interrupted twice by the Fed-Ex guy coming!
So I walked out there with my dog and horse
behind me, neither of them on a leash!
Anyway, Jackson did pretty well.
I will give the exciting news first. I was
asking him for the obeisance. He gave me a
couple pretty good ones and then a really
good one. He got treats for those. Then I
asked him to lie down. I do this with a
verbal cue and my body language. I really
think that he kind of gets what I want!
First he parked out and when I didn’t click,
he started to lay down. I then clicked and
rewarded him! However, we were on packed
snow and he didn’t seem too keen on lying
down there. I asked him to lie down and he
pawed the ground for a little bit and then
he walked away. This is not normal behavior
for Jackson, so, keeping in mind all the
lessons I have learned on AND, I didn’t say
anything or do anything. I tried to keep
very still. He walked about twenty feet and
promptly lay down! It was a beautiful lay
down. Just like a horse should! I so wish I
could have gotten it on camera!
It was amazing! I had never seen that kind
of understanding and willingness in my
horses! This is all very new to me. I know
that some people don’t like clicker
training, and that is fine with me, but I
think that starting the clicker training
with Jackson was one of the best things we
could do. We probably won’t keep clicker
training indefinitely, but the progress we
have made in our relationship in just 5
weeks is amazing to me! Our relationship is
so much better!
Anyway, that was very exciting to me! We
also did just a little work on the rears. He
seemed to have a little harder time today,
so he gave me one good one and I stopped
there. I didn’t forget about what happened
when I was teaching him to sit!
We also did a little riding. I got a rope
hackamore, somewhat like and Indian bridle,
I guess. He didn’t seem to like that very
much. So I just did a tiny bit on shoulder
in and half pass at the walk. I noticed that
when I very lightly and calmly asked for the
shoulder in, the movement of his back. JP
says to put your weight on the outside
stirrup. I noticed that if I moved with him,
I went side to side a little bit. Like my
pelvis went up and down on the inside. Then
I tried to move with it and mimic that. Very
fun. We only did it for about a minute or
two as the snow isn’t much fun for him to
walk in – hard and crusty on the top.
