Is that YOU wearing my COAT?!

2 new milestones for Cassie yesterday:

1. Pick up all four feet and CLEAN them out with a hoofpick!!
2. Mock saddle pad: accepting and wearing my jacket!!

I didn't think the day was going to go all that well. She wasn't terribly interested in playing with me, so I couldn't start at just the friendly game, i had to bring it back to the catching game.

The friendly game too awhile yesterday- she really needed to drift from me. And i found out that "rub to a stop" is very threatening to Cassie. if she needs to move away, she needs to move, and i need to follow her with caution. i tried to "rub to a stop" with her and she let out a little warning hop...so i quickly made a variation of the game- basically I got slower and added more distance. So, if I started to friendly her on zone 4 and she wants to drift from me, i let her but i take my pressure off her by stepping back, belly button away. at that point i slowly, with as little energy as possible, follow her, touch her, and then release the touch. She does not run from this, is not defensive with this method, and she doesn't drift nearly as far. I can speculate that it is the release of my pressure when the initial drift starts. To cassie, rubbing to a stop is a predator move still, and it scares her.

Finally, once she accepted the friendly game, SHE caught ME and asked for a bum rub...i obliged and also worked on touching her back legs. she got so relaxed and i was able not only to lift her feet, but cradle them and clean them out with the hoofpick, she didn't try to take them away, she didn't try to kill me- she was very accepting of my touch.

Had i gone into her space, given her a few pets, and then charged ahead towards her feet- she would've been scared. so my success was determined by:

-putting in as many steps as necessary between myself and the goal of cleaning out the feet. this means as much friendly game as possible.

- knowing when to release the pressure, knowing when she feels threatened, and when she's relaxed. in all cases, it IS the release that teaches.

- liberty with Cassie is key. have her catch me, and be curious about what i am doing. it gives her the ability to drift from me, and her session depends entirely on how close she wants to be. once she knows the general idea, i'll put her back in a halter and lead, which is more threatening for her, and then re-teach what i taught at liberty.

The next milestone for Cassie was the friendly game with my jacket. My end goal was for her to wear it like a saddle pad. it is loud, light...but long enough to touch both sides of her barrel. Friendly game and shaping the behavior with treats did the trick. Within 2 minutes Cassie was completely comfortable wearing my coat.

I, however, was freezing, LOL.

Take care,

Ally