Here we go again.......

Right, I know I keep banging on about this, but the value of working with a horse at liberty, and giving them choice in their training was again brought home to me today.

Owing to having a last few busy weeks before the end of term, I haven’t had much of a chance to work with Faith, so I had let the rug desensitising lapse for a bit.

We had got to the point where she was happy to have a light cotton summer sheet on, unfolded and taken off, both in the yard and in the stable. So I decided to progress to practising with her lightweight turnout rug, as it is synthetic, so makes different noises, and has jingly straps.

As usual we were working loose on the yard, and to start with, Faith was a little bit wary. So I used loads of advance and retreat, and plenty of positive reinforcement with scratches. We got to the point where I could have it folded in half and draped over her shoulders, then pull it along her back, and off her quarters. Excellent.

The next step was to unfold the rug completely, and let her feel the fillet string at the back against her legs. This is a Rhino rug, so the fillet string has quite a big heavy clip on it, and the back of the rug is very tailored so it is quite snug around her bottom. As she is coming in to season, (and my goodness, is poor Tommy feeling the full force of it!) I was a little worried that she wouldn’t appreciate this much, but she was actually totally fine with it.

However, as I was fiddling with the back of the rug, the Velcro at the front managed to fasten itself. Bugger! We have done quite a bit of work with the Velcro on her fly mask, so this isn’t new to her. But she has never actually been wearing something when the Velcro is torn open. I talked to her as I undid it, hoping that that would drown out the sound, but no surprises, she heard it anyway.

Actually, she was pretty good, as I tore it open, she just scooted forward, and I simply lifted the rug clear of her. However, I can’t help feeling that if she had felt restrained, the reaction would have been much bigger.

I gave her a big fuss, and a couple of minutes just to mooch about and relax while I re-folded the rug, and we started again. I managed to get the rug on her again, and completely unfolded it along her back, taking care that the Velcro could not catch again. She stood for a few minutes, and had a good scratch. Unfortunately I left it on for a few seconds too long, and she felt the need to scoot again. I just lifted the rug, and as soon as it was off, she came and stood by me again, for which she was rewarded.

I gave her a couple more minutes while I refolded the rug, then we tried again. This time as I took the rug off, she moved forward only one step. Cue much reward and praise. We repeated it a final time, and the rug went on and off while Faith stood like a rock. She got a jackpot, and we left it there.

I am convinced though, that it was knowing that she was free to get away if she felt uncomfortable, that gave her the courage to stay and accept the rug. I am also thrilled that having got away, she came straight back to stand next to me and listen to me playing about with the Velcro for a bit.

I know this horse can put up a fight. Her breeder told me of an incident during her weaning, when it took them about three hours to get her through a gateway, with her throwing herself on the floor and everything. I am just not going to go there with her.

Good thing is though, that I feel that the time is now right to start properly with the clicker, and I feel that I can use a mixture of treats and scratches as a reward. I feel that she is much, much more relaxed, less reactive, and more ‘thinking’, and I feel confident that I can start marking the moment a bit more clearly.