Never underestimate your horse!

I mentioned a post or so ago about how I thought I had been making cone work a bit too easy for Faith. This was brought home to me yesterday when we were working with the cone in the stable. I had decided that I would no longer keep my toe on the base of the cone to prevent it falling over, thus hoping to shape a more accurate attempt by Faith to pick it up.

Well I don’t know why I had bothered keeping my toe on the cone in the first place. Yes she did knock it over, but she simply picked it up very delicately by one of the flimsy corners and presented it to me in the most smug manner she could summon.

At that moment, I was reminded of something I had recently read in one of Marthe Kiley-Worthington’s books. She was discussing the relationship that people often have with their horses, and she mentioned the existence of a kind of ‘mother-child’ relationship. By this she means that people often treat their horses as if they are in a kind of perpetual childhood, and treat them as if they are infants with limited intellectual or problem solving skills.

I have certainly been guilty of this, and will almost certainly continue to do it to a certain extent, even though my horses seem to point out to me on a daily basis that they are intelligent beings, capable of impressive problem solving skills.

Hopefully if I continue with clicker training long enough, my horses will be able to shape my behaviour and bring about a satisfactory change...in a completely positive way of course!