Standing on the lee side of a large horsebox, today's task was to train Jaz to do her stretches using clicker training to a target (as usual my feather duster.). Sarah had found that whilst the physiotherapy exercises she has been given to do with Jaz were helping her, the downside was that Jaz would become pushy if she were rewarded with food, and would continue to fish for it even when the exercise had stopped. This is pretty common with so-called carrot stretches where the horse is given the reward straight from the hand at the point when it has stretched out for it. Furthermore, where the horse reaches out for a carrot which has been attached to a stick there is the risk of injury if the horse is too avid about the food reward and makes a grab for it. Where a horse reaches out to a target and is rewarded with a click and only then a treat, it enables the handler to mark the exact point at which the stretch is perfect, to ask for a 'hold' and to avoid the pitfalls of a gannety horse.
We start off by creating an association between touching the feather duster, hearing a click, and receiving a food reward. In Jaz's case I am using a proper clicker gadget because it is more accurate and consistent in the sound it makes, and to differentiate it from the tongue cluck that we are using for Sarah's other horse Dina. It can be a pain when several horses all associate the same noise with clickered rewards.
Jaz got the connection immediately and was soon starting to stretch for the target. It's important to build these stretches up incrementally so that she isn't put off by the effort she has to make.
You'll see that I am using a brightly coloured clicker bag and I would suggest getting one that is an even more obvious colour than this so that the horse can see it and know when clicker is and is not available.
To mix things up a bit and create some interest, we took Jaz into the school to allow her to follow the target and have a little fun at walk and trot. She liked this idea but was still pretty calm about it.
She wasn't too bothered about the treats. You can increase a horse's interest by mixing treats up or slow things down by using ones that are a bit more plain.
All in all a very pleasant session on a horrible windy day.
