It was foggy when we left Woodgreen this morning...
It was much clearer at Rachel's. Today we worked with her new horse Alf, a grandson of Fleetwater Opposition. He is a sturdy and affectionate horse. Today we added a little more clarity into Rachel's groundwork with him which was almost there anyway. To set him up to be able to use clicker training when she rides him, she has also been using clicker on the ground, and I think some of the cloudiness came from the distraction of treats as rewards, leading to a little frustration and busy-ness on his part which makes it difficult to ask him to concentrate. He has gone beyond needing clicker for routine work on the ground and I have suggested that she rewards him at the beginning and end of each session when she catches him and let's him go. With less to think about, this enabled us to work on feel, through thought and touch, when asking him to do things, reading his response to both; this takes things beyond simply going through the motions so that it is not just about what you and the horse are doing, but what you and the horse are being.
...and it was foggy when we got back to Woodgreen too.
