Here in New England one of the things I really miss in the winter is the ability to ride outside on grass.  Or, as we like to call it, the ‘Carpet of Motivation’.  The reason it has earned that name is because of all the food rewards we’ve offered—and we’ve used just about every possible treat under the sun—none have the reinforcing impact of grazing.  I started the practice a few years ago and have since introduced several horses to it with excellent results.  The rule is let the horses tell us what they find reinforcing.  The horses tell us grazing is good!

Getting Started

The first thing you have to do is explain to your horse how the Grazing Game works.  Before starting your horse should already be familiar with the clicker, targeting, head lowering, and backing.

Begin on the ground with the horse in a halter and lead rope and let him lower his head to take a few bites of grass, then ask him to raise his head by following your feel.  Click for any response, even a momentary hesitation in chewing.  Then let him graze again.  Just a few bites, then ask him to lift his head.  Click for reply then let him graze.

If your horse doesn’t respond to your request to lift his head don’t jerk it up.  There are there several ways to illicit the behavior without force.

An easy way is to simply turn into your horse and walk straight through his line of grazing.  Your attitude should be one of “I’m going this way.  You coming?  Oh were you grazing right there?”  This nearly always results in the horse picking his head up to get out of the way and follow you.  Click that and let him graze again.  Provide a little warning you are about to start walking away and he’ll soon be with you as you walk off.

This should be practiced each and every time you are hand grazing your horse.

Consider the following if when you hand graze your horse just dives down for the grass and drags you around.

This is really just a variation on the mugging problem.  Just as your horse has learned that he can’t just dive into your pocket for treats he can learn that he can’t just dive for the grass at will either.  This isn’t a difficult point to get across.  Like other mugging behaviors the solution is 100% consistency on your part.

The number one reason why horses learn to ignore their human on grass is their human taught them to do it.  Consider this, when you take your horse out to hand graze what do you do?  If you are like most of us, you stand out there chatting with friends or just mosey along daydreaming as your horse eats.  Then, you look at your watch, say it’s time to go, then proceed to drag your horse back to the barn.  Meanwhile the horse knows this is the last bite so he’d better make hay while the sun shines and keeps pushing for ‘just one more.’

So the very first step toward leveraging the most powerful motivator on earth is to change that dynamic.  Set it up so that the horse doesn’t believe that this is the last bite of grass he’ll ever have.  The way to do that is to keep asking him to pick up his head followed by letting him eat again.  Your better leading and backing skills will go a long way here, and will improve dramatically if you practice like this on grass.  With consistency your horse will learn—quite quickly in fact—that when you ask him to come with you it doesn’t mean that that is the end of the grazing.  He needs to know that before you can effectively use the grass as a motivator for performance.

You will also want to have a cue that lets the horse know that he should return his attention to you.  I use the horse’s name.  So, before I ask the horse to do anything else I’ll say his name then immediately carry on with purpose.  When they get accustomed to this routine they will soon stop eating in anticipation of some change.

More halter-work

As your horse improves in his willingness to let you control his access to the grass when up close you can start to integrate grazing as a reward for distance work like longeing.  If you have been clicking and treating for longeing there is no difference except that you are standing on the treats.  Just let him put his head down for a few bites.  Then say his name and ask him to do something, such as Trot on.

You know your horse is with you when he will continue in walk, trot or canter nose brushing the grass but not grabbing for it until you click.

A most valuable side benefit of this is the gymnastic value of up and down transitions with the nose brushing the tips of the grass.  The most beneficial exercises are the ones the horse does without forceful coercion.  Here he stretches his own neck, and prepares his own balance to be ready to come to a quick halt.  What may start out as choppy eventually evens out as the horse practices a maneuver he’s highly motivated to perform.

Due to the nature and accessibility of the grass you must be ever diligent about consistency.  If you allow any loopholes (such as being too slow to provide the horse with something worth paying attention to) the horse will surely find them by deciding the grass is more interesting than you.

Under Saddle

Once in hand and distance work on the halter is going well you can introduce grazing under saddle.  A common concern is that of letting the horse graze with a bit in his mouth.  I can only say that we’ve been doing this for quite a few years now and it has never been a problem.  Other than a really slimy green bit to clean.  But the horses are happy.

Your major concern, and again this is resolved through absolute consistency, is ensuring that the horse wait for your signal that he may graze.  Pulling the reins out of your hands is just the same as mugging.  Allow it to happen once and the horse will believe it is an option.  Therefore, right from the beginning, after you click, ask the horse for some thing like rock back half a step then present the reward.  Presenting the reward in this case is the signal he can lower his head to graze.  I touch the withers in a special way.  OR you may hand feed another reward.  It is wise to mix up the rewards, sometimes feeding something from your hand, sometimes letting him graze.  Since grazing is such a superior motivator it makes an excellent jackpot.

Related posts:

1. When the grass is greener over there
2. How to get a horse OK with clippers
3. Motivation of Dressage Horses: Richard Hinrichs

Sweet Libby

This week I worked with Libby, a 30 year old Quarter Horse mare, for the first time. Libby and her owner, Kirsten, were referred to me by Libby’s massage therapist, Heather Davis. Libby suffers from some lameness due to injury and hard use (before Kirsten). Not surprisingly as a result she holds her body very tightly. The massage therapy has helped Libby but Heather believed that if Libby could become more mentally relaxed that it would help her body to relax as well. This is where I come in.

Kirsten had started a little bit of target training with Libby before I arrived. I was curious to see how Libby responded to this. Did she ‘get’ it? Was she willing to work for food? How hard? With all of Libby’s prior history I had a feeling that this sort of free shaping work might be too big a leap for her. So I decided to go into the stall with her and work on some basic lessons in feel…. look at me, follow me, turn… on the lead rope.

As always my first objective is to capture the horse’s interest and cooperation. With some experimentation I discovered that Libby loved…LOVED…scritchies. Particularly in the udder area. This was, for her, way better than food. So, I began to click and scritch rather than click and feed.

Historically, Libby would only put up with any kind of handling (like for trimming) for only a short time. Then she would begin to fuss and struggle making the whole procedure unpleasant for everyone involved. I saw this happen when we opened the stall door and Libby tried to bowl me over to get out. This, I learned, was a regular occurrence. Libby is so very focused on what she thinks needs to happen next that all thought of the human goes right out the window.

I decided to make it my mission to show her another way. We worked for a while in front of the open door as I asked her to continue to back up, look at me, follow me and turn. For every tiny change I would release stop and scritch deeply for a moment.  (I eventually eliminated the click as it was unnecessary.)  Did this take some time? Yes, it did. But it was time spent scratching itchy spots (or being scratched from Libby’s point of view) which was, for all involved, way better than having a fight. Soon, I was walking her out of the stall on a long loose lead and she was exiting calmly. We went in and out several times.

As Libby began to let go of thoughts of leaving she did relax in her body just as Heather had predicted. The lameness was still there but overall she was walking much more freely and relaxed. It was a nice change that I was very happy to be a part of.

Related posts:

1. Building a Change One Tiny Step at a Time
2. Getting a Horse to Work WITH her Massage Therapist
3. It is Not About the Food

Editor’s Note: Laurie Grann is a dear friend and a most excellent horse woman.  She recently participated in a week long clinic with Mark Rashid.  She wrote up her thoughts about how she is working his ideas into her every day riding.  The result is what follows.  Perhaps if we are all very nice to her she will contribute again!

Laurie and Dulcie

Today, my sister and I went on a 14 mile ride–2 loops of about 7 miles each.  The first loop was mostly flat and good footing and took us 1 hour and 20 minutes.  The second loop was climbing and lots of rock and ledge.  Quite challenging so there was lots of walking.  That loop took 2 hours. So plenty of saddle time to think about all the concepts and doors Mark Rashid showed me.

I guess I can sum it up to 2 major areas:   Starting with softness and Breathing.

On starting with softness, I need to start with a thought and offer that as my first cue and remain soft inside and outside.   Mark would say, from your inside to the horse’s inside.   I just never thought to start that far down the scale.  I could get work on just a thought before but always with a lot of preparation that involved aiding and sometimes quite strongly.

My mare, Dulcie, had a real strong desire to go forward on this ride so I had to monitor my thoughts carefully!   If I said to myself, “well maybe we should trot now,”  hup, there we were trotting along.   Very neat.   Also getting into the canter  was pretty easy with all the long straight lines on dirt trails, roads and fields.  Just think 1,2,3 & exhale.   We would flow so nicely  into the canter.  And, it was  mostly a smooth canter with good relaxation which was amazing considering the level of tension she used to carry–all balled up and tight.

Several times in the ride as we were  trotting along, I felt Dulcie take a Real Deep Breath.  I could feel it in my seat and leg.  She can be pretty tight so this was a good sign, and not something I usually notice her doing.

And that ties into: The second Big concept.  Breathing differently.  (For me and my horse.)   I tried to concentrate on breathing deep and rhythmically but also to stay soft even if/when she got tight.  I find that if she tightens then I tighten, especially my back and shoulders and then low and behold she tightens  more.  So keeping that soften in me is crucial.

I thought of the image for our energy the Mark gave us.  He says, if the horse’s energy level spiked to 8 I had to breath deep and try to lower my energy to a 2.   It had amazing effect!   After a few moment she would relax.   At first I thought I just got lucky but I had plenty of opportunities to try it over and over and for the most part it was wonderful.   She could not always respond immediately (what with other horses cantering up behind her and such) but within a few minutes if I stayed soft, relaxed and focused she came back to me.

Sometimes her thought s would fly way ahead and I felt like I was being dragged down the trail.  I just kept offering for her to come back to me and tried really hard not to get tight and tense in my back and shoulders, breathing slow and fully.   Even if I had to get a little strong for a stride or two, after maybe 6-8 -10 strides she would come back.

Related posts:

1. Whole Heart, Whole Horse by Mark Rashid
2. It is NEVER too late!
3. A horse needs to be OK inside

What got me thinking about this topic today was reading Mary Hunter’s blog post about her encounter with Steve Martin (the bird trainer!) at the 2010 Art and Science of Animal Training Conference. I love hearing about how people are successfully using positive reinforcement with all manner of species. Especially species that can just fly away so you’d better be right on the money with your training philosophy. It is a real inspiration to learn that good training practices are Universal.

So it wasn’t much of a surprise (more of a validation) to read that Steve had made the very same point as Karl did:

“A good trainer is able to give the animal power over their environment. This builds confidence and trust. We can do this by taking responsibility for what the animal does and giving the animal the right to say no. When things go wrong, it can be really, really easy to blame it on the animal. The animal is being stubborn, hard-headed, a jerk, pushing your buttons, messing with your mind, trying to annoy you, the list of labels goes on and on.”

It is up to US to take ownership of the situation, to make the right things easy and obvious and convince the horse that he can say — even better wants to say — Yes.

Why do No’s happen? Even if we’re trying hard not to, we’ll sometimes frustrate or block the horse in some way to cause the horse to put up that red flag. But, as Steve points out these little failings don’t need to be a deal breaker if you have built up sufficient reinforcement history. He calls it the Trust Account. Each time the horse needs to say No you are withdrawing from that Trust Account. Hopefully, your training strategy is based on keeping a very large cushion of trust so that those occasions don’t break the bank, as it were.

Check out Mary’s blog where she also has several write-ups from her experiences at both the 2009 and 2010 Art and Science of Animal Training Conferences. All worthwhile reading.

Then ask yourself, what is my horse saying about your training relationship?

Related posts:

1. Are you training with a jackhammer?
2. When Your Horse says “No” it might mean “Can’t”
3. New book by Karen Pryor

Read it here if you want to be reminded about it or missed it the first time.

In her article in Psychology Today titled, Trainers with Jackhammers Need Not Apply, Susan Friedman, Ph.D. talks about this very issue from a slightly different point of view.  And, hearing the same thing said differently is always a useful learning strategy.  She brings up two key points to consider when training (any animal, horses included):

• Identify what you want the horse to DO and reward THAT.
• Consider what is motivating behaviors that occur.

The first point is pretty straight forward and I’ve talked about it a gazillion times before.  The second one is important too but maybe doesn’t get as much play as it could.

Behaviors don’t just happen.  They happen for a reason… the Behavior somehow works for the “Behave-EE”.  By works I mean on some level the behavior is getting reinforced.  And the reinforcement may not have anything to do with YOU.  Horses (as we all do) are driven by needs that need to be fulfilled.  Safety, food, water, sex…  Safety is always high on the list and if often the source of problem behaviors with horses.  If they believe that their safety is at risk horses will do what they believe they must to feel safe again.  This is just one example but when ever stuff is happening, and it keeps happening, you have to accept that something is reinforcing it.  If it weren’t being reinforced it would stop.

What behaviors do you see in your horses that make you wonder, “What is reinforcing this behavior?”

Related posts:

1. What’s reinforcing THAT?
2. My secret weapon
3. Clicker Training: Myth vs. Reality

The topic was what I call my “secret weapon”. Do you want to know the secret to getting along with pretty much every horse? It isn’t a very secret secret since it is available to anyone for the asking. But, still, few horsefolk seem to know about it.

Now, while I did come upon this secret weapon by way of clicker training it isn’t about ‘clicker training’ per se. There are non-clicker trainers out there who apparently know the secret. People like Harry Whitney and Mark Rashid come to mind. But these are, it would appear, rare souls who somehow just get it. The rest of us, mortal folk, need more help. Enter clicker training to open the door to the secret weapon.

It sounds a little ‘new agey’ to say it. But, it is true that you get more of what you focus on. So, here’s Part A of the secret: Always, always, always reward the behavior you want. Part B is to reward the teeniest, tiniest particle of that behavior the instant it occurs and then nurture it from there. Part C is, while all that is going on you Ignore what you don’t want.

Perhaps you are thinking, what? Should I just let the horse walk over me? If that is what you were thinking, that’s not what ignoring means. And therein lies the trouble with understanding this secret weapon! I will try to explain.

It isn’t about letting bad things happen. Ignoring means not allowing a behavior to get reinforced. It is about staying focused on what you want, even as you deal with the other stuff. And, sometimes you are going to have to deal with unwanted stuff. It is about not getting drawn into the drama of the negative. So, yes, you will position yourself to redirect those things that are unwanted, but, always toward the very clear picture in your mind of what you do want.

This is the reason why having that clear picture and focus are so important. When you are focused on what you want to happen, you will see those things starting to happen and your timing of reinforcements will be optimal. If you are busy with the drama you miss opportunities. You’re late! A good horseman is never late because he sees the thing that happens before the thing that happens happens!

Training is a bit like weaving a tapestry and at any moment you need to be able to see (in your mind’s eye) where any given thread (good or bad) is leading. One always must start with that clear picture or else the result will just be a mess. I am talking about horses here–although it would be true of tapestries as well!

To be most successful with this principle you need to recognize when what you want is starting to happen (possibly at a cellular or energy level) so that you can help it flourish with guidance and support. Read that (guidance and support) as some kind of reinforcement which doesn’t have to be food. Sometimes the most powerful reinforcer for a horse is you to go with him.

Important note: If you go with undesired behavior you reinforce it. And this is the main reason why undesired behavior continues. It is being rewarded!

In order to take advantage of a certain shift of weight or a glance that might lead somewhere positive one must be watching for said shifts or glances. This takes “eye training.” Most of us start out not realizing how small a tiny thing actually counts. Quite frequently the problem with our horse training is that we miss the first signs. If we miss the first signs then the horse is left certain that this human isn’t listening and either acts out or shuts down. Which one do you have?

Once you start to observe and correlate tiny changes to bigger changes down the road you can select out certain ones and shape them up into the longer term behavior that you want.

It wasn’t until I started clicker training that I began to see how this might apply to everything I do with horses. Before clicker training I could only be in awe of someone like Harry who’s ability seemed mysterious and unknowable. Now, I can now see that he always sets the horse up for success, always stays focused on what he wants and ensures that only the things he wants get reinforced. All the stuff that clicker training taught me.

Related posts:

1. Are you training with a jackhammer?
2. What’s reinforcing THAT?
3. A Better Way to Deal with Bad Behavior

So, what I would do, is pretty much the same as what I said last time about mounting.    It isn’t about the mounting (or trimming) per se it is ‘can you continue to follow my feel in this uncomfortable situation?’

Prior to attempting to work near the horse with the trimmers on, I would do a lot of heavily reinforced ‘rope work’.  Meaning, following a feel on the line to look at me, follow me, turn, and so forth.  Make all that stuff something the horse feels good about.  Then what I’d do is find out how far away the clippers need to be before the horse becomes concerned about the buzzing noise.  Let’s say it 20 feet away.  Turn on the clippers and set them down 20 feet away.  Then proceed with basic ropework. I like to use a simple change of hand (figure eight) done in front of me.  That requires that the horse be able to follow the feel forward and through turns in both directions.  A handy test of the horse’s attention, lightness and softness.

The presence of the clipper noise will cause a WEE bit of distraction.  You’ll be asking the horse to pay attention only to your feel irregardless of the noise in the background.  That attention is rewarded with c/t.  Again and again  till the horse cares not about the noise.  Then move the horse closer to the clippers and repeat the process.  Continue this process until the horse couldn’t care less about the clipper noise.

When the horse doesn’t seem to care about the noise, I will then hold the clippers in my hand.  Hopefully you have the cordless type.  Maybe you could even put the clippers in your pocket and let it buzz away there.  If this causes a concern then just repeat the rope work till he’s more focused on the rope work and the click than the buzz in your pocket.

When the clippers can be on you and he’s unconcerned then hold the lead rope in one hand and the clippers in the other.  Approach the horse with the clippers.  Note the distance between your hand and the horse when (if) the horse moves.  Move slowly so that you don’t over face.  Let him move as needed but if your approach is calm and you’ve done all the prework then he shouldn’t RUN away, he might just step away.  The hand on the rope is just there to provide a soft barrier to leaving and an encouragement to look at  you. Move WITH the horse so that your clipper hand stays the same distance away from the horse that it was when he moved.  When he stops, you stop and simultaneously drop the clipper hand.  You could also click (slip the buzzing clippers back in your pocket) and then feed.  Then repeat.  The idea is that the horse learns that he gets a reward (the clippers go away AND maybe even a treat) when stands with the clippers in close proximity.

Repeat this as often as necessary till the horse chooses to stand still as the clippers approach.

When (and this involves a judgment call) I think the horse isn’t going to totally flip out when I gently touch him with the clippers I will do so.  Still holding the lead rope and guiding and supporting there.  With the clippers on the body I will let him move but be gently encouraging him to stay with me via the feel on the rope.  If all the work prior has been good he will quickly discover that when he stops moving his feet and checks in with you the clippers go away and other good things happen.

When he is OK to stand still with the buzzing clippers touching his body you will repeat this process with the clippers approaching closer and closer to the head and eventually the muzzle.

Since the horse will need to be OK with me restraining his head a bit I will put one hand on the halter and do all of the above as I approach the muzzle.  The idea is that the horse learns that when he relaxes and stays softly with your feel, irrespective of what might be in the other hand, THAT is the behavior that results in rewards (not the least of which at this point may be the clippers retreating.)

It is very important, IMO, to understand the proper use of Negative Reinforcement in this context.  This would be an example.  The REWARD is the clippers going away.  The behavior we are rewarding is “feet that are moving stop and the horse relaxes”.

It is also important IMO to recognize that feet WILL move.  It is natural for the horse to choose to leave with this feet when he is uncertain.  How FAR he goes will depend on how good all the previous work was.  So I’d rather let him move and then just wait patiently for the horse to choose let that worry go.

I don’t have a video showing this process with clippers.  But I do have video of working with a horse who was not okay with haltering.  You can see here (the first video on the page) the process of staying with the horse when she leaves till she chooses to stop and then getting clicked.  Very quickly it proceeds from there to her letting me halter her.  The same principles would apply if I were holding the clippers as well.

Related posts:

1. Teaching a horse to stand for mounting
2. It is Not About the Food
3. Getting a horse feeling OK inside about having his feet handled

The truth is, it doesn’t really matter how we word it, if we approach each horse assuming “they would if they could” (rather than looking for ways to make excuses) well, things have a way of working out for the better.

Recently, on the Classical Dressage group on Yahoo, someone posted this quote by Colonel Carde–Ecuyer en Chef (Chief Rider), National Equitation School, Saumur, France: “If I knew where I wanted to go,and was clear and precise in my requests, with my aids, that I would achieve everything I wanted.”

This, to me, is basically the same sentiment as mine only expressed from the rider’s point of view.  It is our clear and precise requests that convinces the horse to believe he can do what we ask.

Related posts:

1. My Book Gets a Shout-Out
2. Horses are big…
3. Everything You Wanted to Know and More about your OTTB

The lovely Danke

I thought I would follow up with my own observations of the experience with Danke and the massage therapist.

As you may recall (and if you missed it you can read about it here) Danke was not OK with having Heather standing on the hay bale while she worked on her croup area. This was the first time she had attempted to work with her like this. In the past if Danke needed to move Heather would just stay with her till she settled. But, since Danke is so tall (17+hands) it was necessary for Heather to stand on the hay bale to get a better look and feel of this particular area. As such it was necessary that Danke stand still. HA!

Initially I simply blocked Danke’s efforts to leave. However, when Heather invited me to join her on the hay bale to look at/feel a particular knotty area the problem escalated when there was no one up front to keep Danke still! So the first problem we solved with clicker training was just getting Danke to stand still long enough so that I could see what Heather wanted me to see. Then it was time for Heather to get to work. It was quickly becoming clear that just telling Danke not to leave was not helping her feel good about the process.

That’s when I said, “Well, you know, we could click her for standing here while you work. Do you think that would be too distracting?” As you know Heather believed it would be. But, I felt that it was worth a try because we weren’t going to get anything done at the rate we were going! So, we proceeded.

The part that I wanted to add to Heather’s story was how initially one might have questioned the sensibility of the plan. At first Danke tossed her head and stomped her feet. An inexperienced person might have said, “this isn’t working,” and quit.
But I kept the click/treats coming at a fairly high rate. Click for positiong her rump near Heather, click while Heather had her hand on her rump, click for stillness, click for relaxing the neck and so on. It really only took 5 extra minutes to start to see that Danke was ‘getting’ the idea that the clicks were coming when she let Heather ‘in’ and worked with her to release the area.

Heather’s surprise that the food would end up not being a distraction comes from one of the most common myths about clicker training. It is hard to wrap your head around it if you haven’t seen it time and again.

When the horse is really clicker savvy it isn’t about the food. It is about the process and the understanding.

Related posts:

1. Getting a Horse to Work WITH her Massage Therapist
2. Finding what motivates a change
3. Teaching a horse to stand for mounting

The author, Heather Davis, with Cheyenne

By Heather Davis

I am a certified equine “massage” therapist, applying principles of touch to encourage horses to release old neuromuscular strain patterns and relearn how to exist without previously held pain and resistance. Much of my work is informed by the work of Ida Rolf (known as “Rolfing” or Structural Integration), osteopathy, shiatsu, and myofascial release. Many horses, when asked to “let go” of old tension and memory stored within the body’s vastly intelligent network of innervated structural soft tissue, will take some time to relax into the willingness to release. I am asking horses to tune into parts of their body that may be uncomfortable. These are areas where, often, the horse has spent a great deal of time and energy avoiding. So, it is not surprising to see horses feeling fidgety or anxious about my request for their attention to be brought back into these areas.

Usually, when confronted with this “fidgety” response from a horse, I take it as a message to readjust my approach. It can take a bit of time initially to figure out how to get the horse willing to be with me and make releases. When I began working with Danke, Sharon’s tall and lovely chestnut warmblood mare, we had a little difficulty getting her to settle in and relax into the release process. Even the simple presence of my hand on or near some of her troubled areas would find Danke tossing her head, pinning her ears, and moving her body to avoid the touch. Since my work’s goal is to inspire release, it certainly wasn’t helpful to be battling Danke into demanding that she stand still and be

Danke

present with us. Sometimes those demands would lead to more resistance in her body and it would be the two-step-forward, three-step-back approach.

Sharon asked me how I felt about us clicking Danke for the behavior (namely the relaxed and willing behavior) we were looking for. Would it be distracting? I thought it would. I felt like shifting Danke’s attention “outward” onto the click and reward process with Sharon might take Danke’s attention away from me and my hands and from going “internal” with her attention. But, we decided to give it a shot.

I stood on a hay bale (Danke is a tall drink of water!) over Danke’s right hip area. Sharon stood at Danke’s head and we broke the whole process down into little pieces. First piece: asking Danke to stand next to the hay bale without moving while we briefly place a hand on the area of trouble. When Danke is still for even a moment in this, Sharon clicks and offers a reward. (This step actually consisted of a set of sub-steps.) Second piece: lengthen the time Danke is standing still next to the hay bale and remaining still (and relaxed) for a hand on her hip. Third piece: I wait for the “feeling” in my hands that Danke has shifted her attention to her hip and sacrum area. As soon as I feel this, I click, and Sharon is waiting at Danke’s head to offer the reward. Little by little, we are shaping Danke’s attention by rewarding her when she makes the decision to soften into my touch. It is working! And Sharon and I are so excited about what we have found! Teamwork! Danke is willingly deciding to bring her awareness into her troubled areas and offer release.

As it turns out, the use of “clicker training” was NOT distracting for Danke’s task of focusing inward. Not only was it not distracting, it was actually helpful! It allowed us to prevent instilling yet more resistance in her mind and body with continued requests for her to be still. Once she understood what we were asking (soften into my touch), the physical release process actually seemed much easier for her. The mental brace against the release of her hip was much more of a hurdle than the actual release of the hip itself. That is, once we opened the door with clicker training for Danke to let go of the mental guarding of her hip, the actual hands-on release work for that same area came relatively easily.

What a discovery!! I look forward to continuing this exciting work with Danke.

[Sharon's Note: Heather Davis is an Equine Massage Therapist. You can reach her via email at hdavis1234 @ yahoo.com.]

Related posts:

1. It is Not About the Food
2. How to get a horse OK with clippers
3. Equine Massage for the Performance Horse