Working on our farm upgrade put a limit on time I could spend training but today was as if we never missed a beat! Today was trimming day and working with Josie's anxiety and #rearing when under a stressful situation. Staying focused on that task and reinforcing the hoof care while changing up the context and relaxing along with her made for a perfect result. I had realized that I could be adding a trigger related to the lead rope (#poisonedcue) so I let the rope hang down as Josie is familiar with this for ground tying instead of holding on to it.
I transitioned this to working at liberty in the arena without a lead on in prep for teaching a liberty clinic in November. I had fairly good success asking her to walk and trot the cone circle around me and will video tomorrow so check back for that. I decided to incorporate the target stick for times that Josie became distracted by the environment on the cone circle to solidify the #WWYLM game. This helped significantly and we broadened the use to following the target and trotting over the cavaletti. Big celebration!! We also threw in some multiple mats and mounting block as well as a ending jackpot!
