Raya has some anxiety around food, which makes her “pushy” (using her nose to nudge or shove Marcy to show frustration at not knowing how to get the food). So we’re setting up a pattern to help her learn how to get food in a way that’s safe and calm for everyone.
We worked on two related patterns. Both started in protective contact behind the corral panels. Once that was working we did the same process at her shoulder. The video snippet in the comments picks up where we’re starting to make the transition from bucket feeding to hand feeding, so it doesn’t show the whole process. It then goes back to both bucket and hand. We ended the session shortly after.
As I always say, this may look boring or pointless to some folks, but I would invite you to consider this as an opportunity for the horses in your lives that may need some help with emotional regulation. If you start so small the horse (or human!) can’t possibly lose, you can build a strong foundation of resilience in a very low-stress way, and gradually work up to more and more advanced regulation skills.
