This was our first attempt at a loose version of a counting game I first saw from Leslie McDevitt. Savannah is very new to R+ (this was our first lesson), and Stormy has had a fair amount of time off. So, I wanted to do a few things:
- Work on timing of the clicker. The first exercise I teach everyone is stand still, face forward. But timing the clicker can be challenging when what you’re clicking for is “nothing.” This exercise gives a more definite clickable moment. Right after this, Savannah counted for herself, and absolutely nailed the mechanics and timing.
- Increase Stormy’s ability to focus on staying with Savannah while walking back to the pasture. Stormy, like most horses, has some anxiety about leaving the herd to come to the barn. It was too much for her to focus on the way to the barn, so we just took our time, there. However, on the way back, we had more opportunity to play with a pattern that, when established in a lower stress context, can be tried in a more challenging situation, which can help Stormy focus on what we’re asking, as well as make incremental progress rather than try to push the issue all at once. This gives us an opportunity to start to build in a pause, or if it hadn’t worked, see where we needed to go next to help Stormy be more comfortable.
- Further develop Savannah’s feel. For someone new to horses, Savannah has great natural feel on the ground. So, I want to build on that there, and then take it to ridden work where she’s a little less familiar. Feeling and counting strides will carry over to timing of cues in ridden work.
