Betcha Can't Have Just One

This evening I thought I'd play with Highboy with the clicker a bit, since we haven't done too much this week due to my migraine.  He's really understanding the ground manners thing now, he mostly walks right next to me on either the R or L, halting when I take a deep breath out and stop, and trotting when I jog.  With the clicker I don't use a halter or lead, since he has a little more room to experiment and play that way.  Tonight when I jogged, he did his best to trot slowly, but couldn't take the excitement and so moved a little ways away from me and proceeded to hop up and down, tossing his head, and kicking out with his front feet and then hind feet (away from me).  We tried to trot over cross rails, but with the poles and standards newly painted and decorated, Highboy needed to stop and inspect them before stepping over.

One of the best parts of clicker training is the audience.  It's a bit like a bag of potato chips, you can't do the clicker with just one!  All the horses hang their heads over the fences watching me play with Highboy in the arena.  When I'm done with him (much to his disappointment, he always wants to play longer, but we quit while we're ahead so he's always left wanting more), the other horses argue a bit about who gets to come out next to play with me and the clicker.  Major declared he was next this evening, though historically I haven't done much clicker work with him.  He's watched me do it with many other horses, though, and he understands the concept, immediately going to the gymnastic lines of poles and steadily walking through them to turn around and then receive his click and treat.

Tao the haflinger was next.  Similar games with him.  That was really all I had time for before feeding everyone supper, but it is so funny to watch all 10 horses lined up at the gates of their respective paddocks, staring at me while anticipating their turns, glued to the show in the arena like it's the most entertainment they've had all week!  It's even more interesting to notice that they all seem to learn the tricks by watching, even if I haven't specifically done them with that horse.  Like Major knew the jump course at liberty without having done it before, just because he watched Highboy go through it a few times.  These guys are so smart, and it makes me even more careful how I treat each one, since they learn so much by watching me interact with the others.