First Day of Clicker Training

I sprained my ankle yesterday jogging with Hillary and Briana. I was so afraid Teddy, my golden retreiver would trip me (I jog with him) but actually it was my own clusminess that caused me to come down and twist my ankle. Yeah-- I can barely walk without pain. However, it did not stop my dedicated self (my clickers arrived!) from trying it out on the horses. Here is the low down:

Claire: Very smart!

Annie: Very smart!

Poco: Dumb as a doornail!!!

Spencer: Jury's out-- we haven't tried him yet!

Okay, it was a little awkard at first, but here is what I did. I took my Clinton
Anderson stick and put on 1/3 of swimming noodle-- blue foam. I tried Claire first and she caught on pretty fast. I could put it over her head, on her side, on the ground, and where ever I placed the noodle, she reached out to touch it. I clicked and gave her the treat. I need to get my fanny pack for the treats, because it was kinda of awkward to keep digging in my pockets and have her waiting. I did 2 ten minute sessions on her and 2 ten minute sessions on Annie. They both caught on pretty quick and I will do 2 more ten minute sessons today with both of them.

Tomorrow, I will take Claire out on the lunge line and clicker train her to the canter departure. Hopefully it will make a difference in her quickness in picking it up. I plan to ride tomorrow, -- maybe Brian will ride with me since he is off.

Annie did well too with the foam noodle, clicker and treats. She would reach out to touch it, and even walked over to Hillary who was holding the foam noodle and touched it to get her treat. I know they need lots more practice, but I will be glad to use the clicker on specific training issues.

I need to work with Annie again, and I probably will in the round pen tomorrow. Claire is having some issues on leading away from things she wants to stay at, so maybe I will use the clicker on the 'come' cue.

A big thank you to the comments I have been getting. I have decided to wait on tying
Claire's head. We will see what I can do with the clicker training.

Poco I don't think ever figured out to touch the foam for the treat. She hit it a few times, but most of the time it would be right in front of her and she would just try to find the treat from my hands. I will try again with her tomorrow!

Jennifer