Head Set with the Clicker!!

Great Day with the Clicker!!

Today I decided to use my clicker along with the side pulls in the round pen with Claire, as I want her to learn to consistently carry her head in a 'Western Pleasure' head set down low, and her nose slightly tucked in. In the show ring, she must travel along like this on a loose rein, and this is one of the hardest things to teach a horse, AND have them happy about it at the same time. I have seen so much abuse and wearing down of 2 year olds in people trying to force the 'right headset.'

Well, I could never do it on Claire or any other horse for that matter. I love her too much and we both have a great bond of trust. I was receiving minimal success in the the last three days on the sidepulls, but she wasn't carrying her head down for very long even though getting the release from pressure was a little of an incentive, I wanted to speed things along with the clicker.

I put her in the round pen and decided to 'click' everytime she lowered her head. At first she lowered just a little and I clicked. Before long she caught on, and then I had her carry it longer and longer until I 'clicked.' It worked great!! The best thing about using clicker training for establishing a head set is she was very forward and wanting to travel into the 'pressure' knowing that was the means of earning a treat.

Afterwards, I saddled her up and practiced doing a Western Pleasure slow jog with the right head set, and after 10 minutes she was doing great! She would travel along about 1/3 of the arena keeping her nose down and almost tucked. We just worked about 15 minutes and I know that by taking our time, she will be doing a Western Pleasure jog keeping her head down, and enjoying it all at the same time!

A GREAT DAY WITH THE CLICKER!! I am so excited!!

P.S. I have paint on my pants because I had just painted my trot poles that I am going to use on the trail course.