Smart Cookie

On Saturday, I took Stitch into the arena in a halter and worked on the mounting block. He was, of course, pretty well perfect about it. I took the opportunity to reward him with a click and a couple of cookies, in the hopes that it would set up a willing horse for my ride on Sunday.

He was better about it once it was time to get on, not perfect - a couple of times when I put a bit of weight in the stirrup he moved away, but I took my time and looked for reasons to reward him and when I did get on he stood rock still.

Thankfully, he was forward right off the bat and there were no attempts at the walking bucks like there were on the last ride.

The goal for this ride was just to continue some steering at the trot and let Stitch get more comfortable and confident with it so that he stayed forward through the turns. I think that's going to be the focus for the next few rides. 

Please ignore the huffing and puffing on my end. Breathing is hard when your nose is full of snot because it's a bit chilly out.

And he was! Again, not perfect, but a definite improvement over the last couple of rides. The circles were feeling a lot rounder, and the diagonals a lot straighter.

After the trot work, I decided to try a bit of head-to-the-wall leg yielding and see what I got. We've been working on it in-hand, and he's got the idea of it with me using my dressage whip laid across his side to ask him to move laterally. We'd give it a shot and see what happens. 

I asked for it off my left leg. Of course, I got nothing for the first few steps, but I moved my leg back a bit and he moved his bum over and gave me a couple of steps for a good first effort. I clicked, he got a cookie. We went again, and kind of the same - nothing for a couple of steps, then move the bum over. Again, click and reward. 

Across to the other side of the arena we went. As we approached the wall, I slowed the walk, Stitch stopped for a step, then very deliberately moved himself sideways. Click and reward. Asked him to walk on - he walked sideways away from my left leg. 

I may have created a leg-yielding monster.

We only did it off the left leg, I'll ask with the right leg next time, once I've made sure I have pre-loaded enough cookies in my pockets. 

I was really happy with how he thought about what I was asking. This can be an exercise where some horses really lose their brain when asked to move sideways with a barrier in front of them, but Stitch kept his cool and took his time thinking through the question. 

Once again, I am amazed at how fast horses learn when positive reinforcement is used. Not that I should be that surprised - I'd figure things out pretty fast if cookies were involved too!