For the boys' first week, I kept things pretty simple. They were fairly skittish to the goings on whether I was walking past or into their pen or pulling the feed wagons around at feeding times. Because you also mentioned that they could be hard to catch, I opted to start the week with some hand targeting/clicker training. Hickory has been a bit more unsure than Hero & started out a bit more hesitant to approach & take the alfalfa cubes from my hand & only if Hero was close by his side. By Wednesday, he was much more confident approaching without Hero by his side & easily taking the cube from my hand. As the week progressed, I began to put my hand over his neck to mimic what I do when I put the halter on. When I first put the lead rope around Hickory's neck, he did pull away from me. After associating the lead rope going over his neck with a click & treat, he was much more willing & I could halter with little issue. He was a bit unsure about Desensitizing to the Lead Rope at first but came around even quicker than I expected as I continued to click & treat for the right response. I had hoped to take some good photos this evening, but my phone had run out of battery during their session so unfortunately this will be a picture-less update. Since I will be busy Wednesday through Sunday with the retreat participants, we will return to our regularly scheduled updates on Saturday, September 30th. That week, we'll move to the round pen while also working on Desensitizing, Yielding the HQ & FQ, Backing, Flexing, Lunging Stage 1 & 2, Sending, & Circle Driving. - Lexy Nuesch
Next week's update will be posted on Saturday, September 29th.
I do my best to get these updates posted in a timely manner, but it's not uncommon for me to be outside until after dark, depending on the weather, my schedule, & who gets worked when so updates will sometimes be posted quite late in the evening. Don't be alarmed if you don't see your update right away. In rare cases, I may have to push them until the next morning, but I'll reach out & let you know if so.