It continues to be really cold here, which means I need to use my imagination to find things for my horses to to do. Engaging curiosity through games in which your horse is likely to succeed is a great way to introduce new behaviors.
In this vlog, I show how I teach young horses like Sniper (aka Reloaded) to spanish walk using a step block.
I also got some new toys to play with, to expose my horses to new sounds and colors.
This year I plan to make my arena different every day, as a way of building confidence and preparing my horses for changing environments. Sniper in particular can get really distracted, so using these new objects to play games was really helpful in getting him to focus. Pressure and release combined with positive reinforcement is the number one strategy I use in this kind of training.
