Gia - session 264 - barrel "chase"!

 What do you do when the ground is too frozen to ride?  You get creative and work on other stuff like desensitization.  Today's game was "barrel chase"!

I can't remember if I've ever tried clicker training with Gia before, but I used it today to help desensitize her to a barrel rolling around the arena in the wind.  

I started out just asking her to "touch" the barrel with her muzzle while it was upright and still.  Every time she touched it, I would "click" and then immediately give her a treat.  I did that with her several times upright, and then laid the barrel down on it's side and repeated the touch exercise several times like that.  She was a little confused why she couldn't just take the treat from me first, but eventually seemed to get the idea that she had to touch the barrel before she would get the treat.

Next, Danielle started rolling the barrel around the arena, while I led Gia in a game of "chase" to try to "catch" the barrel.  In a horse's mind, things are very scary if they are coming at the horse, but very curious if they are going away from the horse.  I want to harness that curiosity to encourage Gia to go towards scary things rather than away from them.  

Once she had touched the barrel a few times after "chasing" it, we gave the barrel a head start, and then showed Gia how to run to catch up to it.  Eventually, I even turned her loose to go "catch" the barrel all by herself!  I was really surprised at how far she was able to go with this exercise.  She definitely seemed to enjoy the "game" we designed for her today!

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