Friday March 23, 2018
I begin working with clicker training with Mikey.  I have a light working knowledge of this as I have used it on and off with my own horses--read books, watched videos (You Tube), etc. I had become familiar with it first about 20 years ago at a dressage clinic when one of the organizers made all of us buy Alexandra Kurland's book "Clicker Training for Your Horse."  The organizer was fascinated with how wonderfully Kurland had broken down ("chunked down," as she called it) the process of training a horse to do...well just about anything.
Mikey is a fully retired Grand Prix jumper, I believe,  who later in his life was used as a school horse doing 2-6 and 2-9 with the more advanced students at a barn in Lafayette, LA.  I was told he is up in years (maybe 20-ish) and a Belgium WB X Thoroughbred.  Due to on and off lameness (front end, pastern) he is now enjoying a quieter life.  He is an affable soul, but a bit suspicious and highly picky about what he will and will not do with his muzzle! (more on that later).  After getting permission from his owner to play with him in this manner, I did 2 micro sessions on this day with him. My intention is to do clicker training feats with him and work with him for short periods of time each time I visit the barn.  I fantasize that I may be able to get him to do more exotic tricks such as side pass (at liberty or with a LOOSE lead line) over a pole...and maybe to pick up small objects IN SUCCESSION to earn his treats.  I also would like to see if I can teach him to maybe raise a leg and hold it...things such as this.  Nothing too taxing but just for his mental mini challenge. The first session, my friend (Brittany) went over to his paddock with me and she watched while I introduced the concept of "targeting."  Because Mikey had just finished up eating his late afternoon grain, he happened to be standing near his entrance/gate so it was super easy to simply start working with him right then and there.  I had rigged up an old dressage whip with a soft tennis ball stuck on the end.  We put his halter on but did not really need it. I brought along two clickers that day.  For this first session, I used my newer clicker (made of plastic and purchased from Petco for $3.99).  Treatwise, I offered him segments of rock candy or some oversized pellets that are specifically horse treats. Within about 90 seconds he got the idea that if he touched the tennis ball with his nose, he'd get a click and a treat. I would present the tennis ball to him and say "Target."  He was not mugging me over this...he was a bit conservative with his head and neck but yes, by goodness, he was touching the thing with his nose and seemed to get the idea that this was a way to earn rewards.
Then I went off and did other stuff at the barn. As I headed out for the day (2-3? hours later) I decided to stop by his paddock with my clicker.  Just as I started to enter his paddock, a friend called me and I took the call on my ear buds (which in retrospect was probably a mistake). She was grousing about problems she is having with selling her house and I quietly was assuring her, and listening to her issues.  In retrospect, Mikey may have even felt the "negative energy" that was coming from the phone call. Horses are so sensitive this way. So, I won't make that mistake again. He was munching on a pile of hay up by his run in shed and looked up and whinnied at me. This time I simply brought in my tennis ball on a stick plus my older clicker that is shaped like a small match box and is more metallic in sound and feel. Mikey met me halfway in his paddock but was eyeing me suspiciously. He had no halter on, of course.  I decided to chance it and held out the "target" in his vicinity and said "Target."  Mikey did not cotton to this.  He acted suspicious and turned to almost flee.  My friend was still talking my ear off on the phone about her problems. I used a soothing tone and tried 2-3 more times. He BARELY would touch it. I clicked and he almost flinched (the sound was different from the first time) and then again, acted like he was going to go away.  I tried about 2 more times and finally got him to touch it, so I stopped on that note after giving him a treat (that I almost had to coerce him to take!).  I wondered what the huge change was but it was definitely a change.  Either the fact he did not have a halter on was part of it; the time of day; my manner perhaps; or the bigger issue of the problematic phone call I was handling at the same time.  So, I ended our 2nd micro session on a relatively, yet not so confirmed note and decided to stop right there.

Saturday March 24, 2018
I returned to the barn that morning and did not see Mikey in his paddock. I found him having a spa day courtesy of a former rider and fan of his named Sarah. She was grooming him to the nines and getting ready eventually to give him a nice bath.  I asked her permission if I assist her and she showed me how to properly pull his mane plus care for his tail.   Brittany had already spent 2 hours currying him in the recent past. Sarah got more off of him. I did some currying myself that day. She clipped the cross ties in front of his chest and in that manner I gave him a 3rd micro clicker training session using the tennis ball.  I believe I used the softer sounding (more plastic) clicker this time.  He was a bit standoffish but he "permitted" me to entertain him. I got the distinct feeling he did not care too much for whatever treats I was using...he seems to be more of a rock candy man. I asked Sarah what he liked and she said peppermints worked.  We re-clipped him to the cross ties because a 2nd horse was brought into the bay next to him and Sarah did not want Mikey messing with his next door neighbor. We groomed some more.  Then she went out to get another grooming project (Lily) so I did a quick 4th micro clicker training session with him and discovered he was okay about turning his head towards me if I stood next to his shoulder in the crosstie bay (and touching the tennis ball) yet he was ho-hum about it if I worked more standing in front of him.  I still was using the word "Target."  Overall, though, he was better about and less suspicious of me than he had been the evening before. Sarah warned me that he watches everything and if you are going to use any new grooming tool on him it is best to let him examine it first(!). Such was the case with my British mane pulling tool.  Sarah and Brittany also explained to me that Mikey is very fearful of the sound of clippers.  So, perhaps that may be something we can one day work through using the clicker...no promises...just a thought.

Tuesday March 27, 2018
I had more time and so I went to his paddock and stood at the gate. He nickered at me and I just stood there and greeted him. He walked down to his gate and allowed me to put the halter on him. We calmly made our way to the barn. First I hand grazed him for a few minutes outside of the covered arena while brushing and currying him off.  I put him in a stall and had brought in some small plastic cones.  I kept the halter on him but put the lead rope outside of the stall.  Using the PLASTIC clicker, I then introduced the idea of target using the plastic cones and would hold one up about 2.5 feet from his face and a bit off to the side so he could see it.  Several times he came VERY close to actually touching the plastic cone but he never fully made contact with it unlike the case with the soft tennis ball.  I never rewarded him because he was not connecting with said target at all. Then, I held out my gloved fist and said "target" and he definitely touched it with his nose...so hence--click! and treat.  We did this 3x and I was happy with it.  The next thing I did was to gently use a finger tip and prod him in the middle of his shoulder and ask him to step over (one step only). The moment he shifted his weight, I clicked and treated. I made him manipulate EACH of his four quarters this way (yield the haunches one way...click and treat!, etc.). I noticed he was much easier to yield his right haunch as compared to his left haunch away to my touch.  I also asked him to back (touched his chest) and he got the message (plus a click and a treat). I verbally said "back" as well.  All this was very simple stuff and he probably had been shown this years and years ago but what is new and different is he is getting a click and a treat for it.  Out in the parking lot I retrieved my tennis ball on a stick and walked back to his paddock with it. After I led him back to his home paddock, I re-did the "target" lesson with the softer tennis ball and he was earnest in touching the ball to get a click and a treat.  I used rock candy mostly during this session plus some large horse pellet treats I keep at home that are said to be apple flavored. He seemed to like those, too.  But he is not a real mugger.  He sometimes will stretch his neck out and cock his head one way, then the other for a treat (but in these instances, I want him to do something first before he earns a click and a treat...). Overall, he is rather circumspect about taking any treats...a bit gentlemanly about the whole process.  I can tell he enjoys chomping on the rock candy, though.  the pieces are small but he appears to savor them. So, now I know he prefers soft things to touch his nose to.  I also asked him to "back" to earn a click and treat and he actually backed up to just my verbal request.  All I wanted at this point was one step backwards.  Praised him for his efforts and will pick things back up on Fri.