April 6, 2018
The Mikey Chronicles, cont'd.:
Walked over to his paddock about 2:00 and he let me halter him just fine. He was very very dirty. We went towards the main barn.  He spied the automatic walking wheel in motion (it had Duchess in it) going and even though we were a good distance from it (basically near the pond) he took umbrage with this device.  He raised his head up high and kept it there and watched in amazement as she walked/trotted with the pieces of hurricane fencing coaxing her along. All I wanted to do was to lead him to the cross tie area so I could groom him first.  This was the last thing on his mind, though.  As we neared "the torture device" he got more animated. This gave me an idea. I got him to take a step with me and clicked and treated him. He totally forgot about the device for a moment. We'd go a few more steps, etc....more clicking and treating. He did the "trumpet snort" for good measure. Duchess couldn't have cared less about him. She was huffing and puffing and had more important things on in her mind...like moving.  I attached him to the crossties and he made sure he could (from time to time) look over his shoulder at the walking wheel.  Duchess started ignoring the hurricane fencing so Adele corrected her 2x from the side and urged her forward.  She explained that it was not good to strain the motor if a horse was going to flat out stop and let the pieces of fencing drag over her back!!! Ah, Duchess!  Mikey took all this in and was a bit put out that Adele had started clucking to Duchess and correcting her and such!  I kept on scrapping the hair and mats off of him till he was much cleaner/smoother; treated his front chest scratch area with Corona (it is almost all the way healed) and felt for his beginnings of a summer sore and that was just about all gone (I put a touch of Swat on it, for good measure). I also cleaned out his feet and applied Koppertox to the back ones (frog crevasses) as there was a touch of thrush starting. The fronts were good, though! Then I put him in a school horse stall across from the crossties, unclipped his lead rope, and pulled out my clicker, dressage whip and bag o' treats.  We worked first on head down. This time I did not do the Jeff thing of taps...rather I gently placed my head up near (not on) his poll, the crest of his mane and waited for any glimmer that he might drop his head.  For every nuance of a head/neck drop, I immediately clicked and treated. One thing he started doing that I had to start "reshaping" was the tendency to turn his head into my space and look for a treat.  I began only clicking when his head went down (in any form or fashion) straight in front of his own chest.  After about 10 segments of this he was getting the idea. I also worked at it by standing on the other side and he got the idea of "head down." For my own horse, I say literally, "put your head down" and by now I do not even need to touch. him...but he's been conditioned for years to do this before he ever gets ANY treat at all (when unmounted).  So, I was happy to see Mikey was getting the idea of head down and for good measure, I was saying the phrase just to pair it up so that perhaps one day I won't have to place my palm on the upper crest of his mane at all.  Regardless, he appreciated getting the praise.  Then I did a mini version of "whoa" and "come" in the stall. The challenge was that he had to stand still (NO FEET MOVE) no matter where I moved in the stall.  That was for the Whoa part. He the idea (we have done this before) and I "tested" it about 4-5 x and he only once moved towards me (I shrugged up my shoulders at him and he immediately took that step back).  Then I said whoa and walked a corner of the stall, slightly leaned forward and made the cooing sound and also fashioned my hands and arms so that it appeared I was reeling in a rope towards my solar plexus and he immediately walked towards me. Click and treat.Yay!  Then I tested his willingness to step sideways (NOT backwards) to a slight pressure from the butt end of my dressage whip to the middle of his shoulder and he willingly and IMMEDIATELY have me the exact correct lateral step (inward, towards his mid line) I was looking for. Click and treat for both directions. Very happy.  I praised him. He was now cleaner and wiser.  We walked back out to the front paddock and I let him graze for just a couple of minutes because it began sprinkling and I knew Eladio had put his feed out there for his dinner and I did not want his grain to get wet.  Once we were in the paddock, I asked him to first back 2x to voice only and he remembered and got a click and treat. Then I undid his halter and lead and stepped aside so he could eat his dinner. He was very mannerly about all this.  Super cool horse.