Chewie and I have been playing with flags. As I mentioned in last week’s post about hula hoops, I would eventually like to do some horse agility with Chewie.
One common horse agility obstacle is a flag on a pole. The horse might have to walk past a flag or walk in between two (or more) flags. Or, the trainer may have to carry a flag and wave it above the horse, as they walk together.
Horses are often afraid of flags. Flags flap around in unpredictable ways and also sometimes make noises.
My goal is for Chewie to be calm and confident around flags.
We’ve started doing a little training with flags, but we are keeping these sessions slow and low-key. Chewie is at liberty (no halter) so she has a choice to go near the flag or to leave. And, she has lots of opportunities to earn positive reinforcement for engaging with the flag, but also for doing other behaviors.
Our first session with a flag was in the barn on a not-windy day. I used a big flag, but I had the flag fairly low to the ground.
We practiced some behaviors that Chewie knew well, and I let her go near the flag and investigate it, if she wanted. At first, she didn’t want to go near it, which was fine!
However, later in the session she approached the flag several times and sniffed it.
On the second day, Chewie was a lot more curious about the flag!
We continued to practice well-known behaviors, and I gave her the opportunity to approach and explore the flag, if she wanted. When I saw that she wanted to engage with it, we did a little bit of targeting with the flag.
I also gradually made the flag higher.
On day three, we practiced just outside the barn with a red flag and a yellow flag.
In the photo below, I’m standing next to the yellow flag. Chewie approached the flag and then touched it with her nose. You can see the red flag in the background.
Later in this session, the wind picked up a little bit. This was the first time Chewie had been around the flags when they were blowing. I was impressed by how curious she was about the blowing flags! She earned lots of clicks and treats for her bravery. 🙂
During this session, I left Chewie several times to go back into the barn to get more treats (hay pellets). Often, when I go to get more treats, Chewie follows me and wants to come in the barn with me.
On this day, however, she wanted to stay with the flags and continued investigating them.
Here’s a short clip of Chewie sniffing and investigating the red flag on her own while I was in the barn.
I like this video because it showcases the emotionality that I want to foster during my training sessions. Chewie looks pretty calm and relaxed to me! In addition, she’s curious about the flag and interested in investigating it.
I’ll share more updates as we keep playing with flags and other new agility obstacles!
Watch on YouTube: Chewie investigates a flag
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