Boomer is one of the few horses left at the rescue who isn’t halter trained. I started working with him yesterday and he’s doing great so far!
Boomer was pretty hesitant and skeptical about people, so I started with him using the CAT procedure. Prior to yesterday he would sometimes let us touch him on his hindquarters while he was eating, but it was usually a brief touch as he started to walk away. If he was grazing he would not let you get close enough to touch him. (I promise I’ll write about CAT in detail in a future post. Basically, if the animal is afraid and wants you to go away, you can use removing yourself to reinforce calm or friendly behavior.) We did CAT for about half an hour until he was letting me scratch him on his shoulders, barrel and hindquarters.
Later on in the day, once he was more comfortable with me standing near him, we started working on haltering. First, I practiced putting my hand over his neck and having him turn his head towards me. Later on, we also worked on him letting me rub his neck with the halter. The first time I put the halter on he was more surprised than anything else, but after a few repetitions he decided the halter wasn’t anything bad. So, we made a lot of progress for our first day of training!
I took just a bit of video, which you can see below. The video’s about a minute long and in it I put the halter on and off several times. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty good, considering the video was taken after he had about 5 minutes working with haltering.
This is pretty amazing. To think that you haven’t been working long with this horse and he’s allowing you to put the halter over his muzzle. I look forward to learning more about CAT when you write a post on the topic. From what you’ve briefly described, I’d love to see if it would work with shy dogs.
Debbie, I promise I’ll write some more about CAT!
(It just might not be until this weekend or next, things have been busy here!)
CAT was originally developed for aggressive and reactive dogs.
It works well in most situations where distance serves as a strong reinforcer, so it would work well with shy dogs too.
Mary
Pretty great for a horse who didn’t even stand to have his butt patted!
Mary,
Hi, I met you at ClickerExpo. You and Jesus and I discussed CAT at lunch. You and I were also in several sessions together.
Are you clicking in this video? I can’t hear it. If not, why not?
I love your website and subscribed to it today!
Lisa Rossman
Mary, I saw your comment on the article on the dangers of the rope halter & thought that you had a lot of wisdom, so I looked up your site. Nice work with Boomer! I’m far from you, in Yreka, CA 20 mi. south of OR border, trolling horse sites due to not presently having horses to be with! 🙂 I needed a break from a hot & heavy horse discussion forum, & you’ve helped; thanks! Janis