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Re: [RC] [RC] [RC] weird trailer - Kathy MayedaThe clicker training sounds interesting. There are many different techniques, but the bottom line is your mare has to feel comfortable. Consider that a horse's nature as it was intended is to be a claustrophobic. If you tie them up and close the door shut and constrain them too quickly, this may cause some horses to become panicky. Positive reinforcement that the trailer is an okay place to be by rewarding with food, clicker training, release of pressure, or whatever is what she really needs right not.
We were talking about this after a few of my Parelli friends decided to ride their first LD yesterday. We laugh about some of the people who "religiously" apply Parelli techniques, when the Pat Parelli himself has been known to walk a horse into the trailer...
If a technique isn't working for your horse then just try something else and find something else that works. Sometimes it's also how the technique is applied. A good technique performed badly may get a scared, confused horse. Or a bored to death horse. And a signal that may get ignored by some horses will be glaringly over-reacted by others... I find some of the Parelli material addressing "Horseanalities" and how to deal with the different "Horseanalities" so interesting - gives you some food for thought for how to tweak things to improve communications.
That's why I feel a competent horse trainer can help solve things that you can't do yourself. I do a lot of my own horse training, but I sure in heck don't know everything, and I learn something new with every horse.
K.
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