Good Day Training

It was an interesting day working with Louie today. It's snowing today so I wanted to work inside the run-in shed. When I went out, both Marie and Louie were up by the workshop barn and neither wanted to come down. They watched me, both rolled and they watched me some more. They both seemed to have some concern about something out in the woods. Marie finally came down so I worked with her while waiting for Louie to decide to come down. Marie really isn't making much progress but finally does seem to be realizing that touching the toy might have something to do with getting the treats. Might being the key word. She still won't even look at it if I drop it on the ground. But, today she did not mug me for the treats so that alone is progress and earned positive attention from me.

Finally Louie came down. But, he was totally distracted and now very worried about whatever was out in the woods. He was doing the moose trot and snorting. I put Marie in her stall as the two of them together were just working each other up. I then tried to get Louie's attention but he was having nothing to do with it. There was a mule eating monster out in the woods and he was not going to let his guard down for a moment. So, I resigned myself to missing another day of training. I went about doing my chores of giving Marie water and putting hay in the run-in shelter for them both. By the time I was done with that, Louie was settling down and came to me looking like he might want to play after all. So, I went back in the shelter, got my treats and the toy. And indeed Louie was ready. He was still on alert but most of his attention was now on me.

Louie did great today! At this time I'm not throwing the toy away from Louie but only dropping it in front of him. It seems to me the hardest part of training this trick is getting them to pick the toy up. And he has already shown he is willing to target the toy when tossed away from him. Today Louie grabbed the toy in his teeth every time. And he picked it up most every time though mostly dropping it right away. But, 5 times he lifted it up high enough so that I could take it from him before he dropped it back on the ground.

It's good I have both equines to work with. If I had only Louie to work with, I might think I was actually a competent trainer. If I had only Marie to work with, I'd think I was a total failure as a trainer. Having them both is keeping me realistic about my abilities, that I really have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm figuring it out a little bit and I'm sure glad I have a smart mule!