Or, rather, heads or shoulders? Lately it has seemed Feather would prefer to give me her shoulder than head, which isn't all that awesome when I'm trying to halter her.
MiniOwner suggested I try something new: spend a training session or two without the halter; showing her that I'm not out to hurt her and she doesn't need to be head-shy.
Today I didn't have the time or light to work with the filly - instead I helped clean most of the stalls in one of the barns! Which wasn't bad; it's nice to muck some stalls! Not all the time, of course, but occasionally. :)
Anyway, I was able to do this with Feather last Saturday. She moseyed over to me as usual, and after a few minutes of scratching she let me gently hug her head towards me. I had one hand on the far side of her face (not squeezing the bridge of her nose), and as soon as she gave in to the slight pressure I would release some of it. The other hand kept scratching her and encouraging her when she gave the right answer. After a few moments her head would wander away from me, thus I would gently cue it towards me again. We did this back and forth for about 20 minutes.
I'm hoping she'll remember it the next time we work. I don't really like returning to the basics, but at the same time I know it is important and for a horse to be head-shy is not cool, at all.
I'll let you know as more things progress. 'Night :)
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