So I’ve started to try and translate some of the clicker work we’ve been doing on the lunge to our ridden work. We had a go on Monday and it went ok, so I want to keep at it really. I had a lesson with Katie this morning and I was really in two minds about whether to raise it with her and take my clicker to the lesson. It’s not a common training method and lots of instructors find it a bit ‘out there’. Katie has always been open minded and interested…but using a clicker gives a much more stop start feel to things (as every time you click Dino stops dead for his treat. Even if we were cantering!) and you never know how that’s going to go down.

Well I should not have been worried! Katie was GREAT. Really curious about how it works and by the end of the lesson she could really see the change in attitude it was bringing to Dino. He was much more alive rather than slightly hiding in his shell – she said his face lit up every time I clicked and he was really trying to work out what to do to get the next reward. At the end of he lesson her advice was KEEP DOING THIS IT’S ACE which is great as it means I can keep doing things consistently with him and I hope we’ll be making real progress soon!