Third and final coaching session with Judith was yesterday! I sent some brief video of our in hand work, as I haven’t done much with the grooming.

We agreed he’s much more relaxed than he was before using the target. The shorter session broken up with the target game was great too. He was very actively engaged but not too over-stimulated and stayed relaxed throughout.

Big take away stuff
– if you’re getting the behaviour you want you’re doing it right! If not, try something else
– the hardest thing is keeping in control of ones’ own frustration and learning when to step away for a few mins or leave it for another day.
– suggested we try to teach a cue for head down (like hand on the withers or hand on the neck) to phase out the target for that.