@vonmetternich / @clickerhorse It's a version of "around a round pen" which you can find videos of on YouTube, except we are using cones for stationary targets rather than a hand held moving one. Basically the pen is just to give some protected contact while the horse is learning the deal, so that you can move away from them if they try to mug, and so they don't feel pressured and have more freedom to leave if they want. The pen is usually more circular or sausage shaped but I was lacking in things to make it with. The rope is lower than I'd want but I know Java isn't usually pushy and already knows the clicker deal so I wasn't worried. I'd want something more solid with Garf and Lady, such as trot poles on top rather than rope, since they'd be less likely to push through that. I really could do this with Java without any protected contact at all, but the lesson suggests it, and plus you'd normally end up with the horse walking all the way around a partial circle shape which is good for bending (I'll have to work something out eventually). Oh, and the point of having this set up in our yard rather than doing it over the fence is because it means we are both seperate from the other horses, and also it's easier to work with cones across a smaller barrier than the paddock fence. And then of course the circling is a factor too. Anyway, basically the whole point of this exercise is to eventually have the horse be able to a) calmly go to cones that you throw in any direction and b) walk around any set of cones already set up and go to the ones you cue them to target. The advantage of this over a hand held target is that it isn't reliant of you- in that the horse isn't at risk of also following your movement instead of only the target. This can make it tricky for establishing voice cues for walk, halt, trot etc. because very often part of the cue is your movement. So when you try at a distance with you standing still, or try when riding, it doesn't work because the horse doesn't understand the voice cue on its own. Sometimes horses can get frustrated and "chase" hand held targets too because what they want is moving away from them as they move towards it. But if you throw a cone and then you cue the horse to target it once it's landed, the horse isn't having to chase. Or you have a bunch of cones set up in a shape, and the horse moves from one to the next without what they want moving away from them. I'm not saying hand held targets are a bad thing of course- they are a fantastic tool. But they can cause problems for some horses and for some behaviours. Hopefully that makes sense!
