the toboggan that wasn't

It only took three days of attempts, a lot of treats, and even more patience, but I think Shyloh finally realizes that the toboggan is NOT a mountain lion ready to attack. 

Today I got to the barn ready to conquer the toboggan/mountain lion. I took  our driving training a step back and did not put Shy in her harness. Sometimes I just need to simplify things for Shy in order for her to really get it.

Shy starts toward the evil predator. . .

She stops to rethink her decision. . .

Shy decided to keep moving forward. . .

And touch!

Amazingly, much to Shy's astonishment, the toboggan did not morph into the feared mountain lion. I played the touch game and did a ton of clicking and treating. Before I knew it, Shy was touching all over the toboggan! She was walking on it, playing with it, stepping over it, and sniffing it from end to end. Success!

Touching the middle

Stepping on the mountain lion

Pawing the toboggan

Grabbing the padding, so scary at first (mountain lions babies could be underneath!)

Making sure there is just toboggan under the padding

Playing with the toboggan some more

Now that Shy had come to the conclusion that the toboggan was indeed just a toboggan, it was time to make it move. And when it moves in the arena sand, it makes a noise! That is scary and elicited this response:

Whoa. . .not so sure about the movement

The good thing is that she does not bolt when she is scared, she just starts and stands in place. If she is really scared, she will either slowly back away or turn around and walk away. To get Shyloh used to the sound of the toboggan moving and to get her not to move away or back up while it is moving closer to her, I did the only logical think that makes sense. . . at least when working with Shy.

Hear the terrifying sound? The next step is to get the toboggan behind her! These carrot pieces on the toboggan was the only way I was able to get her close to the moving sled and to make it not mountain lion scary. Before I thought of the carrots, every time I moved the toboggan near her, she moved off in the opposite direction. Success!

I know some people are really opposed to using food when working with their horse, but so far it has worked wonders for Shyloh. She is not pushy or in my space and as long as she remains respectful, I will continue to use food. I am also able to wean the food out pretty quickly once she gets something, so using food is not something that is constantly necessary to get her to do something that is asked of her.

I think a few more sessions like this and with the harness on and we will be ready to pull it!