I’m going to try the “treat” reward. It
does work for so many little issues. I got tired of having to sometimes “push”
on my horses to have them unweight the leg I wanted to pick up, and my
daughter’s 19 yr old mare would pick up the hoof on the other side that
you were asking for. So I did a couple of sessions on each of the horses, giving
them a treat while I had their hoof up in the air. Now, all I do is walk over
to the hoof I want up, and say up. I rarely even have to touch the leg, only
sometimes, and then it’s a one-finger tap on the outside. And Shadow is
no longer confused about which hoof we want to see…or she just no longer
tries to makes us think she’s confused about it (:>) I have to use carrots
or manna pro apple wafers though, none of them go for the peppermints.
Kathy
Jonni wrote:
So, I started giving him a peppermint after the eye med got
safely into the eye. In the beginning I had to tie him up, and push his head to
the end of the lead rope to have his head steady, as I opened eye, and applied.
After a few applications with a reward of a treat, I no longer needed to tie
him or even put a halter on him. He stood there, and actually leaned his head
towards me, waiting to feel the medication in his eye, and then the lips would
start moving, looking for the goodie. To this day, I can walk up, and open his
eye with a couple fingers, like I am going to apply medication, and he just
stands there.
