Vaquero soaks his hooves

I have a new lesson horse that I got knowing he would need some patching and pasting to get ready for his new job. The farrier discovered the start of white line disease so I spent the last 2 days soaking his hooves and took the opportunity to introduce the clicker! There's no faster way of getting to know a new horse than a good foot soak. I found out by working with him, Vaquero is a little impatient as he chews the cross ties, he holds up his hoof then flicks it all over the place and doesn't like his ears brushed.....mmmmm things to work on with the clicker! He is a very smart 17 year old and is very personable and a bit of a jokster, no mean bones is his body, I just need to be smarter and be mindful and consistent to get what I want....you can see the silly look in his eyes!!

I decided that target training is the perfect place to start and since I was going to be putting a diaper around his freshly soaked hoof then the diaper will become the target. Being a very inquisitive and confident gelding, Vaquero saw the object and investigated it instantly with his muzzle. Click, treat! Boy that was exciting, I offered it over and over from different angles and the second and third time he still wasn't sure how that food came to him but eventually by the fourth, fifth time he started to associate the diaper as the vehicle to his favorite thing - food! An eager eater makes clicker training easy but a smart eager eater makes it more challenging - I need to be on my best behavior and mindful of my every move as what I do are all cues for him to get that food! After wrapping one hoof with the diaper, vet warp and duct tape, I did the diaper targeting again and he did great. I'm discovering that my new student is a fast learner and loves treats which is why I deliver the treats very specifically and there are NO freebees.

My next game was to see if I could have Vaquero lower hid head when I held the brush above his pole so that I can tend to his ears. I clicked when he lowered his head - this time his muzzle touching the object isn't the means to his food but the action of lowering his head was marked by the click to tell him that's what I want! That lesson is still in the works, but the seed is planted about what the clicker means by doing the target training with the diaper.....he will be a fun clicker project.