During our time working with our trainer (we love you, Jess!), I tried to give Sadie plenty of fun days where we would either have an easy day doing some light exercise in the arena or just do some groundwork followed by play time.
These days were a really fun bonding time, even when we had the whole arena to ourselves Sadie would often opt to hang right with me. Often as close as she could possibly get! :)
During one of these fun days when Sadie was basically in my back pocket, I decided to grab a small bucket of feed and see if I could teach her some tricks.
The first trick I taught Sadie was how to give a kiss. This is a bit of a dangerous one to teach because their enthusiasm often puts your nose, mouth, entire face at risk! I was shocked at how quickly she learned it. The hardest part was training her that not everyone wants a kiss all of the time! She finally learned that constantly trying to give kisses did not result in treats and she had to wait for someone to ask for one.
After she had perfected the kiss I decided to teach her how to give hugs. Once again she learned this trick incredibly fast. The hardest part about teaching a horse to give a hug is that horses are always trained to move away from pressure. When you go to stand and put pressure at their side it is natural for them to move away. Once she caught on and realized the difference, she loved to give hugs!
.jpg "Paint Mare Horse")
With the move and the chaos of getting settled in it had been a while since Sadie and I had tried out a new trick. I decided today would be a good day to attempt one. In honor of one of our favorite horses, Stormin' Norman, I decided to teach Sadie how to beg. In less than an hour this was our result...
Here is Sadie doing all three tricks, as you can see, she's especially enthusiastic about her newest trick :)
Now we just have to decide what trick to work on next...
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