Look to Your Horse for Answers - Part 2

To determine what works for Gunny, I have to think about several things:

• what results in the behavior that I want
• what will give me the attitude and emotions that I want
• what comes easy or what can we do

Sometimes determining what works means realizing that a technique that hasn't been working and starting to experiment to find one what will work.

The indicators that Gunny gives me when what I am doing works for him are:

• soft and calm demeanor
• can respond to my request easily
• "problems" disappear rapidly
• learns new things very quickly
• lots of licking and chewing and blinking
• things "feel" happy between us 

For specific ideas of what to try, I have found it helpful to observe Gunny as he interacts in the herd and apply those observations to our interactions. I will write more about this in my next post.