Knightsen Animals - Olympic Wild Horse & Burro Project, P.12

	Least Resistance Training Concepts Project Activity Album Knightsen's Activities OLYMPIC WILD HORSE & BURRO PROJECT Part Twelve	Click the picture to see a movie of Dusty honking a horn
The tragic events of September 11th took the enthusiasm out of our project, however we did a bit of quiet work to keep the animals going.

The value of Clicker Training

Spirit had some real issues with his head. He has a couple of old scars which suggest that he got his head caught in something at one time. Later he caught a hind foot in a halter while scratching. Thus he was very guarded of his face and head. When we would try to make contact there, he would mentally "check out."

Sharon started doing some clicker work with him. After a few sessions Spirit got into the game and his anxieties correspondingly decreased. These images are of Betty, a newcomer to clicker training, making first "voluntary" contact with Spirit.

Betty touching a scary spot

"OK, I let you. Now where's my treat?"	Hand over the forehead
Getting next to an old injury	"I want to play some more!"
Burro Update We decided to take all three girls out at the same time. It was an interesting experience as they didn't seem to care if they got tangled up in each others' lead lines. But they were good and behaved themselves. After a few minutes, we could leave them to graze, then return to pick up their leads without their spooking. A short while later we removed their leads and let them explore the stable.	"First walk out as a group"
"This grass is pretty nice"	Burros on the loose!