Snappmyapp:

That technique works! But where most people fall into trouble is in thinking they are driving the horse to the trailer. Clinton mostly uses the "C pattern" exercise to work the horse and allows the horse to rest near the trailer. What he doesn't often say is that it is not about the trailer. It's about the horse paying attention to you and the exercise and forgetting about the trailer until it's time to rest quietly near it. When the horse is quiet near the trailer, they usually get brave enough to sniff it.

What focusing on the "C Pattern" exercise does for the human is take the focus off loading. It promotes breathing and relaxation. The repetitiveness of the exercise helps the person stay calm even when the horse's blood is up. People can't expect a horse to get calm and follow a feel if they themselves aren't already there.

I have a mustang who if I encourage lots of forward movement, his energy will rise higher and higher. My aim is to get him doing a this exercise at a walk. When he will walk calmly between me and the spooky object, then I know we are ready to take a step closer to it.

With this particular horse, I could run him until his legs want to shake or buckle and that would not take the fear out of him. He'd run until he died so I really cannot work him to make the wrong thing difficult. Since he's the first horse I ever trained I never really used this method of making the wrong thing difficult with the others. I found that shaping up what I wanted through feel worked better for me.

"Keep an open mind so that your thinking can be flexible, but not much that your brains fall out."- self