An Epiphany

I had an epiphany today. You can get Cisco to perfectly execute his evasive turn and jump away if you just send him off on a longe line. It is the very same movement that happens when he gets nervous about anything and wants to get the heck out of Dodge. His earlier training probably solidified this behavior into something he thinks he is supposed to do. I normally have him come in and face up to me before I send him off the other way. He was anticipating the send off and it struck me that it's his basic escape problem only just on cue.

If I can elicit the behavior, I have it under control, we just reprogram a "Thinking about jumping away" state into a "Thinking about looking toward the human" state. So I tied a plastic bag onto my stick and started flipping it around. The rule was if he was looking at the human, the human had to behave and keep the stick near the ground. If he was looking anywhere else, the human could flap the plastic as she pleased. The human moved around, trying to sneak around the mustang so she could start flapping. The mustang knows how to watch.

Then we spent 10 minutes letting the bag dance in the winter sunlight, gently wafting down over the mustang and tickling his belly hairs. When the bag was no big deal, we started longeing, cutting off any attempt to anticipate the send off. I asked Cisco to stand along the rail before I sent him off. This confused him for a moment, but then he realized that I wanted him to be momentarily stationary. I was pleased that three times he started to jump away and then arrested himself. I am hopeful that we have finally found the key to solving this difficult problem.

We traded the stick and flag in for the tamborine and he longed around the little pen with me keeping the rhythm of his back outside leg. Cisco loves anything musical.