Day 1 - Thyme's Debut

Spooky and skittish doesn't even begin to describe this girl. To start with, Thyme was scared of -- wait for it -- the clicker. That's right -- scared of the clicker itself. 

But let me begin at the start. 

I had envisioned a relaxed afternoon with Thyme inside alone in her stall. I was caught flat-footed when the 11-year-old's afternoon plans got cancelled. Instead, I smuggled the clicker out to the barn at dinner time when I went out to feed. It was not the best scenario, since all the ponies were now in and Thyme was eating anyway, so less interested in treats. And unlike with the dogs, I wasn't keen to delay the ponies' evening meal just so Thyme could get her training. A little hunger may make dogs cooperative and willing, but it just makes horses rude. 

I ended up feeding everybody first. I then put a little extra grain in a small cup that I could offer to Thyme with one hand, while I held the clicker in the other. Taking the grain directly out of my hand was too overwhelming for her. I got in maybe 10-12 pairings of the grain and clicker. She was happy to take the extra grain, but also very curious and concerned about the clicker itself.  

I wanted to get a picture to document the event, but because it was dinnertime and winter, it was already pretty dark in the barn. I had to use the flash on my iphone to get any image at all. The flash is pretty delayed relative to the button press, which means the subject has to hold still for a good chunk of time in order to get the shot.  Which is exactly what this skittish pony was not willing to do. Her style was more 'drive-by and snatch'. 

The first couple of photos show only a ghostly image of a horse retreating into the darkness behind the gate. That's Tyche's little nose in the bottom left corner beside her mom.

I got a little better at estimating the delay with this second photo, but Thyme's get away was still too quick for me to capture her taking grain from the orange cup. 

The ponies across the aisle were fascinated, so I offered them each some grain from the cup as well. Notice that neither one had a problem holding still long enough to get a shot with the flash. This is Shadow. 

And this is Josie (with Shadow peeking around the post.) Both Shadow and Josie are friendly and fairly well-mannered.

On a final attempt I did manage to get a shot of Thyme with her nose in the cup. I don't think she actually slowed down any though. I just got better at timing the picture. 

So ended Thyme's clicker debut.