I really don’t think I would’ve gotten as far as I have with my semi-feral miniature mule if I’d been trying to use anything but positive reinforcement. He’s crazy smart – in very brief, infrequent training sessions (I’ve been treating a melting corneal ulcer in one of my foals for almost 6 weeks, and it’s left almost no time for anything else) he already stands quietly for haltering, leads at a walk and trot, walks with me at liberty, stands without a halter for me to pick up his feet, turns his face away politely to ask for a cookie, steps onto a mat, and wears a fly mask. Amazing how easy it is to introduce something new, like the fly mask, velcro and all. It goes from “it’s going to eat me!” to “sure you can put that on my head and cover my eyes, what evs” remarkably quickly.
Magic, I swear.
