is the horse eating stuff inside the muzzle? if so, i don't understand how this is a solution to the grass grabbing, it lets the horse eat constantly?? he will wear the feed bag everywhere? what?

@compassionatehorseclicker

7 күн бұрын

Great Questions, Wendy. The horse is wearing a feed bag although it does look similar to a muzzle. Yes, he is eating the reinforcers inside of the bag. By feeding the horses in the bag after marking a response to a cue that the handler gives, such as walk on, trot, or whoa, the handler is setting a precedent that the horse doesn't need to grab grass to be reinforced. Simultaneously we are the horse is learning to focus on and engage with the handler for longer and longer durations between feedings. When this becomes a regular habit and duration is built so that the feeding is intermittent or has longer breaks in between, we can then begin to fade the feed bag by working on non grassy areas and gradually transitioning to more tempting places. At first, when we move gradually to larger amounts of grass underfoot, we will increase the rate of reinforcement and gradually build duration between feeds again. Maybe use the link below the vidoe to check out the entire article if you haven't already. Hope this helps!