This episode of speaking numbers language, we play the game touch with your nose, this game is going to be played on and off the horse. Why this game is useful. So horses love to play games, when they're spooky, their brains not working, and they're not really going to play games, you play games to try and get the brain switched on. So if I have a horse, which is very spooky part of my body language reading, speaking to the horse, is to see if she being spooky cuz she's actually scared, or is she just messing with me Is she just being a bit naughty and trying to be alpha. So again, both using the games is going to help with either if they're trying to be alpha, or if they're a bit spooky, and they just need their brains working. So one of the games we're gonna play now is called touching something with your nose.

So I'm going to try and get her nose to touch something. So I'm going to aim her for the thing. I'm gonna point at it, and I'm just gonna walk they're pointing I'm just gonna keep pointing at it. She's not seen this before. Good, good. Yeah, good girl.

Good girl, and then I really dramatically praise her good girl. That was my voice, but petting her. Good girl. Okay, so I'm gonna get her to touch the yellow thing. So I'm going to point good gear, good gear, but a good girl, and then I praise her. Good girl.

So this exercise, touching something with your notes helps to switch their brain on. So if they're spooky, or whatever, you do these little games and these little exercises and that turns their brain on. You can do the exact same exercise from the right side as the left side, and you can do it from further away. So let's try one from further away. Good, yeah, but a good girl and now she can eat. So the reason that I tried to dig a little bit further away, it helps her to think so I had to actually work through it, I had to make her try and figure out what it is that I was asking her to do.

And then also, when you're riding, I'm not going to be able to just take her up to it. You know, I'm going to have to be in the saddle, leaning a little bit and pointing from the saddle saying, Can you touch that please? So I can't from the saddle, carry it over. If I'm always babying them. Now, obviously, you do it further away. Once you've played this game a few times and they figured out what it is they're supposed to do.

So if you do these exercises from further away, it helps build your horses confidence, and it helps them build confidence and trust in you. So now I'm going to have her do that. The same game that we played on the ground, we're going to ask her to touch a little object. So I'm going to point pointing and still pointing. She wants to scratch her head on it. Good girl.

Good girl. Good girl. I'm gonna take her away from it. So I'm going to point pointing and pointing. don't scratch your head on it. Come on.

I'm pointing Good girl. Good girl. She wants to scratch her head on it. So now I'm just gonna Again, just playing games with her, she sees the thing. I'm gonna take the thing. Good girl.

And we'll be on our merry way. So the more that you do with horses, the more games you play, the more stuff you expose them to, you know, the better overall horse it's going to be. So a lot of people they think, you know, because I'm an FBI level to coach I do showjumping and I do dressage. And once you've mastered the language of horses, it actually doesn't matter. You know, the horse or the discipline that you're trying to train them you know, she does endurance another horse to show jumping or dressage or you know, whatever it is that you want them to do whatever job this is their language, this is the the ABCs the foundation for all that other stuff, you know, all the disciplines and all the things you know this, this is where it begins. Next video, Christian is trying to get cue to touch a little plastic baggie that was flapping in the wind on the fence.

Obviously, he's not too happy about trying to investigate this little plastic baggie. So by playing the touching with the nose game, you will watch as Christian and I helped to get you a little bit more curious about this baggy and less being scared about the baggy disappointing. Hey, if he can get her feet a little bit closer. How I think she likes two things. She doesn't like two things is ditch and the bag. Okay.

Come on. Doesn't take one more step. Come on. What do I do? So instead of doing that, let's make her go sideways, a step inside, step, forwards, not backwards forward. No, no, no.

How you bring her like that. See? See. And then, of course, enough, maybe a little bit more if you can come. Now you touch the back. She started laying praise her when you're playing with the horse, the touching the nose game, if they're scared of the object, it can seem really frustrating or difficult or like you're asking again and again to try and convince them to touch this object with a nose.

So what I'm suggesting to Christian is for him to sort of play with the plastic bags. to sort of get cue a little bit more curious about the object. Now Christian has already in the past played with cue, rubbing her with plastic bags on her body and her legs. So this is not the first time she's seen a plastic bag, but because it was flapping in the wind, and it's an unfamiliar plastic bag. That's why he has to play this whole new dynamic of the game. Now here he's showing her the plastic bag, so he picked it up off the fence, let her sniff it.

And then when she reached over and sniffed it, we both decided to praise her. And we're dramatically scratching her and pinning her or dramatically using our voices Good girl cue. And we're being as dramatic about our praise as we can, so that she knows that her being curious, touching the baggy is exactly what we wanted. And then because he put the baby back on the fence, he's now going to just try See if he can get her to be curious on her own without him bringing the baggie to her. Training horses obviously takes a lot of back and forth and a lot of patience. So here, she was just sort of, like now I don't really want to see the bag.

So, you know, when you have a young horse, it's okay. Notice we didn't, you know, make any reactions we didn't, we just kept looking at the baggie and politely asking her to touch it with her nose. Now, eventually, I decided to help Christian out a little bit. So I grabbed cue, in order to help show him a little bit of what I would do. Now because Christian kept sort of asking her again and again and again and she wasn't that interested. I decided, let's try a different tactic for today.

And let me try from the other side. The back and making a little bit more interesting for her. See how she's not reacting like she's scared and there, you'll notice she got curious and actually leans forward, look at her front legs, see how she's actually leaning a little bit forward and actually is following my hands to sniff the baggy. So here you can't really see it but she does actually touch the baggie, and I decide for today, that is more than enough. Good girl. The more that you can play this game, the more you can find scary things to play with like a parked tractor, and arena banner or signs, flags, plastic bags, bottles, anything that makes noise, cones, poles, horse trailers or trailers in general, an open umbrella now that's tricky bicycles, parked cars, a bowl especially a bouncy one and anything else you can find