…continued from previous post

So in my effort to get Mr. Ed loaded into the horse trailer, I had begun feeding all of his meals there, trying to de-sensitize or counter-condition him to the trailer. He wouldn’t like it at first, the theory goes, but he’d be hungry and over time–first tentatively grabbing bites of food and then settling down to eat as he realized nothing bad was happening–over time he would relax and the trailer would be just another place.

This theory worked to a point. The reason it worked at all is that Ed, toothless, depends entirely upon prepared meals for his nutrition. Grazing for Ed is a soothing pastime only, not a source of calories. He wads up mouthfuls of grass between his toothless gums until finally spitting them out. When it is time to actually eat, he finds his Equine Senior Grain.

I parked the trailer at the corner gate to my pasture, leaving Ed free to graze at will, and I pushed his feed tub a little further into the trailer each day. Ed was happy to eat from the edge of the trailer, all four feet on the ground. He was willing to step both front feet in the trailer to reach his tub. With each passing day, he stretched further inside the trailer, but his hind feet remained steadfastly outside. Ed got really good at grabbing the feed tub and pulling it towards him, back to the trailer’s edge where it was easily within reach.

“Darn it, Ed! You’re cheating,” I grumbled. I brought over a small log to block the tub in position. I brought in a 40 pound cement block to weight the tub down from within. Ed laughed at all of these, toothless gums still grabbing the bin and pulling it into a convenient position.

So I brought in a 40 pound weight, AND I tied the feed tub into the far corner of the horse trailer, forcing Ed to walk on in or go hungry.

Ed chose the hunger strike.

Let me interject here that I was acutely aware that Ed maintain healthy weight during this process. Nor would I let him go long with an empty stomach, as this increases the risk of equine stomach ulcers. So I’d monitor his behavior until it was clear he was willing to go hungry rather than change his habits. Then I’d admit defeat, and move the food back to where he could reach it.

Given that Ed was willing to go hungry until I caved, it was time for a different strategy.

“Well, have you tried target training?” asked Jody Ambrose of Train with Trust. Of course I had not, I admitted with an abashed grin over our Video Chat. That would be like the cobbler’s kid having new shoes. Or the target-happy-veterinary-horsemanship-trainer training her own horse.

“Well I’m actually not sure he can see very well …” I said, trying on an excuse. “For that matter I know he doesn’t hear very well,” which is true. Many a time I’d called out to him as I came to visit in his pasture, only to elicit a major spook once he finally saw me. Would he be able to hear a click, or see a target?

But it was so obvious this was the right thing to do. I decided to stop being hampered by an unconscious fear of failure and get out the clicker and target.

continued in Mr. Ed, pt III