Advice on liberty

Heyo

It's been a while since I've actually been able to do some liberty with Merle, mainly bc my dad doesn't want to drive me out to the barn unless I'm "doing something" which to him means riding.

Today I had a lot of extra time after our ride which I haven't had in a while. When I put him back in his pasture I decided that it would be nice to do a small session with him to see if he's still interested in liberty.

This was only for 5 minutes because I didn't bring my treat pouch with me, I just put treats in my pocket. We just practiced the 3 things I've taught him, back up (bc he always creeps forward for treats) smile and hug.

Im gonna give a step by step if everything I do and why I do it so that hopefully I can get some good on how to improve :)

Here I asked him to back up so he was in frame, then I clicked and stood still as my cue for him to put his head in-between him shoulders, or away from me, then I gave him his reward. Before I start to ask for something of him, I make sure his head is away from me so he's not only focusing on the treats. Then I asked him for the hug, it was a small hug but any effort gets a reward! I clicked and waited for his head to turn away, then gave him a treat.

I asked him to back up again, bc I was about to ask him to smile and he stepped forward. Then clicked and rewarded. Asked for the smile, clicked when he showed his teeth, and rewarded

Here isn't out best moment. I asked for hug, he did kind of hug but I thought it wasn't enough so I kept asking and he got confused so he backed up, then the other horses came around and I had to make them move away after the video ends. Looking back I think I should've rewarded even tho he didn't give a full hug. But I figured I would show our "fails" lol

I asked for hug, clicked, and since he turned his head towards me I asked him to move his head away by tilting my shoulder then rewarded him.

I asked for a smile, clicked when he showed his teeth, asked him to turn his head away and rewarded, then he put his head closer to me so I asked him again to move his head away then rewarded again (after the video ends)

Asked for the hug, clicked, asked for him to turn his head away and rewarded

I hope you could get an idea of how I do my little liberty sessions with Merle. I think in the future Id want to keep the sessions shorter bc I noticed he wasn't too excited about the treats but I could tell that he was starting to get excited about it. If you could, it would help alot if you had and critique or advice for me!