Target Training with Connection Training

I’ve been playing around with the idea of doing some target training after reading about an UL dressage rider who used it to great success with her spooky FEI horse.  Basically, in the most simplified form, the idea is that you teach the horse to touch a target for a click/treat and gradually progress in difficulty until you are having the horse touch his nose to scary objects in hand and under saddle.  Eventually the horse starts looking for targets instead of spooky things and good things happen.

I played with it a bit once or twice on my own and then, as you will, hit YouTube.  I found Connection Training HERE and have found it to be a great free resource.  The videos are the shorter free versions of the online courses but you get the gist of the training concepts and philosophy.  Using these videos I have started all three horses with target training.  In a few sessions they are touching a target stick with their noses, touching a fixed target, and following a target stick at the walk and trot.  All at liberty.  The training concepts are pretty simple and I am excited to use this for my original use, spookiness, but even more interested to expand the target training in all sorts of other ways since the horses LOVE it and are so engaged.

Speaking of engaged, their is also a section on riding connected that I have found super helpful.  So good that I subscribed to the online program for a month to play with the concepts that combine target training with Philippe Karl and some yoga/Tai Chi for riders.  So far I have found it super interesting.  Lots of crossover with Dressage Naturally but using target training on the ground to help under saddle work, PK methodology to create engagement, and some truly life changing tips on rider position.

I will post more in detail about the riding course and my thoughts in a couple of weeks.  I am pretty impressed at this point though.  

Have you found any cool new online resources?  Thoughts and recommendations?