Both Sides

 Equines have an unusual quirk in their brain structures.  The parts of the their brains that process the visual images received by by their eyes are not fully connected.  That's why a trail horse will often spook at the same object twice; once on the way out and then again, on the way back.  The best way to deal with this is to make sure both eyes look at the spooky object.  With a little imagination, you can guess why this might actually work to their advantage.  For an animal that needs to be alert for predators, dismissing an object easily would work against them in the wild.

This also means that we need to work with equines equally on each side during training.  Sometimes, we skip this step, or hurry, and that results in unevenness.  I'm already thinking about this with Jeremiah.  I first pet him on his left (near) side.  He seems to prefer that I approach him on that side.  I doubt there is any trouble with his vision.  I think this is just a quirk or natural unevenness he developed.  When the animals are moved around in holding pens, it is likely that the handlers are right handed and move them from right to left (facing their left sides).  That could be the simple explanation.  So, I have been trying to even up the offside with the near side by focusing on spending as much time petting both sides of him.  We have made great progress last night and this morning.  I can touch his shoulders, neck all the way to his ears, cheeks, upper legs, back, and sides.  He takes pieces of carrot very carefully from my hand now.  This morning, while I was standing next to him, he turned his head towards me several times.  Best of all, he seemed to be waiting for me for both his breakfast and when I returned later for training.