spookypony
Well-Known Member
Last week, I attended a 4-day clinic with Alexandra Kurland. I didn't take the pony this time, as I was advised that there would be a lot to take in, which turned out to be excellent advice! I'm very keen on taking the pony next year, though!
Before I report, I do want to clarify that I'm giving only my impressions and interpretations. As a person quite new to this form of training, I may well be talking nonsense, so please don't form any judgments on my numptyish say-so!
There were 7 horses participating with 6 handlers, and a few others without horses. The general pattern for each day was that each horse and handler were worked with for 1/2 hour to 1 hour, interspersed with methodological discussions, feedback sessions, and exercises that involved all the people (and no horses).
The athmosphere of the entire clinic was one of calm. The handlers were schooled into behaving with clarity and consistency, and all of the horses responded with interest and concentration. The use of a collection of "mats" (mostly coloured carpet squares) for the horses to use as a sort of target place to stand on became a bit of a theme for this particular clinic. The horses and people were at varying levels of experience, and it was really interesting to see how this particuar training exercise (going to stand on a mat, and doing lots of interesting things while stood there) could be applied to everything from basics of leading, to advanced lateral work in hand.
The mat became a "good place to be" for the horse, where one learns things and gets lots of rewards, and they became an excellent focus for the handler: when plotting a line to take from one to the next (which might be in a very awkward position), the handler had to consider step-by-step how to ask the horse to move there, addressing issues such as bend and balance.
A lot of time was spent working on everyone's use of body language and timing. We all had to take turns holding a head-collar and being the pony, while our partners were instructed in handling the lead-rope in a way that was integrated with their body language. Both sides of this exercise were illuminating: first, the reading side, making one aware just how inconsistent and unhelpful a signal could be, and the leading side, getting to grips with a technique. Other horseless exercises were drawn from acting and from Tai Chi.
Clicker training is often characterised as a way to teach somewhat pointless tricks in isolation. What I saw at this clinic, however, was a very methodical approach, in which a foundation set of exercises provides the basis for a training path that is very much in line with what one might consider a classical education for a horse. There are many asides, some of which have obvious applications and some of which are more fun (such as the horse chosing items from a collection based on colour, size, or position). A core lesson was the breaking down of any problem into component parts, and addressing each of these component parts systematically.
Of course, I drove home each evening and immediately set to trying things out with the pony! He got the idea of standing on a mat (and a few other things) immediately, and by the second day, actually tried to drag me to one when we walked past it on the way back to the field!
He's just far cleverererer than other equines, you see! 
I asked Booboos's question from the winter, about an application of clicker training to ridden work. Specifically, if one has a nappy horse, and one stops to reward every time it finally moves forward, is that not counterproductive? The answer, if I understand correctly, is that the reward is given for the forward step, and the horse knows this (because the marker signal is attached to the forward step, not to the stopping). Stopping to receive the treat is somewhat incidental. As the training progresses, not every behaviour needs to be rewarded; instead, they are chained together in a process where the cue or aid for a new behaviour becomes the reinforcer for the previous behaviour. Being asked for something new means the previous task was well done, I think...does that imply that the horse has learned to enjoy successfully responding to cues?
You may recall that I spent some time while unable to ride in the winter working on his loading, using his trick of touching a target with his nose to get him into the lorry. This worked to a certain extent, in that I quickly had him loading and unloading. However, once I started travelling him frequently in the spring, he quickly got worse again about loading, to the point where we were almost as bad as we started. The difference was that if I went back to the targeting, I could always get his front feet on the ramp again quite quickly. But no further!
I was already suspecting the reason for this: rather than patiently waiting until we could load and unload, say, 50 times in succession if necessary etc., I started taking the pony places almost as soon as I had him in, before the good behaviour was completely cemented. I sort of knew that was asking for trouble, but since I have to box him to train and compete, I felt I had little choice. The consequent decision would be not to travel him until he's completely solid. The fact that I'm unwilling to do this (it being mid-competition season) is distinctly my problem, not the pony's. I have no right to get frustrated with him for letting my competitive ambitions get in the way of doing what I know I should in terms of lorry training.
That being said, I also have no intentions of stopping to compete this summer! So I will have to compromise: frequent sessions practicing with him (even one day of 3 short sessions today has shown big improvement again), and making sure there is a helper at hand for when I need to travel, so that we can load with a minimum of fuss and stress.
He's currently absorbed with learning to tell left from right (still a wee bit inconsistent!), and finds this task so interesting that he's just about willing to put all 4 feet on the ramp in order to pursue it, even though we had a major falling-out about the ramp only 2 days ago. I think the onus is on me to develop some self-discipline now!
Before I report, I do want to clarify that I'm giving only my impressions and interpretations. As a person quite new to this form of training, I may well be talking nonsense, so please don't form any judgments on my numptyish say-so!
There were 7 horses participating with 6 handlers, and a few others without horses. The general pattern for each day was that each horse and handler were worked with for 1/2 hour to 1 hour, interspersed with methodological discussions, feedback sessions, and exercises that involved all the people (and no horses).
The athmosphere of the entire clinic was one of calm. The handlers were schooled into behaving with clarity and consistency, and all of the horses responded with interest and concentration. The use of a collection of "mats" (mostly coloured carpet squares) for the horses to use as a sort of target place to stand on became a bit of a theme for this particular clinic. The horses and people were at varying levels of experience, and it was really interesting to see how this particuar training exercise (going to stand on a mat, and doing lots of interesting things while stood there) could be applied to everything from basics of leading, to advanced lateral work in hand.
The mat became a "good place to be" for the horse, where one learns things and gets lots of rewards, and they became an excellent focus for the handler: when plotting a line to take from one to the next (which might be in a very awkward position), the handler had to consider step-by-step how to ask the horse to move there, addressing issues such as bend and balance.
A lot of time was spent working on everyone's use of body language and timing. We all had to take turns holding a head-collar and being the pony, while our partners were instructed in handling the lead-rope in a way that was integrated with their body language. Both sides of this exercise were illuminating: first, the reading side, making one aware just how inconsistent and unhelpful a signal could be, and the leading side, getting to grips with a technique. Other horseless exercises were drawn from acting and from Tai Chi.
Clicker training is often characterised as a way to teach somewhat pointless tricks in isolation. What I saw at this clinic, however, was a very methodical approach, in which a foundation set of exercises provides the basis for a training path that is very much in line with what one might consider a classical education for a horse. There are many asides, some of which have obvious applications and some of which are more fun (such as the horse chosing items from a collection based on colour, size, or position). A core lesson was the breaking down of any problem into component parts, and addressing each of these component parts systematically.
Of course, I drove home each evening and immediately set to trying things out with the pony! He got the idea of standing on a mat (and a few other things) immediately, and by the second day, actually tried to drag me to one when we walked past it on the way back to the field!
He's just far cleverererer than other equines, you see! I asked Booboos's question from the winter, about an application of clicker training to ridden work. Specifically, if one has a nappy horse, and one stops to reward every time it finally moves forward, is that not counterproductive? The answer, if I understand correctly, is that the reward is given for the forward step, and the horse knows this (because the marker signal is attached to the forward step, not to the stopping). Stopping to receive the treat is somewhat incidental. As the training progresses, not every behaviour needs to be rewarded; instead, they are chained together in a process where the cue or aid for a new behaviour becomes the reinforcer for the previous behaviour. Being asked for something new means the previous task was well done, I think...does that imply that the horse has learned to enjoy successfully responding to cues?
You may recall that I spent some time while unable to ride in the winter working on his loading, using his trick of touching a target with his nose to get him into the lorry. This worked to a certain extent, in that I quickly had him loading and unloading. However, once I started travelling him frequently in the spring, he quickly got worse again about loading, to the point where we were almost as bad as we started. The difference was that if I went back to the targeting, I could always get his front feet on the ramp again quite quickly. But no further!
I was already suspecting the reason for this: rather than patiently waiting until we could load and unload, say, 50 times in succession if necessary etc., I started taking the pony places almost as soon as I had him in, before the good behaviour was completely cemented. I sort of knew that was asking for trouble, but since I have to box him to train and compete, I felt I had little choice. The consequent decision would be not to travel him until he's completely solid. The fact that I'm unwilling to do this (it being mid-competition season) is distinctly my problem, not the pony's. I have no right to get frustrated with him for letting my competitive ambitions get in the way of doing what I know I should in terms of lorry training.
That being said, I also have no intentions of stopping to compete this summer! So I will have to compromise: frequent sessions practicing with him (even one day of 3 short sessions today has shown big improvement again), and making sure there is a helper at hand for when I need to travel, so that we can load with a minimum of fuss and stress.
He's currently absorbed with learning to tell left from right (still a wee bit inconsistent!), and finds this task so interesting that he's just about willing to put all 4 feet on the ramp in order to pursue it, even though we had a major falling-out about the ramp only 2 days ago. I think the onus is on me to develop some self-discipline now!
Becky Chapman at Ashen EC would be an example - she hosts both Alex and the Philippe Karl training courses.
