Clicker Training

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damsel

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Has anyone tried it? I have been trying it with my 5yr old gelding who i couldn't catch and i managed to get his nose in the headcollar yesterday. Hopefully he will be caught by next week. Just wondered if it has been sucessful for anyone else.
 
Not tried it yet but am staring this weekend. Ill keep you updated on my progress if you like. He's quite intelligent (sp?) so i think he should pick it up quite quick.
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He is bad with loading and clipping so im going to concentrate on these two things.
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That would be good would love to hear if it works for you. ive done it for about 2weeks and he has learn't to pick his legs up when i touch them and say lift and the headcollar is an achievement as he wouldn't go near it before.
 
I've done it with Daisy, she is clever and learns really fast, it took us just a couple of days for her to understand the word "foot", she also moves away from me when I make a kissing noise or when I am standing at her door to come in. Its really good for teaching basic manners with a horse that has been allowed to get away with things at earlier stages in their training. I didn't need to keep doing it for long, just a few weeks while she learned the command and then it stuck.
 
I've played with it on and off with my mare with good results on certain things.

Major thing I have seen is a friend completely changing her view on it (she thought it was a bit pointless and just bribery).

Her lovely 17hh chuncky Dutch warmblood always loaded brilliantly, untill unfortunately he started colicking when travelling and getting very stressed. There was a medical reason which has now been sorted, but it left this gentle giant completely phobic about loading and travelling and VERY determined not to do so. He's a gentle soul and always wants to do as he is told, but he was so phobic, he was getting distressed because he just couldn't bring himself to comply with the demands to load.

We tried ALL other avenues - pressure/release; whips; lunge whips/lines, just waiting and waiting, the lot (not all at the same time!!) Got him in a couple of times, but he wasn't having any of it long term, to the point he tried to jump over a gate from a stand still, where the lorry was parked next to fence line to "encourage" him in!!!

I kept on and on about clicker training - she was sceptical, but desparate as she loves to compete. It was either that or get someone professional out to help.

It took some persistence and being very patient and a few backward steps, but this gentle giant is now back loading and travelling like a pro with no stress to him or my friend, all through the power of the clicker, which he doesn't need for loading now at all. It just helped to break down the process into tiny tiny chunks and reassure him that it was safe and OK to do it.
 
Have used it a lot for a long time,trained a baby 5 month old foal to accept headcollar, pick up feet, walk nicely in hand and 'head down' when he got a bit coltish.He is 2.5 years now and when I visit him in his home where he has been quite a while now he still does head down at exciting times like feed time and farrier bless him!

All my horses can 'count',leg yield,back up,'know' their right feet from left and turn on the haunches at liberty thru clicker training. My mini shetland is always offering new behaviours, he loves it that much.As tempting as it is I never reward for un-asked for behaviours. I use it in ridden work too.

Am teaching spanish walk at liberty with my mare at the moment.She is goose stepping lol but we are nearly there!

If you do a search on Karen Pryor there is a fab website with lots of info.You might find it easier to really reinforce things the horse finds easy peasy before you try to start working with things they find difficult, will really help their confidence this way and make the training easier for you both.

Hope you enjoy your clicker training, it really helps form a close bond with your horse as they understand exactly what it is you are asking for, there's no confusion for them. And the 'bribery' thing, hey we all need a motivator..wages/riding/whatever...I reward about every 6 to 8 clicks now, and it's so much better than randomly giving horses polos etc just cos you feel like it lol
 
Yep. It worked well and the horses all love it. I used it to teach ground work to begin with. Kalli bear was an insensitive clumsy oaf origionally and just didn't 'get' moving away from pressure. After a couple of days using click and rewards she became willing and responsive. I now plan to use it to have her loaing willingly. Right now she's a bit hesistant (only been in a trailer 3 times!) and she enjoys clicker training.

You get those who are fanatical about it and make it an entire way of life then you have the 'normal'
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people who just use it as and when required.

It's a nice way to spend 15mins a day working with your horse, cos they really enjoy it. You could use it to teach 'important' things like loading or picking up feet etc, or you could use it for tricks etc.

I've also found things taught with clicker training really sticks in their mind, much more so than traditional training. I taught Kalli to turn on the forehand using it (something she had trouble getting her head around intitially) and now she will jump at the chance to show it off.
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If you're thinking about having a go, do make sure you do some decent reading up first. It's not hard but the timing is absoultly crucial and it doesn't work if you get the principle wrong.
 
Have used it with dogs for years and with horses on specific things. Taught a cob who was a saint with everything else but went loopy over food to walk backwards when he sees food, and a HW cob that run off when being led from the field to "go slow" and do the tiniest little steps to stay right close to me. It's also very useful for re-conditioning horses which are scared of things.
 
This is all fantastic that other people have had sucess with this training. Leah3horse- i would love to teach him to spanish walk one day when he is ready. Booboos- i completley agree with re-conditioning which is partly what i am having to do with the headcollar but it is working slowly. Doublethyme- I am glad that it has worked on the loading and travelling side of things as there is nothing worse than having a horse that hates travelling. Thankyou all for you comments i will let you know how i get on and see if we can have that headcollar on soon.xx
 
If I may offer some advice with the headcollar:
- don't make it harder every time as animals tend to give up. So if touching the headcollar is good enough, and then he is willing to have it over his nose, go back to rewarding for touching again before you attempt to swing it over his ears. Vary what you do, to give him the best chance of getting it right and getting rewarded.
- give him as much opportunity to offer behaviour rather than tolerate behaviour. What I mean is this: set a goal for the horse touching the headcollar with his nose. Offer him the headcollar very close to his nose so there is a good chance he will touch it to see what it is - click and treat. Repeat 3 times. Then offer the headcollar and wait to see what happens, with a bit of luck he will remember that touching is rewarded and will do it. Repeat a few times, then offer the headcollar from a different angle and wait to see what happens. Play around with this until you can offer the headcollar from the right, the left, above or below the horse and he always touches it. Then start moving the headcollar and see if he will extend his head to touch it, or if he will walk a few steps to touch it, but always make it easier again.

I appreciate this sounds like a monumental waste of time when you just want to bring the horse in, but it really works as it conditions him to want to be with the headcollar.

Good luck!
 
My boy LOVES!! his clicker training!! When I got him he'd come from a NH yard and I was warned by his previous owner never to feed him by hand as he would become nippy??

I started him on basic target training a few months ago and he's so quick at picking things up. I've not taught him too much - he'll walk back, turn on the forehand etc and has also started kicking and pushing a ball around the arena!

I don't have a real aim for clicker training - he doesn't have any major issues that I am tacking but he just enjoys himself so much that I try and do one session per week and will probably do more in the winter.
 
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