clicker training

nat_1

nat_1

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I am thinking about doing some clicker training with my filly,she loves to learn new things.can anyone recomend some good books? And where do i buy a clicker from? Ive read the basics in a few different magazines how to get started.
 
Its a long time since I have read any books on cT specifically for horse because when I started there were no books about it for horses :rolleyes:

I have however chatted with emma on forums and if the books anything like her explanations there this ought to be good...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Knowing-Yo...r_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317420129&sr=1-12



ben hart

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Knowing-Yo...r_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317419866&sr=1-12

I am not a fan per se of alexandra kurlands explanations / exercises but some people do like her and she has written several books ;)



you can get clickers from most pet shops or buy them on line ..... or you can use your voice / tongue clock (I say "X") hint.... . dont use a word like "good" as we tend to say that often when we dont actually treat or generally for being nice :D
 
Thanks for that,im gona go and buy a clicker tomorrow.pets at home must have them then.
What would be the best/easiest exercise to try first? Would it be like hanging a bucket lid on a wall in stable and when she touches it click and reward?
Would just 10 mins a session b long enough?
 
:D :D :D :D

rather than hanging it on the wall as a target it might be better to present it to her .... but first you "charge" the clicker. That means that you make the link between the noise and the treat for her. that should only take a few goes and you will see ber her reaction in looking for the treat when you click.

you can then hold the lid by your side and clearly bring it up... she will most prob look at it and you CT ( shorthand for click & treat) putting the target (lid) down out of sight. Present it again and when she looks at it cT, repeat a few times. Then you can wait till she moves her nose towards it before you CT, again repeat... then if you wait she will try harder and prob touch it (dont have it too far away yet that she has to step to it).

I would stop at that point for that session .... and yes ten mins prob just right... try and always finish on a good note so you can either end it early if you get something realy realy good and dont want to spoil it .... or extend a littl if she is just about getting it

next session recap that then you can move it up, down and / or to the side so she gets the idea she has to move to touch... then you can increase the distance so she has to step to touch.

This target training can progress till you can send her to the target to touch it or to ask her to follow you as you hold it etc ....and it has a multitude of uses depending on what you want to train her to do. ;)

have fun :D
 
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ah thanks so much for that tazzle,im definatly going to pet shop en route to yard tomorrow!
i will do what you have just said for our first session. cant wait now,she will love it!!
 
Alexander Kurland is thought to be one of the top Clicker trainers and I found this book really really useful.

I did clicker training with my Clever Mare when she was on box rest to occupy her brain and learnt so much. It really teaches you to isolate the good behaviour and praise it, so the horse really understand the behaviour you are looking for.

I think everyone should do a little bit of Clicker - clearly if you want to take it all the way it can be an amazing tool, but even just a few sessions helps with all your future training.

This is a really good book to get started with!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Clicker-Tr...=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317459087&sr=1-2

Actually, you have inspired me to go and dig out my clicker. I am currently working with my new horse to get him off the forehand in canter, and we can currently only do a few strides of great canter .... I think working with a clicker might really help him know exactly what I want in a gentle way (he is a gentle soul) ... thanks!!!
 
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Just a note since someone is bound to come on and say it makes horses nippy. It doesn't, if used properly, although in my experience I wouldn't use it on horses who were very strongly food orientated, because they just get too excited about the treat to learn properly! :D ... its really important not to reward any mugging behaviour, during clicker training or anything else.

Don't forget that you'll need big pockets for this, and shed loads of treats (I use carrots cut up small, 2 carrots is about right for one sesson with Murphy, but I usually have some left over) and to start off with you'll wonder how people manage without 3 arms :D Persevere, you'll get the hang of it soon. Sometimes horses take aaages to twig what they have to do, but this can be aided by making it really likely to happen "accidentally" - as Tazzle has described, a horse's inquisitive nature should mean that they want to look at/touch the target, so that's ideal.

Have fun, its quite addictive! I'm currently trying to teach Mr Murphy spanish walk using this method. Its a bit hit and miss at the moment, due to trainer error, but he doesn't seem to mind!
 
Hi Shawna,

I have your "You can train your horse to do anything" book and have just got to say how interesting I found it reading about your work with the other animals too. I tend to use the book as a manual looking up what I want to know when I need to. Yours is one of the books I tend to recommend on here and other forums when people ask about Clicker Training.

I'm getting this in quickly because your post will probably be viewed as advertising and may be deleted :(
 
Hi Enfys!

Thank you for the head's up. UH OH! I didn't mean it to seem like advertising, just sharing info with people who like cliicker training. I think it is great when we share our experiences.

I am glad that I found this forum. I am also glad that you like my book! It reinforces me! Thank you so much for reaching out to me!! I'll keep checking in as this conversation proceeds.

Warm Regards,

Shawna
 
I've just started clicker training my shire x, I wanted to do something positive with him that used his brain a bit and have a bit of fun.

I'm amazed with how quick he's picked it up, although we're his fifth home in his 12yrs as far as I know he's never done it before. We've been going a week now and although I can't do it every day we're making progress. I'm not sure I'm doing it 100% correctly as all very new but this is what I've done so far......

Teaching him to lower head on command - head down (partly from a practical point of view as he's quite large! but also to lower his anxiety levels if he is worried about something)

Session 1 - (in stable as he's very food motivated so I wanted a barrier between me and him), I'm wearing my pink hi-viz jacket so a visual clue that we're clicker training, used high fibre cubes as a reward, did approx 30 click/treats. However if his head was near the treat pocket I didn't click/treat, waited till his head was away from my body.

Session 2 - started as before to recap ie click/treat, this time I did it out of stable and lured his head down towards ground with some of food from pocket in my hand, said head down/click/treat obviously while his head was going down. Again I used high fibre cubes with a couple of polos thrown in. If he stepped too near me I just calmly backed him away till he was out of my space and then he'd quite happily stay there which I have to say I was stunned about but he'd already sussed that he only gets the food when there is a click.

Session 3 (last night) - again started off doing click/treat and then I've changed it slightly that I put my hand near floor, as his head is lowering I say head down and then have clicked/treated when his head is lowering. I'll continue to reinforce this over the next few sessions and then hopefully when I say head down he will lower his head. Fingers crossed anyway! :-)
 
Thankyou, I'm loving doing it with him and he's really enjoying it too :-). When he's got the hang of this one I'm going to work on getting him to stand by mounting block calmly xx
 
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