Different ways of training.

[SEL]

I used it with the Appy when she came to me and would only pick her feet up to kick. If i bring out the clicker now her eyes light up and she starts offering me random feet.

My big lad is vet phobic and one of the vets in our old practice used it brilliantly to get him to accept a jab. Unfortunately her colleague turned up 2 weeks later, ignored my request to wait while I got my clicker and launched at him with the needle. Back to square one...

 

[GinaGeo]

I have found it can be very useful when you’re trying to refine something or when they have a bit of block about something. It helps to motivate them to keep looking for the correct answer.

One of mine can give up very quickly if he doesn’t come up with the right answer straight away. Clicker training makes it worth him exploring different options.

You do need to start it carefully and train them not to mug you. I teach that when I put by back to them they must look away to

 

[PapaverFollis]

I used it with the Appy when she came to me and would only pick her feet up to kick. If i bring out the clicker now her eyes light up and she starts offering me random feet.

My big lad is vet phobic and one of the vets in our old practice used it brilliantly to get him to accept a jab. Unfortunately her colleague turned up 2 weeks later, ignored my request to wait while I got my clicker and launched at him with the needle. Back to square one...

The Beast is so bad because she was a little nervous of the needle at one vet appointment. So I spent time clicker training her and she relaxed again. Then the next vet to show up, she looked nervous again so I asked him to work through the clicker training with me but he decided we should be doing something else, took over and proceeded to traumatise the horse. And would not take input from me at all. Everything undone and more in a flash.

 

[Caol Ila]

When I was a teenager, I used clicker training to teach my then-horse to pick up objects and give them to me, among other things. So useful! She was a tough horse who's preferred answer to a lot of questions and pressure-release was "fukc off," so +R proved very helpful indeed in improving her attitude towards humans. Gypsum has been a far more genial, cooperative animal, very responsive to standard pressure-and-release (-R) and scratches and "good girl" (vague +R). My clicker-training skills have atrophied. But they could have been useful. Had I access to a trailer or lorry for loading practice, I would have used clicker training to sort out that mess a few years ago, but I didn't, so there wasn't a lot I could do.

 

[Dia]

I have used it for all sorts (positive reinforcement - I use a tongue click as a marker) and it’s great fun. One of the best uses in my opinion is to get muggy horses to understand personal space, to stand and lead calmly. Tricks are also fun to teach.

We are always using one of the types of training - reinforcement (positive or negative) or punishment (positive or negative). Positive and negative in behaviour terms do not mean ‘good’ or ‘bad’, they mean adding something or taking something away.

NH/pressure and release training is negative reinforcement and clicker training is one type of positive reinforcement. Every thing we do with our horses (stabling, feeding, vets, turning up, leaving, turning out, tacking up, riding, dismounting, grooming etc etc) will fall into one of the categories depending on how the individual horse feels about it. Clicker trainers use things that feel good to harness this idea in any kind of training. And it feels good to do, and can change your perspective on a lot of things, even becoming less judgemental of yourself as a rider/trainer.

To get started I would recommend ‘connection training’ and ‘the willing equine’ online, and the easy read ‘don’t shoot the dog’.

 

[Leah3horses]

I've used only Clicker Training for about 20 years now. I've rescued and rehabbed 27 horses from neglect and abuse, the abuse often in the form of previous " training" ie, do this because I say so or you'll be hit around the head/ whipped/starved of food and water until you comply". I don't understand why humans, who are supposed to be intelligent, still don't even realise that they're using force and fear with animals they often say they love, when there is the much calmer, kinder, force and fear free way of Positive Reinforcement. R+ is the only scientifically researched and proven study into how all species, not just horses and dogs, actually learn best. No matter the background, temperament or type of horse, in this case, it's like a light switches on as soon as the horse understands the simple concept of Clicker Training. Used properly, and this is key, the horse quickly develops into a confident, calm, problem solving, more intelligent than most can believe, co operative animal, and the relationship between a horse and human when fear, pressure, pain, force of any kind, is completely absent ,is why people who study R+ to a decent level, can ride their expressive, independent thinking horses, completely tack free in total safety. It's about cooperation, not coercion. We are very behind in training in the horse world, sadly, things have improved a lot with dogs and most dog owners know at least the basics of Positive Reinforcement and Learning Theory, it's become quite mainstream because it works. We need to educate ourselves in the horse world. Grand Prix dressage horses are being trained through the levels , completely using only R+ by Shawna Korrasch and other world class Clicker Trainers, to prove pressure, restriction, force, spurs , whips etc are completely unnecessary. Apart from the rescues I've rehabbed, I've tamed from feral and backed my own youngsters ,tack free, at complete liberty, and I'm not even a super confident rider...you don't have to be with R+, you just have to know what you're doing and focus on the emotions of the horse and the trust between you. I don't kick, pull ,whip or spur my rising 6 year old hw , never have never will . He runs loose with me on foot on the beach, in hundreds acres of green grass, and chooses to stay with me when he's free to decide to run about, eat, anything he wants in all that space.All my horses are the same, all 3 loose together play together and come galloping when I call them, I completely trust them around passing walkers, farm machinery, even passing horses being ridden past... traditional horse people are outraged when they see us ?, their assumptions show their ignorance and need for their strict control freakery. Good Clicker Training creates safe, Uber willing, trustworthy go anywhere, do anything horses, on the ground then under saddle ..the fact that properly Clicker Trained horses choose to be and stay with you at complete liberty is because you are the most rewarding, most loved thing to him, and vice versa, not the treats, and that's the true power of Positive Reinforcement...the relationship, understanding and trust between you. Just giving treats is far from what it's all about, once you get past the basics treats are phased out for all learnt behaviours anyway, which is what most people don't seem to get. Connection Training is a brilliant site to start with, don't just mess about with a clicker and treats, it's easy to learn the safe way to introduce it so you don't create a muggy horse , far from it. We don't need to use any force whatsoever with horses , why anybody still does is very difficult to see. Once we know better, we do better.

 

[oldie48]

Not an expert by any means but I used clicker training with a horse that used to go backwards as soon as she put weight in the stirrup to mount. It worked really well, also used it with my dogs. It was interesting to see Rose's trainer using polos to teach her half steps, basically if she didn't try to kick his head off, she got a polo. She loves polos and knows she gets them when she's done well, so trainer still has a head!

 

[zandp]

I'm no expert but do believe that you don't need the actual clicker, although it does give a clear/unemotionally loaded signal. Any signal you decide on works.

Both my horses know if I say good girl there's a treat coming, the good girl would be the clicker - the mark - and the treat - a treat, a rub on the head or a scratch of their itchy spots is the reward.

There's also a bit of misunderstanding about positive and negative reinforcement - the positive bit just means you're adding something ( a reward for eg) and the negative bit means you're taking something away (pressure release for eg). It's not that one is good and one is bad, they're both the same sides of the coin.

Ethical training is the way I like to describe it.

Pattern shaping is a great way to break training aims down though and that comes from the clicker training world.

Ben Hart runs courses which use clicker training methods / pattern shaping etc if anyone's interested. His website is good to read through as well.

My younger horse can be very challenging but clicker training principles and Connected Riding ideas have really helped us.

 

[Pippity]

My horse used to be terrible with having her feet handled. When my vet had Gemma Pearson down from Edinburgh to do a demonstration of clicker training, Blue went along to be used as a demo horse, and it absolutely turned her around. My report is here: https://forums.horseandhound.co.uk/threads/possibly-i-should-be-offended.784680/post-14187151

Since then, I've used clicker training for quite a few things with her - cleaning her udder, lowering her head for her bridle, backing up when told - and the clear precision really does help. It's a definite noise that's always the same and isn't influenced by my mood. (I suppose I could use tongue-clicking, but I've already trained her to walk on with one tongue-click and trot on with two, so it would be a bit confusing.) It all comes down to timing, and I can definitely tell when I've got the timing wrong.

 

[scruffyponies]

So often you see an animal trying hard to please, but the poor thing does something right and the owner ignores or confuses them.

Clicker training is a great way of teaching owners to be attentive, timely and consistent!
You do not need a clicker to be any or all of those things.