Equine Clicker Training Experiences/ Resources.

[Princess16]

Thank you all, it's so interesting to hear of how you incorporate clicking into daily life with your horses and with other training methods. We also use pressure/ release (dually rather than a chain for us but a similar concept!) and it's really helpful to see how both can be used together - although we won't need it for worming. The last time I wormed her, she chased me around for the rest of the syringe

...so this morning we worked on anti-mugging via clicker training! She got it within a couple of minutes. This is a task I expected her to find quite difficult, given her usual behaviour

I have taught my boy to look 'away' (said in firm voice) now if he tries to mug - works every time no more mugging or bolshy pony. When I take his feed and net down to him at night he stands at gate and walks so nicely with me to where he has his feed. This didn't happen prior to CT so like it or loathe it it works for us. I also don't always reward with treats but a nice scratch on his poll which he likes.

Good luck with it

 

[soloequestrian]

I love playing with that stuff with my horse, it adds a lot of variety to our sessions. I do have a clicker and do use it, but generally use the German for yes and good 'Ja' and 'gute' as they don't sound much like other words and with the right enthusiasm he really gets that it's the right thing. He is extremely receptive to this kind of training. So far he knows sideways away from and towards you, rein back (even if I'm standing 20m away stood behind him), lowers his head (working on this to reduce his heart rate when over excited), spins a circle, pushes a football (his favourite, he will do this for hours pushing with nose and dribbling with front legs), picks things up and gives them to me, fetches toys, he comes to call, if I stand on a mounting block somewhere in the arena I can call him over and he will line up next to the block so I can vault on bareback (this one is handy!). He bows, we are working on lying down, and he sits.

These all sound like silly things but they all mean spending time together and we both genuinely enjoy them. I don't use them instead of riding my horse, but I'll do them at the end of a schooling session or in the field.

I've learned a lot over the years we've been playing. I used to try to do too much and drill the point home. Now I do things 5 times max in a session, I don't pick too many things to try in one session. I use low value treats for the stuff he finds easy and has down pat but the hard stuff gets high value high volume treats, so when he has reined back the whole length of the arena without me moving, he gets a big big reward and won't get asked to do it often. This has worked brilliantly for me.

You do have to be careful though, after we learned we could do side pass towards me, he started doing it without a cue in the field towards the other girl who poo picks it...it's a bit disconcerting when a horse comes crabbing sideways towards you and you don't know why. That's because I over did it and he was over hyped about it. I also have to ask other people not to cue him as I have set number of times a week or s month I'll do something and if other people cue it he starts just throwing it at anyone as an answer.

He is very funny, if you ask him something he doesn't understand he will go through the full repertoire of tricks til he figures it out. He will throw in Spanish walk if he's in doubt about anything. That can lead to frustration if they don't get it right and usually means I have made a cue that isn't distinct from others and haven't made it clear what I'm asking.

Really interesting - what do you use as treats?

 

[laura_nash]

I tried clicker training with my cob when I was pregnant and not riding, just for fun, but had to stop as he found it too exciting (in several different ways ). He is extremely food-orientated though, and was food aggresive when I got him. I still use the Ben Hart book I bought, which I found really interesting, and I have put in place shaping plans for different behaviours.

The biggest one was teaching him to step back and turn his head away for any food, on a "say please", which made a big difference to his day-to-day handling (hay in the field, moving the strip-grazing fence etc are all now easy and stress-free). The funny thing is daughters pony now does it too, having picked it up watching cob in the field.

 

[Princess16]

I love playing with that stuff with my horse, it adds a lot of variety to our sessions. I do have a clicker and do use it, but generally use the German for yes and good 'Ja' and 'gute' as they don't sound much like other words and with the right enthusiasm he really gets that it's the right thing. He is extremely receptive to this kind of training. So far he knows sideways away from and towards you, rein back (even if I'm standing 20m away stood behind him), lowers his head (working on this to reduce his heart rate when over excited), spins a circle, pushes a football (his favourite, he will do this for hours pushing with nose and dribbling with front legs), picks things up and gives them to me, fetches toys, he comes to call, if I stand on a mounting block somewhere in the arena I can call him over and he will line up next to the block so I can vault on bareback (this one is handy!). He bows, we are working on lying down, and he sits.

These all sound like silly things but they all mean spending time together and we both genuinely enjoy them. I don't use them instead of riding my horse, but I'll do them at the end of a schooling session or in the field.

I've learned a lot over the years we've been playing. I used to try to do too much and drill the point home. Now I do things 5 times max in a session, I don't pick too many things to try in one session. I use low value treats for the stuff he finds easy and has down pat but the hard stuff gets high value high volume treats, so when he has reined back the whole length of the arena without me moving, he gets a big big reward and won't get asked to do it often. This has worked brilliantly for me.

You do have to be careful though, after we learned we could do side pass towards me, he started doing it without a cue in the field towards the other girl who poo picks it...it's a bit disconcerting when a horse comes crabbing sideways towards you and you don't know why. That's because I over did it and he was over hyped about it. I also have to ask other people not to cue him as I have set number of times a week or s month I'll do something and if other people cue it he starts just throwing it at anyone as an answer.

He is very funny, if you ask him something he doesn't understand he will go through the full repertoire of tricks til he figures it out. He will throw in Spanish walk if he's in doubt about anything. That can lead to frustration if they don't get it right and usually means I have made a cue that isn't distinct from others and haven't made it clear what I'm asking.

Wow I'm impressed!

The only thing I will say tho is mine will 'drop' if he gets too excited when we playing games eg targeting, walking thru cones, pushing ball etc so I tend to finish the exercise.

Oh and another piece of advice is always let him know when you are finished . I struggled with this at first which could have become dangerous but now I end with hands up and the word Finish All Gone and walk away to let him calm down.

 

[Enfys]

Wow I'm impressed!

Oh and another piece of advice is always let him know when you are finished . I struggled with this at first which could have become dangerous but now I end with hands up and the word Finish All Gone and walk away to let him calm down.

I use "OK" to finish a session

 

[Orca]

Very good point! I've found myself saying 'Ok, all done' after each session and walking away. She's already stopped mugging - I'm really intrigued by this because coming in from the field (via her much feared electric fencing gauntlet) was previously a high treat manoeuvre, so typically she would gently buffer my pocket all the way back to the yard. She was incredibly polite today

 

[Red-1]

I am by no way an an aficionado, but Jay and I had some experimentation with clicker training. This was out third or fourth session, depending on weather you include the first charging the clicker.

We thought we would try fetching sticks.

[video=youtube;LT1rlobBh9U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT1rlobBh9U[/video]

It is not something use regularly, but when my back was bad it was a way to interact!