Category Archives: Clicker training

To Rome Via the Scenic Route

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I wrote this article in 1998. It appeared that year in the New England Dressage Association’s annual “Salute” publication. It is interesting to read it back 11 years later. Although I’ve grown a lot in those years the core message remains true. I would only make one change. Looking back on 16 years with Tulsa, I realize that it is she who is the teacher and I the humble student.

The author with Tulsa.

The author with the lovely Miss Tulsa.

How many times have we heard that there is so much to learn about dressage it would take a life time (or several!) to learn it all? Lots and it’s true! There is so much to learn that it is almost overwhelming at times. We keep going-or I do anyway!-because it is such a rush to finally “get” some small piece of the puzzle.

It is tempting to think that since there is so much to learn that going “outside the box” of traditional dressage training is a waste of precious time. However, in my personal experience the opposite has been true. Some of my most valued “ah-ha!” moments came as the result of connections I made from non-dressage experiences.

A Frustrating Start

When I got my mare, Tulsa who is now nine, as a four year old I thought I could ride. Well, I could ride, but count on a youngster to show you just how much you don’t know about training! I knew I would need help in bringing her along, and I was getting help, but a year or so into it I hit a wall and had a “major meltdown.” What ever happened to riding being fun?

Things just weren’t going well and I didn’t understand why. I was frustrated and so was Tulsa-who made her feelings known with a lot of resistance maneuvers including refusing to go to the right, head tossing, stiffness, rearing, spinning, and so on. Yikes! I nearly quit, but I couldn’t because I adored Tulsa’s (normally!!) sweet nature and, besides, I refused to quit a loser.

Around that time a good friend of mine and I decided to teach our horses the Spanish Walk. Yes, I know a lot of people might object to this exercise. However, for me, it was a very enlightening experience. I learned, for example, just how long it took Tulsa to process and learn one new thing and it made me a little more sympathetic to the learning process. I mention this now because it will become relevant a little later.

Dogs, dolphins and horses?

About the same time my friend and I discovered clicker training-a training approach that is taking the dog world by storm. As soon as I heard about it, I recognized that this was Something Really Important. We both had dogs we were training, we didn’t hesitate to jump in and neither of us has looked back since.

So what does dog training have to do with horse training, especially dressage, you ask? More than you might think. Bear with me on this! First, let me tell you a little bit about clicker training.

The first piece I read on clicker training was a short booklet written by Karen Pryor called “A Dog and a Dolphin.” That name hints at the fact that clicker training has its origins in dolphin training. Ever wonder how they get dolphins to do what they do? It is especially fascinating when you consider they can’t touch them or correct them. They do it using the same principles as clicker training: only they use a whistle and a fish-okay lots of fish!

Here is how it works. Lets say you want the dolphin to jump through a hoop. You start with the hoop in the water. The dolphin has no idea what you want but happens to swim by the hoop. You reward the dolphin with fish for swimming near the hoop which encourages the dolphin-he being no fool-to swim near the hoop a lot! During one of those passes the dolphin happens to swim through the hoop. This is rewarded with extra fish.

Now if you have been paying attention you might be wondering how it is the dolphin knows what he did to get the fish. This is where the whistle comes in. The dolphin trainer first conditioned the dolphin to connect the sound of the whistle with the appearance of the fish. The dolphin hears the whistle and knows that a fish is coming. Establishing “Whistle Equals Fish” is step one.

The next step is to teach the dolphin The Training Game. This is where the dolphin learns that he can make the trainer give him fish by doing things. Whenever the dolphin hears the whistle he takes note of what he was doing when he heard it. He soon discovers (and it really only takes minutes) that he can repeat whatever he was doing when he heard the whistle to get more fish.

So, in the hoop example, when the dolphin swam through the hoop the trainer whistled “marking” the behavior of going through the hoop as one that will earn fish. Since that behavior is the one rewarded the dolphin concentrates on going through the hoop. Little by little the hoop is raised out of the water until the dolphin is jumping through it many feet in the air. This is called shaping behavior.

Training dogs is basically the same only we use a clicker to mark behavior instead of a whistle (though any easily recognizable signal will do) and liver treats or a ball instead of fish. Using this approach my friend and I taught our dogs all kinds of things in a way that made learning fun for both human and dog.

To fully understand clicker training I had to delve pretty deep into the science and laws of reinforcement, behavior modification and learning. What might appear hokey and strange upon first examination becomes clear once you understand the principles being worked. I also discovered the successful clicker trainer has excellent timing (to click at just the right moment), is sensitive to how the animal is responding and has an eye for catching the behavior for which she is looking even if it is in a very rudimentary form. The clicker trainers creed is “Reward the Behavior You Want.”

I’m getting to horses–really!

An interesting thing happens in this form of training which is encouraged-as opposed to discouraged in other forms-and that is the dog learns to try different behaviors to see which one you want. Over time this subsides as various behaviors come under strong stimulus control, i.e. they are on cue and never offered without being asked. However, in the beginning you want the dog to offer behavior because if you can get the behavior you can reinforce it and if you can reinforce it you can get it again. And so it goes.

Okay, now we get back to horses.

One day about a year into the clicker training with the dogs, I was riding Tulsa and “out of the blue” she offered the Spanish Walk I had taught her months before. It really wasn’t right out of the blue because I’d been asking her to do something similar to the preparation to Spanish Walk. But, right at that moment it all hit me. The reason that Tulsa offered the Spanish Walk was because she was guessing. In other words, she had no idea what I wanted and offered her best guess-from things that had been rewarded before.

Suddenly all the clicker training I’d done with the dogs made me understand why I was having so much trouble with Tulsa. When I trained the dogs I was clear, precise and consistent. Tulsa deserved the same but I realized that day she wasn’t getting it. I felt really bad!! But, once I accepted that fact a couple things happened. One is a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I didn’t need to be tense and frustrated, I just needed to go step by step, be clear and reward the behavior I wanted. DUH. Just like I did with the dogs. The second thing that happened was, voila and duh again, Tulsa immediately started getting better.

When I changed my attitude from seeing my horse as “evading” or “resisting” or “being stubborn” or “difficult” to seeing her as “struggling with a concept” I couldn’t be mad or even frustrated. It would be like being angry with a child because learning fractions is difficult. They make mistakes, they try the wrong thing, they get upset because they are confused and frustrated. I finally saw Tulsa for what she was, my student. As a teacher, there is no place for lack of emotional control!

Ah, but there is more!

Right about the same time as this I stumbled upon the work of such extraordinary horsemen as Tom Dorrance, Ray Hunt, Harry Whitney and others. Nope, these are not dressage folk. However, most of what I now know about horsemanship, feel, timing, balance and how to train a horse came from these guys. Plus, everything I had learned in clicker training was coming true again: break the problem down into small steps and reward the behavior you want. For some reason, these fundamental skills were skipped over in the strictly dressage training that I’d experienced.

A lot of dressage people look down on these “western guys” with the assumption that they couldn’t possibly understand our dressage requirements and therefore there is no value in studying what they have to say. This is, in my very humble opinion, an extremely narrow minded viewpoint. I’ve observed many dressage riders who are flailing and frustrated because they clearly don’t know what these cowboys know: how to make it clear to the horse what the heck you want!

The reaction to clicker training is usually the same, i.e. clicker training has nothing to do with classical dressage. My response is anything that helps someone understand the value of timing, clarity, consistency and reinforcement has everything to do with classical dressage principles. The principles of training are the principles of training and you can learn them from many sources. In fact, learning them outside the context of dressage is actually beneficial because you can focus on them without being distracted by what you think you are “supposed” to be accomplishing.

Once I understood basic training principles I was able to look at the classical methods with a fresh eye and really understand why certain things continue to be passed on and work so well. They work because they follow the laws of behavior and learning. Although we have only come to really understand those laws over the last 50 years or so, they have been in effect forever. Who knows this guy?

“This rule can be stated in few words, but is applies to the whole art of horsemanship. He will receive the bit, for example, more willingly if something good happens to him as soon as he takes it. He will also leap over and jump out of anything, and perform all his actions duly if he can expect a rest as soon as he has done what is required of him.” –Xenophon.

See, it all comes around to the same thing!!

Final Thoughts

In my experience, in order to be able to make the right changes in a horse I needed to understand how to elicit any change. Clicker training taught me about how to influence behavior and the principles of learning that apply to all animals including horses. It taught me about the critical importance of clarity and consistency, also about setting realistic expectations. The horsemanship studies taught me about pressure and release, position, timing, and feel as they relate specifically to horses. Through these pursuits I feel I’ve gained a much clearer understanding of classical training principles.

Dressage is still way hard! Developing the feel for throughness and straightness is a lifetime endeavor. But, now I feel like I have a handle of some of the pieces that make it possible for me to progress further. Tulsa kind of made it necessary for me to explore these side roads. Now that I have, I can only say, take the scenic route! It definitely makes the trip interesting, more enjoyable, and ultimately may turn out to be the shorter route.

Clicker Training: Myth vs. Reality

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I get asked this question a lot: What is this clicker training business and what could it possibly have to do me? My goal in this article is to dispel some of the more common myths about clicker training that have emerged over the last several years as the method has increased in popularity among horse owners.

Once the horse understands the clicker you can use it for liberty work in the round pen.

Once the horse understands the clicker you can use it for liberty work in the round pen. Photo by Cynthia Mallard.

Unfortunately, at the moment clicker training still conjures up visions of silly pet tricks or dolphin training in the minds of many people. As such many serious riders take exception to the idea that clicker training could have any legitimate place in horse training. In fact, here are some actual objections that I have encountered in my discussions with horse people about clicker training. I’ll respond to each one in turn. Since I’m a dressage rider myself these objections usually come up in the context of dressage but really it could be any discipline.

Myth 1: People who employ clicker training in conjunction with dressage training are looking for a quick fix to problems that should be resolved by learning to ride better.

Reality: If only it were that easy! There are no quick fixes, no short cuts. We all need to ride better and that is simply a given. In order to use clicker training effectively you will need to add study of it to your existing education efforts. Some may think that this is a “side road” or a distraction that only wastes valuable time. But I have to disagree strongly with this sentiment. Here is why.

It is just not enough to be able to ride well. There is a big difference between the ‘good rider’ and the ‘great horseman’. The road from rider to horseman involves a lot more knowledge than can be gained just by taking riding lessons with your favorite big name clinician. Lessons and dressage instruction is important but if you are really serious about dressage you will make it your business to learn everything you can about horses and training. Doing some clicker training is one very powerful way to learn about how to train. You simply can’t have too many training skills!

Myth 2: Horses-unlike dolphins-do not normally communicate via clicking sounds and therefore clicker training can not be used successfully with horses.

Reality: Although it is true that horses do not communicate with clicks this fact is not a relevant factor when it comes to clicker training. After all dolphins are actually trained with a whistle! The fact is, any signal that can be reproduced reliably and consistently can be used as the “click”. For example, a buzz, a bell, a whistle, a touch, a flash of light or even a word can work.

What is important about the click is not the signal itself but the job it is intended to do. Its purpose is to “mark” (meaning highlight or point to) desired behavior for reward. The laws of learning tell us that ‘behavior that is rewarded will tend to increase in frequency’. So anything that gets marked and rewarded will start to occur more frequently. If you choose to mark, say, energetic forward movement you will get more energetic forward movement. Once you are getting the forward movement you can connect it to your leg aids. You can use the same concept for any of a number of ideas you want to make clear to the horse.

Clicker training can enhance ground work and longeing.

Clicker training can enhance ground work and longeing.

Myth 3: The click of a clicker can not possibly replace the full symphony of aids which is dressage riding.

Reality: Of course not and it is not supposed to. See above. The click is intended to mark performance you want to reward. You are not going to, say, click once for shoulder in and twice for half pass. Nor will you touch the horse’s right ear for right shoulder in. Or any other such silliness. The aids for shoulder in are still the aids for shoulder in. But, really, this is jumping way ahead. By the time you have reached the “symphony of aids” stage you are already deep into the horse’s training and long past the those days of clicking for the thought of looking at a cone.

If you had been using clicker training it would have been started well before this point and used to help lay the foundation that leads to that harmonious symphony. People who are using clicker training as part of their dressage training use it to help support the early learning process so that there can be a more harmonious experience down the road.

Many people seem to think that dressage training is limited to the part that occurs while riding. And therefore all one needs in order to train a horse is to ‘ride better’. While we all do need to ride better we all also need to extend our education to all aspects of training-both on the ground and under saddle. An important part of all training endeavors is understanding how the horse’s actions are influenced by reinforcement and punishment. There is no better way to develop oneself in this area than by clicker training your horse.

Myth 4: Well if clicker training is a reward, like saying “good boy”, and since I already praise my horse then clicker training is redundant and unnecessary.

Reality: It is true that the phrase “good boy” (and other praise words and phrases) are considered Conditioned Reinforcers just as the click of the clicker is a conditioned reinforcer. By conditioned we mean that the horse had to learn it stood for “something good”. It is not something good all by itself, like food is something good, or a nice rubdown is something good. These are considered primary reinforcers-the ‘real’ reward. The click is just a ‘stand in’ to buy time till you get to the real reward. Now if you were to connect “good boy” often enough with tidbits of food or rubdowns you could condition the horse to feel warm and fuzzy when you say “good boy”. Which is basically how praise works.

Many people do praise their horses. This is a nice thing to do but most people don’t use praise as part of a their larger reinforcement strategy. In fact, many people don’t seem to have a larger reinforcement strategy at all. There may be praising occurring but it doesn’t seem to correlate with specific advancements in learning or performance. For these horses this praise business is just so much background noise. I call it the “halo” effect. It might conjure up good feelings but in a generic sense.

What if the positive reinforcement (praise/rewards) were strategically applied to the training? More like a “laser” rather than a halo? Well that would be clicker training. Clicker training is based on these simple premises:

o Behavior that is rewarded will tend to increase in frequency.

o Primary reinforcers (pleasurable things like food or rubbing) can be linked to a marker signal (the click).

o Desired behaviors can be captured with the marker signal. Desired behaviors may include moving forward, stopping, turning or anything else you want to get the horse to do. Once basics are under way the savvy trainer may then click qualities of performance like stretching, or bending, or lifting the base of the neck.

o Behavior that is so marked or captured will tend to increase in frequency.

o Behavior that is occurring on a regular basis can be associated with a signal from the trainer (such as certain pressures from the leg, changes in body weight distribution, changes in body position, changes in rein contact) so that the behavior can be requested at will. These would be the basic aids.

Once the basic aids are understood they can be combined in the traditional ways in order to construct any movement desired.

In order to make this whole process work it needs to be started before you climb into the saddle! Once you are in the saddle your rate of reinforcement with the clicker, which had been very high during the initial training period will tend to taper off after the first few lessons. Until finally you may only click for exceptional moments a handful of times during a lesson.

Myth 5: Clicker training is only good for tricks and trick training is an insult to the horse’s dignity.

Reality: Insult is in the eye of the beholder. I won’t try to convince you that tricks are not an insult to any one’s dignity. But I’ll say this. Tricks should be fun. And, my own experience with horses is that they enjoy a “good laugh” now and again like the rest of us. So, train a ‘trick’ or two if for no other reason than to learn how to set a goal, break it down and figure out a way to train it.

However all that left aside hopefully by now you can see that there is a very serious side to clicker training and it most definitely can be used as part of your horse’s “serious” dressage training. Don’t be surprised though when, as a result of clicker training, your dressage horse starts to discover that even dressage can be more fun.

For work in hand the click can highlight those moments you would like the horse to seek out again.

For work in hand the click can highlight those moments you would like the horse to seek out again. Photo by Cynthia Mallard.

Myth 6: You would not be allowed to carry a clicker or make noises during a dressage test so clicker training can not work for dressage.

Reality: It is true that you wouldn’t be allowed to carrying a clicker in a dressage test. But then there certain championship tests in which you are not allowed to carry a whip either. However this doesn’t keep people from training with a whip before and after the test.

So if you had been using clicker training as part of your training approach, the assumption would be that by the time you get to the testing stage you would be showing the finished results of your training. At least for the level you are testing at. In other words, the time for clicking little steps would be past. Once the horse understands what is expected of him he will continue to do it with only minimal reinforcement which can be done when you leave the testing arena.

Most of these myths are just a matter of misunderstanding about what clicker training is and how it fits in. What more dressage riders are discovering is that not only is there no conflict (between clicker training and dressage) but learning about clicker training has made it possible for them to tap into that elusive relaxed and playful approach to training that the old masters spoke about but they were unable to figure out how they did it.

I will sum up with a quote from The Complete Training of Horse and Rider by Alois Podhajsky (emphasis is mine):

“After a successful exercise, it is effective to walk for a while on a loose rein. The horse will soon accept this gesture from the rider-a break from the work-as a reward, and try to merit a repetition. It is interesting to note that Xenophon specified as a reward that the rider should, there and then, dismount and lead his horse to the stable, not ride him back. Food or sugar after as successful exercise is another way of showing appreciation, provided it is given immediately. From the manner in which rewards and punishments are administered, interesting conclusions can be drawn as to the character and mind of the rider.”

Why Clicker Training?

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Let’s be pragmatic. Compared to horses, we humans can’t compete if the test is one of brute strength. Werelaxed-and-focused-3 need to enter the training arena with our wits about us and use our brains to get to the horse’s brain. The more we can get the horse to want to go along with our ideas the less strength we need in the equation. The males among us can afford to play power games with the horse, using their height and strength to their advantage. As such they are willing to take bigger risks that the more slightly built would be stupid to engage in. The smaller you are the smarter you need to be!

What if there was a way to make a big impression on a horse without having to ‘get big’ in order to do it?

This is the first best reason to consider clicker training. Remember, clicker training isn’t a replacement for horsemanship skills. It justs gives us another tool toward achieving our primary goal: engaging the horse’s mind in the training process.

Lady was a big, stout 5 year old mare that I took into training. She’d already had some poor experiences at the hand of a so-called ‘trainer’. She’d actually been knocked unconscious as a result of being longed in side reins and flipped over. So, when she came to me she had already decided that the best defense was a good offense. I watched her interact with my other horses in the field. The gelding who pushed everyone else around couldn’t get her to back down. She kept fighting back. When I brought her into the round pen and moved her around a little bit I saw the same mentality. If the horses in the field couldn’t get a change in her by getting ‘big’ I had no chance. So, I started clicker training her.

It was like a light bulb went off in her head. Once I turned her on to the idea that the click meant ‘come get the food’ I started rewarding her for looking at me, following me, following a feel, moving forward, backing, moving laterally and so on. One or two times she tried to bowl me over and I needed to hold pretty firm. But when she got rewarded for backing off, she relaxed and let those thoughts go. You know that mare turned out to be a really sweet and reliable girl. And, this is the really interesting and heartwarming part, she stopped feeling like she needed to fight with the other horses too. It was like she just let all that worry go on every front. She was at peace.

Another way that many people have experienced the benefit of clicker training is when needing to deal with a horse who is recovering from an injury. The vet will prescribe x-amount of stall rest and then–HA!–hand walking for x-months. Riiiiight. And we do this how without the silly horse re-injuring himself?

A friend of mine had a 4 yr old Dutch WB who’s horse tore a suspensory ligament in a pasture incident. She wondered how on earth she was going to keep this athletic youngster calm enough to Just Walk when he wanted to be a kite at the end of the lead rope. So, she started clicker training him.

Once turned on to the game (which she started in a stall) she had a way to keep him sufficiently mentally stimulated that he didn’t need to bounce around like a fool and re-injure himself. He recovered from his injury and eventually she trained him to I1. Her experience with clicker training served her well throughout his continued training.

I know of numerous other similar examples of using clicker training as a means to engage the brain during a layup.

My philosophy is if it is this good for the infirm what’s to keep me from working with fit horses like this as well? Not a thing. :-) And that is the reason that I incorporate clicker training into the program with all horses I work with. Do I have to ? Not at all. But why tie one hand behind my back just to prove I can?

The Paradigm Shift: How a Different Way of Thinking Can Change Everything

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Let me start by highlighting the fact that clicker training in of itself is not a complete system for training, as dressage is. It is not intended to be. Clicker training is a means for reinforcing behavior. It doesn’t dictate what behaviors should be trained. This is good because that means it can be applied to any training situation.

The reason I write so much about clicker training, rather than about horsemanship or dressage, is because so much quality material is already available on those topics. (Check out my Other Resources page for suggestions.) My goal is to find the point at which all of these concepts can intersect. For me that point is what “Getting to Yes” is about.

The rule, that applies no matter what you are training, is behavior that is rewarded will tend to occur more often. All trainers depend on the horse finding doing what you want more desirable than not doing it. Some people may use the method of forcing the horse to “want” to cooperate by making not-cooperating more unpleasant. This puts the emphasis on the “wrong” thing. Clicker training turns the equation around and looks instead only at the goal, the right thing. By giving the right thing the most attention and reinforcement you simply get more of the right thing.

“Some fellas will say, make the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult, and that may work for them. But, I say, why not just make the right thing obvious?” — Bill Dorrance

Clicker training is a training method that utilizes a marker signal (the click of a clicker) to highlight desired behaviors which are then rewarded, often with food but not necessarily so. The mark “tells” the horse exactly which behaviors are worth repeating. The behaviors that are marked, and therefore rewarded, are behaviors that the horse will seek to perform again. Okay you say, so what do I do? Click when the horse does a flying change?

Well not exactly. The first behaviors you start with are not finished products. For example you would not start by clicking a flying change. That would be much too big a chunk to work with. You would start with a very tiny bit of behavior which could occur long before-possibly years before-the flying change.

But we get ahead of ourselves here. So let’s roll back to the very beginning. How do you get started with the clicker? These beginning steps will seem far removed from dressage. But hang in there. To do anything right you must do it thoroughly and start from the beginning.

Almost everyone starts clicker training by starting with a super-ultra-simple can’t get it wrong behavior. One very common approach is to teach the horse to touch his nose to an object. Say one of those small orange training cones. This isn’t the only way to start and it isn’t even the only way that I would start. But, I’ll explain targeting as an example.

Here’s how you’d do it.

Put the horse in a stall with a stall guard up. You stand outside the stall door with the cone and clicker in one hand. You’ll use the other hand to dole out the treats. Have your pockets filled with lots of very small tidbits of food. Hay pellets are a good choice. But if the horse turns his nose up at this, then use something he will “do anything for.” Perhaps mints or bits of carrot. Whatever will make it worth his while to play the game. But keep the pieces very small… like the size of the tip of your pinkey finger. You are going to hand out a lot of them!

Hold out the cone one inch from the horse’s nose. Click the clicker one time when he sniffs the cone (and he will because horses are by nature very curious animals). Hide the cone behind your back as you simultaneously feed one hay pellet. Repeat this 3-5 times. Make it ridiculously easy for the horse to be successful so that the clicks occur within a few seconds of one another. During the early learning stages you want to keep the “rate of reinforcement” high.

Repeat the same scenario again another 3 to 5 times but now hold the cone a few inches away and wait there for the horse to move toward it with his nose. He will. When he does, again click the clicker, hide the cone, and feed one hay pellet. Repeat. Again, although you are making it “harder” (by moving the target) you don’t want to make it so hard that there is too much time taking place between clicks. Keep the “click rate” high.

The most common mistake beginners make is making it too hard for the horse to be successful and therefore they don’t click often enough.

Continue in this manner positioning the cone a little bit further away and/or either higher or lower than you have been. You are looking to see the horse seeking out the cone where ever you place it. Always click and treat every time he touches the cone.

After about 10 or 15 minutes of playing the Training Game give the horse a break. You can start again in a few minutes or forget about it until the next day.

Soon, either in the first session or certainly in the second the horse will be clearly seeking out the cone to touch it where ever you put it. Why? Because you have consistently rewarded him each and every time he did. So of course he’d go looking for it. Right about now, as you realize how incredibly quickly your horse learned to do this and how willing he was to do it, you may start to wonder why some other things-the things that are so important to you-are such a struggle. It is a most Excellent Question and one that may change your entire perspective on training.

What I am talking about is what I call the “Paradigm Shift.” The Paradigm Shift is that shift in your thinking that causes you to believe with absolute certainty that if the horse knew what you wanted and was able to do it he would be doing it. Not just sometimes with some horses, but all the time with all horses. After the Paradigm Shift you see all horses, even the most difficult, in a different light. One that gives them the benefit of the doubt rather than assuming that they are just ‘trying to get out of working’ or are ‘pulling one over on you’ or whatever you might think when things are not going as you had hoped. It also comes with a great responsibility. Often times the reason the horse isn’t “able” is because the rider is in the way.

Now I can talk about all that till I’m blue but it won’t mean a thing until you start asking yourself that “Excellent Question”. Why are things so difficult with my horse?

But for now, let’s just get back to the practical day to days.

What did the horse learn in the cone touching lessons? The horse learned that when he hears the click of the clicker that #1, food is coming and #2 whatever he was doing when he heard the click is the reason he’s getting the food. When the horse is clear on these two key points, especially #2, we can say that the light bulb of understanding has turned on. You know that the light is on when the horse perks up and begins to seek out the treat when he hears the click. Soon the horse appears to be seeking the click more than the food by his efforts to find behaviors that make you click. When this is happening we say that the horse is clicker ‘savvy’. He really ‘gets’ the game and the point has become less about the food and more about the game itself. He’s learned how to learn and he’s learned it can be fun.

I have to say that I never get tired of watching a horse’s light bulb start to glow and then suddenly-Snap!-the light is burning brightly. You know the light is ON when as soon as the horse hears the click no matter what he’s doing he screeches to a halt and looks you square in the eye. I think if more people had the chance to see this process take place more would understand why so many people are crazy for clicker training.

Once the proverbial light bulb is ‘on’ you now have a very powerful tool in your training tool kit. A way to reward the horse with laser accuracy. It is up to you to figure out how to use this tool toward accomplishing your riding goals. If you need help figuring all that out, well, that’s what I do. Let me know how I can help. You might also enjoy reading my book which answers the question, “I’ve taught my horse to touch a target. Now what?”

A Better Way to Deal with Bad Behavior

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Recently, on the Yahoo Classical Dressage group talk has turned to how to deal with ‘bad’ behavior such as biting and kicking. Absolutely all agree that this is not something that we ‘wee humans’ can really tolerate since our bodies are pretty fragile when compared to horses. They can do Real Damage to us! There is no agreement, however, as to what is the right way to deal with such behavior.

Several people weighed in with their techniques for biting or kicking back those horses who offered such behavior. I shake my head reading these suggestions. Not because I am against corporal punishment (even though I am) but because in my view the better solution is to avoid a situation in which I get bit or kicked in the first place. Not too many people are even suggesting that maybe the horse is biting for a reason and maaaaybe someone might be missing the forest for the trees in their enthusiasm for ‘showing the horse who’s boss’.

Then, one of the list members, Audrey Summers, wrote of her experience working with some of the ‘rankest’ horses one might ever have occasion to meet on the track. I was enthralled with her story from start to finish! She was in the worst possible position and demonstrated that paying attention to the “things that happen before the thing that happens happens” and rewarding the right thing, yes, actually works to keep you safe.

There are no ‘quick fix’ solutions to real difficult problems. It always involves
paying attention as a life style. Since, I’ve said, probably more times than I can count, that we need to pay attention to the little things, long before they are big things, you can’t imagine how happy I was to read Audrey’s account. I asked her if I might publish her story here and she graciously agreed. Enjoy!

I am a five foot tall woman, and my appearance is anything but intimidating. On the track I had issues with people and horses. In trying to articulate how I was able to work with horses who are all basically big and stalled 24 hours a day except for an hour of exercise. I had a big learning curve, and I certainly got bit and kicked and pushed around (especially at first, when I thought my sympathy and admiration for these horses would keep them from hurting me). I took it so personally, getting bit, kicked, or even just ignored, and I did cry some embarrassed tears, but I had to get past that whole “Black Stallion” thing that so many kids grow up on. But there was no way I was going to be able to go into a stall and take over the space as a big man with a big voice potentially could.

I think for me it is about where you place yourself, body language and timing. And I did develop a certain tone and voice to mean business -but there is only so far I can go with that. Some of this sounds cliched -but there is also respect and being constantly listening to what horses are telling you. One of the first horses I had was one who hated to be bridled, and would practically flip over about it. What was I supposed to do at five feet tall and nervous with a Marlboro Man type exercise rider breathing down my neck to get the horse ready? I used carrots and baby talk, and practiced when things were quiet and took extreme care about how I touched his poll. It worked, and soon he dropped his head and opened his mouth -the formerly flightly flip over backward guy. And it really impressed people that this small girl could get this horse to have his bridle path clipped without a twitch. Obviously, this would not have worked with an aggressive horse, who at that point in my experience would have eaten me alive, but I was tuned in enough to see what this horse needed. I know many folks who would find many things wrong about doing it that way, or don’t want to hand feed horses, or whatever. But it worked, and I have used it again (sometimes having to put on the bridle by opening the headstall, etc) on racehorses that have driven impatient others to almost maddness and abusive by refusing to open their mouths or let it be pulled ver their head. Being only five feet tall means I have to be patient and find other means. I have been harrassed and scoffed at about being sentimental and such (what other think I’m being, anyway)-but a horse can’t train and win races if you can’t get the bridle on…

The last truly dangerous horse I worked with was a successful racehorse who was so rank he could not be galloped and was trained by jogging on a hotwalker and racing frequently. He was highly sensitive, and a cunning and ferocious biter. (He was a brilliant chesnut, with a very refined head -I thought I had met Flame from the Black Stallion series…) The trainer I worked for had more years of experience than I ever will, but he had the mindset that he could handle this horse straight on. That worked for a while until the horse grabbed him by the arm in the stall (when on the tie chain in the back) and shook him and would not let go until we ran in the stall and got the horse off of him. It was a horrible bite to the biceps, and this horse waited days for the perfect moment to make his move.

How did I manage this horse at my size? Timing, timing, timing. And always being aware of where I was spatially. Haltering him in the stall was a very careful dance. I had to wait for the right moment to move in after the teeth gnashing and rearing. I always worked with him with a chain over the nose, even when he was tied to the wall. That way I could brush him (with a very soft brush or rag -he was one of those Chihuahua coated horses that was painfully ticklish) and take my eyes off enough to groom. This was not so I could shank him, but so I could “listen” to him by feeling his energy and where his head was through the leadshank in my hand -and give a little tweak back if necessary. I would drape it over my forearm when I had to poultice his front legs and be vulnerable down there putting on bandages. I could “feel” where he was through the line.

I also adored this horse, I loved his power and honesty-and I respected that he had obviously been through a lot and still had his nobility intact -even if it made him dangerous. And did baby him in the ways I could -I gave treats by hand from outside the stall (just the right distance), lots of admiring (but not mushy) talk, was very careful not to tickle him while grooming, etc. Lots of ego boosting and reassuring stuff, which I think he needed to be a good racehorse. But I never doubted for a minute he would have really hurt me given the chance, and it was essential that I not romanticize his beauty too much. I never assumed, like my boss did, that we had a certain understanding between us, or that I had him figured out. Everyday I had to be at my best. The last day I worked in that barn I finished working on him and was in the aisle picking up my stuff when he just managed to nip me on the back of my ribs. It was a horrible nip that was a blood bruise, the only thing saving me was that I wasn’t closer. I remember looking at him and seeing the gleam in his eye -a very malicious “Gotcha!” So in no way had the rapport changed and we become friends or whatever. I hadn’t changed him or understood him in a certain way that unlocked him or made him better (which wasn’t my job). I just figured out how to be around him without getting killed.

Ideally, he would have been taken out of racing and allowed to be a regular horse and had his behavior addressed in a long term way. I doubt that he would ever be a safe horse, and wonder what happened to him. But I know in that environment, woe to the person who kicked him in the belly or tried to bite back, or really discipline him. I have seen horses get ruined, break through stalls walls and tear themselves apart when someone (usually men, but not always)has enough and isn’t going to put up with what a horse is doing or “getting away” with anymore. I learned a lot and got to take care of some pretty nice horses who drove other grooms crazy because I could work around their issues and they could get to the races. But I had to be very flexible, what where I was, and learn good timing, among all those other little hard to articulate things. How do explain that or recommend things to do -very hard, and one is often misunderstood or seen as cruel or brutish.

And finally (sorry for the long post, my toddler is not going to give me time to edit it down), I don’t work on the track anymore, and I would never tolerate that kind of behavior or continue being around a horse like that if I couldn’t improve him and remove the danger. I wouldn’t ask a horse to be in that state of mind or stay in sport or situation that necessitated him being that amped up or unhappy. Fortunately, I have not run into anything close to that kind of stuff in the recreational boarding barns I now inhabit, but I do see many horses getting away with obnoxious behavior and pushing their owners around, nipping, etc. And, as this thread demonstrates to me, it is harder than it seems to try to explain or show people what you may want to recommend, even the basic stuff. And even in the extreme if a horse needs a more physical response, I am not sure how to endorse it without being misunderstood.
–Audrey

Transformations

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A few weeks ago I wrote about a mare I’ve been working with. I’d only had a handful of sessions with her at that time. We’ve since had a few more sessions together. Each time the mare has improved dramatically. I just love seeing these kinds of transformations. When we first started the mare, Cheyenne, was very distant. Mentally, her thoughts were so back with her buddies. As you may recall, the first time with her in the round pen was spent mainly with her wanting to hang out in one part of the pen closest to where she might be able to see her friends. The entire focus of that visit was about convincing her that looking at me might actually work out pretty good for her.

Since that day, things have steadily improved each visit. By improved, I mean instead of her resisting looking at me and telling me in no uncertain terms that really she had no use for me, she has become soft and attentive. During the last visit I was able to even ask her for a little bit of trot on the line. In the past, she would be rushing, crooked and always looking to the outside of the circle. Not so, today! She kept an ear on me and when I asked her to pick up a bit of speed to go to trot it was nice and soft and with me. It is easy to see how gymnastically valuable a circle can be when the horse is choosing to relax into the circle work

Her owner could not be more pleased. She has said that in the past, she would have to spend 45 minutes at trot to get her to walk the way she starting out now. This is so huge and it is news that warms my heart, for sure. The key has been keeping the focus on relaxed attention and making those objectives the easy and obvious choices. The best part is we have only just begun. This will only continue to get better.

Developing a Soft Feel with Clicker Training

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I’ve been working with a new horse recently. It has been so interesting because it has given me a chance to really think about what I click for in the beginning, especially when the horse isn’t “with me”. I wanted to write it down while it was still fresh.

This mare is 10 years old, and pretty set in her ways of bracing and leaving when she is uncertain.

The first session I spent just getting to know her in the stall and turning her on to c/t. She got it pretty quick.

Next session in the round pen she was so far gone (mentally back at the paddock with her herd mates) that food wasn’t even on the radar. I spent the whole time just patting the ground with the longe whip to get her attention. Starting with an ear. She’s flighty, so you blow on her and she was cantering around. Not what I wanted but it was where she was at. I waited. I wanted her to stop and check in with me when I tapped the ground with the whip. Owner asked, won’t this be expecting too much if the whip has always meant go? I just shrugged and smiled…Oh ye of little faith. (to tell the truth, I wasn’t even all that sure if it would be possible that day) I persisted. Eventually the mare did stop and looked at me, a little cock to her head. What??? I said, to the mare, nothing, just that. Thanks! The owner was surprised! So, slowly, she started to let thoughts of the other horses who she was fretting about not being able to see go. When she finally walked over she was calm and a little more ready to let me in. We quit for the day. The owner, being a quick study, followed up with the mare a couple times and told me that things went quite smoothly.

I wanted to see how the mare felt on the lead rope so the next time I worked with her (a couple weeks later) we did some rope work. I introduced following a feel left, right and down because she harbors a lot of tension in her neck. The idea is to show her that my feel through the lead rope to the halter (eventually reins to the bit) can be a Comfort and she can relax. I c/t this a lot. I take note that she loses her ability to stay with me if she gets going too fast. So, I take trotting off the table. I concentrate just on c/t for following that feel down and little inside flexions. When I lose her mentally I notice she refuses the food. When she is starting to offer some stretching down and is a little more relaxed, I quit.

The next visit was a week or so later. Back in the round pen on the lead rope. To start she is a lot more OK which was pretty cool right there. I continue with following a feel down (nose to the ground) and lateral flexions. It needs to be softly offered. I am clicking a lot but I’m also very conscious of how it feels in my hand. If it is pushy or hard I wait, keep asking for soft, click for soft–staying with me. I don’t feed if she looks off into the distance after the click. I click for behavior and feed for position. In this context that means that after I click I ask her to turn her face to me, really look at me (typically I’m standing at her shoulder), in order to get the food. Everything between the click and the actual delivery counts.

People often ask if they should perfect one behavior before moving on. I don’t. To me it isn’t the individual specific behaviors like turning or head down or whatever that a the most crucial thing. How it feels is what is crucial. So, in performing these various moves I have numerous opportunities to clarify my intent vis a vis the FEEL of it. So, with the mare I move between the ‘head down’ work (follow a feel down) and little turns on the rope. Some times, I see if she can follow a feel through an inside turn, click for walking, click for tipping her head in the right direction, click for stepping the shoulder through, this gets pretty good. Sometimes, I see if she can follow a feel through an outside turn, that one she has to follow the feel away from me and ‘unwind’. She finds this really difficult to the left, the side she really protects. I stay there a little bit and work on just the softening aspects and then continue. I go back and forth, checking on the little pieces, integrating, seeing how things have softened up how much more willing she is.

We were at this quite a while. The owner notes that after 1.5hrs the mare is still very present and significantly more relaxed. In the past, the mare would have long since lost her patience and her willingness. In fact, she might have become more braced, rather than less. We both view this as a very good sign indeed. :-)

My newly acquired massage experience is factoring in too, which is so cool. In previous posts I’ve mentioned how Jim Masterson’s method depends on getting feedback from the horse. A lot of ‘eye blinking’ and ‘lip twitching’ tells us that the horse is aware of our presence on a spot they are concerned about. Time spent on this area with gentle touching/massage eventually leads to lip licking/releasing, sometimes yawning. :-) SO interesting to see this mare processing like this when I’m in ‘waiting for a change” through a feel on the rope, I gently stay with it (sending the tiniest of gentle massages through the line) and just like with the massage, she softens and releases with lips licking. I notice that this is pretty much the same thing Phillipe Karl does with his flexions with the bridle.

I will continue in this manner each time I work with the horse testing to see if I can go a little further or deeper until I can have that same soft feel in all gaits on the ground and under saddle.

The mare’s owner and I were talking later about how HARD this process is to articulate. Which is why step by step written instructions are so inadequate. It is NOT a linear process! It is all about how it feels. You present a thought, you wait for a reply, and then you respond. You go back and forth like this until there is clarity between you. What I’ve described here is about a given horse on a set of given days at the beginning of our journey together. Your horse’s situation might have me doing much the same or I might need to adapt my approach to accommodate some unique challenge the horse presents for whatever reason. Hopefully, even with that in mind this story might be useful to read!

New book by Karen Pryor

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Reaching the Animal MindWhen I was first introduced to clicker training some 10 years ago one of the books that was a real mind alterer was “Don’t Shoot the Dog” by Karen Pryor. Although the title would suggest that the book is somehow about dog training, it isn’t. It is about practical applications of reinforcement in any training situation. Or, really, any of our relationships, even with people. Over the years it has been one book I have recommended frequently.

Karen has just released a new book called “Reaching the Animal Mind.” Now, I admit that I have not yet read it. But, I expect it to be as least as interesting as Don’t Shoot the Dog. The website associated with the book is also good. It is set up to follow the book chapters and provides additional reading suggestions, links to useful sites and video clips. You’ll see that this book is also full of information that is broadly applicable to all species–including people!

The reason that I am mentioning it now, before I’ve read it, is because we all have a great opportunity to listen in on (and participate, too, if you want) a discussion with Karen about her new book. The discussion is taking place on the Yahoo Group, DogRead. The discussion has already started!