The Australian Clicker Connection

31/05/2024

I was helping a lovely man the other day understand common signs of the equine pain face and although I referred him to the freely available paper written (and researched by Dr Gleerup), he told me that the short video I also referred him to where Dr Gleerup explains her now very well recognised research was helpful before he read the paper. So, although I don't agree with the commentators note about 'respect' and ears, the video link is worth sharing again. Always when I go and meet a new horse in person or on line, pain is always the first thing I want to eliminate the best I can - we are lucky we have these resources, so that we can immediately refer our new clients to a veterinarian, and or help the carer of the horse recognise when the immediate issue is not training, but pain. The link to Dr Gleerup's paper is at the end of the video.....but first a shameful plug: in our most recent clicker training series (and CAT H series) we put allot of this together for you. OK plug over here is the link

Wouldn't it be cool if animals, horses in particular could talk like TV's 'Mr Ed' or 'Dr Doolittle'? Turns out horses ARE trying to communicate with their v...

08/09/2023

Here is a lovely schematic depicting the three arms of the polyvagal theory - diagram is taken from https://www.polyvagalinstitute.org/whatispolyvagaltheory

09/05/2023

Here is an article we did for wormguide Australia recently on worming and oral medications.

Want to read an awesome article about how to help your horse overcome anxiety towards a worming syringe or oral medication? It`s easy peasy! And a fun way of training for both you and your horse. It`s all about positive reinforcement and before you know it you have a happy, confident, and willing ho...

22/03/2023

Our new home for our workshops is now live. Changing platforms has allowed us to keep the overheads to a minimum. If there is anyone who was enrolled and did not see the advice regarding the change, please contact us. Meanwhile the link is here for all who may be interested.

This workshop teaches us to socially engage with our horse with movement work such as core work and panther walking to develop confidence and mastery for our

03/07/2022

if anyone wants product - clickers etc please make sure you go to our website at https://www.equilog.com.au/our-products/

Thanks for visiting our products page. You can order via paypal, email or snail mail. Payment can be made by direct bank deposit; money order or cheque or via

25/02/2022

Here is the new confidence and mastery workshop - just opened - you get bundled with the workshop our clicker DVD videos https://the-australian-clicker-connection.teachable.com/...

09/02/2022

We have now opened our core activation workshop if anyone is interested here is the link, and the list of workshop topics is at the bottom of the link. Be sure to look at the short promo video https://the-australian-clicker-connection.teachable.com/p/core-activation_for_horses/?preview=logged_out

Help motivate your horses to engage their core

22/07/2021

I had to share this - Here is one of our confidence and mastery workshop horses waiting her turn whilst her human starts to teach her paddock buddy. https://fb.watch/v/19_kSkw_t/

11/03/2021

There are several posts rolling around FB again about the effects of combining negative reinforcement and positive reinforcement (specifically clicker training). It is always interesting the cognitive dissonance that is apparent in these posts – but be it as it may we feel that no two horses are the same.
So I want to be a little self-indulgent and say where we stand in this regard – in a nutshell we stand for the individual horse. Although we can say that there are a number of valid scientific papers that go into detail about the impact of combined reinforcers on emotions, each paper assesses their cohort from a different perspective and nothing will be applicable to every horse human team. I am speaking here of the process whereby we add pressure and often escalate it to achieve the desired result and then add a click and treat at the end for good measure – is this the best deal for the horse? It probably is for the human but what about the horse? Well it is individual – we must bear a few things in mind:
1. Horses are sentient and often will not express their emotions unless they feel safe and have autonomy to do so – when the training often involves the escalation of pressure or the disregard of the expression of emotions we may miss seeing signs of how our horse feels. So for us, we need to ensure that before we even think about the value of combined reinforcers for our individual horse – we ensure our horse is FREE to always express their emotions and that we are open and able to read these accurately and respond in an ethical way.
2. What reinforcer is salient for the horse? If we are going to combine reinforcers we need to be able to answer that question. What is more meaningful for our horse? Is our horse valuing the release of pressure – or understands that the pressure is going to increase if he or she does not move away? Or does our horse move away because he or she knows the click and treat is coming? Only the individual horse knows the answer to this, and we need to be able to understand saliency in this regard.
3. Poisoned cues do exist – this is not a myth – there is an abundance of evidence on this – e.g. Karen Pryors work or Prof Jesus Rosales-Riuz to name two. Will a poisoned cue eventuate if we combine reinforcers? No not always – again it is in the individual – if the pressure that the individual horse feels in training becomes associated with you and or your cues (including clicker) then cues can be poisoned – if there is fear in our horse at time of using either reinforcer our cues and ourselves may become poisoned - our relationship breaks down. For example, many have had the experience after some time of harsh training, or fear or anxiety when they go to the horses paddock with a halter and lead and the horse runs away - that is evidence of something going wrong in the relationship and the training and more likely that something in the previous training caused the problem and the result is a poisoned cue/s – in that instance both the human and probably the halter and lead are poisoned – or even the time of day! We don’t need combined reinforcement training to poison a cue – and it is just plain wrong to suggest poisoned cues are a myth. When we speak of the potential for combined reinforcement training to create a poisoned cue, we are speaking of the clicker becoming poisoned because of the escalated pressure the horse is experiencing before the use of the click and treat. The reason is because of simple Pavlovian conditioning, where the horse associates escalated or harsh pressure or fear with the training or the object used in the training – the cues that became paired with a negative emotional state become triggers – no more or no less. We don’t need combined reinforcement training to create a poisoned cue – so again we come back to number 1 and 2.
4. We must get better at understanding neuroscience and the chemicals that are released during either positive or negative reinforcement. There is evidence that dopamine and oxytocin are more abundantly released during positive reinforcement training and this creates the motivation for our horse to approach us and anticipate more pleasurable emotions during clicker training. There is evidence that generally working away from us and responding to escalating pressure is more likely to generate stress responses where acute and chronic stress can eventuate through the interaction of cortisol and other chemical reactions. This is not to say clicker training cannot also generate stress responses, or robotic behaviours – it can but again it is because of how our horse perceives the training and our relationship – no two horses are the same, just as no two humans are the same. If though emotions are not positive during our training, then by virtue of the very nature of horses sentiency and prey animal status, they are more likely to find that whatever caused the emotional conflict in our horse will be more salient to our horse.
5. We must get better at understanding motivation – in the words of Hall, Randle. Pearson, Preshaw and Waran (2018) - Assessing equine emotional state; Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 2018 Vol 205 pp 183-193 at page 184:
The survival advantage of emotional responses relates to the effect that they have on subsequent behavioural motivation (motivational intensity), determining whether the animal approaches or avoids a stimulus or situation. This distinction is central to understanding both the function and the behavioural consequences of emotion and is clearly demonstrable (Elliot et al., 2013). It also provides a means of assessing the valence of an emotion (Colombetti, 2005). Approach behaviours are generally indicative of expectations of positive outcomes, linked to appetitive behaviour, reward seeking and positive appraisal of stimuli; whilst avoidance behaviours orient the animal away from aversive stimuli and the threat of negative consequences (Elliot et al., 2013). The motivation to either approach or avoid has also been used to differentiate between two potentially negatively valenced emotions, those of fear (avoidance) and aggression (approach) (Mauss and Robinson, 2009). In addition, in terms of contributing to the assessment of mental state in animals, an absence of motivation, as demonstrated in depressed/withdrawn animals, must also be considered (McBride et al., 2017).
I recommend this paper as a great summary that helps us focus on what additional information we need to seek out.
6. We don’t condone escalated pressure with or without the clicker – but what if the pressure is no more than a touch? Well is that applying negative reinforcement? It will depend on the horse’s history – if the horse had been taught initially with escalated pressure and release, then it is likely that the horse knows what happens next if he or she does not respond to our touch. So in some cases this could still create a negative emotional state in our horse. But so can clicker if it was paired with fear. In either case this is not to say that our horse cannot be retrained using counter conditioning where the ‘touch’ does not create a negative emotional state and of course the horse does not experience any more fear.
7. We also do not condone combined reinforcement ourselves but that does not mean it cannot be successful. Personally, if we use negative reinforcement we will not click and treat. We must always remember that any video that is shown is a moment in time and is only ever what the author wants us to see – that includes us of course. Some trainers have excellent timing and combined reinforcement appears flawless, but what of the training history of the horse? These are questions we need to ask ourselves because when we get better at reading these videos and using them as the training conduit for our horse. We need to understand our horses emotions and understand the processes that go into this make-up then we can better appraise our relationship with our individual horse and how our individual horse is responding – that’s all that should matter. Do the research, ask the questions, and then make up your own mind for your horse and your relationship.

11/03/2021

Our webinar for both the confidence and mastery participants and CAT H coaching participants, this session is going to be with Steinar Sigurbjornsson and he is going to speak about what bad ass is for a horse and human combination, as well as how our horse can generate confidence and mastery in times when they are worried - with a little help from their human. It will be held on the 27th March 2021 at 5pm Icelandic time, and a video recording of it will be made available to workshop members. If you were thinking of either workshops to join, then maybe now is the time!!!!!! We have a guest speaker for each of our workshops but this time I am opening this webinar up to all previous workshop participants.

13/01/2021

We are leaving the current workshop open for a little longer, given the seasons breaks. So anyone still interested in the current Confidence and Mastery Workshop just click below. We keep the groups small because there are three video coaching lessons built into it and we encourage the sharing of the coaching videos in the group (but the sharing is not compulsory). The workshop is designed for those who want to help empower their horses in a safe effective way. Is this CAT H you might ask? no it is not. But it is valuable for horses who have learnt to process their anxiety and fears but now need that 'something more' that will help them feel great about themselves and approach new situations with joy and curiosity. It is also valuable for horses who could do with a little more excitement in their lives. There is nothing more wonderful in our view when we see our horse is the best he or she can be emotionally - proud and confident. Many of the exercises we advocate for are not new, but they are used in a different way and their combination is also a great fit for our nervous 'nellies'. A few years back now we wanted something that took over where CAT H left off. We also wanted something more when a horse had the trigger of his fear on his back. So the information in this workshop is the combination of allot of searching and works for our horses to give them a sense of pride confidence and mastery - either when they are a little apprehensive or even in normal interactions with their human. If you have no other commitments, the workshop would take you about 4 months, but with commitments it takes at least 6 months and it never closes. So when we move to a new group, each of the previous groups stay open and we are always there an email away. Scroll down to the bottom of this link to see the list of topics covered https://the-australian-clicker-connection.teachable.com/p/building-confidence-and-mastery-through-movement31

We aim for our horses have the confidence & mastery to navigate through stressors, the capacity and functional awareness to explore their bodies & the autonomy to communicate their emotions.

22/12/2020

Nice to hear someone well known being able to articulate why rope halters are not the best choice - and explaining why some people who say they use +R still use them. https://youtu.be/2Z6Uo3dpy6c

Elizabeth asks a big question...what about those rope halters? Considering some basic design elements helps to better understand how they work. Then you ca...

24/11/2020

Building Confidence and Mastery for our horses and their humans Group D

Hi everyone. The last mastery and confidence building workshop for the year is now open. We only take limited numbers and although the content (and if you choose to do the coaching videos) will take you 4 months or so, it never closes. I thought I would add the link to this page first and in the next couple of days it will be advertised elsewhere as well if there is still room. I know everyone is probably 'online workshopped out' but we are very proud of what we have put together and we usually only run 3 of these per year. Click the link to see all the information as to what is involved https://the-australian-clicker-connection.teachable.com/p/building-confidence-and-mastery-through-movement31/?preview=logged_out

An Introduction to the Tools for the Horse / Human Team that Build Autonomy, Confidence & Motivation

03/10/2020

Gift Certificates are now available. They can be used with any of our products or on- line workshops. Drop us a PM or email us at [email protected]
Postage costs are free for any product posted in Australia. Unfortunately we still are unable to post overseas (but postage costs are not included when we can post again overseas).
The recipient of the gift certificate simply will need to quote the unique number on the certificate with their email order

12/09/2020

When you feel a little down or things are not going the way you anticipated with your horse time think of this - we work through triggers and glimmers in our mastery and confidence workshop - opening again at the end of 2020

01/07/2020

Building Confidence and Mastery for our horses and their humans GroupC

FINAL CALL: We have two more spots available for this workshop session if anyone is interested before we close enrollments. The workshop usually runs for 3 months and it is all at your own leisure - built into the cost are 3 video coaching sessions on the concepts we promote in the workshop, and access to the material will remain open to you after you have completed the workshop. A new workshop will open in approximately 3 months. https://the-australian-clicker-connection.teachable.com/p/building-confidence-and-mastery-through-movement3?fbclid=IwAR0Or7gdRgEsSDyGmGI8k84uD3ksrpqoKAbVzD6K6PqanAYeloEPf1uTSOs

An Introduction to the Tools for the Horse / Human Team that Build Autonomy, Confidence & Motivation

28/06/2020

Building Confidence and Mastery for our horses and their humans GroupC

Our new group workshop is now open. The cost is $88.00 Aus and the below link will get you to the course as well if you scroll down you can see the contents. We only take small numbers in each group so that we can respect coaching privacy if any student wishes to participate. Once it is full I will close off the enrollments so if you are interested but want to wait - please drop me a line and I can let you know when the next group opens.

https://the-australian-clicker-connection.teachable.com/p/building-confidence-and-mastery-through-movement3

An Introduction to the Tools for the Horse / Human Team that Build Autonomy, Confidence & Motivation

12/05/2020

We will be opening up Our Confidence & Mastery workshop again soon. PM EOI

29/02/2020

Salt River Wild Horse Management Group

this is just too special not to share for so many reasons

Born Free!
Watch this spectacular, up close video, of a foal being born wild and free!

This is why it is so important to give wild horses their space!

This video shows, with astounding clarity, the very important bonding process of how the foal struggles and copes with her first few hours of life.

Watch the family communicate and protect her! Wild horses are the most gentle and sentient animals, who deserve to be treated humanely everywhere in the world.

Please share this video if you agree!

FYI, you may have noticed that this is our poster mare, Lady Gallahad! She is an experienced mother and lead mare. (See our banner and fliers)

She has had 6 foals in a row, with 4 surviving. Next year she will get a break from foaling, as she has received her primer as well as her booster dose of PZP. This is the humane form of birth control we use, and it does not harm or influence unborn foals.

Please keep a 50 ft distance from the wild horses at all times (the videographer was even farther in order not to disturb the process). Thank you Drew Hastings for this simply stunning video.

22/02/2020

I was pondering on a question a lovely lady asked me the other day about why we are not more prominent on social media. The question was prompted by a question on a private page I am still a member of who is run by someone whose values do not accord strictly with mine but I value that person's expertise - I may not be comfortable with that person's personal values, but I sure value that person's expertise in the field that this person is in (to a degree). The question posed on that page was offering advice on the clicker trainers in the world and of course I was not endorsed - and that is fine - but it got me thinking - if I am strong enough to separate personal issues that I may have with a trainer as compared to the value they bring to a horse and human connection why can't that person (who by the way loved my work until we did not see eye to eye). So interesting in the human world of 'therapy' it is not as clear cut as in the horse world it seems. Or maybe it is the same - I don't know and frankly I don't care about human hissy fits. I am all about the horse human connection and I am very well studied and know why I dismiss some training methods in preference to others...why......because I am well educated; have a lot of experience and also have a few degrees (which I dont put up front because my methods speak better than degrees). So I can't help you if you want me to endorse escalated pressure ...you are better off with a natural horsemanship trainer who is not up to date with current evidence on how this destroys the horse human relationship. But I can promise everyone who asks me for help I will give it my all and not be worried about social media presence or press...I don't need the accolades as I don't want to create an industry - this is when horses and their humans get lost - but I am always here free of charge to lend a helping hand.

10/02/2020

Trauma Geek - Trauma and Neurodiversity Education

How to Use the Polyvagal Ladder
(High quality PDF available: traumageek.squarespace.com)
Cross-platform shareable version: https://medium.com//how-to-use-the-polyvagal-ladder-c68835f0fe19

05/02/2020

too important not to share

Why are we posting these images? It’s simple, we deal frequently with a disease that you may never of heard of called Equine Odontoclastic Tooth Resorption and Hypercementosis EOTRH for short. It’s a complicated condition but put simply it causes horses teeth 🦷 to dissolve and at the same time for fractures and infection to occur. Needless to say this is very painful 😖. At this time treatment involves removal of these teeth and the most common issue we encounter in HELPING these horses 🐎 is a fear of how they will cope without the teeth. Well why not Take a look for yourself 👀. Visit our website for more detailed information regarding EOTRH, if you or your veterinarian think you may have a case requiring our expertise, again visit the website www.AED.vet

20/01/2020

Polyvagal theory unlocks symptoms of PTSD | Dr. Arielle Schwartz

This is probably the best explanation of Polyvagal Theory I have read. In our mastery workshops this is what we practice with and for our horses. Clicker training brings connectedness and social engagement (as well as other strategies).

Polyvagal theory offers a valuable framework for effective responses to intense emotional and physiological symptoms of PTSD. Dr. Arielle Schwartz shares...

01/01/2020

McDowells Herbal

30/12/2019

Behavior Explorer PORTL seminar — Primal Paws

coming to Australia !!!!! https://www.primalpaws.com/new-events/behavior-explorer-portl-seminar?fbclid=IwAR20voXP5dCBudExbI5dZXlN0eQe3H6rSSPV5EMdCxAhTZu0ZvvtJnLh9fI

Primal Paws is super excited to be bringing Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz and Mary Hunter to Australia for five days of brain blowing education. Our plans so far Location: Sydney Dates Part 1 : Shaping and errorless learning June 12-14 Part 2: Stimulus control and cues June 15-16 Attending Part

10/12/2019

Mills Horsemanship & Hoofcare

this is one of the things we are trying to adjust with our new online course - we need to relieve the tension - we cannot create movement and have our horse hold the same tension patterns. We therefore do micro manage some postural movement solutions for this very reason

Maladaptive habitual posture...

Show me your horse’s posture and top line, and I’ll tell you how you ride.

“Abnormal Compensatory Posture is also observed to be associated with impairment of emotional regulation, hyper-vigilant or dissociative behaviors, and presumed dominance of the sympathetic axis of the Automatic Nervous System (Fight or Flight).
This ANS imbalance may be tied into long-term disruption of mind-body-emotion integration, parallel to that seen in human victims of illness, trauma, abuse and neglect.Recent research has shown certain postures to be associated with specific behaviors in horses...”

https://ivcjournal.com/normal-and-abnormal-equine-posture/

02/12/2019

We had some inquiries as to what is in the workshop we mentioned yesterday so here is the full contents of our new workshop. The cost is in Australian $ and if you are interested and want to pay by paypal we will need to send you an invoice - no problem, just holla.
EDITED: Workshops are currently closed and will reopen when there is space available.

30/11/2019

The Australian Clicker Connection has opened ‘The Building Blocks that can Create Confidence and Mastery for Horses and their Humans’ on a new platform and is open for enrollments. In this workshop we look at what stress means for our horses and some of the ways we can identify stress; consider our horses nervous system states a little differently than what you may be used to; learn ways to help create autonomy for our horse (and us) and learn some of the movement tasks that can go towards helping our horse become confident and masterful. It generally takes a participant about 3 months to complete this workshop as there is the opportunity to submit three (3) coached videos which are shared with the other participants in that same group and a webinar on a topic of the participants choosing. We find that this is the most useful and productive way to learn from like minded people in a safe environment. For this reason, we only accept a small number of people in each workshop.
We use the clicker in our training, but it does not matter if you are new to clicker training, because we provide a free basic introduction to clicker training on enrollment. This workshop is for everyone. Those who want to empower their horses more with confidence and mastery; those who want to learn a little more about stress and how stress and anxiety can affect our horse (and what they can do about it); and those who have a horse who can, at times, seem anxious. This is not though a workshop on dealing with specific problems that are created by stress and anxiety. If this is your situation, please contact us directly so we can better guide your path. [email protected]

23/11/2019

LOVE this

13/11/2019

Episode 83: Michaela Hempen: Cribbing Research Update

Please find some time to access this podcast and view the go fund me page and consider assisting Michaela to complete her research on cribbing - it is very exciting to hear her behavioural approach to cribbing

We need your help! In our first season we did two podcasts with Dr. Michaela Hempen. In the first she explained how single-subject design studies work. In the second she described a research projec