07/02/2024
Definitely all these little things are very important to help you succeed with clicker training. It is not just handing out treats and saying nice things. clicker training has been the most challenging teaching method I have ever had the pleasure to have learned and yes the most rewarding. The observation skills alone are insane. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/o53932utnfXyZAJ5/
8 Clicker Training Tips
Many people, myself included, find clicker training and jump into it with great enthusiasm and maybe a little scepticism.
You go and chop up a few carrots or buy a bag of horse treats, throw them in a little bum bag and head out to teach your horse a cool trick.
It’s so much fun because your horse absolutely loves the time with you and the treats. Maybe you teach them how to touch a target, how to turn their head away from you, or run around with you.
After a while they start to get a bit demanding for the treats, pushing at you, nipping when they take the food or when they’re trying to figure out the trick you want them to do. You might have even been a bit scared or annoyed and had to push them away.
That’s it, people were right about this clicker training thing. Maybe it works for some but not for me and my horse.
This is such a common thing I hear!
Clicker training is simple, beautiful, and complex.
I’d like to give beginners some basic tips for getting started so you and your horse can learn enjoyably and without frustration.
1. Get professional help. Maybe this is online one-on-one coaching or an online course. If you’re lucky enough to live near a good trainer maybe you can get in-person lessons. How do you know if the trainer is a good clicker trainer? Watch them training. If the horse looks busy, nippy, frustrated, if the trainer is making them wait for the food, or using a halter or pressure to make them move around, avoid!
2. Don’t use treats. You need to use something you can be really generous with, and if weight or laminitis is an issue, it needs to be low sugar. Chaff is my go to, Lucerne or teff chaff, and if I have a fussy eater I might add some fibre pellets for extra incentive.
3. Use a big bag or multiple bags. You need to be able to fit more food than you actually need in them. This allows you to be generous and have food left at the end. So you can leave your horse with enough food that you can leave the training area safely and they will continue eating while you go.
4. Set up your training area. You need an area the horse feels safe in, that is big enough they can move away from you, has another food (generally hay) and a water source, maybe has friends next to, but not so close that they feel the need to protect their food. Give your horse some food in the training area before you start, maybe some loose hay.
5. Be generous. Horses often have a lot of anxiety around food and buckets. We bring this amazing food in a bucket maybe once a day and it’s so exciting but they have to wait and that’s frustrating! Often they’re hungry because they don’t have 24/7 access to forage. Give them some feed in a bucket to start with and keep that food flowing throughout the session so they’re never waiting for it. Make sure you leave them with that good handful at the end.
6. Ask for baby steps. If you’re breaking it down enough your horse won’t make “mistakes”. They won’t be frustrated or confused and your training will look rather boring. If you’re asking too much and they don’t understand, that’s when you’ll get frustration, anxiety, pushing, nipping, busy head, wiggling around etc.
7. Learn how to interpret horse behaviour and facial expressions from science-based sources. Natural horsemanship has a lot to answer for here. There are so many horse behaviours that were considered good for a long time. Now we know better. Calming signals and displacement behaviours are something every horse person should know. If you’re seeing them you probably need to go back and check if you’ve got the other steps sorted out. Some we don’t want to see include: licking and chewing with an empty mouth, repeated yawning, turning their head away, incessant scratching, staring off at nothing etc
8. Start your training with a default behaviour. This will most likely be throwing food into a bucket. The only requirement from the horse is that they eat from the bucket. You can practice your timing by throwing food in just as you see their head start to rise.
If you’ve come this far head back to number 1 and get some lessons! Your horse will thank you for it.
