In 2007 I plan on teaching several five to six day courses.  These will advanced trainings, geared towards people who want to teach or who are looking for more in-depth instruction than I can fit into the current three day format. 

I will be teaching at least one of these courses in the UK.  The others will be in southern Vermont or upstate New York near Albany.

If you are interested in these courses, please contact me at: kurlanda@crisny.org.

I originally posted the following in 2003. I was then absorbed in finishing both the Step-By-Step book and the Riding book, and travelling to teach clinics.  I have not formalized any steps towards a teacher certification process.  It is still very much "on the drawing board".  The following is a general outline of the type of program that I am considering.

INSTRUCTOR CERTIFICATION: A CLICKER ALTERNATIVE

I have been asked many times if I am going to run a certification program. I know the demand for qualified instructors is there, but at this stage in the development of clicker training I am reluctant to start a certification program. I don’t want the curriculum to become locked in and rigid. I want clicker training to continue to grow and develop. And I want the people teaching it to grow along with it. So I am proposing a different model for developing a network of qualified, dynamic teachers. This past summer at “Clicker Camp” I presented the structure I have in mind. I am referring to it as “The Seven Pillars of Excellence”.

The Seven Pillars of Excellence
Presented by Alexandra Kurland
July 2003

Many training programs have their students progress through a series of levels towards a performance standard of excellence. Dressage, for example has the rider progress through training level, levels 1-4 to the FEI level tests. Parelli has his Level's program, and there are many other examples, as well.

I propose a different model for the development of clicker training, one that offers instead areas of specialization and a broad curriculum for people to study. Instructors should have a general knowledge of the entire curriculum, but they are also encouraged to develop expertise in specific areas.

This approach has many advantages. First, it allows someone who may have tremendous knowledge in a narrow niche to make a valuable contribution to clicker training, without feeling that she has to be an expert in all aspects of horsemanship. For example, a breeder may be very experienced handling foals and developing mannerly youngsters, but have very limited riding skills. If a horse owner is specifically interested in applying clicker training to the handling of young horses, they would be well advised to contact this person. But if their interest is in using the clicker to teach a reining spin, they might be better advised to contact somebody with more of a riding background. The foal specialist would certainly be able to give them general clicker-training guidance, but the reining-horse specialist could take them further in applying it to riding.

I do not expect people to become experts in each and every field. For example, I have had very little experience with mustangs. There are a number of trainers who specialize in mustangs who would be much more qualified than I to give a "Clicker Training the Wild Mustang" clinic. That doesn't mean that I wouldn't have things to share with the owner of a mustang, but I might choose to refer them to a mustang specialist.

By creating areas of specialization I hope to create a network of experts. We'll know who within the clicker community we can refer people to for specific issues. Who has experience working with aggressive horses; who has been studying foot care or saddle fit; who is particularly gifted at starting young horses.

And as people specialize and focus on specific aspects of clicker training and horsemanship, they will become valuable resources for the rest of us. My hope is that we will have annual conferences with presentations covering each specialized field. Thus over time each member of the group will gain access to information in every field. We will all develop a much deeper knowledge base in every aspect of clicker training and horsemanship in general. And we will have within our group a network of knowledgeable trainers to learn from.

Clicker training instructors will emerge from this process who have a solid knowledge of clicker basics plus the area(s) of interest in which they specialize. This web site will serve as a central hub connecting these trainers with the rest of the clicker community.

THE CLICKER FOUNDATION

The SEVEN PILLARS OF EXCELLENCE are built on a foundation of clicker basics. Everyone who teaches should have a solid understanding of these basics:

Clicker Basics:

• What is clicker training?
  • Clicker Roots: For getting started with clicker training: "Don't Shoot the Dog", and "Lads Before the Wind" by Karen Pryor, and "Clicker Training For Your Horse", and “The Click That Teaches” book and video series by Alexandra Kurland
• How do you get started with the clicker?
• The Principles of Training.
• Setting goals: Chunking down a lesson plan into small steps.
• The shift in teaching: Focus on what you want your horse to do, not the unwanted behavior.
• Safety first: food delivery, mugging, and emotional control.
• The clicker training “baby steps”
  • Step One:
    • Get Behavior: Shaping:
  • Step Two:
    • The Three Foundation Lessons of a Clicker Trained Horse:
    • Targeting, Head Lowering, and Pressure and Release of Pressure.
  • Step Three:
    • Going beyond targeting to create emotional control and polite manners.
  • Step Four:
    • Stabilizing behavior: Stimulus Control.
  • Step Five:
    • Developing excellence: training by priority.
    • Developing both duration and quality.
    • Variable Reinforcement Schedules and Beyond.
• The Pre-Ride Checklist
• Riding Checklist for Safety:
  • What every horse should know before you add speed or distractions.

THE SEVEN PILLARS OF EXCELLENCE

Once people have a solid foundation in clicker basics, they will have the background to explore the areas of specialization proposed in The Seven Pillars of Excellence program. The Seven Pillars are:

1) The Science and History of Clicker Training.

2.) Foals, Young Horses and Colt Starting: Foal Handling and Management; Broodmare Care; Pre-riding ground preparation; Starting young horses under saddle.

3.) "Special Needs" Horses: Mustangs; Aggressive horses; Abused horses; Physically disabled horses.

4.) Clicker Training and the Performance Horse: Includes Trick Training; Liberty Work; Work In-hand; Driving; and All Riding Disciplines.

5.) “Clicker Training And . . .”: Clicker training as a piggy back tool: Clicker training and Natural Horsemanship; and TTEAM; and Centered Riding; and John Lyons’ Conditioned Response Training; etc.

6.) Clicker Training and Horse Management: Foot care; Saddle fit; Nutrition; Body work; Basic first aid and Veterinary care

7.) Teaching Clicker Training: Includes training for the people: NLP; Feldenkrais; Alexander Work; Tai Chi; Yoga; new developments in teaching techniques; public speaking; writing; how to give clinics, demos, and trade show presentations

The Seven Pillars of Excellence are intended to create an ever-expanding knowledge base for clicker training, to draw expertise from many fields into the clicker community, and to create a network of knowledgeable, caring, highly qualified instructors.

WEB SITES OF INTEREST

Clicker training is a communication tool. It does not stand in isloation, by itself. Our horses need us to have a broad knowledge base. For each of the Seven Pillars I have begun a listing of web sites that have related information. The links to these sites should not be seen as endorsements of any particular trainer or method. I am presenting these links to help you do your own research.

Before you begin your search, you might want to read: “How to Be a Selective Sifter” by Dolores Arte. Dolores is a superb information gatherer. I asked her to write this article for those of you who feel overwhelmed by the volume of information available to us on the web and in books and videos. It’s hard at times to know who to listen to, which of the many conflicting opinions should you listen to? Dolores offers some excellent guidelines for sifting through this overload of information.

Web Resources:

Please bookmark this page. I will be adding links on an on-going basis. If you have a website that would be of interest to this list please contact kurlanda@crisny.org
Send the link, plus a brief description of the site.

1) The Science and History of Clicker Training:

In this category I am including both the work of behavioral scientists, other equine clicker trainers, such as Kayce Cover, and sites relating to dog training. I would encourage anyone who is interested in clicker training horses to look at the use of clicker training in other species, particularly dogs

clickertraining.com Karen Pryor’s web site. This central hub will connect you to the clicker training community

2.) Foals, Young Horses and Colt Starting: Foal Handling and Management; Broodmare Care; Pre-riding ground preparation; Starting young horses under saddle.

3.) "Special Needs" Horses: Mustangs; Aggressive horses; Abused horses; Physically disabled horses.

4.) Clicker Training and the Performance Horse: Includes Trick Training; Liberty Work; Work In-hand; Driving; and All Riding Disciplines.

5.) “Clicker Training And . . .”: Clicker training as a piggy back tool: Clicker training and Natural Horsemanship; and TTEAM; and Centered Riding; and John Lyons’ Conditioned Response Training; etc.

6.) Clicker Training and Horse Management: Foot care; Saddle fit; Nutrition; Body work; Basic first aid and Veterinary care

7.) Teaching Clicker Training: Includes training for the people: NLP; Feldenkrais; Alexander Work; Tai Chi; Yoga; new developments in teaching techniques; public speaking; writing; how to give clinics, demos, and trade show presentations