| Training Tip
Good Training depends upon one simple thing: the clearer and more specific you are about what you want your horse to do, the easier it is for your horse to learn.
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This horse can’t rear or barge
over his handler with his nose
on the ground.
So, click!
He’ll get a reward for good manners.
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So clicker training begins by stating in positive and very precise terms exactly what you want your horse to do. You’re going to be using food as a reward, so the first thing that may happen when you start clicker training is your horse may try to mug your pockets.
It’s tempting to say you don’t want your horse nuzzling you or grabbing at your clothes. of course, you don’t, but what do you want your horse to do instead? What alternative behavior can you reinforce that would keep his nose away from your pockets?
How about touching his nose to a target? That’s the first lesson I generally start with. I hold a small cone or some other handy object up in front of my horse.When he bumps it, click, I give him a treat. He never gets goodies for nuzzling my pockets or crowding into my space. But he does get a treat every time he bumps the target.
As soon as he realizes that touching the target turns me into a “vending machine”, that’s the behavior I’ll see, not the nudging, nuzzling, grabbing-at-my-pockets behavior I want to eliminate. Think of it like filling up your horse’s dance card. Keep him busy by reinforcing him for what you want, and what you you’ll get is a well-mannered horse. Clicker training is just that easy. And the first step of clicker training teaches the emotional control that is essential in every horse’s training.
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