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How Long Can I Train?
When you first start with the clicker, you are generally better off doing several short sessions rather than long one training session. You can target train for five minutes, do some barn chores, and then do another short session. In just a couple of sessions you'll have an eager, clicker-wise horse!
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Training Session: Day 1
6:30-6:35 p.m. Bring your horse into his stall. Put a stall guard across the door and introduce him to the clicker. Click and reinforce him for bumping the target.
6:35-6:40 Clean and fill his water bucket.
6:40-6:45 Offer him another opportunity to touch his target. Begin moving the target to different positions.
6:45-6:50 Sweep the barn aisle.
6:50-6:55 Repeat the targeting. Have him track the target towards the ground.
6:55-7:30 Groom him.
7:30-7:35 Put him back in his stall and repeat the targeting. Continue to lower the target to the ground. If he is catching on fast to the clicker, put the target on the ground. If he looses track of the target, go back to kindergarten, and start over with an easier step.
7:35-8:15 Ride him.
8:15-8:20 Repeat the targeting. When you are ready to leave, make a fuss over him and end the evening with a jackpot.
Total Clicker Training Sessions: Five
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Training Session: Day 2
6:30-6:35 p.m. Bring your horse into his stall. Repeat the targeting excercises from the day before. If he is tracking the target well, you can begin to teach him to hand the target to you.
6:35-6:40 Clean and fill his water bucket.
6:40-6:45 Repeat the targetting.
6:45-6:50 Sweep the barn aisle.
6:50-6:55 In his stall use the cliker to teach him to back.
6:55-7:00 Do some barn chores.
7:00-7:05 Continue to work on backing.
7:05-7:10 If your horse is mugging you for treats, click him for looking away from your pockets.
7:10-7:40 Groom him. Look for opportunities to click him. If he normally fidgets, click him for standing still. When you need him to move over, click him for yielding to pressure.
7:40-8:20 Ride him.
8:20-8:30 Turn cooling out into a training session. Ask him to stop and back. Click and reinforce correct responses.
8:30-8:45 Continue to work on his retrieving skills in his stall. End the evening with a jackpot.
Total Clicker Training Sessions: Eight
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Training Session: Day 3
6:30-6:35 p.m. Bring your horse into his stall. Repeat the targeting from the day before
6:35-6:40 Clean and fill his water bucket.
6:40-6:45 Repeat the targeting.
6:45-6:50 Sweep the barn aisle.
6:55-7:00 Do some barn chores.
7:00-7:05 Continue to work on backing.
7:05-7:10 If your horse is mugging you , click him for looking away from your pockets and showing emotional control.
7:05-7:40 Groom him. Look for opportunities to click him. If he normally fidgets, click him for standing still. When you need him to move over, click him for yielding to pressure.
7:40-8:20 Ride him. Look for opportunities to click and reinforce him.
8:20-8:30 Turn cooling out into a training session. Ask him to stop and back. Click and reinforce correct responses.
8:30-8:45 Continue to work on his retrieving skills in his stall. End the evening with a jackpot.
Total Clicker Training Sessions: The entire evening was one long session broken up into small lessons in which you worked on a variety of skills. You are discovering that when you are with your horse you ARE ALWAYS training him. Now with the clicker, you are just being more deliberate about it. You are also discovering that training is LOTS OF FUN!!
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| Training Tip
Your horse is always learning. That means whenever you are with your horse you are training, whether you mean to be or not. Clicker training becomes a communication tool, not just something you do now and then.
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Part One: Getting Started with the Clicker
A Step-By-Step Guide
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