Lesson 1 is now available on-line.  You don't have to wait for the mail to arrive.  This lesson is on line.  You can begin watching as soon as you have registered in this mini course.

Welcome to The Click That Teaches Video Series

First in the series is: Lesson 1: Getting Started with the Clicker.  I know, I know, you want to go straight to the training.  But I'm going to say "whoa Nellie!".  Let me explain what you'll be getting in this course by first telling you about the original Lesson 1. 

I began producing the video lesson series in 1999. At the time video cameras were huge.  Video was produced on VHS tapes.  There was no youtube, or facebook.  The clicker training community gathered on one yahoo group forum.  Over the past twenty plus years the world has changed and changed and then changed some more.  

I produced the first four lessons in the series as VHS tapes. It took me a while to admit that the world had shifted to DVDs.  I finally switched for Lesson 5, and there I have stubbornly remained - until now.  Mostly I remained because when you live in the country, as most horse people do, internet speeds for downloading can be too slow for streaming.  And I also stayed with DVDs because I just didn't have time to make the switch.  There were always more pressing projects that needed to get done.

But now, finally, I have turned my attention to getting the DVDs up on the internet.

So what will you be getting?

Lesson 1: Getting Started with the Clicker was originally produced in 1999.  That was the first of what would become an eighteen part lesson series. It took me over ten years to finish the series.  Always I felt as though I was in a foot race.  The whole "soup to nuts" training program was in my head. I knew the progression of lessons that would take someone from the first introductory steps to a solid understanding of clicker training; through basic husbandry behaviors to problem solving scenarios; from simple basics to performance superstar.  No matter how fast I got the videos out, there was always such a need for more.

I wanted the lessons to be as close to my actually being in your barn with you as I could manage via video.  So throughout the series I was often using video that was filmed at clinics.  I wanted you to see people and horses learning together - solving the puzzles that horses present. This sometimes created a compromise with sound quality.  You can see real time training, but you have to listen to the background noise of birds in the rafters or the wind taking our voices away.

I could remake these videos.  Modern cameras are so much better, and we have learned so much over the twenty plus years since that first video was produced.  But always when I go back to it, I see things I don’t want to throw away.  These videos show you the birth of equine clicker training.

 

Yes, we have become much more sophisticated in the way we talk about the training.  We have a much deeper understanding of behavior analysis.  The horses have helped us to add so many more details to the handling.  But everything on these DVDs is still valid.  They are a good beginning. They will show you how to introduce your horse to clicker training.  And they will show you why I kept adding more details to these basic lessons.

When I switched from VHS tape to DVD, I added an extra hour to the original Lesson One.  That was in 2006.  I felt an update was needed. Now all these many years later not only do I have more to say, I have a better way to deliver the material.  Instead of watching a three hour long DVD, I have divided Lesson 1 up into much smaller, more digestible units.  I’ve added text to give you more background information, and, where applicable, I’ve added new video to update the handling skills I’m illustrating.  

If you are a beginner, you'll find that this is an easy format to use.  And if you’ve been clicker training for a while, I think you’ll enjoy this look back at the early development of clicker training for horses.

Lesson 1 is set up on the same platform that runs my on-line course.  So think of this as a mini course.  You can go through it at your own pace.  There's no class you have to keep up with, no quizzes to pass.  You can use the material in a way that suits you and your horse.

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What you get:

 

           * The original two hour "Getting Started with the Clicker"

 

            * The one hour bonus video; "The Six Foundation Lessons of Clicker Training" that was added to the original lesson in 2006.

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But that's only the beginning.  I've taken all the material that was in the DVD and added new video, updates, and more background information so the original DVD has essentially been transformed into a mini course.  This is a fabulous resource for getting started.

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The course breaks the material up into bite-sized pieces.  Watch a little, try it out with your horse, then come back for more.  This is a very easy to use format that will give you a glimpse into the early days of clicker training plus show you how to introduce your horse to clicker training. 

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Lesson One focuses on clicker training basics: Introducing your horse to the clicker and the key foundation lessons that create safe, polite horses.  Enjoy!

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