Clicker Training

By Rebecca Tasker

Every single time we interact with our horses we are training them, whether we realise it or not.  There is a lot of differing advice and methods out there on improving performance and solving problems.  In the end though, regardless of whether you’re trying to improve his extended trot or have him lift his feet politely for the trimmer, what it all boils down to is this: we want the horse to change what he is doing, so how do we motivate him to do what we want?

 

The vast majority of training methods or styles rely upon the release of pressure to motivate the horse.  When we pull on the lead-rope so that he follows us, when we squeeze the fetlock so he lifts his leg and when we push his chest so that he backs up, we are using the pressure to communicate and the release of that pressure to reinforce him for complying.  This is called ‘negative reinforcement’, and it works.

 

However, there are other options for your toolbox that can get you better and faster results - we can mark the moment he does the right thing, and reward him.  Research shows that horses trained using positive reinforcement learn tasks faster, retain their learning longer, experience less stress and respond to their human trainers more positively than horses trained using negative reinforcement (Sankey et al, 2010; Pohjola, 2011, etc).  The common term for positive reinforcement training with animals is ‘clicker training’, named after the marker sound that tells the animal precisely what he did right so that he can repeat it again.

Clicker training is a powerful, science-based system of training animals that has long been considered best practice in marine mammal training, on movie sets and with all species of wild animals in zoos.  In comparison, the horse world has lagged behind somewhat in embracing the use of positive reinforcement, but there are now rapidly increasing numbers of horse owners around the world utilising clicker training for groundwork, husbandry and performance. 

There is simply no need to battle with your horse to get them to accept a wormer or keep their hoof on the hoof-stand to be trimmed.  Bex from ‘Positively Together’ can support you in harnessing the power of positive reinforcement to help produce a safe, happy horse who is focused, motivated and eager to learn and play with you. 

Visit www.clickertraining.co.nz for more details and to enquire about lessons or clinics.

Mention that you are a current client of Jenny Lomas - Equine Rehab and get a 20% discount on your first 3 private lessons.