A Few Popular Equine Training Methods
One of the most popular equine training methods is the clicker method with takes advantage of operant conditioning. This name is derived from the primary and secondary stimulants used in training; the primary stimulant is a ‘click’ sound and the secondary stimulant is a treat, such as food. When the horse performs an action that the trainer wants, then the trainer ‘clicks’ and gives the horse a treat. This constructive encouragement from the trainer helps the horse recognize the correct actions. With clicker horse training, a horse becomes more confident and plays a dynamic role in the training, which also builds the foundation of a positive companionship between the horse and the trainer.
Some of us may have seen clicker training in action. This training method is used to train dolphins for shows at aquariums and also to train dogs, zoo animals and circus animals. This is a very interesting and effective training method and it works well with horses. The difference is that a horse is generally not required to perform complex behaviors without the guidance of a human. Most handling of horses involves direct contact with humans.
Clickers and Equine Training
Clicker training is super flexible and can be incorporated into nearly any training program. All you have to do is add the ‘click and treat’ component to your training sessions. Clicking helps positively develop your horse’s behavior and increases their confidence in themselves. Clicker training also makes the training more understandable for your horse because the clicking and the treats help them recognize what they should be doing. Clicker equine training can also be used to teach your horse more complex behaviors step-by-step, which would be nearly impossible without the accuracy of the ‘click’ and treat.
What follows are a few methods of clicker training used to train horses. You will probably end up using more than one of these methods at different stages of your training and individual horses may respond differently to each type of training.
Free Shaping: this is usually what comes to mind first when people think of the clicker training. With this method, you wait until the horse performs a particular behavior that you want and then ‘click’ and give them a treat. This tells the horse that what they just did is a good thing and will make them more likely to repeat that behavior again. Free shaping is the first step used in targeting. Targeting is when you teach the horse to follow or touch an object; I will cover this in more detail below. When you use free shaping keep in mind that it is similar to ‘baby steps’. You want to click and treat your horse when they perform any behavior that is inline with what you want, not just for the end behavior. For example, if your horse is scared of an object that you want them to eventually interact with, then you would click and treat them when they do something as basic as looking at the object. Then build from there.
Molding: Another method is the molding method, in which you physically place the horse in the desired position and then click and treat them. This works with horses that do not show any of the behaviors you want, which is required for free shaping. This method requires that the horse is very calm and open to training.
Using Pressure and Release: This is one of the most used clicker training methods. All horse handling, whether clicker training or not, requires physical contact of some sort; for example, direct contact with your hands, your legs and seat, lead rope, lunge lines, reins, etc. You use these same types of physical contact with clicker training, but instead of increasing pressure to get your horse do to something you want, you can use a clicker and a treat to reinforce desired behavior. For a young horse only a tiny amount of pressure is required to make them do what you want. Then when they do what you want, you can ‘click’ and treat to mark the behavior as positive.
Targeting: Targeting is a very useful tool in a trainers inventory. It is based on free shaping and I wanted to mention this separately because it is so useful. Once your horse has learned how to target, you can use targeting to teach them other behaviors, such as trailer loading, leading, touching scary objects, moving body parts, etc. This method is better than luring, which is using food to lead your horse around. Luring can work well when your horse knows that it can only take the food after you click, but you should replace the food with a target object as early in the training as possible. The food itself can be distracting and overexcite your horse, whereas target objects do not generate that kind of excitement and distraction.
Often the question arises, do these methods work as well while riding your horse as they do while you are on the ground beside your horse? The answer is, you can train your horse while in the saddle the same way you would train them while on the ground. You can teach your horse to stop on a ‘click’ and it will then bring its head around for a treat. To train from the saddle you will have to use treats that can be easily given from the saddle. You will also have to give your horse some time to learn how to eat with its bridle on.
Giving treats from the saddle can increase your horse’s flexibility and the way in which they accept the treat can provide useful information about your horse’s mental state. During the training process always remember that it is more important to have your horse perform behaviors you want from scratch, rather than continuing performing desired behaviors. Once your horse regularly performs desired behaviors from scratch when you click then you can increase the duration between clicks. Read more horse training tips.
Amanda Spring recommends the Horse Training Secrets Revealed course to anyone who wants to learn how to train their horse properly and effectively. This course has helped thousands become better horse owners and trainers — check it out right now.
