Playing around with some very basic clicker training to help a horse learn to stand for their feet has piqued my interest. It seems like a very clear way to mark a simple, desired behaviour if a horse is struggling to understand what you ask of it, and I’m curious if anyone uses it beyond trick training or working through very specific issues.
I always try to make it very easy for my horses to do the right thing, and am big on rewards, be it treats, scritches or praise. Clicker training seems like a useful thing to have in a toolbox, even if it isn’t used as a daily thing or a huge part of the training picture?
I’d love to know more about how others have used it successfully or otherwise.
I’ve used it for trailer training, to teach a horse to stand at the mounting block, to pick up feet and various cutesy tricks of course. I use my tongue to make a “clock” sound so I don’t have to carry a clicker. It’s a very useful training method!
That’s really interesting. The key thing I was able to learn about clicker training is that it can be a powerful method as a communication tool and to teach horses what they should not do. I have come across people utilizing it for simple etiquette to various stunts and abuse for dealing with matters related to fear and such comparable problems.
My riding mare just jumped on clicker training and loves it. We learned all kinds of tricks, playing fetch smiling lying down etc. Her demeanor totally changes when clicker is involved.
You do need really good timing which means being able to observe your horse to shape behavior. You also need a sense of play and improvisation. It’s amazing how fast a horse can learn a behavior for good or bad.
I’m always surprised by how many people don’t naturally have the timing to be effective clicker trainers.
I find it of limited use under saddle but very useful on the ground.
A friend and I went to a clinic on clicker training, it was fun. I used it to bond with a horse that I didn’t understand and didn’t really like. But my friend taught her hard to load horse to step right in. Same horse had issues with the farrier, standing in cross ties, and letting the stall cleaner in the stall. She used clicker training on all those. Her horse mentally checked out when confronted with things that scared her. The clicker bridged the fear and she was able to stay with you mentally.
With one exception (see below) I have found clicker training to be great for teaching uncomplicated behaviors on the ground with both mules and horses.
For example, I once had a horse who came to me with sarcoids in her ear. My vet removed them but the horse was very ear/head shy. Clicker training was an easy and low-stress way to teach her to let me touch and groom around her face and ear. I used it to teach a mule to do a few very basic tricks, like go to and touch a frisbee tossed a short distance away.
I have had no luck using clicker training while mounted or to teach more complex behaviors, but that may well be due to my lack of patience or poor timing.
I did have one mule for whom my use of clicker training was ineffective. The presence of treats turned him into a brainless treat-seeking missile. If I had been more dedicated to using the clicker and had more patience to work through it, we probably could have worked through that, but I wasn’t and I didn’t.
Last year I used clicker training to teach my senior horse to use a drinking post. He’d previously had Nelson waterers which start with a full bowl and refill when the horse drinks. The post requires the horse to push a paddle to get water, and it takes seconds to show up so there’s no instant connection. My younger horse had no problem, but he was a bit of a nosy, touch everything sort of horse, while my senior is more delicate in his touching things. I had done really basic clicker training (touch the target) with him while he was healing from an injury over 20 years ago, so he knew the basics and within a week he had the post figured out.
I was trying to clicker train my younger horse to lie down last fall, but we didn’t quite get there as he found hanging out in the pre drop knees position uncomfortable with his neuro issues. I had never done actual clicker training before, but when he was very young he figured out that his actions affected his access to food and my “Good boy!” effectively became his click. I did use that extensively in his training, including under saddle. He understood the actual clicker bit within a few clicks.
I did a fair bit of clicker training with the then two year old last year. He was a very anxious and uncertain horse and the clicker training gave him confidence to try instead of retreating. I was training manners and basic good horse citizen behavior. I was hoping the clicker training would increase his confidence.
I once tried clicker training with my QH but he couldn’t connect his actions to the click and carrot. I didn’t try very hard as it was just a thing we could try playing with and not a case of needing to teach a thing.
I have found clicker training to be an absolutely vital tool in my “toolbox” of training knowledge. My best example was a semi-feral yearling that couldn’t be caught in even a small pen one of my long time clients brought to my barn. Instead of feeding treats out of my hand, I used her grain in a bucket. I conditioned her that click=food and within FOUR days she went from impossible to catch (kicking and striking if cornered) to putting her head into the halter if I held it up for her.
I like it because with horses that are scared or shut down it gives them a reason to want to engage. Sure, I could have sat in her pen for hours on end waiting for her to get curious, but this was a much more efficient way that got the message across that people were good much quicker! And it’s not like you have to use it forever. She is training under saddle now and has grown into a really nice horse.
Another example was when I first got my horse at 10 months old. He was terrified to be in my indoor arena because it is totally closed off from the rest of the barn. I would lead him in, click and treat for calm behavior, then walk out. And we would repeat that, slowly going farther and farther into the arena and spending more time in there, clicking and treating for calm behavior. Within a few sessions he learned that the arena was an ok place to be and to this day is better alone in the arena than many other horses.
It is so helpful for making things less scary and helping in situations where pressure and release just doesn’t make a ton of sense.
I train professionally with positive reinforcement and shaping (I use a verbal marker rather than a clicker as I want both hands free for training) from foals and ferals / rescues and rehabs through to adulthood and ridden work.
I use it for training everything
So for example in life skills / general handling it’s things such as catching, headcollar acceptance, leading safely from all positions (this morphs into in-hand work and long lining as they get older / further along), tying, loading & travelling, standing still / waiting, whole body handling / touch acceptance and grooming, feet handling and trimming, clipping, sprays, hosing and washing, medical procedures - checks, temp taking, injections / blood draws, medication in eyes and ears, worming etc
Work wise examples are acceptance of tack, boots etc, taking themselves to the mounting block, positioning correctly, waiting there, the backing process, rein aids, leg aids, lateral work in hand and ridden, increase and decrease in gait to verbal or hand cues, changes of direction to a hand movement, polework, jumping, hacking out = habituation to traffic - farm and road, all hazards out in the wide world, going through water and obstacles.
That’s just off the top of my head.
This is really neat! It’s fun to hear that there are so many “real” applications beyond easy, one-step skills. I am not sure where I will go with it, but like I said before, I think it could be a really great tool to have in my skill set.
Are there any big pitfalls to watch out for as I go along? Things that people fall into without realizing it that become bad habits or hard things to correct. My timing with more conventional training is usually pretty good, and I think I’m doing something right because of how quickly the horse caught on with their feet being handled. I try to stay very cognizant of the little steps, consistency and really paying attention to effort in the right direction.
I appreciate everyone’s input and thoughts. Its fun learning new things!
Pitfalls…loads lol, sorry 🫣 only partly jesting, it’s such a powerful tool it can be easy to get it very wrong and that’s when people get pushy confused horses and say it doesn’t work.
It does, it’s used all over the world for a myriad of species and if people can train bees to play football, wild sea fish to touch targets and go through hoops, crocodiles to have their teeth cleaned and lions to give blood without any sedation we can teach our horses anything they are capable of this way safely and in a fun relaxed way
I’d recommend joining a group like Connection training in the UK (I’m not sure what’s over in the US group wise, but I’m sure there’ll be some!) There’s discussions, courses, help / forums, challenges etc, it’s really great fun if you are goal oriented. There’s also lots of free resources on the internet depending on your personal learning style too.
So common things to watch for = Timing ……of your marker, learning to extend timing for the reward to build duration without causing frustration and learning to chain behaviours together.
Being sure of what actions / reactions you are actually marking (which when you video sessions at the start you realise it might be another action entirely as far as your horse is concerned!)
Clarity of your cues and setting up sessions for success, keeping asks small and making yes easy….we are very loud in our actions sometimes and we really don’t need to be.
Consistency over the ‘rules’ is important
Try to have other food sources available and keep rewards low value, with a higher rate of reinforcement if needed. Feed into buckets not just from your hand. Great when on board as you can chuck them quite far if needed
Targets are ace fun, both static and moving, helpful in a million ways
Learning about emotional states, facial expressions and body language to ensure you are staying under the threshold, not inadvertently causing frustration.
We can be just as coercive with this method of training if we aren’t paying attention to those things. I try to teach at liberty as much as possible- especially for husbandry stuff where I may be trying to overcome issues that the horse comes with - watch even for slight weight shifts or an eye crinkle where they are asking you for a breather or a step back. I use ‘start buttons’ now so the horse can actively say yup I’m ready let’s try.
It’s a whole new world of relationship building and it’s addictive to have horses who are freely participating in sessions doing stuff they really couldn’t cope with previously and its because they want to not because there’s no option for them to opt out.
Sorry I’m a bit of a fan of it, can you tell 🫣🤣
I had a former horse that would not lift his front legs, which of course made farrier work a bit problematic. I taught him to lift those legs with a clicker. Of course, he got his treat when he listened. Well, after training him, every time I walked by him, he lifted his legs hoping for a treat. Doofus. Well, maybe I was the doofus for training him.
This is always how I have used positive reinforcement when training horses. They learn very early/young to associate “good boy/girl!” with a job well done, pets, release of pressure, and occasional treats. Most of my horses (I breed Arabians) are extremely people-oriented, and knowing they have pleased their person is just as rewarding/motivating for them as a treat would be. Using my voice leaves my hands free for both practical and safety reasons, keeps horses from becoming pushy/obnoxious about treats, and is very practical to use from the saddle.
I went down this rabbit hole a few years ago and my first thought is WHY every horse owner doesn’t learn animal training like you get from a good R+ educator. I think of it now as a tool in my toolbox and what I loved most about learning about R+ was awareness of timing. Of what I wanted, of the bridge signal (for me a “cluck” noise) and also in R- about timing the release. Trying to use as little pressure. Not over drilling.
I loved learning about how mammals at the Aquariums are trained and how they can’t use R- because of course they could just leave. Imagine, imagine for a moment if our horses could leave if they wanted. That would be a game changer. Just even considering that has me so much more considerate of my horses experience. Of having fun and being positive.
I so highly recommend Mustang Maddy’s HCA Academy course. She does a great job with her videos and educating and you can watch lots of videos for free on her youtube channel too.
You can find Mary Kitzmiller in podcast conversations about training with what she calls her secret weapon - R+ and she sells a DVD which is good and she’s on a podcast - every third Thursday on Horses in the Morning. She’s fun to listen to. She has a mustang Remi and they demonstrated R+ at Road to the Horse a few years ago.
And Shawna Karrasch and Alexandra Kurland are the goddesses and oh don’t forget Karen Pryor she’s the original as I recall. She has a great book - Don’t Shoot the Dog. Fabulous read.
What I remember hearing somewhere with Karen was her original huge breakthrough w dolphins and clicker training in the 60’s. Where a dolphin finally understood the click and throw a fish and what they wanted was the dolphin to offer behaviors.
Once the dolphin got it it did a flip, then went backwards on its fin etc. That affected me so much wondering is something like that possible with horses? Why not?
I can see how that could easily happen!
I taught him to lift those legs with a clicker. Of course, he got his treat when he listened. Well, after training him, every time I walked by him, he lifted his legs hoping for a treat. Doofus. Well, maybe I was the doofus for training him.