My young horse just spent most of his 5 year old year living in a pasture while he healed from a bone bruise and grew 4 inches. In the past, I clicker trained two mares under the guidance of Shawna Karrasch. The first mare was claustrophobic and she would dangerously charge into her stall due to her fear of the narrow doorway. With patient clicker training, she became quiet and reliable going in and out of her stall. I applied the skills I learned to my second mare for fun and to develop a deeper connection.
So back to my young gelding with the bone bruise. Shortly after he turned five, he started nipping and pulling me around in his halter. A hugely obnoxious version of the teenage stage. Reprimanding him for undesirable behavior only worked in the moment. So I decided to clicker train him and start liberty work with the clicker. He took to it instantly and his behavior changed almost immediately. He started focusing on me and waiting for the possibility of a treat/reward. The nipping disappeared because we were suddenly sharing a language that we both understood. He learned to always turn his head away from me and to mirror my steps when walking together.
When I approach his pasture now, he whinnies and gallops to the gate. He loves his liberty/clicker training more than anything. With hand signals, he’s learned to stop and stay while I walk away, to come towards me if I ask him, to turn on the haunches in both directions, to back up and to trot by my side. He also free lunges with voice commands. Most recently, he’s learned to stand at the mounting block, which is helpful now that he’s being ridden.
In addition to clicker training principles taught by Shawna Karrasch, I also recommend Featherlight Horsemanship on Instagram for free lunging tips.
Liberty training my young horse is probably the most rewarding experience that I’ve had with a horse. We are incredibly bonded now and it’s all from positive reinforcement.
