Posts Tagged ‘clicker’

We’re excited to report that our horses eagerly respond to clicker training and learn faster and more willingly that when we use the classical negative reinforcement training method. To  find  out more about clicker training in general read up our 1st INTRO blog post.

The first lesson consists purely of teaching your horse to touch the Target and relate the sound of clicker to a positive response – treat or reward if you wish.  We’ve improvised and in the spirit of reduce-reuse-recycle we re-purposed one of our lids from a container with our 100% Natural Leave Me Be bug spray as you can see below.

It’s easy to start. You just need a clicker (we’re  using our agility dog’s clicker) and a target – you can get them at Shawna’s On Target website or you can improvise just like us. A clicker can be  purchased at a pet store. Then you just need a pouch for treats – make sure you go with treats that your horse adores. After all you want him sufficiently motivated.

Durango managed to squeeze in one nice roll before his lesson started. My dog (also trained with a clicker) got little confused. She didn’t understand that this time I was clicking for my horse and wanted to be in on the action.

It wasn’t difficult for my horse to figure out what was required from him. Touch the target – click – and here’s a treat. I could even toss it like a frisbee and off he went to touch it. Oooh boy he was a willing student.   We played touch for a while and he got the right response faster and faster getting more and more excited that he got it right. It was so much fun watching him being so into it.

Stay tuned for more of our On Target adventures. We will start applying the clicker principles to the ground work first and follow with mounted training.

Check out Shawna’s ON Target website for more tips and go play with your horse. He’ll appreciate that and you’ll have an eager to please student.You can also ask Shawna clicker training questions directly at her FB page “Ask Shawna”.

Anyone out there playing click with his horse? Share your experience with us.

Ride Green,

Team EcoLicious Equestrian
Your Horse. Your Earth. Your Choice.

Check out our full line of EcoLicious equine care & grooming products at www.ecoliciousequestrian.com

We confess. The idea of training our horses using positive reinforcement instead of the classical training using the negative reinforcement (pressure followed by the removal of pressure) is intriguing to us. Positive reinforcement means that instead of pressure you’ll reward you horse with something he perceives as a value.  Most often the reward is food. It can also be a good scratch (to make it a reward you need to know what your horse’s favorite itchy spot is).

The best example of a training method using positive reinforcement  is a Clicker Training. It’s widely used in dog training (especially agility), in marine parks or a circuses. Lately it has been becoming more popular amongst horse owners and equestrians  thanks to Shawna Karrasch – a Founder of On Target Training.

Shawna spent nearly ten years working to perfect her training skills not with horses, but in the pools at Sea World of California with killer whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals. In 1992, she was invited to attend her first Grand Prix show jumping event in Del Mar, California. As an animal trainer, Shawna was curious to learn more about how horses were trained, and was fascinated by the possibility of applying Sea World’s tried and true system to horses.

So what is On Target Training?

It is a proven equine training technique. Used by professionals and Olympic-caliber riders as well as amateur riders, this reward reinforcement training system dramatically accelerates the training process for any breed or discipline by unlocking a horse’s natural desire to perform. This results in an incredible bond between human and horse – a partnership based on success.

What do you need to start?

It’s simple:

• a small hand-held clicker which reinforces desired behavior
• a hand-held “target” for direction and focus
• a waist-mounted container of treats for reward reinforcement
• guidance;  check out her fantastic Video Blog & follow her on Facebook or get her book or a DVD
  

Stay tuned! EcoLicious Equestrian is going On Target and we’ll be sharing our adventures in our future posts.

Do you have any experience with clicker training? Would you like to give it a shot? Let us know.

Ride Green,

Team EcoLicious Equestrian
Your Horse. Your Earth. Your Choice.

Check out our full line of EcoLicious equine care & grooming products at www.ecoliciousequestrian.com