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It is all too easy to forget what an extremely difficult horse Zahra was. She would accept nothing new without weeks of preparation and breaking everything down into very small steps. It took one and a half years to rebuild her using natural horsemanship. Had I known about Clicker Training it would have taken much less time to enable me to communicate what was needed. She is now a really confident little horse and if she gets stuck it is so easy to work out any problem and reward the right response with positive reinforcement. She takes her training very seriously and loves to show what a clever horse she is. I am often just left grinning with pleasure as she performs half passes etc free in the school with panache!
Wasima used to wander in the stable when I wanted to groom her or tack up. Now she stands completely still, as do the others. They are rewarded for doing the right thing, even standing still, so they know what is wanted. They are rewarded at the end of the task.
She stood so still to be x-rayed when her splint bone was shattered that the vet was amazed.
I love the way they learn really fast and are just stars. When it’s training time they can’t wait for their turn. They pay great attention to what the others do and seem to take a great pride in getting things right. As soon as I enter their stable they can’t wait to put the head collar on and drop their heads so I can put it on easily so they can start playing Clicker with me.
They will offer another action very consciously and think things through if we have not been clear about our instructions. It is very important to be clear and focused on what we are asking them to do. We need to place ourselves in the right place and do things slowly and carefully and acknowledge the smallest try and reward it. They grow in their understanding and learn to anticipate and predict moves like a dance sequence. That is why it is important to constantly evaluate and start from wherever the horse is and be prepared to adjust to the situation.
The horses do not mug us, which is always a concern, as they only get rewarded for doing the right thing. They are never given anything by hand without earning it by completing a task.
I feel that very few of us will ever have the opportunity to work with more than a few horses in our lives so we can never build the knowledge base of the great horseman. However horses are more observant than we give them credit for and fill in for us if we get things wrong. Clicker training takes away the horses uncertainty as they are clickered immediately they have done the right thing. It gives them the confidence to try and experiment which transfers to their ridden work and everything they do.
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