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Icelandic Horse Connection

Clicker Training



What is Clicker Training?

Simply put it is that aspect of operatant conditioning that uses positive reinforcement combined with the use of a conditioned reinforcer. I guess that isn't exactly simple.

Operant conditioning refers to an aspect of behavioral science in which the animal is taught to make active behavioral choices based on what is encouraged or discouraged. The part about the animal playing an active role here is what is unique about this. It is not merely pavlovian conditioning.

Positive reinforcement is that which is ADDED (positive meaning + or add) to the environment which tends to INCREASE the frequency of a behavior. IOW one might ADD food or stroking to INCREASE the incidence of some behavior you want.

There is also negative reinforcement which is the REMOVAL (negative meaning take away, not bad!) of something from the environment which tend to INCREASE the frequency of a behavior. With horses we use negative reinforcement a lot because they respond so well to the removal of pressure.

The "clicker" serves as conditioned reinforcer. It is a signal to the animal that they have made the right choice and as such a reinforcer (food or other desirable thing) is coming. The purpose of the clicker is to "mark" the desired behavior so that the animal knows exactly what to do to get the reinforcer.

My horse is clicker trained and understands the word "good" to be a conditioned reinforcer. I've used this training to help her cope with painful or stressful situations as well as in our day to day training (on the ground or under saddle).

The way one *starts* clicker training is with a simple behavior to introduce the horse to the idea. Typically, one begins with targeting because it is handy to teach the horse and very easy. First though you teach the horse what the sound of the clicker means. Usually this is done with a favored food because this gets the message across most quickly. Later a broader range of reinforcers may be added for variety. A good clicker trainer can read the horse and recognize what the horse is most motivated to work for. This is done simply by clicking the clicker (once) then offering a teeny tiny tidbit (say a nickel sized sliver of carrot). Click give a bit of carrot, click give a bit of carrot. The smart horse will quickly begin to anticipate the arrival of the carrot upon hearing the click.

Once the horse understands that the click means reward (treat) is coming you can move to phase 2. Connecting behavior choices to the click. May go something like this. Use a good sized object like a ball or cone or a plastic container lid. Present the object to the horse. Being curious animals the horse is likely to sniff it. Click and give a treat (c/t). Present the object again and c/t when the horse sniffs it. What you are doing is telling the horse that touching the object with his nose will earn a reward. Pretty soon the horse will begin to actively seek out the object in order to get the treat.

The key to clicker training is the idea of shaping. You can begin with very small hints of the desired behavior and shape them to what you really want. For example, in the first targeting session once the horse understands that treats are involved he will lose interest in sniffing the object and start sniffing your pockets. Assuming the horse isn't the nippy sort (there are strategies for dealing with this but I won't go there right now) you simply ignore that and wait for the horse to pay attention to the target object. Never ever give a horse the treat for mugging. Only for the desired behavior.

So you wait and watch. THIS is the part that requires the greatest skill. At some point the horse may accidentally turn his head torward the object. C/T. Wait some more. C/T ANYthing that even approaches the possibility that the horse might touch the object, even if it is accidental. Turning his head toward it, reaching without touching, then eventually touching. At some point there will be the all important Light Bulb Moment when the horse Gets It. "Oh," he says, "I touch this thing and I get a treat? Way cool!" You can't miss it and it is a very exciting moment for the trainer. (G)

This process though generally only takes a few minutes, perhaps half an hour. Now the horse knows the Training Game. Once he knows the game you can begin to apply the clicker means That's Right to everything you do.

Here's an example of a way I used clicker training to help my horse cope with a stressful situation. Once she had a bad case of thrush and I had to pack the frog with medicated cotton balls using a hoof pick. OWIE she did NOT like that. The vet was sure I wouldn't be able to get the stuff up there. Just you watch. ;-) Once she knew I was going to pick up her foot and do things that hurt she didn't want me to pick up her foot. So, I started with c/t for letting me touch her leg. Then touch her foot. Then pick up her foot. Then just touch the foot with the cotton. Then with the hoof pick. Then more firmly with the hoof pick. Then pressing the hoof pick into the frog. Then more deeply. And so on. The instant she allowed me to take a step I clicked, dropped what I was doing and gave her a treat. In ten minutes she went from dancing around and really fighting to pull her foot away to standing quietly while I shoved the cotton into her frog with the hoof pick.

More than treats are involved in the success here. One is the fact that she is clicker savvy. IOW just the sound of the click (or in my case the "GOOD" word said in a distinctive way) is calming because she KNOWS good things are coming. Also, the idea of working on very small acheivable goals is central to all good training. As in make haste slowly. But that in a nutshell is what clicker training is about. Sharon Foley




Clicker training has been a big help. It has turned a horse who really didn't want to have anything to do with me into one who has decided that I might actually not be so bad after all. Clicker training has created an environment where Fridur feels comfortable being with me, and even enjoys it. Our first step was to teach him that the clicking sound meant he'd just done something good. He caught on in less than 20 minutes!

I sat in the barn doorway holding a basketball-sized horsie ball. At first he ignored me but curiosity got the better of him, and he came over and sniffed it. Click! And a Treat! Wow - yummie, where can I get more? He started nosing me, but that effort produced nothing. Accidentally, he bumped the ball with his nose again and produced that strange clicking sound and, better yet, Food! In an amazingly short period of time he was practically mauling the ball. The day before this he didn't want me to be anywhere near him and now he was following me & the ball all over a small corral.




>>If you know how to get the horses' trust, you do not need no gimmicks. I don't know why we can't get back to basics. Let horses be horses-- they are not people even thou some people think they are. I have to retrain too many that have been given treats.<<

Because food is such a powerful motivator it is like a razor in the hands of a child. Agreed, don't do it if you don't know how to control it.

People whose horses require "retraining because food was used" do NOT require retraining because of the food -- they require *TRAINING* because they were not *TRAINED* in the first place. :-) Rule #1: Reward the behavior you WANT. Mugging and biting is NOT WANTED therefore I would NEVER reward it. Horses are a Very quick study. The mistake that people who end up with a horse who has bad manners "because of food" made the fatal mistake of rewarding that behavior. Maybe even just once. It was not the treats it was the trainer.

I have studied, and use, the principles of "natural horsemanship" (back to basics?) and have found that good trainers ALL do the same thing. They have great timing and feel, they care for the horse, they have a sense of awareness, they understand what the horse needs in order to make the step to the next level of learning. The existance of treats or not is irrelevant. What clicker training does for the HUMAN is provide them with a way to learn a little bit more about these vital elements of training. Once learned they discover they apply to everything. Then no matter what they do, or what method they follow (or whether they use treats or not) they better understand how and why it works.

Sharon




Topper--An Icelandic Horse

by Katie Rourke

Pictures of Topper

I first saw CT at the Volhard Dog Trainers Camp in Syracuse USA. It was a one-session wonder, no more was said about it and it didn't occur again. However, I was inspired by that little 12 week goldie pup targeting a ruler within 5 minutes but didn't know any more about it. (I wasn't really an internet-freak then either).

In Jan 97 Elizabeth Kershaw, Director of Education, United Kingdom Registry of Canine Behaviourists, asked me to critique her first Clicker Training Course. I jumped at the chance. In April 97 I joined her course with my Border Collie, Chess, and was spectacularly unsucessfull. Cross-over dogs are notoriously difficult to CT, we just didn't know that then. Still having that picture of the goldie pup firmly in my brain, I decided to offer CT along side Volhard Dog Training to my regular private clients. That spring/summer showed me the power of CT with untrained dogs. In 4 weeks of Volhard Training I could barely persuade the owner to take the 5th, final and free lesson. CT students, on the other hand, were paying per lesson, averaging on 16 - 20 lessons before they decided their dog was well enough trained and were doing exercises we didn't usually teach until the dog was 2/3 years old (finish to the left, finish to the right, sendaway, etc.)

I was then approached by a local newspaper to do a story on pigs. The Tamworth Two were on the rampage in southern England and every Pig Story sold newspapers. So I contacted Copper Howe, a neighbour who has pigs and asked her if I could train William and Sally for the local rag. She was in hoots of laughter, but they say "she who laughs last, laughs longest..." ! and by the end of the first week, William (May he rest in peace) was walking through a hoop, rolling over and doing a beautiful figure 8 heelwork.

Topper arrived during this week. Three weeks later, with no contact from the original owners the police castrated him and handed him over to me. It wasn't until he was castrated that we found out how old he was - getting to look in his mouth wasn't an option any of us were prepared to take! During the anesthetic we were ASTONISHED to find out that he was at least 13, possibly older. (We'd thought about 4-5 yrs, as his CT was coming on so well). 5 weeks after rescue there was an article in a nearly-local newspaper, the headline was "Hunt On For Runaway Danger Horse." It didn't even have a photo, but we knew who they were on about. Anyway, by this time the police had closed his case, which wasn't strictly accurate by this time anyway as they had him listed as a 10hh piebald gelding. (well, its not their fault if he was so dirt encrusted that they didn't know what colour he was is it?)

As his main method of defence was to attack, charge, teeth barred (no we didn't have time to look at them, we just jumped the fence to safety) and strike out with his front feet I decided in my wisdom to train from THE OTHER SIDE of the fence and the first job was to get a headcollar on. No, I lie, the first job was to teach him that there were better things than grass to eat. He'd never seen carrots, apples, hardfeed, grain, breakfast cereal....

Targeting had to be left until I could teach him to lead, which he found very difficult. He still shuts down when he's asked to multi task something new. Wearing a headcollar and walking was the first example. He simply couldn't do it. Then wearing a headcollar and a leadrope presented the same problem, although it was quicker to overcome the problem the second time. The first time he saw a target stick he immediately reverted to agressive mode, thinking I was going to beat him up I suppose. That took a week of hanging the target stick in his stall before it became 'normal'. I guess the "lightbulb" went on for him during his target training. He learned he could make the vending machine pay out and was really in control of the situation. I made the situations more difficult, he raised to the challenge. He still made me laugh when I started to turn waving into spanish walk and he did three beautiful steps forward, but couldn't multi-task that back end and ended up with his tummy practically on the floor!

If he could draw himself now he'd draw a top lip, mouth, head (without ears), neck, shoulders, front legs and hoofs, then there'd be a huge blank area until you get to his back feet. My ambition is to teach him that he is a whole horse!!!






Clicker Training--Trick or Treat?

When one thinks of horses picking up orange cones in their teeth, standing on platforms with all four hooves and jumping through hula hoops, one generally tends to think of “trick” horses! Either that or the horse is one super-smart cookie! Well, I have personally learned that this just isn’t necessarily so. Any horse, any age, any breed and certainly any discipline, can be easily taught “tricks” (but are they *really* tricks?) and better yet … can learn the handler’s and riders cues twice as quickly than ‘traditional’ methods when using Clicker Training. Clicker Training is NOT just for the circus tricks. It is valuable for everyday training and working with horses; your horses, my horses the horses down the street and the ones across town. Are you ready to string me up yet? Well, hold on and read on … there’s more.

I’m sure that most of you reading this have been in the riding ring many times with a bored-to-death horse. I’m sure most of you have been just as bored as your horse at times! I’m also sure we’ve all run into the following, as well … How many times have you heard, “I can’t catch my horse! The second he lays eyes on the halter and lead in my hand he runs the other way!”. How many of you have at least thought, if not spoken aloud, the words, “You dumb horse! You’re dumber than a rock! Why can’t you just do what I ask you to do! Why do you have to be so stupid all the time!?”. Well, my friend, I really don’t care to be the bearer of bad news however, … these are cases not of a stupid horse, but simply a horse that is not understanding what you are asking of him. A horse is a horse is a horse. He is not a dumb rock. On the other hand, we are the ones who may be the dumb rocks expecting an animal that outweighs us at least 4 – 5 times, can run 3 –4 times faster than we can and has a mind of its own, to understand our spoken language and to obey our ‘commands’! They understand their own language. Whinneys, nickers, snorts, squeals … and, of course, BODY language! Better yet … we expect these animals to carry us on their backs while running around, jumping over weird looking poles, walking through the thick of the forest and more. OK, so who are the dumb rocks? In the wild, the only things that might get on the back of a horse is a *predator* trying to pull him to the luncheon table! You can be sure that predator isn’t asking the horse to be his guest, either!

Horses are animals of prey. This means that they are gentle animals and not prone to attacking another living being except when cornered and fearing for their very lives. They don’t like to eat meat (and that includes you or me!) They don’t like the feel of squishy things under their hooves, live or otherwise. Every foreign sight in their eyes is a potential enemy just waiting for horse stew. This is known as their flee or fight instinct. Horses would much prefer lazing around, munching on their grass with the sun warming their backs. They don’t care to run very far or jump very high or execute sidepasses and pirouettes over the range. These maneuvers are ones that the horse CAN do naturally, but unless highly motivated, would much prefer not to do. This is the horse’s base of behavior; graze, graze, graze until danger arises. Then run like heck for as short of a distance as necessary to get away from the perceived danger. Once the danger has passed, it’s back to the business of grazing once again. Young horses, of course, love to romp and play but as they grown older they learn that their energies must be preserved. Maturity tends to slow them down as it does with all species of animals. Besides, they never know when they might need that energy to run for their lives.

Clicker Training provides a high motivation for a horse to do what it is we are asking of him, regardless of age and character. If we are clear and concise with our requests, our horses would be more than happy to comply IF they are motivated and IF they are understanding exactly what it is we want from them. Clicker Training provides that clarity and that motivation in a unique, playful, fun way. Clicker Training also teaches the human tobe focused and clear with his or her request of the horse. Let’s look at some illustrations:

The best place to start is to introduce the horse to the clicker itself. Now, the clicker does not have to necessarily be a mechanical “clicker”. I use a high pitched, quick “Good!” Or, when really excited about a tremendous achievement, “AWESOME!” I do also use the mechanical “clicker” but find that personally, I do not like to have to think about “clicking” along with everything else I am doing. I am just not that coordinated and haven’t been resourceful enough to purchase a clicker on a wristband. For the first introductions to Clicker Training, I will just allow the horse to get used to the executed “click” and immediately, instantaneously, give him a favorite treat. Now hold on, you say … you don’t like to hand feed your horse? OK, then how about a favorite scritch or hug or rub on the forehead? That works just as well. I tend to have a couple of horses who are severe treat hounds so the food treats really motivate them better than anything else. (Unless it’s a hefty scritch on the udder or belly!) Cut up carrot pieces or Frosted Shredded Mini-Wheats make convenient and wholesome treats around here. So, the scene is this … I ask for a step forward, the horse takes a step and instantly I “click” while feeding a treat. It certainly doesn’t take long for the horse to associate the “click” with something that feels really good … like munching down a piece of carrot! Most of the “average” horses will catch on in just a couple of minutes. For the first couple of initiations to the click, I’ll end the session in a short time. Maybe repeat the session later on in the day again or maybe wait until the next day. As soon as I feel the horse really understands that a “click” means a “positive reward” or “positive reinforcement”, I’ll start to build on that foundation adding new requests and behaviors with each session. Now you’re thinking, “Yeah, so what? You’re teaching the horse he’ll get a treat when you ask him to do a trick!” Well, let’s dig in a bit further …

Any animal, bird, reptile or other living creature learns quickly to execute certain behaviors which reap pleasurable results. Pavlov set up levers which rats had to push in order to get their food. It didn’t take them very long at all to learn how they were served their breakfast. The same applies to most other animal species. If we understand that a horse can only think second to second, then we will understand that a reward (or a punishment) given 10 minutes ‘after’ a desired behavior is being given without any basis for comprehension on the part of the horse. The horse is not going to stand and think, “Hmmmm, that cookie must be because I did such a wonderful collected trot!”. The window of understanding is very small. On the other hand, repeated behaviors cause “habituated” results. In other words, the more times a horse executes a desired act, the more the act, or behavior, becomes a habit in response to a particular cue. The cue then becomes the “switch”. The learning curve is heightened by the motivation of the click and reward. The horse is eager for the reward and because the horse has a high performing memory, second only to the elephant, that memory is increased by the result of a pleasurable consequence to a performed behavior. Whew … that’s a mouthful but read it again, word by word. Let’s put it in everyday terms. If we were asked by our boss to sweep the floor and every time we swept the floor for awhile, we received an immediate bonus of cold cash, I will bet my last dollar than we’d all be sweeping our hearts out! Now a penny’s worth wouldn’t get us far … but if our boss were inclined to give us a dollar an inch? Now THAT would be worth sweeping for around the clock! (Bet we’d have the cleanest towns around!) Those dollars are the “treats”. Now, add a unique sound as you’re being given the dollar. After just a few times of hearing that sound, we would be conditioned to immediately expect a dollar reward! The two, the dollar and the sound, quickly become a sensory motivator. Now, what would happen if one time we didn’t get that dollar? We’d sweep another inch and another until we’d hear the song and get our dollar! Here is where the variable reward comes in. Once the horse learns a specific behavior as a stepping stone to something more advanced, we start to withhold the click and reward while the horse will strive for the click.

Ie: We’ve taught the horse to touch a cone with his nose. This is called Targeting. At first we set it up so the horse would accidently touch the cone with his nose and INSTANTLY … Click/Reward (or Click/Treat. C/T) We set the horse up again to touch the cone. Again … instant C/T. By the third or fourth time that horse will be looking to touch his nose deliberately to get that C/T. So now we move the cone somewhere else and ask him to tough the cone. He deliberately seeks out that cone, touches it with his nose and C/T! Voila! He’s figured it out! Then we start moving the cone around even more … setting it on the ground. The horse will seek out that cone so he can tough his nose to it because he knows that the C/T is coming as soon as he does and boy, oh boy … he LOVES those carrots! Now, we’re going to add a second cone and withhold the C/T until after he touches *both* cones. He’s going to touch the first one, expecting his reward but, not getting it, will try again. This time he’ll find the second cone and touch that one as well. C/T … are you getting it clear now? The C/T is the motivator for the horse to perform a desired behavior. We, also, are motivated to teach the horse because we get an instant feeling of success when our horse has executed a requested behavior!

Yes, Clicker Training is used to teach a horse “Circus Tricks”. However, what a wonderful and FUN way to work with our horse on an everyday basis! It is straightforward, honest and encourages trust between the horse and trainer. Clicker Training provides the motivation for the horse to ‘want’ to perform; it also provides the motivation for us to use our imaginations to creatively teach our horse new behaviors in a fun, safe and non-traumatic manner. C/T opens the pathway to clearer communications between horse and human and forms a bond between the two which is hard surpassed. Why don’t you give it a try? Do you have a horse which finds a particular object frightening? Use that object for your first targeting lesson. Does your horse run away when you approach? Use the clicker and treat when you do get to him! He’ll be following you everywhere within a week. Remember to break the task into small pieces. Start with the targeting then build from there. It works! It’s FUN! For both you and your horse.
--Gwenyth Browning Jones Santagate © 1999

ClickRyder

Pictures of more Icelandic Horses being clicker trained.

Good books and recommended reading:

By Mark Rashid:
Considering the Horse
A Good Horse is Never a Bad Color
Horses Never Lie

By Bill Dorrance and Leslie Desmond:
True Horsemanship Thru Feel

By John Lyons, the new series entitled:
The Making of A Perfect Horse;
Part 1--Communicating with Cues
ISBN #1-879-620-55-3

Natural Horse-Man-Ship by Pat Parelli

Clicker Training for Your Horse,
Alexandra Kurland.

By Karen Pryor:
Don't Shoot The Dog

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