Clicker Training

[heytherestephy]

I've been looking for a suitable method of training to work on groundwork with Mylie for a little while. Something to get her focused and comfortable with being around me as well as teach her some basic manners and 'tricks' that would prove useful in her day to day handling. Such things as Lifting her feet when asked to do so for the farrier or

Comments

[candysgirl]

My old horse had been horribly abused before I got him. I ended up clicker training him just as a way to get him to chill the hell out. He knew how to pick his feet up and would tolerate normal grooming type activities, but was afraid of whips and anything that looked like one. It was horrible because he was a polo pony and while I didn't carry a whip on him, typically a lot of the other players want one on their horses. He was so scared of them that even if the rider next to us was carrying one he'd freak

[heytherestephy]

The clicker I have is meant to go on a wrist strap so you can let go of it to grab your treat :)

Mylie is a quick learner so I think our click can be trained out to accomodate a yes easily. Right now it's all on the ground in her paddock, where she is most comfortable. Once I am able to touch her everywhere (I'm going to use the brush first, then my hands. I figure if she has something between my hand and her body at first she'll be more receptive to my hand ON her body) then we will start on leading correctly. I can get a lead on her and she does walk and lead nicely but the groundwork and her tenseness is more important *right now* than leading her in and out of her field. She seems to know 'back up' as a voice command, but was originally trained for 30 days by a star roper/reiner who is also her farrier.

I'm thinking of applying clicker training to my pony too who is badbadbad for the farrier. I'm going to eventually try to teach her to up her feet when asked.

[silverblaidd]

Things like targeting, moving away/out, moving in/towards, recall, loading and unloading, feet lifting, head lowering, trotting, cantering, walking, stretching, tightening (kind of like this) are really useful, and you can even teach a horse not to crowd or push for food/treats. Fun stuff like shaking the head, nodding the head, picking up objects, and tossing objects (playing catch), can help work on trust and bonding, as well as stimulation and exercise, and you can usually translate these things to something else later on that will come in handy.

There are videos here, here, here, here, and here of people clicker training various things with horses, some of them Parelli games.

If you search up "horse clicker training" on youtube, you'll find quite a lot of videos as well, some of them are groundwork/basics, and some of them are tricks and fun things.