When I realized my little knucklehead was terrified of everything, I had to come up with a new plan.
See The Horse You’ve Created and The Plan for Part 1 & 2 of this ongoing adventure.
To be honest, I didn’t think it was going to work.
I had pretty much given up on any possibility that the-spookiest-horse-I’ve-ever-met could turn into a brave partner.
But after reviewing his training journal, I started noticing a pattern.
Here’s a little background…. I’ve been riding and training horses for a few <cough> decades now. I’ve ridden with and taken lessons from trainers & coaches from all walks of life.
I am a perpetual student of horses and there has not been a day in my life that I’m not reading a horse training book, watching training videos or signing up for a clinic or course somewhere. I’ve also had the great privilege to spend more than a year taking 6+ lessons a week with undoubtedly the best eventing coach I’ve ever met. Nothing changed my eventing as much as that intensive year did.
A lot of riders are so “invested” in the method(s) they know, that they aren’t willing to try anything different. Not only will they not leave their comfort zone……some of them will absolutely crucify others practicing methods they aren’t familiar with. If you have ever ventured onto the forums…… the “haters” tend to be the most outspoken.
I’ve never been that person.
I’ll try just about anything once, and sometimes twice just to make sure………..
Being the completely & totally desperate brave soul that I am……… I ventured off in a different direction with Baby Seabiscuit…….
We took a field trip recently………….the last field trip he was blowing smoke out of both nostrils and doing his best pet dragon routine……….and that was AFTER lunging for 30 minutes.
This time……….
No lunging……….. no breathing smoke……….and no shenanigans.
Bad Eventer calls that a huge success.
I’m still…………..surprised………. I really didn’t think you could teach a horse to “remain calm” in any other manner than familiarization, desensitization and obedience.
Here’s the typical approach. Your horse is scared of the flower pot. So circle it, or approach it, or ride past it until he gets over it. Eventually he decides it’s not scary from persistence or boredom…….. Or your basics are JUST SO GOOD that when he wants to spook at the flower pot you tell him to go straight instead…..and he does.
Have YOU ever owned THAT horse? Not me. I’ve NEVER owned that horse, the one that was so obedient his willingness over came his terror of the horse-flesh-eating-monsters hiding in the flower pot.
Needless to say that approach didn’t work with Baby Seabiscuit.
I had to find a way for him to WANT to be calm. For him to TRY to be calm. So I started rewarding relaxation……………and a month later……………
He’s like a different horse.
So………….I’m officially coming out of the closet……….
It’s called reward reinforcement……….. also known as………. clicker training.
Well… At least it worked! I'm sure your persistence will totally pay off, and the pics from today look like it is already 🙂
Excellent! So excited for you. You can also use it to train self carriage and relaxation in dressage too! You're awesome. Thanks for sharing. You shouldn't think of it as coming out of the closet (although it's super funny!), but rather that you are cutting edge. – Sarah Goodyear
I'm an out-of-the-closet clicker person myself. Clicker training has been tremendously helpful in teaching my 9/10 hotness, all snort-and-blow-all-the-time, frighteningly intelligent, halter-bred Arabian gelding with a penchant for recreational spooking, how to be a functional member of society. It's amazing *rolls eyes* how well he can control his fear if he knows he can make me click. Operant Conditioning (clicker training) is valid science that works on all animals, including humans. Clicker training is a scientifically-valid training modality. It is not the only tool in my training tool box, but it is a very helpful tool.
Can you share your references for clicker-training guidance? I would be VERY interested in learning this technique to teach a horse to be less spooky! I want all the possible tools!! 🙂
Hi! The cool thing about clicker training/operant conditioning it is very inexpensive. All you need is a clicker from PetSmart (approx. $2.50), whistle, or ball point pen or the like, and whatever treat the animal likes (teaspoons of grain, stale Cheerios, diced carrots, ect.). Because clicker training is based upon good, solid science, dog clicker training books from your local library will work just fine. These are some links that helped me a lot. http://www.clickertraining.com/horsetraining http://www.equineclickertraining.com/ http://www.theclickercenter.com/
Karen Pryor's classic "Don't Shoot the Dog" is a quick, easy introduction into clicker training/operant conditioning for all animals including humans. I've had very good success using her techniques of operant conditioning on difficult co-workers and relatives. The great thing about clicker training is that it eliminates ambiguity. The clicker is the sound-marker that tells the horse precisely that he or she just did what you wanted. The treat is the reinforcer-reward. Best of luck, Amber
Thank you so much, Amber!
I am well aquainted with operant conditioning, and your links provided great leads to the information to help fill the gap between conditioning theory and *how* that is implemented with the clicker! During my reading (of which there is much more to come!), I discovered that the "YES!" vocalization I use while riding is very much along the lines of clicker training theory; "yes" being the marker, but lacking any reward other than neutral riding. I actually found the dog training tips most helpful! I look forward to learning more about this technique and incorporating it into my riding!
My favorite resources so far are http://www.on-target-training.com/ http://connectiontraining.com/ Shawna has tons of videos on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_V64iUnc6Y She has a 6 part de-pooking series, and her other training resource Connection training (Shawna & Hannah) have a HUGE despooking series with ~50 videos.
I went to see some of shawnas videos and now i am clicking away too. it is so efficient with my touchy grouchy mare who has had a lot of bad experiences with hard riding. 😀
I love that video, so so much. He looks fantastic! He's come such a long way – good for you for figuring out what worked!!!
Hah hah! That's great!!! I'm so happy for you! Huzzah for one more effective tool in your toolbox!
Clicker training is nothing to be ashamed of- if your implementation is good it works very, very well. Got my crazy girl to turn around 🙂
If you haven't already found her, Alex Kurland is amazing, one of the best clinicians I've ever seen. I don't know what part of the country you're in but she travels all over so you can probably find her, http://www.theclickercenter.com.
I wish you'd post a detailed blog on all your little desensitization tricks! You make me wanna move to texas and ride with you!
I can certainly do that…………………….will have to see if I have enough photos to make it ENTERTAINING…………
I was wondering if you ever posted examples of using clicker training to reward calm behavior……
Here's a blog I did on it. http://badeventer.blogspot.com/2014/06/despooking-with-baby-seabiscuit-in-few.html
I was wondering more about specific clicker exercises….is that there? Sorry if Im being daft. Thanks.
The "head down" exercise (there's 2 gifs and a longer video) was definitely where we started. Unfortunately watching (& describing) clicker training is very much a relative to watching paint dry…….. as in…..not very entertaining. Perhaps I should start a blog about clicker training that would be OH-SO-BORING, as step-by-step-reward-based-reinforcement often is, but would provide all those details inquiring minds have been asking for .What do you think? Does Bad Eventer need a blog about Bad Clicker Training??