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Book

BUY THE BOOK!

Working with Wild Horses
Second (Improved) Edition
A Handbook of
Gentling and Training Tips
By Nancy Kerson

Paperback $22 or
Downloadable E-Book $7.50

For more information about the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Program, please call (866) 4MUSTANGS or Click HERE

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OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN
WILD HORSE GENTLING:

Clicker Training is a form of "operant conditioning" or "behavior modification" in which a horse learns to perform a set behavior, by being rewarded for correct response. Punishment is never used. The reward is withheld until the horse does the thing asked, but no punishment is issued if the horse does not respond correctly.

Clicker training was first developed for training dolphins and whales. It is now widely used for dogs and horses. Alexandra Kurland and Shawna Karrasch are some of the most well-known proponents of Clicker Training for horses. (See bottom of this page for links to their books) Because Clicker Training involves an immediate reward, many people report positive results using it to work with fearful horses.

Since there is a small lag between the time the horse responds correctly and the human's ability to produce the food reward, the SOUND of the CLICKER is used to instantly reinforce - via the clicker's unique sound - that this is the exact behavior being rewarded.

Before Clicker Training can be used for anything truly useful, you have to teach your horse, and yourself (it takes more coordination than you might think!) how it works. This is done by training the horse to touch a target object. It helps at first to work with another person - one person holds the object and the other holds the clicker. Either one can hold the "reward" treats. Here Michael and another LRTC member work with one of the Olympic Wild Horses
1. Show Target. Say "Touch It"	2. Horse Responds (perhaps randomly at first, but that's okay)
3. CLICK the clicker to emphasize that this is the desired response	4. REWARD: feed a carrot (or other treat)
Once this is mastered, you can go on to teaching useful things, like backing up, bowing, leading, lifting a foot, accepting a halter, standing to be brushed - really just about anything. Just break the task down into tiny parts, and teach each one before going to the next.

since 4-28-2006

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Disclaimer: Horses are inherently dangerous. Use the information contained within this website at your own risk.

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