Horses Love Clicker Training

There are times when I am working with him that I can see the wheels turning in his head. You can tell that he
is really thinking and trying to understand.

The other wonderful thing about using clicker training with your horse is that it teaches them how to learn. They
will actually get a longer attention span. They will begin to try and figure out what you are asking them. They will
begin to look forward to the training sessions.

It is not uncommon for me to be working with one horse in the barn and my other horse is in his stall "talking" to
me. It is like they are saying, "Hey, when is it my turn? I can do that too."

My horses really enjoy clicker training. It makes training so much more fun and easy. Before clicker training, it
was not uncommon for me to be a little frustrated trying to get my horse to understand or cooperate. That is no
longer a problem.

Another thing to keep in mind is that one horse will learn by watching another horse.

For instance, my horse, Que, was never real crazy about tricks that involved putting something in his mouth.
That is until Traveller came along. Traveller loves to put things in his mouth (sometimes a little too much). After
seeing Traveller pick up a cone, suddenly, Que wanted to pick it up too. I didn't even ask him to do it. I had
given up a while ago and decided that he just didn't want to do it (he would do it, but always acted like he didn't
like it). Then, one day after seeing Traveller pick up a cone and toss it, Que came out during his training time
and picked it up without being asked.

Unfotunately, I don't have that day on video. But, I did find this video about a horse and a dog having fun with
clicker training and learning from each other.

I hope you enjoy it.

The same training principles can work with horses
and other animals. I actually started using clicker
training with my horses after becoming a dog
trainer. When I saw how well it worked with my
dogs, I started using it with my horse.

At the time, Que had just become injured and was
not able to be ridden for a while. I noticed that he
was becoming cranky and seemed depressed.
So, to have something to do besides just groom
him, I decided to start using the clicker training to
give us something to do together.

I was amazed at how quickly he caught on. And,
the amount of things I could get him to do. His
attitude got better and he seemed to be more
interested in me again. I would go so far as to say
that clicker training increased the bond that Que
and I already had. It was a whole new level of
communication between us.