How is Clicker Training Different then “Whoa”?

I try to address Vic’s question regarding positive reinforcement training and training “Whoa”.  It is a basic question and it may be very helpful for those that are unfamiliar with how it all fits together.

QUESTION:  What does your training do that teaching the command “whoa” does not?

RESPONSE:  Hi Vic and thank you for the opportunity to address your question.  The training, which is based in proven behavior principles, teaches a horse so much more than “Whoa” that it is hard to even know where to begin.  I imagine you are talking about the sound of the clicker vs the entire training.  Depending on how it is trained, generally “Whoa” asks them to stop.  While the clicker does end a behavior, more importantly, it tells them they have done something correctly and have earned some sort of a reward.  It is a “Yes” signal.    The click also draws attention to a particular moment in time.  They remember what earns them the click.  So, if I like a canter depart or a flying lead change I can draw attention to that particular action.  I may not be able to deliver a reward at that point in time but I can bookmark that moment in time.  Technically speaking, the sound of the clicker is called a “bridge signal”.  This is because it bridges the moments between the correct behavior and the and the moment when I can deliver a positive reinforcement.   Another example of the clicker at work happened with a women who was teaching her filly to lift her legs.  She had the idea to use carrots as a reinforcement when she was good.  She did not use a bridge signal (the clicker).  Instead she just fed when she was done holding her leg up.  The women reported that her horse seemed to be pulling her leg out of her hand and placing it back on the ground.  I asked what her horse was doing when she got her carrot.  She told me that it was when her leg was back on the ground.  The horse had made the association that her foot back on the ground equals reward.  We fixed the problem by introducing the clicker into the equation.  That way she could click when her foot was in her hand and communicate that this is the behavior that has earned the reward.  I think it is important to note that she was still feeding the filly when her foot was on the ground but she now had a way to communicate which part of that equation she was rewarding.  She quickly and easily changed the behavior.  Better yet, she opened up a new way to communicate with her filly.  I hope this answers your question an clears things up a bit.  If you have more questions please let me know.   This barely scratches the surface.   If you would like to learn more about positive reinforcement training there is a lot more information and even some video sessions on this blog.  A good place to start might be a clip that Rick Lamb did for his television show.  If you are interested you may go to this link:  http://shawnakarrasch.com/blog/2011/11/08/the-horse-show-with-rick-lamb-2/ or enter “Rick Lamb” on the blog’s search bar.

Horse Bucking at the Canter Transition

In this video I address Vicky’s question about her horse who has been bucking when transitioning from trot to canter. I posted this to You Tube back in November. Then the holidays and moving took over my life. So, now I am getting this posted here on my Blog. Often times I film these short clips and realize I have not addressed some important points. I then pair the video up with the written part of the post which will address some of these issue. But I think this one pretty much covers it. However, I did get a question posted on FB the other day that is addressing bucking with the flying lead change. They are slightly different scenarios but the underlying issues are the same, bucking during a transition. I am going to post the question and response so you can get another case scenario. After all, the more information you have the better equipped you will be to think on your feet when an issue arises.

Something to keep in mind…Bucking can also be a way your horse communicates that he is in pain or having discomfort so be sure to eliminate any possible physical causes for this behavior before you address it through training. Once he has a clean bill of health you are ready to proceed. However, let’s say your horse had a physical cause for his bucking. Maybe he had an injury or an ill fitting saddle. So, you do what it takes to remedy the situation. Just because the pain has gone away doesn’t necessarily mean the bucking will go away. He may still remember the pain and associate it with a particular activity and continue to avoid that activity. You will probably still have to address it from a behavioral stand point. That being said, let’s get to Shari and Vicky’s questions.

QUESTION: How do you respond when your horse does something really good, you click, but before you reward him he does something really bad? For example: teaching a flying lead change. He does it perfect for the first time, you click, then he starts bucking. Would you still reward? Would you ignore it all together and try again? Or something else?

ANSWER: Hi Shari, That is a really good question. I would not recommend rewarding him for the behavior. Granted you clicked, which is drawing attention to the target behavior but you don’t want him to inadvertently associate the unwanted behavior with the reward. It could turn into what is called a “superstitious behavior” which means he may think it is part of the whole chain.

I would try to make a mental note of when the unwanted behavior happens. I would look for an opportunity to draw attention to that behavior in another circumstance. For example: go back to the simple change and click when he settles after the change to the new lead. I know he probably doesn’t have a problem with this behavior during the simple change, but it will help to build a reinforcement history with this part of the behavior. We want to teach him that relaxation is an important part of the criteria for reinforcement. This will help him to relax and settle as soon as the change is done since this is when the click/reinforcement happens.

Now, let’s say that he keeps being too excited after the flying change. In that case I would suggest not drawing attention to the actual change itself but instead once he settles after the change.

I hope this helps clear things up a bit. If you have more questions please don’t hesitate. I have some other tools to use under saddle that I will address in the next tele-seminar. It is just too much writing to discuss here! Please keep me posted on your progress.

A Thought About Tom Dorrance

I posted this comment about Tom Dorrance in a group discussion but thought I would share it here too. He was a man who influenced many a horse trainer!

When I was still at Sea World and looking into horse training and realized it was WAY different than what I knew as animal training, I read an article about a man named Tom Dorrance.

I hadn’t started riding yet. I was still researching the subject. I couldn’t figure out why no one in the horse world was using positive reinforcement. So, I called this man. We talked on the phone for a while about horses and marine mammal training. Tom was quite open to the idea of incorporating positive reinforcement into horse training. He invited me to come to his farm. He sent me a signed copy of his book True Unity. I was still just looking and trying to figure things out. I was entrenched in my Sea World career so I didn’t take him up on his offer. I didn’t really know much about the man or the cowboy mentality at the time but he was never condescending or dismissive. He was soft, kind and open to a new method. He certainly didn’t fit the stereo type. It doesn’t seem to me that the trainers that have studied under him have that same quality about them that I heard on the phone. Tom was unique. He really seemed to be a gentle soul who cared about the horse’s well being. If there was possibly a better way to train a horse, he was eager to learn about it with an open mind. I applaud his spirit.

The Horse Show with Rick Lamb

This was featured on The Horse Show with Rick Lamb (RFD-TV and Rural TV in Europe). It ws great fun and Rick was a natural with Mint and free jumping. He did great with the clicker training and he is not too bad at the interview either! Rick is curious and always learning so it made it a ton of fun. I received a lot of great feedback and requests to post it here on my blog. So if you haven’t had a chance to view it, well, now you can. Mint seemed to have fun…He always does. Enjoy!! As usaual, I love comments or questions.

Ask Shawna: “Dropping” While Clicker Training

Okay, I guess I’ll go there! I have seen (and heard of) horses who “drop” during positive reinforcement training sessions. I have tried to find out what other “clicker trainers” have noticed in regards to this behavior and no one really seems to address the subject so I thought “someone should!” I got an Ask Shawna question about a gelding just before I released a short video series on de-Spooking your horse. William, the horse who is featured in this de-spooking exercise has dropped. Actually,he has more of an erection. It is not sustained and everything…well…goes back to normal. I thought the timing of this question was fortuitous. It is a good time to address the subject. Then I received a comment/question about William’s “willie”. Horses dropping during clicker training is the exception and not the rule. I know that dropping is an indication that your horse is relaxed. Okay, so what does the erection mean? I don’t know! I got to say I don’t really care for this behavior but sometimes I don’t even notice at first. Let’s get to the questions and I’ll elaborate as we go.

Question #1:(Cara)
“Hi Shawna,
I was so excited to learn about your website and your new video series yesterday. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s release!
I do have a question. I’ve been clicker training my horses for several years and love it. I do have one horse that concerns me. He’s a big Arabian gelding that I’ve had since birth. He was gelded right at a year old. He’s a very, very smart horse and also very playful.
My concern is he gets really excited during clicker sessions to the point that he is nickering a lot and even dropping out of his sheath. Usually I just stop when he gets to this point because I’m not sure what it might escalate into. He just started this really excited behaviour about a couple of years ago and he’s 13 now. Because of one thing and another he’s been mainly a pasture pet his whole life. He doesn’t get worked with daily or even weekly but I’m wanting to do more with him. He’s not studdish in general other than this. Even around mares he couldn’t care less. Anyway, can you PLEASE tell me how to handle this behaviour?”

It is funny, I have seen it in geldings but never in stallions. I haven’t even heard of it in stallions (that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened) I haven’t even seen it in studly geldings. That makes me wonder the origin of the behavior. Anyway, I had a horse who would sometimes drop and occasionally have an erection. This was so long ago (17 years) that the clicker training community was not in existence and there was no one else to confer with.

I had never seen this in any of the horses I had worked so I assumed it was an isolated case. I would do demonstrations in front of hundreds of people at expos and I didn’t really want this to be a part of my demonstration. Me, being the trainer that I am, decided I would address it with behavior modification.

I used three tools to manage his dropping/erection behavior. First, my big criteria for all sessions is an attentive and responsive horse. I want the sessions to feel like a 50/50 interaction with the horse as involved as I am. I want to see him trying and putting out energy when I ask for a behavior that requires energy and watching patienly all the while. My horse, Hershey (he is in my book and original DVD from way back when) would give me a pretty big clue that things were askew. His focus and energy would fall below the criteria I felt was acceptable. I wasn’t going to beg him to participate, therefore I would put him home. My horses know this means they have lost the opportunity continue this session. This has proven to be quite effective. I would then go back in about 10 minutes and try again. They usually returned to the sessions fully focused and ready to go. The decision to take him home was based on attitude and not the act of dropping. But these two things often go hand in hand. This helped quite a bit. This was tool #1.

Pretty soon I recognized that when he was starting to drop it was because of his focus. This leads to tool #2. I would ask him to trot off to another area, in a cirlce or even just a few steps. As soon as he decided to trot he drew himself back up. I had to focus on teaching this bright response to trot with a high ratio of reinforcement for a while. But this worked great for preventing this awkward behavior. Preventing is always easier than correcting. Tool #3 was to draw attention to the times when he was doing something requiring low energy without dropping. These three things really helped to manage this behavior.

So Cara, If he gives you any indication he is getting wound up(it could be that he nickers before he drops) I would address it with one of the first two tools.. Try to prevent it by moving onto a higher energy behavior. If he loses focus put him home or leave the paddock. This will take little bit for him to recognize that you are ending the session and then to figure out why. So you need to be consistent…very important! Plus you have to be paying attention to the little nuances if you can detect them, if you can’t than keep an eye on “things”. The third tool is more of an add-on. I feel it is a little muddled and may not be as clear for them. I hope this gave you some ideas. I have limited experience with this problem but this is what has worked for me…now onto William…

Question #2:(Valerie)
“Am I the only one who noticed this horse has dropped. My first reaction is to think, he is sedated…but he doesn’t’ act sedated. I would have liked to have seen Jen mounting the horse. Now, he is walking but still dropped. What is that all about? Ok now he is t rotting and has pulled up! It did have me concerned when this video started but I do look for minute details in everything. I wish I knew about this training with the horse I had years ago. This William horse has the most amazing markings! He looks as though he has star bursts on him. I have ordered Shawna’s book and am eagerly awaiting it. I will be taking the clicker training method out of the paddock in the next few days…weather conditions pending…thanks so much for these great and simple techniques!”

I am really glad that you brought this up. He is not sedated. William drops quite often, somtimes partially sometimes all the way, It doesn’t seem to have a pattern that I can tell. He has done it a couple times in our relatively small number of sessions. I am still getting to know William and figuring out what is “normal” for him. Another thing is he isn’t my horse so I don’t work with him consistently. In this video clip, when I am asking him to come forward and he doesn’t really move at first…That will be a red flag for me from now on. I couldn’t see what was going on down below so I didn’t put the two together. I thought he was just being a little apprehensive because of the milk jugs. Now I can start to recognize this type of behavior and double check. If he has dropped and has choses not to respond I will ask him to do a new higher energy behavior which does not seem so compatible with dropping. I will have to build a strong reinforcment history with this behvior when he is not dropped and is more apt to give me the correct resonse. Ultimately, he will have a decision to make, stand here unresponsive or put it away and trot on with me. The early stage is when I might need to put him home if he chooses to remain unresponsive. After a few trips home he will get the idea. With the correct training he will decide that the trotting on is the more rewarding of the two behaviors. Down the road he will readily move on and kind of break the habit and it will turn into more of a non-issue. Well, I certainly don’t have all the answers to this situation but I am sharing what has worked for me so far. I hope this helps!!

Is Your Horse Trustworthy?

I am so pleased with all the interest in the De-spooking video series. I know you are on your way to great success and it will result in a more confident horse. If you haven’t had a chance to check out these complimentary videos, go here now:

CLICK HERE: Is Your Horse Trustworthy?

In the first video I work with Lucky Jack to demonstrate the basics. In the next video I move to ground work with William. I switched horses because William already knew the early part of the training and I really wanted you to see how to teach these manners with a brand new horse. After all, that is probably more what you will experience with your horse. I knew William would be more reactive to the ground work so I wanted to work through the more challenging lessons with him. So stay tuned.

Video 2 – Ground Work will be posted tomorrow, September 29. I would really love to hear your thoughts or questions as you follow along. Also, if you know of someone who may be interested in teaching their horse to be bolder and more confident please pass this on to them! If you haven’t had a chance to watch yet you can still join in. Just go to the link above.

And a big “Thank You” to you for tuning in. Pretty soon you are going to have yourself a trustworthy horse….what could feel better than that?

Remember, enjoy getting your horse On Target!!

Shawna

An Update and Important News!!

I have missed being in touch with you and working on the Blog! I love answering the Ask Shawna questions so I am feeling a little out of sorts. But… I have been working a a couple projects that I am really excited about! There is just not enough time in the day.

Keep Asking Shawna!

I have been getting some great questions in the past few weeks. I have resumed filming the answers and I am going to try to get a bunch of them out in the next couple weeks so I can get caught up a bit. I try to be as timely as possible but due to the nature of the technology there is always a lag time in getting them posted. This drives me crazy since I excitedly answer the questions in my head as soon as I read them. I don't want to wait the time it takes to get them posted. It's funny I am so patient with the animals but can be so impatient when it comes to other stuff!

FREE VIDEOS!!!

Over the next week or so I am also going to be sending out some FREE video content. It is a three-part series that addresses de-spooking your horse. This exercise will help your horse to remain calm in new situations. As a result your horse will become much more trustworthy! I know you are going to be tickled with your horses’ progress when you are done, so keep an eye on your email if you are signed up for news from me. If not please go to the box in the corner. Enter you name and email address….You are not quite done yet, be sure to check your email account for a confirmation, click the link and your done! Then you will receive the free video series on de-spooking your horse! If you know someone who has an issue with spookiness or shying please feel free to share.

As always, enjoy getting your horse On Target!!

P.S. - Many of you have asked about Bugs and Mint: they are doing great. Bugs has been working on his flying changes. We have been going slow since he is eager to do his new behavior. He really is enthusiastic and seems like he wants to please. He was anticipating a change of lead as I would come to a jump on the diagonal so we are working on him waiting until he is asked. Counter bending and counter canter seem to be helping Bugs to pay attention. He is doing great and has a stellar attitude.

Ask Shawna Answer: Picking a Trainer for your Young Horse

Okay, I almost called this “Traditional Training vs. Clicker Training.” The verses part of the title didn’t really appeal to me but unfortunately people often think that it has to be one or the other. This is obviosly a multi-layered question.

When I was at Sea World we only used positive reinforcement training. Then as I looked into horses I realized only removal reinforcement was used. My goal has always been to integrate the two principles to maximize our effectiveness as horse trainers.

The question sent into me really was in regards of how to work with a trainer who prefers to use only traditional training, and how to balance out the equation once the horse is started. I address that in the video clip (below) but found my mind kept going to the bigger picture. The good news is that positive reinforcement training can easily be adapted to any training program. The methods don’t compete but instead complement one another. As the training moves along you will find that you will probably use less of the traditional training aids. That is because your horse will be much more alert and responsive. Your horse will be looking forward to the interactions and will be more involved in the training process.

It is not always easy to find good trainers regardless of their disciline or method. Here are some things to watch for as you consider a trainer for your horse. Do the horses that the trainer is working seem to be comfortable and relaxed with their handlers or riders while they are engaged in work? Do they seem bright and eager or are their ears pinned? Do they have a crabby or fearful demeanor, or instead do they have a soft expression? Watch more than one horse to get an overall feeling. Talk to the other owners who have their horses in training. Have they seen good progress? Do you understand what is being asked of the horses or ask the trainer as he/she is working with the horses. You will ultimately be the one handling/riding your horse and that means you will need to understand how to implement the training as well. You will be dealing with the work ethic that is established by the trainer that you choose to start your horse.

As we learn about horses and how to handle them, it is really important to have a knowlegable trainer to turn to when you have questons. There are some great trainers out there but unfortunately, there are also some not-so-great trainers out there too. The horses will really tell the story. Trust your gut feelings and I encourage you to continue to learn about behavior principles. These proven principles are at play whether you are aware of them or not. The more you know the better you will be able to guide you horse through his journey. I will always be here to help as well!! Please keep me posted.

A Little About Me (let’s call it my mission statement!)

I am a former Sea World animal trainer (whales, dolphins, sea lions) who took these techniques and introduced them to the equestrian world. A degree in psychology is not required to train animals. It is, however, helpful. All of the work we do as animal trainers (with horses too) is based in psychology. Whether we are aware of it or not. The more you understand about these proven priciples the better you are as a trainer. That is the focus of my training is helping people to gain a better understanding of behavioral psychology and the benefits of positive reinforcement in regards to horse training. I chose to make the move to horses partly due to the lack of positive reinforcement being used with horses. I recognized that horses were not trained the same as the marine mammals. I also saw that the training we implemented at Sea World would be a huge asset to the horse world. A lot of horse people, including professionals, don’t know much about the proven principles of behavioral psychology. So I see a bigger need in helping horse folk to further understand the principles that govern the relationships we build with our horses.. It is really fun to see the light come on!!

Horses in the Morning: Plodder vs. Bully

Listen in to the show and learn about how to encourage your horse to become an A student! I share about both Mint and Bugs’ personalities and progress of On Target Training and how we overcame distraction and disinterest and developed an motivating, successful and positive session every time. Click here for the link to the show!

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