Contents:
Poisoned Cues

Poisoned Cues Postscript

Microshaping: Learning to See the Smallest Try
What is Clicker Training?

Microshaping and Clinic Report

Pantomimes

More on Microshaping

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Poisoned Cues

by Alexandra Kurland

copyright 2008

I just got back from the LA Clicker expo - what a great gathering. Before I share a few Expo highlights I want to take a moment to thank all of you who kept the conversation going for the last couple of weeks while I've been focused on other projects. I want to especially thank Katie. Your posts have been wonderful - as always. Also, thank you, Jane Jackson, for the wonderful email you sent last week about the Overcoming Fear DVD. It came into my in-box just as I was leaving town. I loved your post, and I didn't want you to think it had gone unnoticed. Thank you for sharing your experience here on the list.

You wrote:
"And as I held the blanket for her to sniff the first time, I had an instant flash of the Overcoming Fear DVD and I knew exactly the path I would take!"

That's exactly what I hope these DVDs do for people.

Cues: Poisoned and Otherwise
On to the Expo. It was as always a tremendous gathering. I got to sit in on Kathy Sdao's new cues lecture which was a superb presentation. It built beautifully into what was for me the standout presentation of the Expo, Jesus Rosales-Ruiz's talk on Poisoned Cues. I wish everyone who has horses, dogs, small children, coworkers, family members, neighbors - basically everyone, could see this talk. It is so important for us to understand the emotional fallout that is created when we have ambiguous consequences.

What do I mean by that, and what is a poisoned cue? I've written many times on this subject because so many of our horses live in a world of poisoned cues. We need, for their sake, to understand what this means. The poisoned cue lecture hasn't been on the Expo program for a year or two. It's back on the schedule this year and even more compelling than before. JRR has added some very powerful new video, and some new research that adds even more depth to his earlier findings.

So here goes with a brief description. Remember please that I'm a bit jet lagged. Hopefully, I'll get the details down in a semi-clear fashion.

JRR began his talk by making a distinction between cues, commands and poisoned cues.

A cue is established through positive reinforcement. Here's an easy example to describe what this means. Suppose you are teaching a puppy to come. At the stage where you are attaching a cue, you say "come". The puppy comes. Click, it gets a treat. The cue "Come" becomes associated with a happy outcome for the puppy. Over time it becomes a reliable predictor of good things.

That means you can use the cue to shape other behaviors. The behavior that occurs immediately before the "come" cue will also be reinforced. So one of the things JRR was stressing is how important it is to look beyond the target behavior. If this doesn't make sense, I'll be explaining it a bit more when I describe some of the video clips JRR showed.

A command is different from a cue. A command is trained with negative consequences. It is taught with "do it or else" enforcement. In other words, the animal really doesn't have a choice. It's come or else for the puppy.

So the question that Karen Pryor originally posed when she first wrote about poisoned cues was what happens when a stimulus has as its possible outcome either a positive or a negative consequence? In other words, what happens if the original "come" cue doesn't just mean fun things are about to happen. Suppose you give the cue and the puppy doesn't respond right away. It's a bit distracted, so you give it a little leash pop and drag the puppy over to you. Now the cue becomes ambiguous in terms of outcome. The puppy may get a click and a treat. But he may also get a leash pop. What, if any, difference does that make to him?

The Poisoned Cue Study
That was exactly the procedure JRR and one of his students from the University of North Texas used to examine the effect of poisoned cues. The laboratory for this study was a small office in the student's house. The room had a tiled floor. The grid the tiles formed made it especially easy to measure response times in the dog. The dog was taught two "come" signals. The first, "Ven", was taught with positive reinforcement only, and throughout all the video clips you saw an eager, happy, responsive dog.

The other signal, "Punir" also meant come, but it was the poisoned cue. During the learning, if the dog did not respond within three seconds, the lead was used to drag him over to his handler. The correction was not harsh. In fact many people who watch these videos have stated that no real aversive stimulus was applied. They were expecting strong leash pops at the very least. Dragging dogs around is so normal, they don't think of this as a harsh correction, but the response of the dog clearly indicated that being dragged was aversive.

The change in his body language, the change in his behavior was so dramatic. This is what I wish everyone could see. JRR showed one video clip showing an early teaching stage of "ven" and "punir". In "ven" it was easy. The dog got his treat, and then the handler stepped three tiles away and gave the cue again. The dog went directly over to her, click and treat.

In "punir" the handler had trouble getting far enough away from the dog. He clung to her, staying within a three tile radius which effectively meant she could not give the "punir" signal. And the happy, bright body posture was gone. His head was down, his tail was not active. He was clearly an anxious dog.

And that's one of the important points with poisoned cues. The ambiguous outcome creates anxiety, and the anxiety is selected along with the target behavior that you think you're training.

JRR gave the example of your supervisor at work calling you into his office to give you some feedback on the project you're working on. You don't know if you are about to be told you're doing an outstanding job and you'll be getting a bonus, or if you're going to be berated for some oversight. You can be called in to hear nothing but good things twenty times in a row, but if even once in the past you were criticized for a poor performance, there will be a knot in your stomach as you walk towards his office door. Being called into his office has become a poisoned cue. For some of you just reading this sentence will cause a tightening in your breath, an unpleasant tension in the pit of your stomach. It's just words on the page, but they can still trigger an emotional reaction.

Shaping with Poisoned Cues
I think one of the most compelling sets of video clips that JRR showed was the dog's response when they were using the "ven" and "punir" cues to shape behavior. An X was placed on one of the tiles. In the first video clip, anytime the dog walked over the X tile, the "ven" cue was given. What you saw was the dog wandering around the room and by chance walking over the X square. Instead of clicking, the handler said "ven". The dog responded by immediately going over to her, click and treat. It took just a couple of repetitions for him to learn the new behavior. He would get his treat and then return promptly back to the X tile. Again instead of clicking this new behavior, the handler said "ven" and the dog went straight over to her. Click and treat. It was a lovely demonstration of a cue being used to reinforce the previous behavior.

In the "punir" video clip, the dog found the x tile, heard the "punir" cue, went over to the handler and got his treat, but then wandered around the room before returning to the "hot" tile. This response was very consistent. In the "ven" trials, the dog learned promptly and performed the new behavior reliably. In the "punir" trial the dog continued to offer other behaviors before returning to the x tile. And his body language again was much more subdued and unhappy in its appearance than when the "ven" cue was being used.

There was much more to this study. I'm just giving you the edited highlights. That original study was done several years ago now, and, of course, lots of people have looked at it and raised questions about it. They wanted JRR to repeat the experiment, but neither he nor his students wanted to subject another dog to the effects of the poisoned cue. So instead they started looking at poisoned cues which already existed. He showed some very powerful video clips of a dog for whom the leash had become a poisoned cue.

In one of the video clips the dog was interacting with his owner and the researcher. The dog was at home in his backyard, and the owner's second dog was also present. The researcher was calling the leash-phobic dog over to her. He would leave his canine companion and come over to her - as long as the leash was in the house. If it was anywhere in sight - in her hand, on the ground, up on the deck - his response time dropped off dramatically and his stress behaviors clearly increased.

Conclusions: Poisoned Cues and the Real World
So here were some of the conclusions from these studies: Ambiguity is a problem. Having it both ways is a problem. When you actively correct errors, even though you are positively reinforcing correct responses, the result will be a poisoned cue. It no longer has an unambiguous meaning. The dogs in these studies showed that there is a very definite emotional cost when this occurs.

We have all experienced the poisoned cue effect. JRR sited the most common example of all - your own name. When you father called you, did your name always mean good things were going to happen? No, there were no doubt times your name meant you were in trouble. Again, just reading those words may trigger an emotional response as you recall memories from your childhood. Wouldn't it be wonderful if instead of the ambiguous consequences, your name had always been connected to a smile?

Here's another poisoned cue example: how comfortable are you making suggestions at work? Do you feel as though you are on a supportive team where it is safe to put forth ideas? Or do you feel as though you are taking a risk, that you may be shot down, or criticized if you speak up? What does that do to your eagerness to contribute? Look around you at work. Why do some individuals hold back, always keeping their suggestions to themselves. You know they have good ideas to share, but they never volunteer them without a little prodding. Could it be because they don't feel safe, that the possibility of criticism has created a poisoned-cue dampening of behavior?

Here's another example, one that matters very much to us here on this list. I encounter people at clinics who have wonderful clicker stories to share. I encourage them to share those stories on this and the other clicker lists. They tell me they are reluctant to write anything. They worry about putting themselves forward because they aren't an "expert".

I tell them we are all experts on our own experience. I am always so appreciative of the people who post about their clicker training experiences, both the glitches and the successes. We all benefit from these stories.

Posting to the List
Part of the reason that I don't post on a frequent basis is because I truly don't have the time or the energy. When I am at a clinic all my focus is with that group. There's nothing left over for keeping up with the list. At times that is frustrating for me because I am often ducking out in the middle of a conversation. But that's actually a good thing because it opens up a space for others to step in and respond. I don't want people thinking, "I went through exactly what this person is asking about, but, I don't need to post anything because Alex will answer."

In all likelihood, I'm either immersed in another DVD or I'm off at a clinic, and I won't be posting anything for a week or two. So I am always appreciative of the people who step in to answer questions and to share stories. Not only does that mean the question is being fielded, but very often the person answering is in a much better position than I am to take on the question. Who better to write about a horse who has gotten a little stuck and has no energy than the people who have had horses just like this and worked through the problem. They are the real experts on this question. Their experience means more than any any general theory posts I could write. If you're struggling with a horse and there's no light visible at the end of the tunnel, it's so much more reassuring to hear that people just like yourself were able to solve the problem. It wasn't some "expert" who fixed the horse or who got this training to work. It was someone just like yourself. Now that's a powerful message.

So it is important to me that people feel safe sharing on this list. And yet at clinics, when I'm chatting with people, encouraging them to post, I hear over and over again their reluctance. Sharing on line doesn't feel safe. Maybe they've posted on some list in the past and people went after them, criticizing what they were doing with their horse. Or maybe they've seen somebody else post what looked like a harmless message only to be pounced on by the resident "experts". Now posting seems to them akin to swimming in shark infested waters.

We need to look at this. As clicker trainers we are very much outside the mainstream attitude towards horses. I know many of the people on this list meet with daily criticism and derision in the barns where they keep their horses. They are living in an environment of poisoned cues. They do not feel safe and supported within their home barn, so it is all the more important that the community that we are creating here on line is one where everyone feels safe.

When we are posting, it is important to remember that we are not just addressing the one or two people mentioned in our post, but we are writing to everyone reading the list. When you are writing to the list, either seeking information, responding to a question, or offering thanks and appreciation, it is good to think not just of the person you are talking to, but to all the others who are eavesdropping in on the conversation. While we're learning to shape our horse's behavior, we also need to find ways of shaping the behavior we would love to see here on this list. I want to encourage lots of people to participate. I want to know what people are doing with their horses. I want to read about their successes and share in their questions. For that to happen people need to feel safe posting.

(Editor's note: This next section refers to a very uncharacteristic event on a clicker training list.  One of the members of the list put some early training clips up of her new project horse and was very negatively criticised by another member of the list.  I was very surprised by the tone of the posts and felt I needed to step in.)

Am I being blunt enough?

Kim was good enough to send in three video clips of her project horse, Jackson. What followed was a discussion that quite frankly surprised me. I've watched Kim work, and I would have said her technique was solid. I wasn't able to watch the videos until I got home. When I saw them, I was even more puzzled. One of the things from this discussion that worries me is that people may start doubting their own technique. They'll look at Kim and be thinking, "if this is somehow wrong, then what I'm doing must be wrong too."

I've edited hundreds and hundreds of hours of video, much of that in slow motion. I've watched frame by frame the timing of I don't know how many clicks. What editing videos shows me is that mechanics absolutely do matter. Clumsy, inefficient movement, slow response times will frustrate horses. I saw none of those things with Kim.

Food Delivery
In a different talk, JRR looked at the effects of delays in feeding. But in his study, the delay meant the handler clicked, and then made no move into food delivery, in this case for five seconds. I've seen that in clinics. The handler will click and then turn to me to ask a question. I don't know about the horse, but it drives me crazy. "Feed the horse!" I'll tell them. "You can ask the question later, but first keep your promise to your horse. Give him the treat he's earned."

So yes, delays in food delivery matter. But what is a delay? If I click and make no move towards the food that is the kind of delay that matters most to the horse. That delay that will cause noticeable frustration and anxiety in the horse. If you click and fumble around in your pocket, fishing past your car keys and your gloves to find a piece of carrot, that inefficiency in your action can also cause frustration. Certain types of jacket pockets are a disaster for clicker training. It simply takes too long to get the treat out and a new learner will become frustrated. But if you click and your hand moves promptly to the treat pouch, if you then reach inside and in a smooth, fluid movement you get the food and extend your hand out to your horse, there is no delay. There is no inefficiency of movement that creates uncertainty in the horse. All your actions are saying that the treat is coming. The whole of that process is part of the reinforcement package.

The example I often give is that of a waiter at a restaurant bringing food out to your table. Watching the waiter come towards your table is part of the dining experience. The anticipation is part of the fun.

But what happens if the waiter stops to answer a question from another table. Now that's a delay in food delivery that may well cost him a good tip!

When I watched Kim's video clips I did not see delays in food delivery. In the first video clip, yes, there was a time gap between the click and the moment the food was in Jackson's mouth, but during that time, Jackson could see Kim reaching into her pocket for the treat. (Kim, I'm impressed, by the way, with your ability to hold a camera and train. How many hands do you have!) The camera angle kept us from seeing the whole story.

In the second video the camera was on a tripod so we could see a bigger picture of what was going on, and there clearly good food delivery technique was being used. Kim had an occasional little bobble. I know this happens to me, as well. You reach into your treat pocket and your fingers find too big a chunk of carrot so you fish past that to get to the hay stretcher pellets. It takes a brief moment longer than usual to get the treat. With Jackson, if that were happening each time Kim reached into her pocket, she might see his frustration mount, but clearly this was not happening. Her mechanics were smooth, clean, precise, and efficient. So rather than criticizing her technique I would say Kim was showing us is an example of good mechanics.

That's important information because it's all too easy to doubt yourself, especially when you are living in a punitive environment where people are trying to convince you that all that hand feeding is going to ruin your horse. So if you video tape yourself and it looks as though you are doing pretty much what Kim is doing in her video, instead of fretting over every little detail that you can find to criticize, congratulate yourself that you have figured out a huge chunk of good "t'ai chi" handling skills.

New Perspectives
In the discussions that emerged around Kim's video clips there were descriptions of different ways of starting horses out. This made me think of something else that was a huge standout for me from the Expo. We had several new presenters on the Expo faculty including Morton Egtvedt and Cecilie Koste from Norway. My schedule conflicted with theirs so I wasn't able to sit in on any of their talks, but I started to hear a buzz among the rest of the faculty. They were so excited. Morton and Cecilie, developing their clicker skills essentially in isolation in Norway, did things differently from the rest of us!

What particularly struck me was how excited everyone was by that. They didn't feel threatened. They didn't feel as though they had better go squash this heresy before it was too late. No, they could hardly wait to get to one of their presentations to see what they were doing. The buzz was one of excitement not alarm. Morton and Cecilie were offering us a new perspective to learn from.

In the final conference review at the end of the weekend Ken Ramirez showed - or attempted to show a video of beluga whales learning to blow bubble rings on cue. The point of this video was to share with people how much he had learned from the Clicker Expos, and to emphasize yet again how much in the five years that Karen Pryor has been running them the science of clicker training has expanded.

Ken had the beluga whale video on a DVD instead of in his computer, and the computer that was hooked into the screen projectors was rejecting the DVD. So Ken was stalling for time. He's a superb presenter. He handled what could have been an awkward end to the conference with great skill. He fleshed out the beluga whale story, adding extra details while they tried a second, then a third computer. When he had run out of things he could say about belugas and bubble rings, he switched to a different story - teaching management training to a group of circus performers. At the Expos Ken had learned about Tag Teach, so he was sharing the basics of that idea with them. They were skeptical. "No, no," he said. "With tagteach you could teach people to juggle." "Well, if that's the case," they responded, "we could teach you to juggle."

"No, I didn't mean me," Ken said. "I'm not coordinated. I just meant people in general." But they insisted, so Ken had a juggling lesson and within thirty minutes he was juggling like a pro. Well you can't tell a story like that and not demonstrate your talents. The chant went up from the audience: "We want to see. We want to see." We offered him a water bottle. "No, no, that's way too heavy. I could do it with tennis balls."

What was Ken thinking? He had a room full of dog trainers with their dogs. Of course there were tennis balls readily available, so Ken put on a demonstration of his juggling skills and they were truly impressive. He ended with a neat one handed flourish, at which point the computer decided to cooperate, and we were able to watch the beluga whales blow bubble rings.

At dinner later Ken said it never occurred to him that we would make him juggle. He was just trying to fill in an awkward gap with a story and had chosen one that showed how much we can learn from one another.

Ken Ramirez is the director of the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. He is a superb trainer. Part of what makes him such a superb trainer is he is constantly learning from both the people and the animals he works with. This brings me back full circle to the discussion of poisoned cues. If we want a rich melting pot of ideas here on this list, we need to be mindful of the effect our words and actions have on others. People can hear even the best intentioned words in a way that was never meant. You never know what sort of a day someone is having, or how your words will be processed by them. But if each one of us on this list posts from a place where we are not just sharing information, but we are truly intending good consequences for our horses, for clicker training, for the people reading our posts, we will together create something very special and unique on the internet - an unpoisoned environment in which to share. That is my intent with this list. It is one of the reasons it is a closed list. It is a protected space for those of us who want to share clicker training.

Let us use this space wisely so that everyone feels safe to share.

Alexandra Kurland
theclickercenter.com

Poisoned Cue Postscript

By Alexandra Kurland

copyright 2008

Hilary wrote:
On Feb 7, 2008, the_click_that_teaches@yahoogroups.com

"As part of the training currently to be a GP (doctor-general
practitioner) one has to do video consultations and hen they go for
assessment. Doing videos and watching them amongst professional
colleagues can be very stressful (!) - after all, this is what one
does for a living.

The way we critique the videos (in a group) goes as follows.Firstly,
the person whose video it is, has to say what went well. We all
immediately note our mistakes rather than the god bis so this
emphasises the good. Then everyone in the room adds in what went
well . Then, the person has a chance to say what could have been done
better/improved upon , and then after that one goes round he room
again asking he same question.

If one was in the group watching the video this changed how one looked
at it, as one as aware that the first question was what went well.
Nothing for an answer was not allowed, though I suppose one could say
the patient was alive at the end of the consultation."

Hilary,

I really like this. It makes me think of one Kathy Sdao's presentations at the Expo.
In one of her presentations she talked about what we see, what we filter out. She showed a short sixty second video of a group of people passing basketballs back and forth. She had us count the number of passes that occurred between people wearing white shirts as opposed to black. People watched intently, counting the passes and completely missed the man in a gorilla suit who walked through the group of basketball players midway through the video.

Kathy cited a statistic that each second we receive some enormous amount of bits of information - something on the order of 450 billion bits of information. We filter out all but a tiny fraction of that information. That's important to understand. I want to be deliberate in how I focus my attention. Your video critiquing example is a perfect illustration of this principle. In a group setting if I begin a discussion by pointing out flaws in a performance, that's what everyone will see. Even if 99% of what is going on is good, the group will zero in on the small bit that is flawed. They'll miss a whole roomful of gorillas and see only the small bit that their attention has been directed towards.

As a clicker trainer, I want to be mindful of this. With the horses I want to focus on what I want, not the unwanted behavior. It is not that I ignore or am unaware of the unwanted behavior, but I want to remain non-reactive to it. That's a skill that goes against our cultural training. So much of school, for example, is focused on what you did wrong that needs correcting, not celebrating what you did right.

Over the years I've met a fair number of really angry horses. Some of them may seem to their owners to be well-mannered quiet types, but they are really shut down. The global dampening effect of punishment is suppressing behavior. Take away the threat of punishment and these horses have a lot to say. Clicker training does not create their anger or their frustration, it just reveals it.

It's easy with these horses to get sucked into their drama, to take their behavior personally, and to begin reacting back against the unwanted behavior. Instead you want to see that one tiny filament of good stuff that's hidden under layers and layers of pent-up anger. If I can focus on that, I can grow that filament so that it becomes the dominate thread, replacing all that rage with quiet confidence.

The technique you describe for reviewing videos is a great way to learn how to focus on what you want to see first - all the good that is in someone, instead of all the things you don't want.

Alexandra Kurland
theclickercenter.com

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Microshaping: Learning to See the Smallest Try
by Alexandra Kurland
copyright 2008

I have just finished a new DVD. This one is on Microshaping.

Microshaping is a term coined by the UK dog trainer, Kay Lawrence. It refers to splitters versus lumpers. Splitters see detail. They train in tiny steps which makes it easier for their animals to learn from them. Lumpers ask for too much too fast. This often creates frustration and confusion in their animals.

In microshaping we focus on very tiny muscle movements. What the DVD describes is a microshaping strategy that helps you maintain high rates of reinforcement, especially in the beginning of the process. This microshaping strategy evolved very much out of a session I did last year after the LA Clicker Expo with Julie's arab mare, Katie. I wrote about this in a very long post (40 or 50 pages long) on microshaping (July 4 2007 archives)

Katie had a major emotional meltdown at the lesson day. She couldn't handle being away from her home barn. We've all seen the horses who get themselves wound up and start running circles in their paddocks. They can't get themselves calmed down. The paddock that Katie was in had deep sand. I was concerned that she might injure herself if we let her just run herself out. We could have taken her into a round pen, or worked her out in the main arena, but my concern was the same. I don't like round penning horses when they really need a round pen. Meaning, if a horse is going to go into a round pen and run because they are anxious, I'm going to look for another option. The option I chose with Katie was the microshaping strategy.

My goal was to freeshape backing, but because she was so emotionally wound up there wasn't a lot I could grab hold of to reinforce. So in between clicking her for any tiny muscle twitch that might lead to backing, I had her target my hat. The targeting bounced the rates of reinforcement back up and kept her engaged in the game. As the process progressed the targeting became a conditioned reinforcer so we were able to highlight and reinforce extra good moments in the backing by offering her an opportunity to play the easier targeting game. Katie settled down, and became focused on the game. Instead of spinning anxiously in her pen, she was now engaged safely with us. And at the end of the day she was able to walk flat-footed back to her home barn. I counted the session we did with her as a success, but when you work with a horse, you are only seeing the behavior they are offering you. You don't really know what they have learned until later. You may have managed a particular situation on that day, for that moment, but what are the long term ripple effects, what are the consequences - intended or otherwise? You have to wait until you work with the horse later to find out what was really learned.

That's something you want to remember when you are evaluating a training session. Yes, the horse may be on the trailer - and the handler can be looking like a hero. Everyone else was taking hours. He got the horse on in minutes. It's all so reinforcing to the trainer's ego. But the real question is will the horse get on the next time?

Sometimes the best learning is happening when it looks as though nothing is going on.

With Katie my primary concern for that day was her safety. I didn't want her blowing out her hocks in the deep sand while we were trying to get her settled down. But you always hope for positive ripple effects. When you can get a horse thinking instead of reacting, what flows out of that? I got to see the answer this past weekend. Instead of working with a horse who fussed and fretted her way through the day, Katie was a superstar. She was solid emotionally, able to focus on a lesson on three-flip-three where we looked at nuance of movement. That one session last year did not by itself create this 180 degree shift in her emotional control, but it was certainly part of the change.

After Katie's session last year I began to experiment more with the microshaping strategy. I'd been looking for a way to teach microshaping and in particular freeshaping using microshaping. This seemed like the way to do it. I had a grand time last summer sharing this with a number of different groups. I'd give everyone in the group clickers, and we'd sit outside the horse's paddock watching intently for muscle twitches. I wish I'd taken pictures of these groups. Everyone would be leaning forward, clicker at the ready, staring intently while we waited for the horse to twitch a muscle. And we'd get so excited when it happened! Too funny.

I loved the conversations that would be taking place during these sessions. Normally when people train they are after large movements. You want a horse to step back so your eye naturally watches the feet. But this is a huge gross movement compared to the muscle contractions we were looking for. People were learning to see the thing that comes before the thing that comes before the thing you are ultimately after. That means that everyone's timing became spot on. When you learn to see detail, you can predict when something is about to happen because you see all the minute precursors leading up to the larger movement.

I got some great video of these microshaping sessions. The hardest part of this DVD was deciding what to leave out. I could easily have made a four hour DVD and still not have shared all the really neat stories we captured on film. In these sessions the camera was set up in the middle of the group. You are seeing what the clinic participants were seeing, and you get to hear their comments as they decide what muscle group they want to focus on next. Your eye will become tuned to the same small details they were looking at.

This DVD is a precursor for the riding. Single-rein riding is all about detail. In riding we aren't freeshaping as we are on this DVD. We're shaping on a point of contact, but we're looking for the same level of detail. A give is a little thing - not a big thing.

So this new microshaping DVD will help you to understand the riding. What is it that the rider just released on? If you are used to looking at movement on a gross level, you'll see an experienced single-rein rider releasing the rein for what you think is nothing. But the rider knows that tiny, barely discernible movement is the start of many good things. She knows that horse just made a significant shift in it's balance, and that shift is going to lead to the beautiful movement she is after.

So microshaping helps the handler to see detail. What does it do for the horse? Amanda answered this beautifully in her recent post on sensitive mares. It's a long post to copy, but it was such a perfect description, I'm going to add most of it here:

Amanda wrote:
"When I worked with Classic, we started him at the clinic last June in Aberdeen. He was a typical boy and flexed his pecs like mad. But one of the mares (Erin) was the star, she was really getting that it was about muscles moving and not so much of the gross movements.

Microshaping is about looking for the tiniest 'YES' that you can click and treat. That means looking for tiny weight shifts (and I mean tiny) or muscle twitches.

With Classic, I started with his pecs. He then started to offfer this with more gusto and this then activated other muscles. So I would change my focus to those other muscles. This would then activate another set of muscles and so on and so on. Each time I changed my focus to a new set of muscles, it took him a few clicks to tune in to the shift to of my focus,
but very quickly he learned which muscle I was focusing on and he would work to flex just that muscle (though he can't help but activate others too).

The thing I loved about this is that it allowed me to see which muscles were easy for him to activate, the differences from one side to the other, and also the sequence of his muscles and therefore how he would really move. This allowed me to gauge his training and I could focus on areas that needed more work.

After a while of doing this, Classic muscled up quite amazingly. His spine was very quickly nestled in the most wonderful muscle and the muscle was proud of his spine for the whole length of it (something people work for hours and hours in the saddle to achieve, and often can't). In our repertoire now is pelvis tilt, but clench, abs crunch, lift up through the
withers, pose, hips engaged, he can lift his back about 2 inches !!, and he can even activate the small muscles next to his withers....you know that ones that often atrophy with a poorly fitting saddle ? I can also get him to pose, engage his hip, and then lift a front leg (as one movement). And true to most clicker trained horses who start to offer well learned
behaviours through the rest of their work (such as pose), he is now offering this type of carefully thought through movement in other things.

Today, I was working on focus and attention and when I started to increase the criteria, I had introduced some movement. I was just looking for forward movement with focus on me. Not only did he offer me this, but I also got the most amazing collection with the most amazing self carriage. His hip was SO engaged and working a dream with power and ohhhh.....I justmelted !!

Two days ago I had been working on 3F3 and it didn't go so well as he wasn't feeling great. So I was stunned when he offered me this work that was breath taking. I actually finally aknowledged the potential that my horse has....I tend to just say "he's my blue eyed boy and I don't care if he has no potential", but today....wow, he has potential !! and I am releasing it using a clicker box and treats !! It's MAD.

Since I got back from LA we have been using pilates as a secondary reinforcer to other behaviours and it is working really well. I also use some of his other favoured behaviours as a secondary reinforcer with great success....and he builds muscle at the same time as rewarding a new behaviour.....woo hoo.

As his BIG reward today we went out long lining (he loves going out and about) and what fun.....Ben (the yard owner) came with us for the walk and to see how we are getting on and he had us go really cross-country. What a hoot, Classic was leaping off the top of small mounds....I have no idea how I managed to stay with him. BUT, the focus work and the close and tiny movement work we did before we went out paid off and he stayed focused on me when we went past both fields of ponies. Even though one herd came flying up to the fence we were walking past.

So the pilates, as it has been affectionaltely named due to how it isolates muscles, not only builds the muscles, it can build up in to behaviours (gross movements) and it also helps to focus the horse and give them good emotional control.

Can you tell I love it :-)))"

I would love to have included video of Classic on this DVD because he figures prominently in the microshaping /freeshaping story, but the stall he was in during these sessions was not the best for filming. However, I did include some video of Erin, the mare Amanda mentioned in the first part of her post.

While I was editing this DVD, I was visiting with Kim Cassidy. I took advantage of a long hallway in her house to film the human equivalent of the "equine pilates" work we teach the horses. I had Kim back up with no preparation in her balance. Then I had her engage her abdominal muscles before backing. The difference in her stride was enormous. I pulled some stills from the video so you can more easily compare the two. You'll see that without any preparation she is falling backwards, catching her balance with every step. With "pilates" prep she steps back with balance and control. You can hear the difference in her foot falls. With no prep she lands heavily. With prep you can barely hear her step.

This change in balance is what we're after with our horses, not just because it is pretty, but because it is more comfortable to ride, and it helps to maintain sound joints. So at the core of all this work we've been exploring together here on this list is what I have come to think of as "Equine Pilates" - Shaping for a Sound Spine.

That's what is on the new DVD. The title is "Microshaping: Learning to See the Smallest Try". I've just gotten it up on my web site.

Enjoy!

Alexandra Kurland
theclickercenter.com

You can order the new Microshaping DVD in the video section of the bookstore.

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What is Clicker Training?
By Alexandra Kurland
copyright 2008

The Kentucky Clicker Expo is coming up soon. I know some of you here on this list will be attending. The dilemma the Expo always presents is what to go see. There are five presentations in each of the time slots so you can't get to everything. At the CA Expo one of the choices I made was to attend Kathy Sdao's closing lecture of the Expo which is entitled: "How Clicker Training Changes Us".

Kathy is a superb presenter. I met her for the first time about ten years ago. She was speaking at APDT, the Association of Pet Dog Trainers. I can still remember clearly her lecture and the amazing videos she showed of the animals she worked with both as a dolphin trainer and later at the Point Defiance Zoo in WA State. At the first Clicker Expo I made a point of attending her "Moment of Science" presentations. Again they were standout lectures. She did a superb job summarizing the science behind clicker training and making it very clear and accessible to everyone.

Kathy's "How Clicker Training Changes Us" presentation follows a very different format from these other talks. Her intent was not to lecture but to have people share their personal stories about how clicker training has enriched their lives.

She opened the discussion by first offering some definitions of clicker training. About four years ago when she first started giving this talk at the Expos she emailed a number of her colleagues in the training community to ask them for their definitions of clicker training.

Kathy began with a quote from Bob Bailey: "Clicker training is a term coined by Karen Pryor, so clicker training is whatever Karen Pryor says it is." I do love that. Trust Bob Bailey to come up with that answer.

So what does Karen Pryor say clicker training is? Kathy read a quote from her, which I didn't jot down in the lecture, but it essentially came down to the definition Karen has in her web site: "clicker training is an animal training method based on behavioral psychology that relies on marking desirable behavior and rewarding it."

Kathy also read quotes from Ken Ramirez, the director of training at the Shedd Aquarium, and Jesus Rosales-Ruiz from the University of North Texas. Both framed their definitions more in the language of behavior analysis.

And finally she read from an email I had sent her. I had a vague memory of Kathy asking me this question, and I know I sent her a reply, but I had completely forgotten what I wrote. Kathy prefaced my quote by saying it was a long answer. She wished she had time to read it all, but she would share just the first couple of paragraphs. This is what she read:

"It's a simple question, and actually it's also a simple answer. For me the defining element for clicker training is its use of a marker signal that links a desired behavior with something the animal will actively work to gain.

Using a clicker is not a necessary requirement. The signal can be anything: the mechanical clicker, a whistle, a tongue click, a verbal signal, a flashing light, a hand signal, etc. How the signal is used, not what it is, is the important element.

How the signal is used: There are two sides to the click: what happens before, and what happens after. What happens immediately before the click is a behavior the trainer would like to strengthen. What happens immediately after is an event the animal would like strengthen, such as receiving food. The click units these two desires."
This last sentence struck such a cord with Kathy that she not only included my definition with the others, but she used it to sum up what they were all saying.

What Kathy liked in this definition was the emphasis on the exchange back and forth. You give and receive value. This is what we do here on this list. We give and receive value. People ask questions, others answer. We all enjoy the conversations. Giving and receiving, back and forth, and in the process we all learn more about clicker training.

I really didn't remember what else I said to Kathy in my note. I was curious because I remember the many conversations Kathy and I have had about the different approach to clicker training we have each taken. So when I had a few minutes on the trip home from my last clinic I went hunting around in my computer to see if I could turn up the email. Every now and then I think it is useful to ask ourselves: what is clicker training? I wanted to see how I answered that question four years ago.

There are so many responses I could have sent her. There is the simple - what is clicker training based on the mechanics of the method. And there is also what does clicker training mean for me personally? What has it done for me? For my horses? My family? Is clicker training simply a tool I use now and then to solve a training problem or has it grown to be more than that in my life? The answer to this will be unique to each individual, but clearly for many of us here on this list, and all the other clicker training lists, clicker training represents much more than a simple tool. It becomes a way of viewing the world. I may not always be actively clicking and treating, but I am thinking like a clicker trainer. So what does that mean? And how does that ripple through to the rest of my life? What does it mean for each of you reading this? There are many of us here who would have amazing stories to share at Kathy's presentation.

So four years ago what definition did I send to Kathy?

Here's what I wrote:

"It's a simple question, and actually it's also a simple answer. For me the defining element for clicker training is its use of a marker signal that links a desired behavior, something the person wants with something the animal will actively work to gain.

Using a clicker is not a necessary requirement. The signal can be anything: the mechanical clicker, a whistle, a tongue click, a verbal signal, a flashing light, a hand signal, etc. How the signal is used, not what it is, is the important element.

How the signal is used: There are two sides to the click: what happens before, and what happens after. What happens immediately before the click is a behavior the trainer would like to strengthen. What happens immediately after is an event the animal would like strengthen, such as receiving food. The click units these two desires.

So behavior leads to click leads to reinforcement is for me the major defining element of clicker training. How the behavior is triggered is not the issue. Behavior can be generated by a variety of means. It can be captured. It can be shaped through successive approximation using no prompts. And it can be triggered using training shortcuts. These shortcuts include targeting, and pressure and release of pressure. Both of these methods can be very powerful, but they can also easily morph into same old-same old. When targeting becomes food luring, the animal may be performing the behavior, but his attention is often entirely on the food. The power of the marker signal is lost because the animal is so focused on tracking the food. Just as targeting can lose its effectiveness when it becomes excessive food luring, so too can pressure and release of pressure degenerate. It can shift from information the animal uses to gain a click and a treat into the escalating pressure of threat-based training.

Sugar coating the same old-same old of pressure and release of pressure by adding a click and a treat for correct responses is an improvement over older systems. The clicker encourages people to break training down into small steps. It helps them to look at what they want their animal to do, not the unwanted behavior. It teaches them how to transform pressure from a threat into information. It opens the door to other training strategies such as targeting and shaping without prompts. Especially in horse training, I would not want to exclude the use of pressure and release of pressure from under the clicker training umbrella. It can be a valuable bridge for first-time clicker trainers. It lets them use techniques they are already familiar with, but it reshapes them with the clicker into a more horse-friendly approach.

However, I would say you get different results depending upon how behavior is generated. Sugar coating same old-same old with a click and a treat is a more humane training approach than the alternative, but used exclusively it does not result in the same kind of interactive, bright-eyed animal that shaping without prompts creates. However, that bright-eyed animal, when it is a thousand pound horse, may be too much initially for its owner to handle. So I encourage first time clicker trainers to use a mix of training methods: shaping, targeting, and pressure and release of pressure used in conjunction with a click and a treat to mark correct responses. Every complex behavior should include some elements which are shaped without prompts. For example, I might use pressure and release of pressure to teach a horse to put its front feet on a mat, but then I would shape without any direct prompting head position and ears forward.

Choosing the shaping method is not part of the definition of clicker training. Rather it is the art of its execution."

If Kathy asked again, I think I would write pretty much the same thing today. I like this definition. It turns clicker training into a large umbrella under which we all can stand.

Alexandra Kurland
theclickercenter.com

Microshaping and Clinic Report

by Alexandra Kurland

copyright 2008

Hi Everyone,

As usual I am catching up with the list. I'm just back from a delightful weekend in Arkansas with Dolores and a great group of clicker trainers. Part of the fun of clinics is finding out what people do in their "day jobs". One of the participants at this weekend's clinic is a wildlife biologist who specializes in mice. Finally I got to ask a question I've had for years. When I snatch a mouse away from a cat and release it, (yes, I know - half of you will understand because you do the same thing, and the other half will be rolling your eyes in disgust saying it's the cat's job to catch mice). Anyway, when I rescue the mouse, am I doing it a favor? Will the mouse be able to get back to its familiar territory where it knows where its nest and food supply is, or have I just condemned it to a slow and horrible death? The answer I was pleased to hear was the mouse will be just fine. It will have no trouble getting back to its home ground. So how's that for starting off a post off way off topic?

Anyway the clinic was great fun. I did a really neat session which I thoroughly enjoyed with a horse some of you may know from other lists, Cindy G's horse, Ivan. Over dinner on Saturday night we were talking about Ivan's fear of plastic. Cindy has done extensive work trying to resolve this issue. She described Ivan as a horse who would accept plastic, but was clearly still afraid of it. So on Sunday we changed course a bit from the work we had begun on Saturday and instead looked at this issue.

I had Cindy begin by showing us the steps she had gone through with Ivan. She began with just a candy wrapper, crinkling it gently well away from Ivan. Ivan stood his ground, but even this mild stimulus created signs of concern in him. They were subtle, but they were very much there.

Cindy brought the wrapper closer to Ivan. She rubbed the front of his face and then worked it up over his ears, mentioning as she did so that, quite apart from the plastic, Ivan has an issue with his ears. I latched on to this comment as I watched her work. Ivan was standing solidly for her, accepting the candy wrapper, but there was a draw back in his posture which clearly said he was not comfortable.

Cindy recognized this concern which is why she had brought up the subject over dinner. There are a great many handlers who would have been satisfied with the results she was getting. Ivan was standing still. He was being obedient. But he was also clearly not happy about the plastic. I really applauded Cindy for recognizing what was on the surface a very subtle level of concern. It wasn't good enough that her horse was polite. She wanted to do more to help him over his fears.

She showed us some of the other steps she had taken with Ivan. She used a dish towel instead of a plastic bag to accustom him to being rubbed, and also to having a flag on the end of a stick moving towards him. Again Ivan stood his ground, but he was clearly not comfortable.

I watched for a bit, gathering data. When I see this type of situation, it always makes me think of what I refer to as the 80 percent rule. Here's what that means. When you have an issue, such as a horse that is afraid of plastic, it's easy on the first run through to make a huge difference. You get rid of eighty percent of the problem. Now instead of the horse jumping twenty feet into the air at the mere sight of plastic, he can stand his ground. But he's still flinching inside. You've resolved a huge chunk of the issue, but he's not entirely comfortable. He's learned how to control his fear, but the bottom line is there is still fear there to be controlled.

You're left with 20% of the original problem. So you chip away at that, and after a while you've resolved another 80% of the problem. But you're still left with the remaining 20% of that original 20%. The horse is tons better than he ever was before, but you are still not completely satisfied. You still have remaining the core of the original problem.

With Ivan I knew I was walking into the middle of a process where I was confronting that resistant hard core of the remaining 20%. I never know if I'll be able to do anything that will make a difference, so I like to come at these issues sideways, and I like to regard the sessions as play, not problem solving.

For Ivan what caught my attention was Cindy's statement about his ears. He didn't like having them touched. That was the opening. That's what I needed to work on quite apart from the plastic. If I could make a difference there, that might ripple through to the plastic.

To work on his ears I could have pulled from the "horse training" side of my tool box, and used a straight forward strategy of advance and retreat. In that scenario I would have applied the "four second rule": if I think my horse is going to pull his ear away in four seconds, I'll stop what I'm doing and take my hand away in three. I'd be hoping that my horse would learn that if he just controls his concern, he can get me to take my hand away. Standing still and accepting the scary thing on his body will make it go away.

This was essentially the strategy Cindy had used with the plastic, and it had indeed chipped away a good solid chunk of his concern. He could now stand his ground while she approached with various types and sizes of plastic objects. But he was clearly still only controlling his fear. He had not reached the point where plastic was a non-issue.

So the advance and retreat, while a good first approximation in, had not been enough to resolve the root core of his fears. I needed to find a different approach. For Ivan I drew instead from the "clicker training" side of my tool box. That gave me a related but different sort of option for his ears. I was going to use freeshaping to teach Ivan to target his ear to my hand. I'd be using the timing I'd developed using advance and retreat strategies with other horses, but I would also be borrowing some ideas from basic targeting and microshaping. I would then use the ear-to-hand targeting behavior in much the same way that I had used head lowering in the "Overcoming Fear" DVD. I wanted to turn the plastic into a cue for a behavior Ivan enjoyed and felt safe performing. I wanted to see if Ivan's attitude toward plastic would change when he became a more active participant in the process.

To begin I simply help my hand a couple of inches from his ear - just outside the range that would either trigger his concern or perhaps act like a cue for another behavior such as head lowering. This is where it really helps if you have tuned your eye to very subtle movements. I'd still be standing there with my hand in the air waiting for the first click if I had been holding out for a definite flicker of his ear in my direction. I was looking for movement, but the movement I clicked him for was a breath, a movement so small his ear barely moved the diameter of a hair.

You wouldn't think that such a tiny movement could even be perceived by a horse, but if I can see it, he can latch hold of it. And Ivan was a very clicker-wise horse. I was delighted to see how fast he caught on to this new game. His ear movements became noticeable flickers, and then turned into a deliberate movement toward my hand.

With this first success well in hand I gave him a break. I walked off on a small circle, being very mindful to read his response to this new activity. If he had regarded leading as a precursor to unpleasant things, walking off would not have helped this process at all. I gauged Ivan's response in part by what he did with his ears when we returned to the targeting lesson.

We stopped where people could easily see what was going on, and I held my hand up again. Without any hesitation Ivan returned to the game. In this round he brought his ear close enough to brush my hand.

After a couple more clicks, we walked off again, giving him another short break after this success. Within another round or two Ivan was actively putting his left ear in my hand. It was so cute. I wish we'd been taking pictures. I loved the way he would tip his head to bring his ear closer. And he felt so cuddly, so very welcoming of the attention. At the beginning of the session I'd had zero reinforcement history with him, and now we had the foundation of a relationship. I do love clicker training, and the connections it creates.

His left ear was his easy ear, so I shifted over to his right side and repeated the process. He was a little more guarded on this side. It was actually very cute. He would bring his ear almost to my hand, but he kept stopping himself just shy of actually touching me. It's so tempting at this point to "help" him out by reaching for his ear, but I knew he needed to be the one to make first contact. The tips of his ear hairs were like super sensitive antennae. He knew exactly where my hand was and how close he could come without actually touching me.

I counted this almost approach as a success and gave him another break, walking off on a small circle. In the next round he got very brave indeed. He let his ear touch my hand. He reminded me of someone who wants to jump into a swimming pool but is afraid the water will be too cold. We've all done it. You dip your toe in, pull it out fast, dip it in, pull it out, and then suddenly you just take the plunge and dive in. Ivan did that. He tipped his ear towards my hand, tipped it towards me, and then just as abruptly as that swimmer, he pushed his ear very deliberately into my hand. Click and jackpot! The rates of reinforcement jumped up with this effort, and I became a much more vocal cheer leader as I celebrated his success.

I built more layers onto this good beginning. Once he was consistently bringing me his ear, I taught him to target his forehead to my other hand. From there I could hold up both hands, and he would bring his head into my arms for a hug. That certainly made me smile! What a welcoming feeling that was!

So now it was time to introduce the plastic. I had a large red plastic bag in my pocket, the one I use to carry the flat cones I bring with me to the clinics. I held it up in front of Ivan but well out away from him. As soon as the plastic was in sight, I held my right hand up inviting him to target his ear to my hand.

He pressed his ear firmly against my hand. Click, treat and the plastic went down. I repeated this process, presenting the plastic first with one hand and then giving him my target-your-ear cue with the other.

I wasn't seeing the same concern that I had seen earlier. Ivan appeared to be enjoying himself. This game made sense to him and gave him the control over the plastic that he needed. So I used the strategy illustrated on the "Overcoming Fear and the Power of Cues" DVD. The plastic quickly morphed into a cue for Ivan to press his ear against my hand. At first I was careful with the plastic. When I took it down, I made sure that it went out of sight into my pocket. But soon I was swapping it from from hand to hand, letting it rustle under his nose while I fished out his treat.

By the end of the session Ivan was targeting his ear directly to the plastic! At first when he pressed his ear against the plastic, I would click and take the plastic away from him, but towards the end I would click and brush the plastic down his neck as I took my hand down. Ivan was relaxed, at ease, showing me where I could head next in this process.

I ended the session there. We'd done enough for one lesson. It was time to let him process what he had been experiencing. Time will tell if we chipped away any of that resistant hard core 20 percent. That I can't speak to, but I can say Ivan and I shared a pleasant session together, one I certainly enjoyed very much. Thank you Cindy for the opportunity to work with your horse. He's a delight, and I loved the way he invited me into his space.

And while I'm thanking people, I've been catching up over the last day or so with the posts to this list. Thank you Kim, Katie, Nick, Amanda, Dolores and Julie for your comments about the new Microshaping DVD. They are much appreciated. It's good to get the feedback. I want to highlight a couple of things from your posts.

Katie wrote:

"Willy injured himself a few years ago and he never quite came back. We don’t know exactly what happened but he probably tore or pulled a muscle way up high in his hip. . . He had developed some asymmetry in his hind end from moving unevenly.

So, I have been reinforcing him for using the muscles in his hind end at a halt as a way of helping him reconnect and relearn to use them. This seemed the safest way to ask him to use them without risk of injury. He was a bit atrophied on one side and by doing some microshaping a few days a week, he seems have developed more even muscling. I am pretty excited about being able to use microshaping to target muscle groups that a horse might not be using correctly for lots of different reasons."
Exactly right. This is such a good use for this technique. Along a related line, I use it with Peregrine to maintain his back during my travel season. Often times when I'm gone for long stretches, his back will look as though he's aged ten years. I don't want to sit on him when he's in that kind of shape, so I'll do a few days of "pilates" sessions with him before I ride. What I noticed last year was he came back into work much faster than he had in previous years. What's more, I think he stayed in better shape during my absences, which of course contributed to an overall faster recovery.
Katie also wrote:

"I think the Microshaping DVD demonstrated very well how to use the target and how to choose the other behavior to reinforce based on the horse’s emotional state. I can think of lots of times in the past when this would have come in handy because I had experimented with just using targeting and it was not enough, but neither was just clicking for attention or something similar."

And then Nick added:

"Post Expo Cherrie was playing about freeshaping the dogs, she used the shaping/targeting routine on one and only shaped the other. The dog that had the targeting mixed in progressed much faster."

That's so interesting, one of those thesis-in-search-of-a-graduate-student ideas. There certainly are times when one strategy alone just does not seem to cut through the emotional barriers the horse is putting up. As people gain experience with the clicker so they have both the physical and mental dexterity to keep track of multiple behaviors, balancing one behavior with another becomes a very powerful technique. That's certainly been my experience with the microshaping strategy.

Julie further highlighted the impact that microshaping has on the horse's emotional state when she wrote:

"I just had to emphasize how important it is to consider that microshaping can shape an emotional state as well as physical."

She added:

"I think the statement that resonated with me was Alex said to practice good behavior. So, between the targeting and microshaping we were practicing good behavior. Alex also said that this is the glue that holds it all together. Even though we had the blocks of behaviors that I wanted, we needed the glue.

Honestly, when Alex agreed to come last year for our lesson day, I was hoping to be able to show-off a bit of what Katie and I had been working on. I was really hoping to get some high marks with Alex and we couldn't even get down the driveway. . . Well, it was disappointing to say the least. But, when Alex showed me how to connect with Katie using targeting and microshaping during that lesson day, the following weekend, we were able to trailer to the Equine Affaire in Pomona and participate in a clinic without a problem."

I know this happens quite a lot at clinics. People trailer their horses enormous distances hoping to work on the intricacies of three-flip-three or some other advanced lesson, and instead I spend the weekend teaching their horses to target their ears to my hand or I free shape backing and never take the horses out of their pens. It's not what their owners were expecting or hoping for, but that is the magic of clicker training. You can focus on what seems like an inconsequential sidebar of a lesson, and see enormous ripples flowing out of it.

Instead of confronting the main issue head on, you come at it sideways like a crab. If forcing your way over a five foot brick wall of a problem seems too intimidating, you don't have to give up on your horse. You simply find some little piece of the issue you can tackle. You find the one brick that's fallen off the wall and you work with just that. Before you know it, the rest of the wall has morphed into something else, an inviting passageway through or a series of steps that you and your horse can easily scale.

Julie finished her note by writing:

"This year's lesson day with Alex was quite a different story. Katie was very happy to stand in her pen and eat while the other participants were having their lessons. When it was Katie's turn, she was calm, willing and focused. We worked on 3flip3 and I finally felt the engagement of
her hip. YIPPEEEE!!!

Thank you, Alex (and Kay Lawrence.). What an amazing tool this microshaping is and I can't wait to hear more success stories!"

I'm with you. I'm looking forward to lots of microshaping success stories!

Alexandra Kurland
theclickercenter.com

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Pantomimes

by Alexandra Kurland

copyright 2008

Muriel asked a question about my recent Microshaping and clinic report post in which I described using ear targeting to help a horse deal with his fear of plastic. Muriel was trying to picture this part of the procedure:

"I built more layers onto this good beginning. Once he was consistently
bringing me his ear, I taught him to target his forehead to my other hand.
From there I could hold up both hands, and he would bring his head into my
arms for a hug. That certainly made me smile! What a welcoming feeling
that was!"

She wrote:

"I can't quite picture above. One would teach target ear into hand as one step.

Then target forehead as another step.Then when both learned put the two

together at the same time? is that right?"

Exactly right

When you're working with this sort of exercise, you want to keep things fluid. You want to let your horse tell you when it's time to move on. One of the skills that's so important in this process is being able to break a task down into little steps. I don't just mean in terms of clicking the horse for small increments of improvement. I mean can you go part way through a process and pause? I'll refer you to the section in the "Overcoming Fear and the Power of Cues" DVD where I had Nick practice lifting a saddle up onto a horse's back. We'd taken the horse out of the picture, and Nick was going through the pantomime of saddling a horse.

I know at times it can seem silly to do these practice sessions, but they can be incredibly helpful. Initially Nick was doing what most of us would do who have been saddling horses this side of forever. When he lifted the saddle up to put it on Muska's back, he did it in one complete action. But that was too much for Muska. She needed him to go part way and then freeze frame.

So that's the question. Can you go part way through a process and stop? It's like playing the children's game of statues. Right before you get to the point where your actions would trigger concern in your horse, can you freeze frame? And once you've paused at that spot, do you know what the very next frame would be? From this position, what would your next action be?

That's essentially what I was doing with Ivan with the ear targeting. Being able to freeze frame is a skill that can take some practice. I've been spending the last few days editing video for the next DVD. This next one is going to be on the mounting block lesson. (Those of you who are waiting for the riding DVDs can all send up a cheer. I'm teetering on the brink of actually having people ride on a DVD!) One of the horses I'll be featuring had that oh so annoying habit of backing up just as the rider puts weight in the stirrup.

We did a fun session with her. In a way it was similar to the strategy I used on the Overcoming Fear DVD. We turned pressure on the stirrup into a cue for her to bring the saddle to the rider. It was very much a microshaping process. And the rider had to be able to identify each step in the process of getting on. Most of us just get on. We don't think about how we do it. We just do it. But suppose you've done a freeze frame with your foot in the stirrup, what do you do next? What is the next weight shift? What do you do with your hands?

If you spend too much time fumbling around not sure of the answer, you can end up setting your training back several steps. You can build unnecessary chains containing links you don't want attached to your goal behavior. So it really is useful to step away from your horse and mime your half of the "dance". In the case of the ear shy horse, I was essentially hugging him as he brought his head to me. I didn't start out with that behavior in mind. The behavior evolved and I simply followed the process. The beginning step was the ear target and I let that grow organically into a larger and more complex behavior. I could do this in part because I have practiced the freeze frame process. This allowed me to see options beyond the original ear targeting behavior.

How do you teach yourself this skill? Easy. Pretend you're giving your horse a hug. Picture what that would look like? What would it feel like? Go through the pantomime. Do it with the t'ai chi control that you learned in the rope handling skills. Don't just go through the motions. Take the time to become aware of what you are doing.

It snowed yesterday, one of those perfect winter snows. I went out for a walk while it was coming down. Normally when I walk, I like to go fast, but with the snow coming down, turning the world into what can really only be described as a wonderland, going fast meant going out of sync with the quietness of the landscape. I needed to slow down, to take the time to stand under the pine trees, to listen to the sounds of the night, to watch the deer freeze-framed against the night sky. I needed to slow down to become aware of the stillness around me. If I had kept on at my usual pace, I would have missed the beauty of that winter landscape.

When I'm in the barn doing chores, I chug through them pretty fast. But when I am with the horses I remember to slow down into their time. That's what these pantomimes help us to do. So practice the t'ai chi walk. Practice freeze framing. Go for walks under a night sky and remember to slow down into the stillness of the trees.

Once you've done some of these practice sessions, you will probably find that it is much easier to freeze frame when needed, and you'll know what the next step is without having to think about it. So the important thing here is not trying to duplicate exactly every step I used with Ivan. What you want to understand instead is the process. If you take a few minutes before you work your horse to go through the pantomime, you'll find your training session will be much more successful.

Alexandra Kurland
theclickercenter.com

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More on Microshaping

by Alexandra Kurland

copyright 2008

I've been enjoying the microshaping posts. I'm so glad people are giving this a try.

Arlene wrote:

"I wasn't sure how I should start, and I wasn't sure if I would be able to see muscle movements under Charm's fuzzy winter coat on her chubby body, but I did remember that I should assume a relaxed "slouched / "I'm just hanging out" stance, so I just leaned against the wall inside her stall and did nothing."

And Katie wrote:

"Alex often uses backing for the microshaping, but you can microshape anything. I think it is great that Alex has the new DVD, which shows targeting as a way to keep the reinforcement rate up and has the great visuals of how to microshape muscle movement in the belly and hind end. But don't limit yourself to that. You can microshape anything, and I can think of pieces of work I have done with Alex in the past where we were microshaping. She didn't call it microshaping back then, but I think we were."

Lots of good points here to highlight. I often start with backing because it is usually such an easy behavior to get. And if we are working with anxious horses, it is a great behavior to activate. If the horse wants to take off forward, it makes sense to shape the complete opposite of that behavior. When you can get an upset horse to start volunteering backing, you've gone a long way towards shifting his emotional state. It's like getting someone who is upset to smile. It's hard to stay mad and laugh at the same time.

So backing is a good behavior to begin with, and it will lead pretty directly to the pose and equine pilates. So even if you are working with a relaxed, at ease horse, backing makes a good starting point for exploring microshaping and the microshaping strategy.

But you don't want to cubby-hole microshaping into a single compartment. You really could say that all good shaping is microshaping. When Katie says: "You can microshape anything, and I can think of pieces of work I have done with Alex in the past where we were microshaping", she is exactly right. In one sense we don't really need two terms, shaping and microshaping. All good shaping should be microshaping, but I do think it is useful to add this distinction because not all shaping is good. Adding the term microshaping serves as a reminder to look at the details of what we are doing.

When we begin with clicker training, most of us are lumpers. It may not seem so at the time. It can seem as though we're focusing on much smaller details than we're used to, but compared to the shaping skills we'll be developing as we gain experience with the clicker, we're asking for huge chunks of behavior. Our eyes have not yet been tuned to see tiny details of behavior, nor have we learned how to use those miniscule weight shifts to build behavior. Our cultural make-it-happen programming makes us think that reinforcing big chunks will get the job done faster - none of these tiny stair steps for us!

And then we start appreciating the tiny steps. We see how efficient our training can become when we build in small increments. If you've watched the "Shaping on a Point of Contact" DVD, that's all microshaping, though I didn't call it that. In that DVD we're revisiting one of the foundation lessons, standing on a mat, and we're seeing how much more lies inside that simple exercise when you begin to microshape. In that DVD the shaping is done with the horse on a line, hence the title: "Shaping on a Point of Contact."

In the "Microshaping" DVD we're freeshaping. We're standing back and letting the horse puzzle his way to the answer. It's easy to get all these terms mixed up, and to start thinking of some of them as synonymous. So here's a small glossary that hopefully will tease them apart for you:

Shaping: Shaping is the backbone of clicker training. In shaping we selectively reinforce any small tendency for an animal to perform a desired action. That increases the likelihood that that action will be repeated. That in turn allows us to reinforce even more definite shifts towards a goal behavior.

Freeshaping: Without luring the behavior with targets or triggering it in any other way, a complex behavior is developed by reinforcing the animal in small incremental steps.

Directed Learning: With horses we often use "training shortcuts" to create the first approximation of a behavior. We interact directly with the horse, using targets or pressure and release of pressure to guide it to the desired action.

Freeshaping can be combined with directed learning to refine behaviors beyond what is normally possible when only directed learning is used. An example of this would be the beautiful self-carriage we are able to shape in our horses. Where normally side reins or a rider's aids would be used to hold the horse in position, these clicker-trained horses understand what is being asked of them and are able to organize their own bodies without the on-going need of mechanical support.

Shaping on a Point of Contact combines elements from directed learning and freeshaping. The horse is on a line, but the handler does not use the lead to push or pull the horse into the desired behavior. In essence the horse is in a puzzle box. With the lead the handler is able to block certain responses, but the horse still has to solve the puzzle by finding the desired weight shift. Movement in the desired direction is marked with a release of pressure. The click is used in conjunction with the release of pressure to help the horse solve the "puzzle".

Microshaping is a term coined by Kay Lawrence. It refers to splitters versus lumpers. Microshaping lets you maintain high rates of reinforcement by looking at the underlying reaction patterns that create more complex movements. Microshaping creates happy, focused learners.

The Microshaping Strategy refers to a process where short trials of shaping are alternated with targeting or some other very simple behavior that has a strong, positive reinforcement history behind it. The targeting helps maintain a high rate of reinforcement in the early stages of the process. The targeting quickly morphs into a conditioned reinforcer that highlights improvements in the shaped behavior.

"Equine Pilates" uses the microshaping strategy to develop greater body awareness and muscle tone in the horse. It prepares the horse's balance for upper-level performance work and helps maintain the long term health of his joints and spine. It is one of many uses for the microshaping strategy.

So Katie is absolutely right when she says don't limit yourself to just backing when you are microshaping. The beginning steps in all good shaping should look like microshaping. The question is can you see the detail?

Part of the function of the microshaping DVD is to help train your eye, to help you spot small details and to show you how to use those details to build behavior. That's such an important skill to take into the riding. In the DVD lesson series I'm about to look directly at riding. One of the horses I'll be featuring early on is a horse that is stuck. She's become a non-foot mover. I hear people say, "I'm just a trail rider. I'm not interesting in all this microshaping and fancy dressage stuff." Well this is a trail horse whose owner is learning how to use microshaping to get her horse to move. At first when the rider takes the slack out of the rein, there's not a lot going on underneath her. But then her horse makes a tiny shift in her balance. It's barely noticeable, but that's the clickable moment. If you understand microshaping, you'll spot that shift, and you'll understand that it is going to grow into a much larger, more definite movement. That tiny weight shift is the first step down the trail.

The exercise itself is very simple. All that's required to be successful is an understanding that big things come in little packages. A tiny shift of weight is all you need to build energy. You don't need to be banging away at your horse's sides, or slapping her with reins to get her to move. It's a grass-growing exercise that creates willing, balanced, comfortable-to-ride movement.

So the question I've had for a long time is how do you teach microshaping? How do you help people to see and to use small details? And how do you do it in a way that is fun and interesting for both the people and the horses? That's where the microshaping strategy comes in. That's the use of a second behavior, such as targeting, which at first keeps the rates of reinforcement up, and then very quickly morphs into a conditioned reinforcer which can be used to highlight improvements in the primary behavior you are after.

Targeting is an easy second behavior to use, but don't limit yourself to targeting. The behavior you pick should be something that has a strong reinforcement history behind it, something your horse enjoys doing. When I taught Robin to accept tack and to ground drive, the behavior I switched off to was kick ball. These days when I'm working with him, if I use straight targeting, he's not interested, but if I ask him to discriminate between left and right, he's right with me. So pick something that suits your horse.

Katie also wrote:

"I think what I need to do is to just go out and practice some more with him (and maybe with the others) to show them that slouching does not mean backing, it just means "try something." It is a bit like the creativity game that Kathy Sdao does with dogs. I like how Alex uses slouching to mean "do something new" and I don't want the horses to decide that slouching means backing."

Again a good reminder. In freeshaping we want the animal to learn to experiment. We're seeing just how creative he can be. What does he do when he doesn't get clicked for a behavior that was just reliably earning reinforcement? Does he get mad? Does he get frustrated or anxious? Does he shut down? Or does he try something new? Play the training game with humans, and you'll see all these answers popping out. Especially if the trainer is lumping too much, the trainee may well get frustrated and quit. "I don't get it. Give me a hint." will be the pleas coming from the stressed trainee.

You'll also see humans falling into ruts, repeating strings of behavior over and over again even though they seemingly have not been reinforced for them. Animals do the same thing. That can really frustrate a trainer! The trainers will come up with some interesting strategies to circumvent the animal's behavior. I've watched dogs being freeshaped with strategies that intentionally created stress in order to bump the dog out of whatever rut it was in in order to get it to offer something new.

With the horses I'm going to be sitting on the animal I'm training. I don't want to weave that kind of intentional anxiety into my training. I want the creativity but not at this emotional cost. The microshaping strategy opens the door to the creativity games people play with other species, but it keeps the game safe for those of us who are working in close contact with a large, powerful, and potentially dangerous animal.

I had a recent email from Jesus Rosales-Ruiz from the University of North Texas. He had just watched the Microshaping DVD and he sent me the following comment:

"Your Microshaping DVD is awesome! You made very good points in the video. The featured ones, of course, were about microshaping and targeting to bring the rate of reinforcement up. At the end of the tape, you made an additional point that is totally excellent. I've heard it before from one of my mentors (Ogden Lindsley), but I do not think it is part of the accepted wisdom of animal training or the behavior analytic community for that matter. Here is your point:

While working with Erin somebody asked you how do you know what are you reinforcing? You gave an excellent answer and then you said:

"... here we are focusing attention on Erin's hip. She is able to track our focus without getting confused or frustrated. As the hip movement evolves and becomes more distinct that draws our eye to the next element we can focus on. We are not withholding the click until she tries something new, we are letting the new element evolve, then we are shifting our focus to it."

I just have to say wow! Thanks to you this point now has take on a new dimension for me."

I was delighted that JRR spotted this element. It's one of the keys to the kingdom in understanding so much of what we do with the horses. We aren't making things happen. We are setting the horse up for success and letting each new element evolve. It is a wonderful process. The microshaping strategy shows you how to make effective use of this concept. Whether you are using it to activate forward in a stuck horse, or to help a horse through a fear issue such as Ivan with his plastic phobia or Muska and her fear of saddles, or to break old unwanted patterns of behavior, or to build balance and muscle tone through "Equine Pilates", or simply to play with your horse when it's too cold or too muddy to ride, microshaping and the related microshaping strategy are well worth exploring.

Alexandra Kurland
theclickercenter.com