March 2008 Newsletter
Copyright 2008 Alexandra Kurland
The following posts were written for the_click_that_teaches email discussion list.

Contents:
Microshaping: The Use of Targeting in the Microshaping Strategy

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Microshaping: The Use of Targeting in the Microshaping Strategy

by Alexandra Kurland

copyright 2008

I love all the enthusiasm for the microshaping!

Karen, you wrote that indeed you were not using the targeting along with the microshaping.

and Susan asked:

"Can I clarify what this extra information is please? After watching
the DVD (just once so far), my understanding was that the targeting was
used to keep the reinforcement rate high, and to give the horse a break
and time to process the microshaping. Have I missed something else?
Should I be using it to reward particulary impressive muscle
contractions (a bit like aa jackpot)?"

If your horse is not already tuned in to the free shaping game, the use of the targeting does indeed serve at first to keep the rates of reinforcement up. You can see that very clearly with Hamilton, the first horse on the DVD.

But the targeting does more than this. It quickly morphs into a conditioned reinforcer. Watch the DVD again, and you'll see how this evolves. We aren't randomly picking the moments when we switch over to the targeting. We offer the target when we see a slight improvement in the behavior we're free shaping. The targeting serves to underscore a particularly good effort. When the horse has some success with the harder puzzle, he gets reinforced not just with a click and a treat, but also with the opportunity to play this easier, very familiar game.

Now why is this important? Well if all you are planing on doing is to experiment a bit with the microshaping, it may not matter if you include the targeting or not. If you go out and freeshape a single behavior with a clicker-wise horse, it's quite likely you'll get the eager response Cisco showed Karen. "This is easy, Mom, who needs targeting! Just let me play the game!"

The easy part of any shaping plan is getting that first behavior. Things are simple. Things are easy. You don't have a lot to remember or to keep straight. There's only one answer because there is only one behavior. But play Kay Lawrence's "Genabecab" table game, and you'll find things get complicated fast. You aren't teaching just one behavior with it's one cue. You're teaching multiple behaviors, each with its own cue attached. So now there's a lot to remember, a lot to sort through and to keep straight. Things can become complicated really fast for both the trainer and the horse.

Before, when there was only one behavior, one cue, there was only one answer - "blue". But now there is "red", "green" and "yellow". Which behavior does the horse offer? Now there's more of a possibility of wrong answers, more of a possibility for confusion and frustration.

How do you keep all this sorted out so the learning game remains fun? There are lots of strategies that help. The microshaping strategy one of many ways to deal with this. With the microshaping strategy you have a little bit of success, and then you switch to another, very easy, very familiar behavior for a few clicks. The second behavior tells the learner that he is very much on the right track. That piece of behavior is something we want. Make note of it, it's what we're after.

Think of it this way. Suppose you are learning a new task, one that has many layers to it, many steps. In order to understand and perform the more complicated aspects of the task, you first have to master the beginning steps. Maybe we're talking about something as potentially frustrating as using a computer! So the first few steps involve just learning to turn the computer on and to use the mouse or the key pad. I remember my first lessons on a computer. I was still trying to figure out how to move the mouse arrow where I wanted it to go, and the person instructing me had moved on into the workings of a program. I felt totally lost.

It would have been a much better lesson if he had used some form of the microshaping strategy. Suppose we had done a few reps on moving the mouse so I could have experienced some success with this mechanical skill. Now the temptation at this point would be to move on. But suppose instead, we had shifted for just a minute or two to another activity that I enjoyed. That would have given me a moment or two to process the new information. That's one benefit. But there are others.

Lets go back to the computer example to see how this works. Our break lasts not minutes but just a few seconds. We aren't getting up from the computer. The lesson doesn't stop. It just shifts for a moment or two to something else, something familiar and easy. Then we return to the computer and the task continues to be centered around the mouse, but now it isn't just getting the mouse arrow to move. It is getting the mouse arrow to move to a particular location on the screen. We've made the task a bit harder.

We get some success here, and then again my instructor switches my attention for a moment or two away from this task. When we return to the computer, he again makes the task a bit harder. Now we are moving the mouse arrow over the screen to a particular spot, and then clicking the mouse to open an operation. Things have just gotten much more complicated indeed! But they don't need to become frustrating or hard to learn just because we are adding more elements to the equation.

I've had time to process each new step, and I know with confidence what the task was in each step. I know this because each unit of behavior was marked by that short break where we switched off to a different task. I get to experience success within each unit before we make the task more difficult. I'm not left wondering if I am on the right track or if this is indeed what is wanted. When I get some consistency in the process, I know I'm right because we shift for a moment away from this task where I'm learning something new onto something that is familiar and easier.

I've learned to look forward to those short shifts to this other task because I understand that they mark moments of success. I enjoy puzzle solving. When we shift for a moment, it means I've figured out one piece of the puzzle, and I'm about to be given another piece to solve. This heightens my interest in the whole process. I look forward to the brief breaks away from the puzzle, and I also look forward to returning for another round of puzzle solving.

I like having these little internal measures of success as I work my way through the puzzle. I'm becoming a confident eager learner because I am experiencing success at each step of the training and that success is clearly acknowledged and marked by the instructor. Learning is safe and fun. It's a confidence builder, not a frustrating, hair-pulling experience that leaves me feeling exhausted and somewhat uncertain about the task I set out to learn. At the end of this microshaping lesson I am eager to learn more about computers.

I think this is what the horses experience. When you leave the targeting out, you are missing out on the process time. And you are missing out on the ability to use the targeting as a conditioned reinforcer. You still have the yes answer of the clicker working for you. But the targeting adds another dimension. With it you are able to say: "That particular moment you just gave me is especially good. Let me mark that not just with a click, but also with this other game you enjoy. You're really on the right track, so here, let's play the targeting game."

The more you use targeting in this way, the more value it gains. Horses like clarity, and they like information. They like knowing they are right. The targeting is a confidence builder. It tells the horse that that piece of behavior it just performed is something the trainer particularly likes, and he is likely to be rewarded for it.

Without this the horse may be operating in a world of uncertainty. When the game changes slightly, or becomes a bit more difficult, he's not so sure which pieces of the puzzle to keep and which to discard. It's a little bit like playing charades. At first you're just guessing. What does all that arm swinging mean? But then you get the first word. You know it's right, so you keep it in the sequence. The more words you know that are right, the more confident you become that you can solve the overall puzzle. If the game gets too hard or too frustrating, you won't want to play again.

Targeting and Equine Pilates
There is definitely value in adding in the targeting when you microshape. But can you microshape without the targeting? Absolutely. Can you microshape without freeshaping? Again, the answer is yes. And can you microshape something other than equine pilates. Yes, again. Not all microshaping roads lead to pilates.

That's one of the challenges of doing DVDs. I don't want people to narrow down their vision of how a tool can be used to just the example that is shown on the DVD. When I was going through all the video I shot last summer of microshaping sessions, I had quite a number of horses to choose from. Not all of them focused on the fine tuning of muscle movements that leads to equine pilates. I chose to take the DVD in that direction because it is such a great way to tune someone's eye to small details of movement. That makes it a great prep for understanding the ridden work that's coming. And as people have been discovering, it's also tremendous fun!

But you can certainly use microshaping in other ways. One of the sessions that I thought of using shows a horse learning to overcome his fear of ground poles. As I was making the microshaping DVD, I thought about turning it into a two parter so I could include this horse and a couple of others. But I know people want to get on to the riding, so I put that project off. I still have the video in my computer. When I get through with the next three DVD which focus directly on riding, I may go back and produce Part Two of the microshaping. It's always fascinating to watch a variety of horses working within the same concept or lesson. You learn something new from each one. And the more you see of this process, the clearer the whole concept becomes.

Alexandra Kurland
theclickercenter.com