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INCREASED MOTIVATION, DECREASED RESISTANCE WITH CLICKER TRAINING by Margaret L. Leach
January 1, 2001
Dear Alex,
I have read your book and have started clicker training my three-year-old filly, Meadowlark. The results to date have been very gratifying but I hope to improve my clarity of communication by attending one of your clinics.
Meadowlark is very bright but also very reactive to new or unexpected stimuli. I had reached the point of considering selling her because of her tendency to spook. I could not see her becoming the trail horse of my dreams. However, clicker training has given me new hope.
Today I found out that she would attend to me and focus on what I asked, despite snowmobiles racing past the arena. In the past, I never would have even attempted to continue working once the snowmobiles started whizzing by the barn because she would have been so frightened.
Meadowlark grasped the notion of working for the click followed by a carrot reward within just a few trials of having her touch an empty detergent bottle. She went through a short period of mugging but now understands that she has to work for the click before she gets a reward. The biggest challenge is her enthusiasm as she is so eager to gain the reward.
I am proud to report that Meadowlark now walks up to new items in the arena and cautiously touches them with her nose. In the past, she would have avoided them if at all possible. She was willing to walk across a green tarp, at liberty, after just a half-hour of clicker training. I trained her to cross the tarp off lead so she was free to refuse or leave if she felt uncomfortable but she still worked willingly and eagerly.
Your articles and book have given me such hope. I wanted to let you know how gratified I was to come across your information on the Internet. Reading the stories of the horses you have worked with gave me so much encouragement.
I had been trying John Lyon’s approach to training as far as teaching in small steps. I found his work helpful in terms of his clarity and specificity. Meadowlark’s rate of progress with training has accelerated dramatically since adding in the clicker training. She does not get as frustrated during training and actually seems eager for it. Meadowlark astounds me at how quickly she can learn specific behaviors this way.
In the past, Meadowlark would learn what I wanted but then spend a lot of time resisting after the first few successful tries. She was very bright but it was challenging to get that intelligence to work with me instead of against me. I still had a hard time motivating her to perform behaviors after she understood what I was asking. Now she can’t wait to play the clicker game. Now there is a way to say “yes” each step of the way as well as motivate her with something she really cares about.
I know that I have a lot to learn and am sure there is much room for improvement in my current level of skill so I hope to attend a clinic soon. I think a chance to observe training in progress and also practice with immediate feedback would increase my own learning rate and improve my communication with my horses.
- Margaret
HELP WITH “SPOOKING”
by Margaret L. Leach
January 3, 2001
Dear Alex,
Your point about horses being emotionally equivalent to toddlers was right on the mark. Thank you for your additional suggestions for helping Meadowlark get over being “spooky.” I will put them to good use. It makes sense that having her interact with an object in as many ways as I can imagine, would resolve any fear she had of it. I liked your idea of having her touch a towel but also experience it draped over her back, hung from the wall for her to target, dropped on the ground for her to walk over and also retrieved. After interacting that many times with the towel, she couldn’t possibly continue to see it as a threat.
This morning I pulled out the green tarp and draped it over a calvettiand jump stand. I was astounded at how quickly Meadowlark went up and sniffed it, without any of her usual bolting. She recognized the tarp from having walked over it last week. In the past an object in a different position was enough to treat it as new and foreign. So there is hope, thanks to clicker training. These horses are so bright. I don’t think some of the training I have seen that uses heavier bits and molding devices gives recognition to their intelligence and sensitivity.
I am going to do my best to come to the January clinic, as I want to make sure that I get feedback and also a chance to observe. I am so psyched about this approach to horse training and am so thrilled with the results. I want to learn more as soon as possible. Seeing the rapid changes in Meadowlark’s behavior is my “carrot” to learn more and more.
Thanks so much for the feedback and taking time to respond.
GETTING STARTED IN CLICKER TRAINING
by Margaret L. Leach
January 6, 2001
Dear Alex,
Here’s hoping that the weather cooperates next week for the clicker-training clinic. Thanks for the name of a local person and who can work with me if I need assistance after the clinic. I am continuing to review your book and your videos are on order. With Click-Ryder e-mail and your telephone consults available, I feel like I already have this wonderful network of resources and support.
In the meantime, the horses and I are learning every day about clicker training. I have benefited greatly from being on the Click-Ryder e-mail list. I find that I have much to be grateful for in how eager and responsive my horses are and how quickly they are picking this up. Hearing of others’ challenges and frustration is wonderful as I find out that we have similar questions and sticking points.
Your pre-clinic questionnaire is filled out and on its way. I think it is a fantastic idea to fill it out prior to attending the clinic. I found the process of answering your questions a wonderful way of seeing where I am right now. In addition, it put me back in touch with my dreams and goals. By encouraging me to encapsulate what I wanted both short- and long-term, it acted as a powerful motivational tool and self-educational exercise. To have to think about what is going to constitute a good clinic experience for me made me really think about the experience and what I needed to get out of it. In turn, I would imagine that the questionnaire helps you come into the clinic setting with some sense of the backgrounds and needs of the participants.
I also noticed a reduction in my sense of frustration and anxiety over my filly. The process of summarizing what she can do, rating how well she can do it and listing what she needs work on made me see our situation differently. Suddenly our future didn’t seem so dark. I could really see how far we have come over our history together and how our progress has really accelerated with clicker training. I have a new sense of hope.
What I discovered, when I unemotionally summarized my situation for you, was that I was able to get a more objective viewpoint for myself as well. The automatic problem solving part of my brain went to work. Viola! New ideas to solve problems, new energy, and new motivation appeared. Feelings such as frustration disappeared.
I am going to start some kind of log or journal of the day’s training to include both high points and sticking points so I can start thinking my way out of corners. At the very least, I can formulate questions about what I perceive as obstacles. One thing I have learned about life is that if I make the effort to ask a question, the answer is usually not far behind.
I am so grateful to come across your work and have access to some long-term follow-through with a network of people who can share and help problem solve. Clicker training has brought me back to the wonder, joy and fun of exploration with my horses.
- Margaret
BENEFITS OF FREE SHAPING HEAD LOWERING
by Margaret L. Leach
January 7, 2001
Dear Alex,
I started working on head lowering while lunging within the last few weeks. I wanted to lunge Meadowlark and have a behavior that I could reward while she was also being exercised. I realized I could free shape her for head lowering while walking. She knows how to lower her head with me cueing by lifting up on the lead line but I decided to free shape this behavior while lunging her at the walk.
The exercise was fun. Within minutes, Meadowlark was offering her nose to the ground. Then I started holding out for more steps before clicking. If she became anxious about something, I would let her walk as many circles as it took until she offered me head lowering. Click/reward
I have now practiced free shaping (rather than direct cueing) head lowering on the lunge line on several occasions. By chance, we fell into a steady progression of more and more challenges to her attention. One day another rider was working in the ring. The next day there were two riders. A few days later three riders were present! It amazed me how quickly she would settle down and offer head lowering, walking her lunge circles while other horses trotted and cantered past her. This has turned out to a very powerful exercise for her.
At the end of the last session, we went to the end of the arena and worked on head lowering while two horses cantered right past her while practicing jumping. A third horse was parked with its nose three feet away from her. I was able to keep her attention and extend her duration out to 30-second stretches despite all of this activity going on around us. What a difference from the animal that, eighteen months ago, could not stand still or keep focused on me if another horse was in the arena. In the past, if they moved, she had to move.
The unexpected bonus from working on this exercise is that she finally seems to understand what I am asking for while leading. We have had an ongoing challenge with barging. She was fine as long as there wasn’t a bit of distraction but as soon as anything in the environment caught her interest, she translated that into energy and moved ahead of me. I would try to do the “tai chi wall” with the lead rope but she would either forge right through it or else step away from me, out the opposite side. If she saw me preparing to use the lead rope as a “wall”, she would charge straight ahead, before I could get into position. So I tended mostly to ask for a halt and back to correct her leading position.
After the lunge work with head lowering, Meadowlark now listened well enough while leading that I could ask her to slow down and she would do it. A few times, when she needed it, I was able to do the “tai chi wall” and it was effective because she didn’t try to charge through or past it. She was so much lighter that even squeezing the lead line was registering as a message for her. I was astounded at her improved attention and how much more responsive she was.
I know that your Videotape 3 says head-lowering leads to lightness but my mental construct of how to get lightness was something different. I knew we did head lowering for a calm down cue, relaxation and trust. I have worked on head lowering a lot but I don’t think we were getting as deeply into the relaxation benefits until we did this work on the lunge line. Putting her on a circle and having her walk while free shaping head lowering is somehow enhancing the relaxation effect. Either that or the free shaping her has some kind of training effect that cueing through a lead line doesn’t. Somehow, free shaping head lowering on the lunge line where she figured out what she had to do, rather than me telling her what to do, had a more powerful effect on her. I now think that “light” means a deeply relaxed, confident horse that is attending, listening, and responding.
Do you have any experience as to whether free shaping is a more potent method of instruction compared to eliciting the behavior through a cue such as pressure on the lead line? Am I just seeing a horse that finally got relaxed enough to “hear” my input?
Free shaping head lowering on a lunge line has provided a wonderful precursor step to working on head lowering while leading and also improved leading behaviors in general. Since we have done the free shaping, Meadowlark has increased her duration on head lowering while on the lead rope. She has also figured out how to keep her head lowered while transitioning from halt into walk. Today she even kept her head lowered while halting and then backing.
Since this exercise, Meadowlark has now begun working with her ears forward instead of pinned or half-pinned. I was so thrilled to see this change because those partially laid-back ears always made me feel that she was sullen or unhappy. To see her ears forward and her looking pleasant thrills me.
Meadowlark is no longer snarking while leading which is another major improvement. Part of this change may be an “aha” moment I had in regards to my own energy. I finally realized that what I defined as “relaxed” or “calm” does not appear that way from Meadowlark’s perspective. She felt my energy as too much pressure or thought I was asking for speed.
My moment of epiphany came after our head lowering while lunging session. One day I turned to ask her to move back and I could see her tense. Suddenly I had this image in my mind of a fine china teacup, the kind that is so delicate that the light shines through. I used that mental image to handle her as if I was handling a delicate teacup. I could immediately see her relax before my eyes. Then tension went right out of her. That was a very instructive moment for me.
Somehow, since the free shaping experience, I feel that Meadowlark and I are building a deeper bond. When I see her respond to the training, my heart opens to her even more. I have always loved this horse but have also felt challenged by her sensitivity and reactivity. I sensed that I could not always reach through her anxiety to her mind. I am now thinking that the most essential question I need to keep asking myself about Meadowlark is “how can I help her feel safe?” If she feels safe and can deeply relax, all the other stuff will come easily because she is so bright.
- Margaret
RESOLVING AGGRESSIVE DISPLAYS
by Margaret L. Leach
January 15, 2001
Dear Alex,
Meadowlark made a few bite threats today that surprised me by how quick and fierce they were. At the time, I was trying to teach her leading skills and clicking her for turning with me without any tension in the lead rope. (She loves to barge ahead and maintain tension on the lead rope.) At first she did well with the exercise but if my rate of re-enforcement slowed down, she did try a couple of really nasty swipes.
When she did a nip threat, I simply asked her for head lowering to calm her down. Then we practiced some behaviors she knew well. Once she was relaxed and focused, I ended the session until I could figure out the problem.
After some thought, I have decided to view her angry threats as an expression of deep frustration and possibly confusion. Since she worked so well on behaviors that she knows, she was clearly trying to convey a message of anger or frustration to me. I am able to spread out the time between clicks during other behaviors. She will do a stand stay to a count of 70 before I click and we practice that several minutes at a time without a break. So her simply being intolerant of longer duration between clicks is probably not the issue.
I decided that I have to break down my criteria. Maybe I am unconsciously looking for too many things at once. I click her for turning when I turn but I also expect her to match my pace. Maybe I need to go straight and click for slowing her pace. Then I might need to work on turning as a separate behavior. I think I am mistaking leading as one behavior but it really has multiple components. I will go back to your book and review the basic principles.
I do know that every time I have tried to teach her a new behavior, even before starting clicker training, she would threaten me with head butting or nipping until she understood what it was I was asking. Sometimes it felt to me that she was saying “Do we really have to do this? I don’t want to do this. I am going to let you know how much I don’t want to do this.” However, today’s swipes felt angry to me, not like a whining kid protesting. The speed and energy in her behavior were what felt so distressing to me. In the past, once the new task became familiar, she dropped the threats. So that supports the notion that she is confused and perhaps angry because she doesn’t understand how to get the right answer.
Today, instead of deciding that I had created a monster with the clicker training, I decided to use her threat behavior as information and communication from her that I needed to slow down and break down what we were doing into even smaller steps. I guess that is evidence of progress in my own learning as a trainer. Instead of going into a fear response (“she’s a dangerous horse” or “I’m a bad trainer”), I am going straight into problem solving without someone needing to reassure me or tell me what to do. I am learning to “take two steps back and lower head until calm”. I am thinking of turning leading practice into a 300-peck pigeon project.
No need to respond to this. My note has turned into a long thinking-out-loud discourse. I now feel comfortable at the moment with trying to sort this out on my own. Thank you so much for your kindness and encouragement.
- Margaret
BENEFITS OF “STAY OUT OF MY SPACE” EXERCISES
by Margaret L. Leach
January 19, 2001
Dear Alex,
One of my concerns while getting started in clicker training was that Meadowlark, while at liberty, was acting as a tollgate keeper when I came into the arena. In fact, a few times she became aggressive to a point that I found scary.
Before attending the clinic and seeing your videos, I didn’t know how to set training priorities. I had developed the notion that I could start clicker training any behavior, once Meadowlark knew how to touch a target and had made the connection that she would only get a treat for a behavior that was clicked. I didn’t realize I was opening up a Pandora’s box when I chose the training sequence I did. Now I am starting to see that there is a critical order or sequence of behaviors to teach my horses in order to ensure that I feel safe. I now know that I need to teach my horse to back away from me and stay back before teaching her to come close and stay close.
After reviewing what I learned at the clinic, I realized how I might have created my own equine version of Frankenstein. First, I had not consistently insisted that Meadowlark stay in her own space when I brought the treat to her mouth. I sometimes let her extend her nose out into my space while treating. I thought I had addressed mugging because she didn’t grab at my pockets. I didn’t realize that putting her nose forward into my space was a form of mugging or at least a precursor to mugging.
Second, I had not realized that the sequence of early training was so critical. I had mistakenly spent a lot of time rewarding Meadowlark for staying close to me before I taught her to stay back and out of my space. Meadowlark knew how to back on request but I always stayed close to her as she was backing away. I hadn’t taught her a “stand stay” nor had I taught her “go entertain yourself while the grown-ups are busy.” She hadn’t even learned “stand quietly next to me while the grown-ups are talking”.
Third, until I read Karen Pryor’s book Don’t Shoot the Dog, I didn’t appreciate that horses need to be taught in a variety of situations and locations. Because my horse has behaved well in one setting, I can’t necessarily expect the horse to generalize the same behavior to all locations and conditions unless I have gone through a specific training process. I had sent Meadowlark out of my space on a lead line (“go forward” cue) but not at liberty. I had taught her to touch a target over a stall door, to head lower and to back while on a lead line, but I never had taught her these behaviors while at liberty in the arena. Working at liberty in the arena was a new criterion so I needed to verify that she understood these behaviors, rather than making the assumption that she would generalize her learning to the new conditions.
I never had appreciated that invading my space and mugging were such important issues until Meadowlark was at liberty in the arena. I not only discovered the importance of sequence in training but also learned the importance of consistently teaching the horse to respect my space during every interaction in every setting.
I now realize that Meadowlark was coming close and wanting to stay close when at liberty in the arena because that was what I had consistently rewarded her for during our initial training. She started behaving in an aggressive manner out of frustration. In her mind, she was offering to do what I usually asked and I was refusing to acknowledge her efforts. I was snubbing her when she was trying to initiate a conversation so she protested. She needed to learn patience and emotional control through a specific training process.
Every day I teach a lesson in emotional control by holding out the carrot and insisting Meadowlark stay where she is behind her stall door until I bring it up to her mouth. She used to find it irresistible to reach for the carrot, especially once it was as close as six inches. Now she is waiting with her face forward or slightly turned away from me until I put the treat under her nose. She is learning to stay in her space and developing the emotional control to wait patiently.
Meadowlark did not get solid on respecting my space until I started working on the “stand stay” at the end of the lead rope in preparation for work on a ground tie. Today I discovered this unexpected benefit of teaching the “stand stay” at the end of the lead rope. When I turned Meadowlark loose while I walked down the arena to turn on the lights, she stayed by the arena gate instead of following me and waited quietly for me to return. After cleaning stalls I went back to the arena and stepped inside the gate. Meadowlark saw her lead rope in my hand and knew it was time to go back to her stall. She approached me but stopped about six feet away, waiting for me to close the distance between us. No mugging, no threats! Hooray!
I was thrilled at this unexpected benefit of teaching her to stand quietly at the end of the lead rope, out of my space without moving until I asked her to do so. This behavior serves me well because I want a horse that will meet me at the gate, instead of making me go across the pasture to get her, but I also need a horse that will stop well out of my space and wait for me to approach.
After having gone through some difficult moments in the training, I feel like am back on track and heading toward good things.
- Margaret
MORE ON RESOLVING AGGRESSIVE DISPLAYS
by Margaret L. Leach
January 22, 2001
Dear Alex,
Yesterday Meadowlark did not give me one display of aggression, even when I went to the arena for sawdust and she wanted to act like a tollgate keeper. This improvement came about because I learned to trained Meadowlark prior to turning her loose in the arena while I cleaned stalls. I realized that Meadowlark needs a sense of having had “her time” before she is willing to be ignored a bit. Serena wants her turn, too, but is more patient. Once again, the issue of Meadowlark needing more training in emotional control is apparent.
Today my energy was mellow, my motion slow from the almost hypnotic effect of practicing the 300-peck pigeon exercise prior to stall cleaning. That relaxation helped me when I needed to insist that Meadowlark back out of my space and stay out of my space after I entered the arena for sawdust. I was able to insist gently and get her to comply after two requests. The second time I added a suggestion of her turning away from me with pressure through her halter and she listened! No threats. Clarity of intent with slow, calm motion worked.
I was able to get sawdust while both horses wandered off to the side of the ring. Meadowlark approached once but left again without my needing to do anything except to keep steadily loading my wheelbarrow with sawdust. She came up to me when I was going out the arena door but stayed back, without cueing, while I left.
Meadowlark waited quietly in the arena while I put Serena away, so we had a second session of 300-peck pigeon leading work in a square pattern. I wanted to reward her with lots of attention for waiting quietly when I needed her to wait.
I knew her nip threats were coming out of either frustration or fear but I didn’t always know how to deal with them effectively. I am still learning how quiet an energy level Meadowlark needs from me.
This weekend the clicker training clinic showed me how narrow the plank is that one must walk between being too tentative and being too insistent by “shouting” at the horse with one’s energy. What feels calm or quiet to me needs to be ratcheted down even lower for Meadowlark, but she also needs firm insistence on follow-through.
Seeing how sensitive a few of the horses at the clinic were to what seemed minute and subtle differences in handling made a vivid impression and also helped me with Meadowlark. I saw how a handler’s smoothness of motion and confidence (or lack of it) made a big difference in the horse’s response when the handler approached.
By seeing at the clinic how anyone’s horse can act out at times, I learned better how to work through challenging moments. I am finally getting a better sense of handling techniques. I watched so many wonderful displays of the best and worst of horse behaviors and saw clear examples of modifying behavior through handling methods. While the horses’ emotional meltdowns couldn’t have been easy for their handlers to deal with, they provided a wonderful education for me.
After so many clinics and a year’s practice, I feel like I am just starting to pull some of this together. To be taught, all the material has to be broken down, but it must be applied seamlessly. Learning how to train horses is really a form of learning to dance! Fortunately, my horses are forgiving when I step on their toes. I am starting to get the hang of it.
RIDING IMPROVEMENTS AFTER CLICKER TRAINING CLINIC by Margaret L. Leach
8/31/01
Dear Alex,
Clicker training has molded me as much or more than the horse. Once I learned to “get out of the horse’s way,” changes in my riding have come fast and furious. Finding the internal map, the internal “feel,” the right images and metaphors has allowed me to translate instruction into reality. For me, the key turning point has been learning what to “let go.”
My initial cues for learning to ride had all been focused around staying on the horse, staying safe, and getting strong enough. I think that focusing on the image of strength tended to produce tightness, effort, clinging, blocking. I know my riding instructor had cued me about not collapsing to the inside but I had no sense of any alternative or how to produce the alternative. I would simply tense myself up trying to level my shoulders. I would lock my shoulders, which then blocked the horse’s hip. The horse would be blamed for not listening or being stiff.
I know my trainer has talked to me about my elbows but I always understood her instruction in terms of my elbow position rather than making my elbows relaxed, fluid, or open. You were the first person who ever connected for me that my elbow had something to do with my hips and that my hips do something to the horse.
I think that bringing the whole idea of energy and energy flow into riding instruction is critical. Positioning a person makes him/her lock down in that position. Even if it looks like the rider is in the correct position, he/she can still be blocking motion. To be fair to my trainer, I think she was peeling the onion. She was good at not going after too much too soon. Maybe I am just finally ready to hear and understand. It took my getting really frustrated and unhappy to motivate me to find another way. I know she was trying and I know I was trying. It just didn’t feel like productive effort on my part.
Yesterday I rode Serena and we had one of those “in the zone” experiences. I focused on making the bends as smooth as possible and keeping her form down the side of the arena. I found that, after repetition, when I checked her hindquarters, they were already “there” and I had to ask for the shift over less and less. I also found that when I did have to cue her for moving her hips, I could sometimes get it just by imagining that my pelvis was filled with Jell-O and that I had to move the Jell-O over as a whole unit.
What fascinated me was that as we both became more and more relaxed, fluid and light, I discovered that my pelvis had changed position on her back. I felt like I was sitting on the “flat” of it, rather than being back on the sitting bones. My inner thighs felt molded around her. This was the first time I had that sensation and it felt wonderful. Then I found that when I went around the corners in the arena, all I had to do was lengthen my spine and focus on keeping my weight centered over her to avoid collapsing my rib cage to the inside. Just my lengthening up and correcting my posture to follow her shift was enough to glide her around and over, so we had the most lovely, smooth bends.
I discovered all of this by remembering what you said at your clinic, about how locking the elbows locks the hips and pelvis. I could change the way she moved and her fluidity by allowing my outside elbow to stay fluid and my pelvis to flow sideways as well as forward and back. It felt like I had your voice in my head. I played with the different images and it unlocked something profound for us.
As Serena became fluid, her walk altered so it became a wonderful working walk. Her stride felt longer. She was moving with more energy but it felt fluid instead of choppy. I didn’t have to “get after her.” The change came automatically once my spine and pelvis relaxed and opened up. I suspect her pelvis was opening up as well. Serena’s mood seemed to shift to match. She took longer to chew her treats. She seemed content to stand quietly and chew her treat for a while, rather than immediately stepping out. The deeper we got into the zone, the less interested she seemed in the treat. She would stop immediately after the click but I had to cue her to come around for the treat. She seemed to be in the same dreamy, internally focused state that I was.
Trotting felt different to me as well. She was offering to bend on the turns. My pelvis felt totally different than it usually does trotting. We are definitely learning tai chi on horseback!
After I dismounted, Serena did not want the session to end. I really had to insist that we leave the arena. She wanted more. Serena had been a horse that, when I was a rank beginner at riding, would go to the center of the arena and stop by the mounting block, clearly asking me to get off her back. Now she seems disappointed if she realizes that I am going to turn her out in her pen for grass instead of taking her to the arena for training. Knowing that she enjoys clicker training so much that she wants to continue working is enough to bring tears of joy to my eyes.
TRAIL RIDING
by Margaret L. Leach
October 1, 2001
Dear Alex,
Today was one of those special days with Serena when several sessions of effort all came together. I was so proud of her! We have established a meaningful language together. It feels like we are getting past learning the “letters” or “words” of clicker training and now are starting to have conversations.
Most of our progress in communication while riding has taken place since I started using the clicker while riding in May of this year. The ground work with the clicker between January and May set up the under-saddle work. The last two clinics have taught me how to influence her while riding. I don’t think I would have progressed this far without riding Anne’s Sindri at your clinic. He made it possible for me to directly experience the powerful influence that shifting thoughts or position can have on a well-trained horse.
Riding Serena after this many months of clicker training feels so much better than our first five years together when communication consisted of pull and squeeze. Best of all, we didn’t need spurs, martingale, side reins or curb bits to get here. Today I rode her out in the fields in an English bridle without the nose-band and a snaffle bit. She was totally responsive. I have been able to effectively carry over our learning from the clinic.
We braved windy weather for our trail ride, even though Serena is usually skittish in wind. When I first started out to the 20-acre field, Serena was stumbling over rough spots. As soon as I was able to relax my pelvis and stretch up tall, Serena balanced underneath me and stopped stumbling. This was an enlightening moment!
She went away from the barn without a discussion. In the past she was barn-sour but that had been addressed through clicker training. We went around the field in a square pattern, passing a pond and wooded area. Once we were beyond her usual turf, her head came up and she started searching for the barn. The barn was out of sight beyond a wooded area but she knew immediately when we turned in that direction. Her pace picked up and I could feel her coil up under me as she scanned the far side of the field.
I found myself responding with anxiety because I know from experience that the next unusual stimuli would be enough to provoke her into speed and possibly a bolt. After the first wave of “Oh my God, she has her head up and ears fixed forward,” I made myself check my legs and posture. Of course I was leaning forward and gripping with my legs. I made myself sit up and focus on relaxing my pelvis. I asked for a halt and got it, clicking her and treating for her response. As we went forward I focused on keeping my pelvis loose and moving with her and sang to her to divert my anxious thoughts. By the time we got to the far side of the field, turning to walk along a hedgerow not far from the barn, she had her head level, a loose easy stride and no tension in her body.
Serena did so well listening that I decided to take another turn around the field. The second time we were able to double our distance toward the back of the field before she started scanning for the barn. She had been so busy listening for my “whoa” cue to earn a click, she forgot to think about where the barn was for quite a while. We did turn back toward the barn but we were able to return on a slack rein. What I loved was that as I would sit up and balance my pelvis, she would start offering more collection in her posture, still moving forward with good energy.
What a long distance we have come from the horse that would push her way through a curb bit in her urgency to get home! I really appreciate how this last clinic taught me the importance of a relaxed seat. Your clinics have given me a wonderful “tool box” and the knowledge of how to apply clicker training “tools”.
CLICKER TRAINING A HERD-BOUND HORSE
by Margaret L. Leach
October 4, 2001
Dear Alex,
Meadowlark recently started free lunging and leading at liberty in the indoor arena. She never wandered off once while free leading and even did right turns (turning away from me). I was so excited but she acted like it was just ho hum.
Today Meadowlark and I had our first solo trail ride (from the ground) in the big twenty-acre field. By keeping her in a state of relaxation while using halts and head lowering to keep her focused, I enlarged her comfort zone way beyond what I would have imagined possible in just one session.
As the two of us went down the path through the woods to the field, Meadowlark became very anxious. She reacted to the wind swaying branches and swirling leaves. I circled her around me a few times on the end of the lead rope as we made our way through the trees. She relaxed a little once she moved beyond the woods out into the field where she could see Serena, her pasture-mate, grazing in a round pen in the distance.
Then she began barging and pulling on the lead rope in her eagerness to reach Serena. I decided to reward relaxation. If Meadowlark headed towards Serena, I asked for a “whoa” and clicked her if she stopped without pulling on the lead rope. I also clicked her if she moved on a slack lead rope away from Serena. She could circle me as much as she wanted as long as she kept the lead rope slack. I let her eat a generous allotment of grass as her treat after the click if she halted on request.
Meadowlark never once ignored my request for her to halt. Within a few minutes she was happily grazing, with her back to Serena, even though we were near trees that were moving in the wind and leaves were blowing past.
We moved ten feet closer to Serena and tried the same exercise. Meadowlark took no time at all to settle down to graze. Once we did head toward the round pen, she walked on a slack lead in a totally relaxed manner, even though we were passing by a hedgerow that usually elicits a spook or two from her.
I decided to explore Meadowlark’s tolerance for moving away from Serena, figuring this would be more challenging for her. We wandered down the field towards the road. I let her choose her direction and the pace. She could graze freely but she had to keep slack in the lead rope and remain relaxed.
If Meadowlark went on alert, I asked for head lowering and clicked when she responded. The long grass was her treat. I was amazed as she chose to keep moving across the field away from Serena, even when she saw a big pile of hay that looked scary to her. Meadowlark cautiously approached the hay pile to investigate, her legs trembling in fear. I clicked as soon as she reached her nose out to sniff the strange looking mound. Meadowlark checked it out thoroughly and then walked right through the hay pile, again heading toward the road.
We approached within feet of the road, another site of potential goblins for her. She turned to her right and headed toward a neighbor’s property, following a course parallel to the road. Finally we stopped in the field’s far corner where Meadowlark could see a subdivision in the distance. I could feel her interest. She remained calm but seemed full of curiosity. Meadowlark’s head came up as a woman passed us, pushing a stroller with a diaper trailing out the back, flapping in the breeze. I asked for head lowering. She relaxed her neck and reached down into the grass.
Leaving the far corner of the field, we turned right again and explored the perimeter of the pasture by walking close to a hedgerow. Serena was far away but Meadowlark didn’t seem concerned. She was curious, grazing from time to time, but mainly she focused on taking in all the new sights--a house, asters in bloom, tall brush. I was sure Meadowlark would refuse to go on once we reached an area where woods and a pond would block her sight of Serena. I started clicking/treating her every three steps making sure that she was facing forward and moving away from Serena. If she felt the need to circle me, she could but I would only click/reward motion going away from Serena. We got almost past the trees that blocked her view of Serena. Meadowlark decided that she wanted to turn back.
Reversing direction, we retraced our steps back to the far corner of the field where Meadowlark had seen the woman with the baby in the stroller. We covered the distance on a slack lead while Meadowlark spent more time looking around. She seemed intrigued by the houses across the road. Realizing that she was very relaxed, I turned away from the road and took her once again back to the section of field where she had refused to go farther because Serena was out of sight. This time she didn’t refuse to go on, even though the woods surrounding a pond in the field totally blocked her view of her pasture-mate. I clicked/rewarded for forward movement but started extending out the number of steps between treats. She remained totally relaxed and calm, even at 14 steps between clicks.
Since Meadowlark was doing well, I turned her to the right, heading across the field toward the point where we had come out of the woods when we first left the barn. The woods and pond formed an island in the field of grass to her right and blocked all sight of Serena. We now were completely alone in a huge field with no houses or other horses in sight, following a mowed path that had been cut out of waist high grass and weeds. This would be a real test for her. I asked her to halt on a regular basis. Since she responded instantly, she was clicked and rewarded.
Half way across the field I could see Meadowlark trying to figure out where Serena was. Watching her, I speculated that she was making a map in her head. She seemed to understand that Serena was on the far side of the wooded area. However, Meadowlark stayed calm and made no attempt to try and head in Serena’s direction. Walking on a slack lead we finished crossing the field, passing the wooded area and the hedgerow that had made her so anxious initially. Still she remained totally relaxed, walking on a slack lead back to the round pen where I finally turned her loose to graze with Serena.
I was so thrilled at how well Meadowlark did today, as she tends to be very insecure out of sight of other horses. Using the click/reward while practicing behaviors that were familiar to her, I was able to restore her focus and relaxation whenever she became anxious. Our trail ride from the ground did amazing things for my own confidence. In the past, I have been on the end of the lead rope with this youngster, when she was feeling terrified and I was unsure how we would get where we were going without injury to one or both of us. I had come to doubt that she would ever be safe on a trail ride. To see her walking so relaxed, calm and curious today and to know that I was able to easily and effectively reduce any anxiety raised my hopes that some day we could trail ride together, with me on her back.
Part Five: What's New/Special Events/Articles
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