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Teaching Foals to Lead
Clickryder Post 6/20/01
Alexandra Kurland
Here's the Question:
"I need HELLPP teaching my foal to lead. He's 5 weeks old, is halter broke, but I'm having a heck of a time getting forward motion when trying to exert any pressure on his halter. Any advice??"
Clicker Training is a wonderful no-stress way to introduce foals to halter training and leading. The goal is to teach the foal to yield to pressure and to follow a feel, but you want to do it in a way that doesn't set up a fight. This is not just for sentimental reasons. Whenever I see foals struggling on the end of a lead, I cringe. A foal that is pulling back, rearing, twisting, fighting a lead, maybe even going down, is a foal that could easily damage the vertebrae in its neck. He may indeed learn that he can't get away, that he must yield to the pressure, but he may also grow up with permanent neurological damage as a result of the struggle. For me that's too high a price to pay, especially since there are alternatives.
At the clinic Darcy Donahue organized this spring down in Virginia I got to work with her three week old, very rambunctious colt. Unlike the other foals who have been born on her farm, this one was anything but meek and mild. He wanted to play! And that meant he wanted to rear and bite and engage in mock stallion games. His mom was no help. This was her sixth foal, and she knew the drill. Her attitude was to ignore his antics and let the humans deal with him.
Darcy needed to control Jake's mouthiness and his exuberant play, but she wanted to do it without resorting to the standard arsenal of force. When he was less than a week old, she called me to discuss possible strategies. She didn't want to wait for him to get any bigger or stronger to begin teaching him manners. When I saw him at the clinic a couple of weeks later, she had made good progress socializing him. He was comfortable with people. He liked attention, and was eager to be around us. But he was also still very mouthy and pushy.
Friday afternoon before the clinic started I gave him a short training session, just to get to know him a little. He was out in a large paddock. Mum was grazing, doing her best to ignore her "problem child". He came pushing his way up to us, demanding attention. I placed my left hand over the bridge of his nose, and supported him at the wither with my right. He didn't like the feeling of restriction on his nose. I wasn't pushing him, or trying to force him to take a step. My hand was simply there, on his nose. As he squirmed and fussed trying to shake me off, I kept a steady feel. The combination of my hand on his nose, and my arm around his neck, discouraged rearing. Instead he started backing. I accompanied him. He backed maybe ten steps before he decided backing was not to his liking. His feet came to a standstill, and for a split second so did his head. I instantly took my hand away, clicked him, and gave him a quick scratch on his neck.
He was like every other foal I have ever worked with. He loved the scratching. His little neck arched, his lips quivered. This was foal heaven. I had found my bargaining chip. He was too young to be interested in food, but scratching was something he would definitely work for.
I scratched his neck for only a second or two, just long enough to get his lips going. This is very important. Just as we give the horses only a nibble of grain, not their whole meal; when you use a tactile reward, you give only the briefest of scratches. This is especially important with mouthy foals. Scratching will trigger social grooming, as in, you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. If you scratch them too long, they will reach around to reciprocate, which just encourages the very behavior you are trying to eliminate. So the key to using tactile rewards with foals is KEEP IT BRIEF. And this is amazingly hard for most people. Social grooming is reinforcing for us, as well. It seems as though once people get started, it's hard for them to stop. It's scratch two or three times, then STOP, not scratch until the horse is satisfied.
This is the strategy I used with Jake. I cupped my hand back over his nose. Again he protested, backing several steps before hesitating for a second. I clicked, took my hand away and scratched him. I kept repeating this, and in no time at all, he was standing still accepting my hand. There was no more backing or throwing his head around. As soon as my hand was on the bridge of his nose, he was still. In fact he started offering his nose to my hand. Pretty neat! He was well on his way not only to being halter-trained, but also trained to lead.
That was enough progress for the first session. I turned to leave, only Jake wasn't through playing. As I turned, he bounced up behind me, invading my space in a most rambunctious and inappropriate manner. I had a cotton lead rope slung over my shoulder for just such an eventuality. I used it to extend my reach, to make it very clear that he could not just come charging up to me. He had to be invited in. I swung the rope in front of me, not to attack, or punish him, but simply to outline my space. Jake skittered away and started doing laps around us. I stood next to mom and watched him put on quite the show. Mom, on the other hand, continued to graze and completely ignore her offspring.
Jake galloped around us having a grand time. Ever so slowly I began to shift position so he had to turn to avoid me. I "round-penned" him back to mom's side, then I turned and walked away. Jake followed meekly behind me. He had just taken an important beginning step in learning to lead.
I turned back to him and cupped my hand over his nose. He forgot for a moment the earlier lesson. He shook his head and tried to back away from me. Again, I just stayed with him, following, but not pushing. The instant he was still, I released the pressure, clicked and scratched him. When I reached for his nose the next time, he held himself completely still. He was learning fast. If he wanted me to take my hand away, all he had to do was hold still. And what's more, if he held still, he got a scratch. What a good deal!
I started to leave again. When he followed me politely, I reached up and took control of his nose. Click and scratch. So now I had a way of explaining to him how to enter my space politely. If he charged up to me, I used the cotton rope to send him away. If he came in with his head down, asking permission, and let me place my hand on his nose, click, he got a scratch.
The sending away is very important. A couple of times he turned his rear end to me and planted his feet. He was caught between wanting to spin and kick, and wanting to charge off. I made sure he got his feet unstuck and left when I asked. One of the principles of training says: "Never give a cue you are unable or unwilling to enforce". I didn't want to teach him that he could ignore me. That would have been a disaster for Darcy down the road. So that's why I was carrying the cotton lead. It let me extend my reach and send him away as needed. Each time I sent him away, I used my knowledge of round-penning to draw him to me again. He'd follow me, head level with his withers, and I'd accept him into my space by extending my hand and taking control of his nose. When the three of us, Jake, Mom, and I reached the gate, and I slipped out. That was the end of session one.
Friday evening the clinic started, and, of course, everyone wanted to visit with Jake. He put his head through the gate, demanding attention. As people were petting him, they were also inadvertently reinforcing the kind of behavior which gets young stud colts into trouble. This is
particularly important in Jake's case, because not only is he by nature very mouthy, he is also gorgeous. He's a beautifully proportioned, palomino Morgan who in all likelihood will be a breeding stallion. Manners are critical. EVERYONE who handles him needs to remember that training happens ALL THE TIME, not just when you declare a formal lesson. Polite manners do not just happen. They are our responsibility.
Jake was learning all right, but not the polite behavior Darcy wanted to see in her stud colt. So we created clinic rules. If he put his head through the gate, he was not to be petted or fussed over in any way. Instead people were to turn away from him and ignore him. And my goodness, wasn't that hard to do! He was so cute and irrestible. People so wanted to pet him! Which they could, if his head was inside the gate, and he presented himself politely. Jake caught on fast to the new rules. He lined himself up parallel to the gate and very deliberately held himself stock still. Click, he had just earned a couple of seconds of scratching.
It was truly amazing to see how fast he caught on to the clicker game. He might be only three weeks old, but that didn't keep him from understanding what was being reinforced. There was no question that he was very deliberately offering the behavior that would earn him a couple
of scratches.
When I went in with him Saturday afternoon, he approached me with his head down and accepted my hand with no fussing. When I held my hand out to him, he turned and placed his nose in it. I began to lengthen out the duration I kept it cupped over his nose. Now he had to hold still AND give slightly in my direction. When I felt a slight softening of his head, click, I'd let go and give him a quick scratch. Then I'd cup my hand over his nose again, and offer the gentlest of suggestions that he turn slightly towards me. As he yielded, I released to him.
He was learning to lead. And more than that, he was having his first riding lesson. I was standing over him, in the same relative position that, in three or four years, a rider will be in. He was getting used to my voice and used to movement coming from above him. I was pressed up against his side, just as a rider's leg would be. When I scratched him, I leaned over him to rub his right side. As I put my hand over his nose and asked him to yield to the side, I was actually teaching him to give to a rein. Everything is everything else. Leading, riding, lunging, it's all about accepting and yielding to pressure. With the clicker I could set up a lesson that didn't feel like a lesson. I could introduce this fundamental concept without physically stressing Jake's very young and vulnerable joints.
The key to working in this way is to wait for a give. Most of us apply pressure and then push. We fall into the "make it happen" trap. We want the horse to back, so we push, or we want him to hold still so we try to wrestle him into place. The more we try to "make it happen", the more resistance we encounter. That's certainly true with foals. When Darcy's husband worked with him on Sunday, at first Jake reverted right back to the rearing, plunging, I'm-out-of-here behavior we'd started with. Andy was placing just too much pressure on him.
I had him leave Jake alone for a few minutes while I played the role of the horse. I cupped my hands together as the "horse's head" and had Andy cup his over mine. I just wanted him to rest his hand on mine, but instead he pushed. That push is what triggers resistance. He didn't even realize he was doing it, but the people watching could see it.
I let everyone have a turn at feeling the difference between a give and a push. It's like being a good dance partner. You want to suggest a direction to move in, but then you wait for your partner to respond to you. It's the waiting that is so critical. Otherwise, you're dragging your partner. Do that to a foal, and their first reaction is generally to set back against the pressure. That's what can potentially injure their vertebrae and cause neurological damage.
When Andy went back in with Jake after going through this exercise, the result was totally different. Now Jake accepted his hand and yielded to him. Darcy and Andy have continued to work in this manner with Jake. One major learning they've had since the clinic was they can't linger over the scratching. If they scratch too long, they trigger the social grooming reflex and an increase in mouthiness. One or two quick scratches are all Jake gets, but that's enough to keep him working for more.
There is Always More Than One Way to Shape any Behavior
A couple of weeks ago at the Colorado clinic I got to work with another foal. This was a three month old filly who was the complete opposite of Jake. She was sweet, friendly, and ever so quiet and laid back. Her owners had done a wonderful job socializing her, but they had not yet taught her how to lead.
She was old enough to take nibbles of grain, but, just as I had with Jake, I opted to use scratching as her reward. Lots of people talk about using scratches instead of food as a reward. Scratches certainly can work, but only if they are truly something that the horse enjoys. How do you tell? You scratch your horse and watch to see if he arches his neck, and wiggles his lips. If he goes into "horsey heaven", scratches will be reinforcing. This filly certainly did.
With Jake, I jumped right in with the clicker. I didn't go through an initial set-up the way I do with most horses. I simply piggy-backed the clicker onto an "advance and retreat" lesson. The release of pressure started the process, but then the clicker took over so he was ultimately working to earn scratches.
This filly was already so at ease with people that the advance and retreat would not have been as meaningful, so I started her the way I start most horses. I held a target up in front of her. When she sniffed it, click, she got scratched. It took her no time at all to figure out the game. I moved the target a couple of inches away, and she followed it. Click!, she got scratched. I moved the target again and led her a couple inches at a time away from mom and all the people. She was learning to lead, and, just like Jake, she didn't even know she was having a lesson!
Applying the Principles of Clicker Training
These two foals show how easy it is to apply the principles and techniques of clicker training to the early stages of handling. As I explained to both of their owners, the key to producing a mannerly horse is consistency. That's especially important for horses like this that are going to be raised in close proximity with people. It's so easy to forget that EVERY interaction you have with your foal is a learning experience. When he sticks his nose through the fence, or comes nudging his way up to you, it's almost impossible to resist giving him a pet. But when you do, you may be reinforcing the very behavior you don't want to encourage.
And when your horse plants his feet, just as Jake did a couple of times, it's easy to say: "Oh that's all right. I really didn't need you to move". But when you do, you're just teaching your horse to ignore you.
Consistency. That's the challenge with all horses and especially with foals. The professional colt-starters know this. That's why they prefer getting untouched horses over backyard pets. The untouched horse is afraid of people. Wave your hands at this horse, and it scoots away. These trainers are using fear as their initial motivator to get the horse to move. The horse scoots off, and then has his energy redirected through turns until he can stand and accept human contact.
But what happens with the backyard pet who is no longer afraid of people? When the trainer tries to shoe him away, he just stands there with a "you can't scare me" look on his face. He's not afraid, so he doesn't move off. In fact, he may even resent the trainer trying to scare him and become mad. He'll instantly earn labels. He's spoiled, and stubborn. The trainer needs him to move, so he intensifies the pressure of his aids, until the horse's fear reignites and send him into flight.
I do not want my horses to be afraid of me. I don't want to sit on horses that are worrying about what I'm going to do to them, or who have become resigned to punishment. My goal is to eliminate fear as a motivator in the training. I can get a horse to move by teaching him to yield to steady pressure and reinforcing correct responses. My job then is to be consistent so that my horse develops the habit of always saying "yes" to me. That is the challenge for the owners of these two clinic foals.
Tactile Rewards and the Older Horse
This post is already too long, but let me add one more clinic story while I'm on the subject of using tactile rewards. At the Maryland clinic I worked with a mare who was very shut down on food. She was mildly interested in it in her stall, but when she was out in the arena by herself she was too anxious to eat. That was her normal pattern. Her owner had bought her as an event prospect only to discover that she worried so much she regarded everything around her as a horse-eating goblin.
At the clinic this mare was fine as long as there was another horse with her in the arena, but as soon as he left, she turned into a freight train and tried to drag her owner back to the barn. There are lots of different ways we could have handled this situation. I chose to keep her in the arena and teach her to lower her head. This is a pressure and release of pressure lesson, to which I piggy back the clicker. The only problem was that the mare had no interest in food. We tried various kinds of grain, carrots, even fresh spring grass. She was like a person who can't eat the morning of a show. She sniffed the goodies I offered her and refused them all.
I could get her to drop her head just by using pressure, but I wanted the experience to be more than that for her. So each time she dropped her head, I clicked, released the pressure of the lead, and did a second or two of TTEAM body work on her crest. At first what I was doing didn't even register, but after a couple of minutes, I could feel her relaxing into my hand. Her head dropped down and stayed down. The click hadn't meant anything to her before, but now she was working with me to put her head down and leave it down. She wanted the TTEAM body work, but she had to work for it by controlling her emotions.
This didn't happen all at once. She would start to relax, and then some sound would get her all charged up again, and she'd try to bolt for home. I heard one of the people who was watching comment on how stubborn she was.
Stubborn is a word with all of its judgement and negative connotations that does not belong in a training situation. Our belief systems color so much of what we see. It's important that we consider training from the horse's point of view, not from ours, and that we avoid words that
are laced with negative judgements. That mare was not being stubborn. Instead she was deeply invested in a strategy that she thought was keeping her alive. She was afraid, and every instinct in her body told her to flee. When she couldn't run, she became more afraid. It was as if everything around her suddenly had become charged with an electric current. Bolting for home was her escape. My job was to show her an alternative.
An operant behavior is determined by its consequences. I had to show her that dropping her head led to safety, comfort, ease, even pleasure, before she could give up the safety net of bolting. That's what Jake and the filly had learned so well. Hold yourself still, yield to pressure, follow a target, these were strategies that led to reinforcement. It was just easier for them to learn this than the mare because their experiences with people had so far been so positive and consistent. Where there is no fear or pain, it is a joy to see how fast learning can take place. That is the lesson these foals remind us of.
Alexandra Kurland
theclickercenter.com
Note:
A video of Jake's training is included in the video "The Click That Teaches: An Introduction to Clicker Training.”
My book, "Clicker Training for your Horse" also includes an extensive section on clicker training foals.
Part Five: What's New/Special Events/Articles
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Teaching Foals To Lead 
