Tui starting clicker training
First day clicker training
Tui is a very old thoroughbred horse that has only ever been trained with usual methods, that is, bit a bit and saddle. She has been with me for 20 years. She was retired from riding in 2011, but she still looks very fit and healthy. So, we decided to bring her out of retirement and start clicker training.
Practical tips
When we start clicker training a horse, we start with 2 exercises – “don’t rob me” and hand targeting (for details, see the glossary page). What exercise I start with, depends on the horse. For example, if you train a very shy or scared horse, you might need to
· turn away from the horse,
· C/T the horse for looking at you, and then put the treat in a bucket and walk away
On the other hand, if the horse is very pushy, I would start with ‘don’t rob me’, with having the horse on the other side of a fence.
Tui’s start
Tui is not a pushy horse, and she trusts me. So, I started with hand targeting on the lawn. I held out my hand infront of her nose, she sniffed it, and I C/T. I did that a few times, maybe 10-20 times, until she started getting very keen on the food. I then moved to a different part of the lawn, and did about 10-20 “don’t rob me”. That was the end of the first session.
I did another 4 sessions in the same way throughout the day. Tui’s first day clicker training, went really well! At the end of day one, she has got a pretty good idea of hand targeting (not fluent yet, but getting an idea), not mugging while standing, not mugging while walking. Not bad for a first day :).
At the end of the day, we also went for a quiet walk in the SCP. Tui is naturally a very energetic and forward moving horse (slightly nuts ha ha), so I wanted to just go for a slow and gentle walk, and giving her lots of C/T.
When we first got into the SCP, she ran off, like she does. But after she had finished running around like a 10 year old, I went up to her, and held out my hand for her to touch. She did and then she remembered about the treats. We went for a short walk and she walked with me. I did have to work on ‘don’t rob me’, but that is to be expected.
Overall I am very pleased with her progress. It is giving me hope that even an old thoroughbred horse can learn about clicker training.
