Clicker Training Frequently Asked Questions
What is clicker training ?
Body Aware Horses
Effective Training
How does Clicker Training Work?
What is Positive reinforcement?
How do rewards work?
Do I have to use food as a reward?
What type of treats should i use?
What is clicker training ?
Clicker training is a way of training using rewards (positive reinforcement). It is a way of saying ´yes´ to a behaviour that you want the horse to do.
Clicker training engages both the trainer and the animal as active participants in the learning process. It is an efficient way to teach reliable and accurate behaviours in response to a cue or request from the trainer. What develops as a result of using clicker training is a wonderful relationship between trainer and animal that has it´s foundation in mutual respect.
Body Aware Horses
This simple teaching concept begins to develop a horse who is not just wonderfully responsive, it develops a horse who is body aware. The overall result is enhanced physical and emotional balance (a must have for a spooky or anxious horse). Clicker training is not a training method, rather it is a good use of the understanding of how animals learn. We can use this understanding to optimise learning in the real world.
Effective Training
Rewards based training is not a new concept, it has been around for almost 100 years. Deemed the most ethical and effective way of training since it conception, it has been used by world famous animal trainers to train performance animals at zoos and aquariums etc.How does clicker training work ?
What we are doing when we clicker train is we are using the positive reinforcement aspect of operant conditioning (or trial and error learning) to teach the horse.The use of treats in training has been used for a long time, however, it was noted by trainers that the time it takes between the behaviour and getting the treat to the horse was too long and could disrupt the training.
What the clicker does is ‘bridge’ the gap and tells the horse ‘yes’ at the exact moment that the behaviour happens. It’s a bit like a camera taking a picture of an exact moment in time. The clicker is therefore known as a ‘bridging tool’.
Positive reinforcement is a reward. If you apply positive reinforcement as a behaviour happens you are more likely to get that behaviour to happen again.
What is positive reinforcement ?
Positive reinforcement is the giving of something that the horse wants in response to a behaviour. The way to tell if you are working with positive reinforcement is that the behaviour is more likely to happen again.What is reinforcing to the horse may change and we need to understand that. If the horse is afraid, moving their feet may be reinforcing. If they are calm and focused, food may be reinforcing.
When we start clicker training, we set things up so that the horse is calm and relaxed so that we can use food as a reward. Setting things up like this also allows us to teach behaviours and get them solid before we need to use them in a distracting environment.
How do rewards work ?
Rewarding a behaviour means that that behaviour is more likely to happen again.An example of this would be if you were asked to wash the dishes. In return for washing the dishes you will get a reward of your favourite chocolate cake.
The next time you are asked to wash the dishes you are more likely to jump up to get them done because you know that you will get a piece of chocolate cake once you are finished.
Additionally, you are more likely to offer to do more work around the house if you think there is a chance you will get chocolate cake as a reward.
The same happens with clicker trained horses, they become eager to play with us and offer behaviours in return for rewards.
Do I have to use food as a reward ?
The sound of the clicker is how the horse knows that they got the right answer. However, you need to teach the horse that the clicker means yes, they don´t instinctively know it. To do this, we pair the clicker with what is known as a primary reinforcer.A primary reinforcer is something that the horse does know, instinctively, as something nice (food, water, sex, etc). Primary reinforcers are about survival. We use this primary reinforcer to pair with the clicker and the clicker then becomes a signal that a primary reinforcer (treat) will be delivered.
This means that food is not essential to be the treat of choice, however it is the most effective and easy to use.
What type of treats should I use ?
The treat that you use must be appealing to your horse, something that they will be eager to work to obtain.For horses on calorie controlled diets, you can use something of a low calorific value. Or you could take the treat ration out of your horses meal ration so that your horse is not being over-fed.
If your horse is on a restricted diet, it may be a good idea to consult your vet or nutritionist for what treats will be good for your horse.
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