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Clicker Training For Your Horse by Alexandra Kurland
AIHA Book Review
Two indispensable training guides that I frequently refer to are Shawna and Vinton Karrash’s You Can Train your Horse to do Anything and Alexandra Kurland’s Clicker Training For Your Horse. Both are easy to comprehend, contain useful anecdotes, and have the potential to strengthen human-equine communicative bonds.
The Kurland book’s strengths are that it is well-organized and provides an overview of the theory behind the practices of clicker training and targeting. The text sections are entitled “The Rules of the Game,” “Practical Uses for the Clicker,” “Don’t Shoot the Horse,” and “Riding in a State of Excellence.”
I acquired young horses, which meant that I started training from scratch. Both Siggi, age 2 ½ and Raudi age 3 ½, now lead, stand still for the veterinarian, give their feet for the farrier, back, whoa, move over, and trot and step up onto a platform on command. Raudi also plays soccer, hands me her wand, and lowers her head when asked, and Siggi, after placing his front feet in a tire, does 360s. What has made any of this even remotely possible is the premise behind clicker training, which (as Kerland explains) is that the device serves as a bridge signal – do something right, and the reward will be instantly forthcoming. Raudi and Siggi quickly grasped this, because the clicker answered their question, What’s in doing this right for me? As they also discovered, once they learned something, the treats became intermittent – this, as Kerland explains, is variable reinforcement – the Skinner-based premise is that guess work then becomes integral part of the shaping process.
Early on, I discovered that Kerland’s book is an ideal trouble shooting resource. This past summer, Raudi and I encountered a stuck point – one day she decided that she didn’t want to go inside the trailer. Of course, a professional horse trainer was standing close by. After an hour, I gave up, and let the trainer use the rope and pully method. But immediately, after unloading Raudi, I ran into the house and flipped through Clicker Training for your Horse. Chapter 13 – there it was – “Trailer Loading: Can it Really be this Easy?” I took a deep breath, and began the process of reacquainting Raudi with targeting, and as well, requested that she first do something she was familiar with, which was first step up onto the platform. Once again, she loaded like the pro that she professes to be.
I’m now in the process of rereading and using some of the information that Kerland puts forth in Part IV, “Riding in a State of Excellence,” a section in which she talks about how equestrians can use clicker training when riding. I’m now backing Raudi, and, no surprise, am using the clicker in building upon her ground training knowledge. Before mounting, I used the clicker when introducing her to the saddlepad, saddle, and mounting block. This made introducing the concepts of weight in the stirrup and weight on her back an integral part of a clicker-training progression. Raudi was also clicker trained to stand on a plywood platform. This came in handy when I slipped off the mounting block, and landed on my back, between her legs. Raudi, remained as still as a statue as I arose, brushed myself off, put the mounting block back in its proper place, and climbed up on her. (What made this all that much more impressive was the fact that Raudi is a high energy gal.)
In conclusion, I’d say that Kerland has done
an excellent job in presenting her material in a logical, and encouraging
reader-friendly fashion. However, there are just few things that this
books lacks. The first is a section on how to deal with those detractors
who insist that using a treat-based training method will ruin your horse.
(Rather than explain, I’d like to hand these nay sayers a few photocopied
pages.) And the second is a section on how clicker and target training
complement other training methods. (The clicker is the bridge signal that
indicates the horse has done what you’ve asked it to do. However,
I have often wondered how professional trainers go about shaping for desired
behaviors.) The third is an answer to a vexing question that I have which
is, How does one go about simultaneously rewarding their clicker-trained
horse and dog? (This has caused some rather comic responses on the part
of my animals – the horse liked the dog kibbles, but the dog would
have no part of the horse kibbles.) Mine, however, are minor concerns
– this is a wonderful book, and well worth purchasing for one’s
home-based training library.
AIHA Book Review 2