Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Clicker Magic
TRAINING OCCURS AT HORSE RANCH NEAR LINCOLN
Most horses would rather not come in from the pasture to work, but Cindy Martin has a hard time getting her horses to leave the arena when it’s time to quit.
Martin, who owns Mad Dog Ranch between Siloam Springs and Lincoln, uses a technique called clicker training that turns her horses into passionate learners. She recently hosted a clinic by Alexandra Kurland of upstate New York at her farm. Kurland is a pioneer in the field and internationally recognized expert.
Clicker training is a method that uses a sound marker to tell an animal the exact moment it has done something right. It turns horses, and other animals, into willing partners who are excited to play “the game.”
The simplest way to describe clicker training is communication, Kurland said. The click, produced by a small hand-held plastic device or by a person’s mouth, is a way to tell the animal “Wow! You got it right!” Animals quickly learn each click means they have earned a treat.
The method focuses on using positive reinforcement instead of punishment and is based on best practices in animal science, she said.
During the clinic, held in early November, Janet Kester’s horse Garrow trotted in a perfect circle around her in the arena, changing his gait and shortening and lengthening his stride on cue, not an unusual feat for a well trained horse. The unusual thing was that Garrow did not have any lines or ropes controlling his movement — he was completely free and loose.
Later in the afternoon, Martin’s horse Scout performed perfect shoulder-ins, an advanced dressage movement usually done under saddle that requires the horse to move sideways while keeping their body in a precise bend. Martin, who is also a professional horse and dog trainer with multiple certifications in the field of clicker training, cued Scout from the ground with only a halter and lead-rope.
It almost seems like magic, but like the very best magic, clicker training is based in science. The formal name for clicker training is operant conditioning. The behavior science was first used to train marine mammals such as dolphins or orcas — animals that cannot be trained with force. Trainer Karen Pryor began transferring the method to working with dogs and other animals.
Kurland pioneered using the technique with horses in the early 1990s. Her horse Peregrine required several months of stall rest after being laid up because of hoof abscesses so she decided to try using the methods on him. She began using it with other horses she was training, and writing articles for the Internet.
Her first book, “Clicker Training for your Horse,” was published in 1998. Since then, Kurland’s methods have spread around the world. Her upcoming clinic calender includes destinations such as Scotland, Paris, France and Australia. She visits Northwest Arkansas twice a year to teach clinics.
Currently operant conditioning is used to train everything from zoo animals to butterflies, Kurland said. Even cats — notorious for their independence — can be trained with the method, she said.
Clicker training is a great way to create the storybook relationship that every horse-loving child dreamed of having with their horse, Kurland said. It also empowers people to solve problems with their horses safely at home without sending the animals to a professional trainer, she said.
The method can be used to train tricks, but it can also be used to train high performance horses in
any discipline or make it safer to handle horses while doing basic management, she said.
So how does a person teach a horse that a clicking sound means they have done something right? Wendy Stephens of Vivian, La., an experienced trainer herself, brought her champion western horse Nick to the November clinic. Both Stephens and her horse were learning about clicker training for the first time.
Standing in the barn aisle, Kurland held a target made from PVC pipe and pool noodle out to Nick so he could reach it as he leaned his head over the stall gate.
Nick reached out and nuzzled the target out of natural curiosity, and Kurland immediately clicked and handed him a treat. He looked around and gave the target another nudge, click treat, and so the cycle continued. After a few brief sessions a light turned on in Nick’s eyes as he realized that he was making the human dispense treats by touching the target.
“When he can discover the magic key, it’s like gold,” Kurland said.
Some people worry that giving their horses treats will make them grabby or ill mannered, Kurland said. The second step of clicker training is to teach the horse a game called “grownups are talking.” The horse is rewarded not for touching the target, but for standing quietly with their nose facing straight ahead instead of nibbling the person’s pockets.
Nick was quick to figure out the new game was also a good way to earn rewards.
The exercises may seem simplistic but it’s building the foundation of the horse’s understanding exactly when he is doing something right, according to Kurland. Targeting in itself is a powerful tool that can be used to manage animals. It can be used to teach a horse to follow a target quietly into a horse trailer or to stand quietly, said Martin.
Horses love to eat and are highly motivated by food, but for them it becomes more than about food, it’s about playing a game. The animal begins to want to solve the puzzle, Martin said.
Horses perform with enthusiasm, Kurland said. They get to a place where everything they’re doing they love because it has been taught in kindness and it doesn’t feel hard, she said.
Karen Quirk of Mena rode her pony Puffin in the clinic. It was hard to believe that Puffin, who was well mannered and looked like an expensive show animal, was rescued from an extremely neglectful situation five years ago and once had severe behavior problems.
The person who previously owned Puffin claimed that he was a children’s pony, but the first time Quirk slipped up on his back he took off like a rocket, she said. If she touched his backside, he panicked.
Quirk started over with his training, at first using traditional methods. It took a year before she could get on his back, but he still was nervous and wild. Three years ago she started using clicker training with Puffin.
“The biggest impact has been on me,” she said. “I didn’t know how to teach a horse with kindness.”
Puffin is now eager to be with people and very upset when his training time has finished. Clicker training has brought structure, kindness and joy to their lives, Quirk said. It has also given her a path to continue training.
“People say they can’t believe it’s the same pony,” Quirk said.
Eileen Krause, vice-president of the Arkansas Dressage Society, has audited four of Kurland’s clinics and uses clicker training to teach the Trakehner horses that she breeds at her farm in Cabot. She emphasized that clicker training is not just about tricks, it’s about performance work and is embedded with classical dressage.
She likes Kurland’s methods because the information is accessible to everyone because it is broken into chunks that are easy to understand.
Krause has used the training methods to keep her horses calm in the show ring and loves the trusting relationship it builds with her equine partners. The trust is so strong that Krause’s horse stayed completely calm when a bear wandered near her arena on one occasion. She was able to dismount, open the gate and walk to the safety of the barn without her horse succumbing to its instincts to panic, she said.
“It’s not about winning in a show ring, that’s just the icing on the cake,” she said.
More information about Kurland and clicker training is available on her website, www.theclickercenter.com. Her 2016 clinics in Northwest Arkansas will be held at Mad Dog Ranch on the weekends of April 23 through 25, and Oct. 29 though 31.
More information about local clicker training for horses and dogs is available by contacting Martin by phone at 479-236-3105 or by email at maddogranch@gmail.com.