Practical Uses: ground manners

Practical Uses For The Clicker

Ground Manners For The Pushy Horse

By Alexandra Kurland

This article was originally written for the email Clicker List, Aug. 7, 1997. It includes a discussion of how to handle pushy horses, including horses who are mugging you for treats.

Pushy horses.

A subscriber to the list asked several questions about her mare and four month old colt. Her colt had had serious medical problems that required extensive handling. She had just recently introduced both horses to the clicker. Her mare had been very protective of her foal, but with the clicker training she was now letting people handle him.

"My biggest problem with my mare now is that she tends to mug me for treats. I work on making her back up, and respect my space."

"The colt has been chewing the lead rope, nibbling on me, and his latest trick, collapsing into a wet noodle pile on the ground when we enter the arena? Or, should I just click and treat, and call this his down on command?"

"He is easily intimidated out of the rearing and striking, and has only connected once, but I would like for him to stop "offering" this, what ideas do you guys have? "

The answer for both horses is really the same, and you're very much on the right track. In the early stages of clicker training many horses will mug the "vending machine". They haven't yet learned that they can't go directly to the source of the goodies. Eventually they learn that they only certain behaviors will unlock the vending machine, and mugging you is never one of them.

As you use the clicker for more and more things the mugging behavior will disappear. Keep yourself safe, but don't let yourself be distracted by it. Part of what makes clicker training so powerful is that you are giving your mare the freedom to make mistakes. She gets to learn what gets reinforced and what doesn't. The end result is a much more solid horse.

It's important to remember that "the horse doesn't know when it doesn't count". That's something John Lyons stresses. If you don't want your mare to mug you, make sure you aren't feeding her unbridged treats in between training sessions. If you do, you'll just prolong the problem. If you're consistent, it's easier for her to learn the rules of the game.

Walk and Chew Gum: Replacement Training.

The key to both your mare's pushiness, and your foal's mouthiness is to give them more to do. It's what John Lyons calls the replacement theory of training. I would suggest you take this principle and just add the clicker to it. The behaviors you mention can be very annoying, and it's easy to be distracted by them. Your job is to stay FOCUSED on what you want your horse TO DO, and not let yourself be side tracked by the behaviors you don't want. You aren't going to punish your horses. You aren't going to get after your colt for his mouthiness, or hit your mare when she crowds you. You don't need to. You're just going to get them so busy they don't have time for these other behaviors.

The best way to think of this is the old cliche of patting your head and doing circles on your stomach. Can you do all that and chew gum at the same time? Yes, well then how about adding hop on one leg? If, you can do all three of those things AND chew gum, then we'll have you hop on one leg through a hop scotch pattern while patting your head and doing circles on your stomach. Eventually we'll have you doing so many other things you won't be able to chew gum. The behavior you don't want will go away, and you will have replaced it with behaviors.

So what sorts of things can you ask your two horses to do? I'd start with basic leading and ground manners which it sounds like you're already working on. I'd definitely teach your colt head lowering (see the Sept. 97 issue of the Clicker Journal for shaping suggestions). A horse cannot rear and have it's head on the ground at the same time. Head lowering will also help with tying, leading, trailering, walking over trail obstacles, etc.. You're teaching your foal to replace his natural tendency to pull against pressure with a more desirable response - soften and yield to pressure.

I would also work on leading. (See the past couple of issues of the Clicker Journal for shaping suggestions.) I like Lyons "college level" leading which he shows on his trailer loading tape, and I'd also recommend Pat Parelli's tape: "The Seven Games Of Natural Horsemanship". The exercises Parelli shows would be excellent for both your horses. I would, however, most definitely add the clicker to his work. I liked his tape, but I was concerned with the level of tension in the horse he worked. When I use his work, I reinforce correct responses with the clicker. The horses learn at lightning speed, and they stay relaxed.

The ground manners are particularly important for your colt. Foals who have had the intensive handling that his medical problems required often grow up to be pushy, obnoxious horses. That doesn't have to be the case, but you want to be sure he understands that he must yield space to you. You can teach this with the clicker. Instead of making this a confrontational issue, just show him that good manners lead to good things.

As you go through this I think you'll also find that the problem of his collapsing when he sees you will also go away. You'll be building his trust and his confidence by giving him positive things to do.

I hope this helps. I'm giving you the principle and leaving it up to you to fill in the nuts and bolts shaping recipes.