Practical Uses For The Clicker The Icelandic Connection By Alexandra Kurland "Stormur's first ride under saddle."

Catching The Icelandic Bug      

     Here's a test. You have clients looking for horses for the following situation. What breed would you choose?      

     - weekend riders wanting to go on long (10 to 20 miles) rides.
     - type of terrain: mountainous, steep rocky trails, dirt roads, logging trails.      
     - the same horse must be safe and reliable for the following riders:          
            1.) guests, many of whom have limited riding experience.           
            2.) the wife, a novice, somewhat timid rider who likes a quiet ride.           
            3.) the husband, a more experienced rider who likes a bold, fast, exciting horse. Plus he is a big man, over six feet tall, and weighs over two hundred pounds, so the horse must be strong enough to carry him.  

    That was the challenge I faced in the fall of 1994. My clients already had five horses, two old timers, a middle aged arab, and two younger gaited horses. Their horses were all lovely individuals. They just couldn't hold up to the demands of their program. Finding horses that had the physical strength, the temperament, and the training to meet these very specific needs was a real challenge. We were looking for a chameleon of a horse, one who could transform himself from a sedate family type horse for one rider into a rugged little sport horse for another. The biggest challenge was finding a horse that was strong enough to carry the husband. We had looked at a lot of quarter horses and draft crosses. We just weren't finding the right individuals.      

     That's when I happened to see a film on Icelandic horses. They were the perfect breed; strong, sturdy, energetic horses with exceptional temperaments. I told my clients about them. The husband's response was they might be fine for his guests, but not for him. His idea of the perfect horse was a big irish field hunter, something that stands at least 16 hands. He wasn't going to ride a pony.      

     His wife, on the other hand, was captivated by the idea of these little horses.   

     I remember we spent a good part of our day together talking about them. Icelandics have an intriguing history. They were taken to Iceland by the Vikings over a thousand years ago, and for over nine hundred of those years, they have lived in complete isolation from the rest of the world. No outside horses were allowed to enter Iceland, and once a horse left, it could never return. These restrictions, and the harsh, unforgiving climate and terrain of Iceland have created a wonderful horse. Icelandic horses are tough, sturdy survivors. The Icelandic people do not have cattle, so horses have traditionally been a meat source. Horses with bad conformation, or bad temperaments were culled from the herds and eaten. It may sound harsh to us, but the result is an exceptionally sound, even tempered, very goey, level-headed horse.      

     The original Viking horses were gaited, something which the Icelandic people actively bred for. The smooth as silk tolt, and the flying pace lets the horse travel safely over Iceland's rough, volcanic footing. One other factor makes Icelandic horses exceptional: Iceland has no ground predators. For one thousand years these horses have not been looking over their shoulders wondering when they were going to be somebody's lunch. It's not that Icelandics never spook, but they aren't as jumpy as other breeds.
     
     The more we talked about them, the more they seemed like the perfect horse, except for one thing; their size. Icelandic horses are small, averaging around thirteen hands. A pony, my client insisted, was not going to be able to carry his weight. What I had seen on the video had convinced me that size was not an issue. These little horses literally flew over the ground carrying enormous riders on their backs. The wife was enchanted with the breed, and so, finally, just to humor us, my client agreed to consider Icelandics.      

     Within the week he had located a breeder in New York and arranged to ride that coming Saturday. His wife had to work all weekend and couldn't go with him. Saturday, my client tried out his first Icelandic. His fifteen minute, I'm-just-doing-this-to-humor-them-ride, stretched into four hours. Sunday he dragged his wife out of a business meeting and took her back with him. Sunday evening I got the phone call.      

     "We're through messing around and wasting our time," he told me, without any other introduction.      

     "Oh, no , " I thought, "what does that mean?" They were on a cellular phone. The static coming over the line made it hard to hear them.      

     "We've had a religious conversion," he went on. "We've ridden Icelandics."      

     Three days later I met my first Icelandics, and I knew what he meant. They are like no other horse to ride. They are so much fun. You just have to laugh when you ride them. They are like little sports cars. They have the energy you feel riding a good thoroughbred, and at the same time they are sure-footed, well-balanced, and level-headed. We were all hooked.      

     By the following week my clients had bought two outstanding individuals from Dan Slott at Mill Farm in New York. Dan imports and breeds truly wonderful horses. I had the privilege of riding one of his stallions. I count that as one of the all time great rides of my life. The stallion felt phenomenal; powerful, smooth, and so light on his feet. He used his back like a good dressage horse, only he had all these extra gaits you could play with. What fun!

Horse Hunting      

     As I learned more about these wonderful little horses, I began to think that they were really ideal for a good many of my clients. Many of the people I work with have been riding for decades. Training a green, unbalanced thoroughbred or 17-hand warmblood doesn't have the same appeal that it did when they were twenty. As they approach their forties and fifties, they want an energetic horse; they just don't want all the problems that sometimes goes along with the energy.      

     That's how I explained these horses to Mary Arena. Mary has been a client for three or four years. Over a twelve month period her two older horses had died, leaving her ten year old thoroughbred living by himself. As hard as it was to think about replacing her two old friends, Mary knew she needed to get a companion for Skip. We spent the summer looking. One of the first places we went was Mill Farm. Mary loved the Icelandics. Skip is a difficult horse. He's an ex-race horse with a history of abuse. Training him has been the challenge of a lifetime. Mary wasn't looking for another difficult horse, so the Icelandics were very appealing. They were fun. You could relax with them. You could play with them. They were exactly what she was looking for. The only problem was, they cost considerably more than she wanted to spend. She was looking for a young unbroke horse, and Dan's horses were all fully trained, top quality riding horses with prices to match. Mary enjoys training. She wasn't looking for a finished horse.      

     We kept hunting for horses all summer long. Every horse we looked at just made Icelandics seem all the more appealing. Finally, Mary settled on a little quarter horse /Morgan cross. We had her vetted, and she failed. That's when Mary decided that what she really wanted was an Icelandic. She broadened her search via the Internet. Icelandics are still a very rare breed in this country, and there aren't many of them for sale. Most of the horses are a continent away from us here in New York, but Mary got lucky. Through the Internet she found exactly what she was looking for practically in her backyard. She connected with Janet Sels of the Vermont Icelandic Horse Farm.

     Janet has been a breeder of Icelandics for twenty years. Most of her homebreds sell as
weanlings, but she had one three-year old gelding for sale. She had sold him originally as a weanling, but when his owner got a job overseas, she'd bought him back. He was the right age, and the right price, but was he the right horse?      

     Janet has a wonderful herd of horses. When we saw them a week before Thanksgiving, the geldings and brood mares were all stabled together for the winter in a huge run-in shed - paddock arrangement. The entire herd rushed over to greet us. We found ourselves surrounded by shaggy faces all wanting attention. Janet had described Stormur as being reserved with people he didn't know. He was anything but reserved with Mary. He followed her everywhere she went. It was as though he was saying to Janet: "This is my person. This is the one I've been waiting for. I've picked her." And Mary picked him

     Stormur is a beautiful horse, big for an Icelandic, and very elegant. There was never any question this was the horse Mary was going to take home.

     Stormur came home Thanksgiving weekend. He settled right in, making friends with Mary's thoroughbred, and winning over her entire household to Icelandics. Stormur was three and unbroke. He led because he was an amiable fellow. If you looked like you were going somewhere interesting, he was delighted to go with you. That didn't mean he really knew how to lead. In fact he really didn't know anything, which is exactly what Mary had wanted. He liked people. He was easy to be around and to handle. It would have been easy to mistake a basic good nature and general lack of fear for training. He trusted people which made him easy to get along with. At three it was time for him to go to kindergarten.

Early Lessons

     Mary began Stormur's introduction to the clicker very early in their relationship. Stormur's reaction was very typical of many young horses. He got excited by the food. He became so distracted, he couldn't pay attention to his handler. It was clear he needed to learn how to focus on us before the clicker would be effective. A good nature is not a substitute for training. He needed to learn how to stay in school. We began by teaching him basic leading manners. We wanted him to lead next to us without bowling us over, pulling on us, or chewing on the lead.

     An early snow storm restricted our training space to the driveway in front of Mary's garage. Stormur wanted to drag us over to play in the snow. I'm sure he was thinking:"These humans are no fun at all. They don't know how to play. Here's a perfectly lovely snow bank and they won't let me climb over it."      

     By the end of the afternoon Stormur had learned a new game, and he was light as a feather to lead. No more pushing, shoving, bumping, pulling; Stormur knew how to lead. More important, he'd discovered that learning was fun. He liked figuring out our games and getting praised for each right answer. That afternoon we laid the foundation for a training program based on understanding, not force.

     All the breeders had warned us that Icelandics can be stubborn. They have to like their people, and they don't respond well to rough handling. We wanted our first real experience training an Icelandic to be a positive one, but we also wanted to establish some ground rules. Stormur had to know he couldn't just take off on the end of a lead rope. Rule number one was: give to pressure. Dragging people over ice, or through snow banks just wasn't acceptable.

     Once Stormur learned to focus on his handler, the clicker became a valuable tool. Mary used it at first to teach Stormur to stand still while he was being groomed. Later it helped him become comfortable with the saddle. In the spring when we started riding him, the clicker became an even more important tool. Both Mary and I were new to Icelandic gaits. We wanted to build a solid foundation before we added speed. Stormur's riding program included a mix of trail riding, ground work, and ring work. The exercises we chose for him come mainly from John Lyons' training and were designed to improve balance, and to create a light horse. The clicker kept everything fun. We could demand excellence even while we built confidence and trust.       

     Everything is easy with Stormur. He makes training a joy. When you ride him, you have the overwhelming feeling that all is well. This is a happy, well-adjusted horse who loves his work, and loves pleasing his people.

The Clicker Connection      

     After a recent training session, I asked Mary what part she thought the clicker had played in Stormur's training.

     "I couldn't use it at first because he was so distracted by the food. Once he learned how to focus on us after those first couple leading lessons, it became a really important part of his training.

    The first thing I taught him was how to ground tie in his stall. I wanted to be able to groom him and tack him up without having him walk around. I suppose I could have tied him up, but I really wanted him to learn how to stand still on his own. That really helped us later on when we were getting ready to ride him.

     The clicker helped Stormur learn how to learn. For a good part of the winter the only place we could work was in Stormur's stall, but we were still able to get in a lot of good training, thanks to the clicker. The clicker marked the desired behavior immediately. With the clicker Stormur knew exactly what I wanted him to do.

     It's easy to reinforce the desired behavior, so the horse learns very quickly. You don't have to get into battles. You don't have to be pulling on them. Once they are under saddle, they know when they hear the click they can stop and get a treat. This let's you control them without hauling on them, unbalancing them, or getting into a pulling match with them. The clicker lets you give the horse a clear signal . He can easily understand what you want him to do. The horse stays interested in the training because the signal is so clear. They know what it means, and they get rewarded for it. It gives them the motivation to keep on trying. Particularly for a young horse, it keeps them focused on the training. They look forward to each session. The clicker makes training fun for the horse. It allows you to accomplish more with any horse, and especially with icelandics, since you don't want to bully them into doing things.

     Icelandics are very, very smart horses. They have a wonderful capacity to learn. Because they are so smart, it is important that you give them clear signals. You have to have a training program and to be clear in what you are trying to teach. They want to learn; they enjoy learning. They like being connected with people. The clicker lets you give clear signals. That makes it a very powerful tool to use with young horses. It lets the training go so much faster and smoother. It eliminates a lot of misunderstandings. Training sessions become a fun game for the horse. You are always asking for progressively harder work which the horse learns to enjoy as part of the game. They have to keep finding their way out of the puzzle box.

     The clicker promotes a true partnership with your horse. He is allowed to make mistakes, but he is rewarded when he gets it right. And he is rewarded often. The horse learns it's all right to make mistakes, which is, after all, part of the learning process. He doesn't get punished for wrong answers. He gets rewarded for right answers. That means the horses learn really fast. The clicker is a powerful tool that promotes a strong partnership. It's such a positive tool because you are constantly reinforcing right answers."

Building A Foundation

     Stormur was such an easy going horse it would have been easy to skip steps in the foundation of his training and end up with problems down the road. Introducing him to the saddle was a case in point. Stormur showed no concern when the saddle was put on his back. He stood beautifully while the girth was tightened, and went through an entire leading session wearing the saddle without showing any signs of discomfort. Everything suggested that he was ready for someone to just climb aboard and ride off into the sunset. We didn't see any sign of fear until we pulled down one of the irons. The noise sent Stormur scooting forward.

     Stormur's reaction to any noise the saddle made was to scoot. This gave us the perfect opportunity to teach him how to control his fear. With the clicker Mary was able to reward him for controlling his feet and standing still. It gave her a way to teach him without physically pulling on him. If you have a horse who is frightened, it's great to be able to click it and have it stop. Teaching a good halt is a real advantage with Icelandics, because they are such naturally goey horses. They really don't understand standing still. Beginning them slowly like this let's you focus on the walk. The walk is the foundation of a really well balanced, light, beautifully gaited horse. In the walk the horse can learn without stress. You won't have him getting heavy and tanking off with you. With the clicker showing him what you want, the horses really enjoy this very important foundation training. When you finally do add speed to the equation, the horse is in control of his balance, and you are in control of the horse. This early training is so important, because it gives the horse the balance to execute the gaits properly.

     More than that it teaches the horse how to manuevre over steep, heavily wooded terrain like that in upstate New York. Rugged terrain is nothing new to Icelandics, but when you add in trees and dense underbrush, something you don't find in Iceland, you need to make some adjustments to traditional training methods. The clicker lets you have everything; good gaits, good brakes, a light horse, and a willing, happy partner.

Since this article was written Stormur has gone on to become a truly wonderful riding horse and teacher. He has been joined in our area by eight and counting more Iceys, including Ann Edie's beautiful Sindri and Fengur.

Copyright 1996 Alexandra Kurland All rights reserved.

Revised March 2002