Old Dogs and New Tricks

I have finally gotten my mother to come over to the light! She had been having trouble with her Spotted Saddle Horse, Fireman, seeing Quads on the trail. He would get all nervous and upset, so I finally convinced her a bigger bit was not the answer, but clicker training was. I hate the idea of trying to control a horse thru pain, as this may lead to a bolt or even more dangereous behavior. I've been having such good luck with clicker training with my mare, Whisper, I finally convinced my mom to give clicker training a try. We started in the arena with basic target training to a soccer cone to get Fireman to understand that a click is the key to the vending machine. From a soccer cone, mom got him to target the quad sitting turned off in the middle of the arena. After he was targeting the quad turned off, we turned the quad on and got him to target it. After that, mom climbed on board Fireman, and got him to target the quad once again while it was turned off (everything is different when you are on the horse). Then, again, with the quad turn on. End of that session! Fireman paired the quad with treats so well that day that he didn't want to leave it and go home!!

Next session, mom got Fireman saddled up, but we started from the ground. She had been working on the head down cue, which leads to a calm down cue, and I would ride past Fireman on the quad. Luckily, I got videos of that training session.



We did this in our own back yard, in case Fireman had a real hard time and Mom had to get off, she wouldn't have far to walk. Mom has always said she doesn't want to be a horse trainer, but I have finally convinced her that 4 years of being just a passenger on Fireman has led to the "problems" he now has. It is time for her to step up to the plate and become her horse's leader, and I must say, she is doing a very good job. Plus, clicker training has such fast, visable results, she is inspired to continue becoming a horse trainer.

Fireman also has a tendency to jig home the last couple of miles; so, she is using clicker training on the trail and clicking for walking calmly, whoaing, head down, and they are doing fantastic!