by Sharon Foley

[Note: This article was originally written for a regional equine publication in Florida called Show Life News.]

I get asked this question a lot: What is this clicker training business and what could it possibly have to do Classical Dressage? My goal in this article is to dispel some of the more common myths about clicker training that have emerged over the last several years as the method has increased in popularity among dressage riders.

First, though, a brief “primer” on clicker training. What is it and how do you use it?

Let me start by highlighting the fact that clicker training in of itself is not a complete system for training, as dressage is. It is not intended to be. Clicker training is “just” the means for reinforcing behavior. As such it can be applied to any training situation.

The rule, that applies no matter what you are training, is behavior that is rewarded will tend to occur more often. All trainers depend on the horse finding doing what you want more desirable than not doing it. Some people may use the method of forcing the horse to “want” to cooperate by making not-cooperating more unpleasant. This puts the emphasis on the “wrong” thing. Clicker training turns the equation around and looks instead only at the goal, the right thing. By giving the right thing the most attention and reinforcement you simply get more of the right thing.

Photo 1 : This sensitive chestnut mare might have ended as dog food in a non-clicker home.

Clicker training is a training method that utilizes a marker signal (the click of a clicker) to highlight desired behaviors which are then rewarded, often with food but not necessarily so. The mark “tells” the horse exactly which behaviors are worth repeating. The behaviors that are marked, and there fore rewarded, are behaviors that the horse will seek to perform again. Okay you say, so what do I do? Click when the horse does a flying change?

Well not exactly. The first behaviors you start with are not finished products. For example you would not start by clicking a flying change. That would be much too big a chunk to work with. You would start with a very tiny bit of behavior which could occur long before-possibly years before-the flying change.

But we get ahead of ourselves hereÉ So let's roll back to the very beginning. How do you get started with the clicker? These beginning steps will seem far removed from dressage. But hang in there. To do anything right you must do it thoroughly and start from the beginning.

Almost everyone starts clicker training in the same basic manner. Just start training. Only thing is you start with something super-ultra-simple. The most common approach is to teach the horse to touch his nose to an object. Say one of those small orange training cones.

Here's how you'd do it.

Put the horse in a stall with a stall guard up. You stand outside the stall door with the cone in one hand and the clicker in the other. Have your pockets (or a 'fanny pack') filled with lots of very small tidbits of food. Hay pellets are a good choice. But if the horse turns his nose up at this, then use something he will “do anything for.” Perhaps mints or bits of carrot. Whatever will make it worth his while to play the game.

Hold out the cone one inch from the horse's nose. Click the clicker one time when he sniffs the cone (and he will because horses are by nature very curious animals). Hide the cone behind your back as you simultaneously feed one hay pellet. Repeat this 3-5 times. Make it ridiculously easy for the horse to be successful so that the clicks occur within a few seconds of one another. During the early learning stages you want to keep the “rate of reinforcement” high.

Photo 2 : Getting started with clicker training.

Repeat the same scenario again another 3 to 5 times but now hold the cone a few inches away and wait there for the horse to move toward it with his nose. He will. When he does, again click the clicker, hide the cone, and feed one hay pellet. Repeat. Again, although you are making it “harder” (by moving the target) you don't want to make it so hard that there is too much time taking place between clicks. Keep the “click rate” high.

Continue in this manner positioning the cone a little bit further away and/or either higher or lower than you have been. You are looking to see the horse seeking out the cone where ever you place it. Always click and treat every time he touches the cone.

After about 10 or 15 minutes of playing the Training Game give the horse a break. You can start again in a few minutes or forget about it until the next day.

Soon, either in the first session or certainly in the second the horse will be clearly seeking out the cone to touch it where ever you put it. Why? Because you have consistently rewarded him each and every time he did. So of course he'd go looking for it. Right about now, as you realize how incredibly quickly your horse learned to do this and how willing he was to do it, you may start to wonder why some other things-the things that are so important to you-are such a struggle. It is a most Excellent Question and one that may change your entire perspective on dressage training.

What I am talking about is what I call the “Paradigm Shift.” The Paradigm Shift is that shift in your thinking that causes you to believe with absolute certainty that if the horse knew what you wanted and was able to do it he would be doing it. Not just sometimes with some horses, but all the time with all horses. After the Paradigm Shift you see all horses, even the most difficult, in a different light. One that gives them the benefit of the doubt rather than assuming that they are just 'trying to get out of working' or are 'pulling one over on you' or whatever you might think when things are not going as you had hoped. It also comes with a great responsibility. Often times the reason the horse isn't “able” is because the rider is in the way.

Now I can talk about all that till I'm blue but it won't mean a thing until you start asking yourself that “Excellent Question”. Why are things so difficult with my horse?

But for now, let's just get back to the practical day to days.

What did the horse learn in the cone touching lessons? The horse learned that when he hears the click of the clicker that #1, food is coming and #2 whatever he was doing when he heard the click is the reason he's getting the food. When the horse is clear on these two key points, especially #2, we can say that the light bulb of understanding has turned on. You know that the light is on when the horse perks up and begins to seek out the treat when he hears the click. Soon the horse appears to be seeking the click more than the food by his efforts to find behaviors that make you click. When this is happening we say that the horse is clicker 'savvy'. He really 'gets' the game and the point has become less about the food and more about the game itself. He's learned how to learn and he's learned it can be fun.

I have to say that I never get tired of watching a horse's light bulb start to glow and then suddenly-Snap!-the light is burning brightly. You know the light is ON when as soon as the horse hears the click no matter what he's doing he screeches to a halt and looks you square in the eye. I think if more people had the chance to see this process take place more would understand why so many people are crazy for clicker training.

Photo 3 : Once the horse understands the clicker you can use it for liberty work in the round pen.

But, alas, at the moment clicker training still conjures up visions of silly pet tricks or dolphin training in the minds of many people. As such many serious dressage riders take exception to the idea that clicker training could have any legitimate place in classical dressage training. In fact, here are some actual objections that I have encountered in my discussions with dressage people about clicker training. I'll respond to each one in turn.

Myth 1: People who employ clicker training in conjunction with dressage training are looking for a quick fix to problems that should be resolved by learning to ride better.

Reality: If only it were that easy! There are no quick fixes, no short cuts. We all need to ride better and that is simply a given. In order to use clicker training effectively you will need to add study of it to your existing education efforts. Some may think that this is a “side road” or a distraction that only wastes valuable time. But I have to disagree strongly with this sentiment. Here is why.

It is just not enough to be able to ride well. There is a big difference between the 'good rider' and the 'great horseman'. The road from rider to horseman involves a lot more knowledge than can be gained just by taking riding lessons with your favorite dressage trainer. That is important but if you are really serious about dressage you will make it your business to learn everything you can about horses and training. Doing some clicker training is one very powerful way to learn about how to train. You simply can't have too many training skills!

Myth 2: Horses-unlike dolphins-do not normally communicate via clicking sounds and therefore clicker training can not be used successfully with horses.

Reality: Although it is true that horses do not communicate with clicks this fact is not a relevant factor when it comes to clicker training. After all dolphins are actually trained with a whistle! The fact is, any signal that can be reproduced reliably and consistently can be used as the “click”. For example, a buzz, a bell, a whistle, a touch, a flash of light or even a word can work.

What is important about the click is not the signal itself but the job it is intended to do. Its purpose is to “mark” (meaning highlight or point to) desired behavior for reward. The laws of learning tell us that 'behavior that is rewarded will tend to increase in frequency'. So anything that gets marked and rewarded will start to occur more frequently. If you choose to mark, say, energetic forward movement you will get more energetic forward movement. Once you are getting the forward movement you can connect it to your leg aids. You can use the same concept for any of a number of ideas you want to make clear to the horse.

Photo 4 : Ground work and longeing are greatly enhanced by clicker training.

Myth 3: The click of a clicker can not possibly replace the full symphony of aids which is dressage riding.

Reality: Of course not and it is not supposed to. See above. The click is intended to mark performance you want to reward. You are not going to, say, click once for shoulder in and twice for half pass. Nor will you touch the horse's right ear for right shoulder in. Or any other such silliness. The aids for shoulder in are still the aids for shoulder in. But, really, this is jumping way ahead. By the time you have reached the “symphony of aids” stage you are already deep into the horse's training and long past the those days of clicking for the thought of looking at a cone.

If you had been using clicker training it would have been started well before this point and used to help lay the foundation that leads to that harmonious symphony. People who are using clicker training as part of their dressage training use it to help support the early learning process so that there can be a more harmonious experience down the road.

Many people seem to think that dressage training is limited to the part that occurs while riding. And therefore all one needs in order to train a horse is to 'ride better'. While we all do need to ride better we all also need to extend our education to all aspects of training-both on the ground and under saddle. An important part of all training endeavors is understanding how the horse's actions are influenced by reinforcement and punishment. There is no better way to develop oneself in this area than by clicker training your horse.

Myth 4: Well if clicker training is a reward, like saying “good boy”, and since I already praise my horse then clicker training is redundant and unnecessary.

Reality: It is true that the phrase “good boy” (and other praise words and phrases) are considered Conditioned Reinforcers just as the click of the clicker is a conditioned reinforcer. By conditioned we mean that the horse had to learn it stood for “something good”. It is not something good all by itself, like food is something good, or a nice rubdown is something good. These are considered primary reinforcers-the 'real' reward. The click is just a 'stand in' to buy time till you get to the real reward. Now if you were to connect “good boy” often enough with tidbits of food or rubdowns you could condition the horse to feel warm and fuzzy when you say “good boy”. Which is basically how praise works.

Many people do praise their horses. This is a nice thing to do but most people don't use praise as part of a their larger reinforcement strategy. In fact, many people don't seem to have a larger reinforcement strategy at all. There may be praising occurring but it doesn't seem to correlate with specific advancements in learning or performance. For these horses this praise business is just so much background noise. I call it the “halo” effect. It might conjure up good feelings but in a generic sense.

What if the positive reinforcement (praise/rewards) were strategically applied to the training? More like a “laser” rather than a halo? Well that would be clicker training. Clicker training is based on these simple premises:

o Behavior that is rewarded will tend to increase in frequency.

o Primary reinforcers (pleasurable things like food or rubbing) can be linked to a marker signal (the click).

o Desired behaviors can be captured with the marker signal. Desired behaviors may include moving forward, stopping, turning or anything else you want to get the horse to do. Once basics are under way the savvy trainer may then click qualities of performance like stretching, or bending, or lifting the base of the neck.

o Behavior that is so marked or captured will tend to increase in frequency.

o Behavior that is occurring on a regular basis can be associated with a signal from the trainer (such as certain pressures from the leg, changes in body weight distribution, changes in body position, changes in rein contact) so that the behavior can be requested at will. These would be the basic aids.

Once the basic aids are understood they can be combined in the traditional ways in order to construct any movement desired.

In order to make this whole process work it needs to be started before you climb into the saddle! Once you are in the saddle your rate of reinforcement with the clicker, which had been very high during the initial training period will tend to taper off after the first few lessons. Until finally you may only click for exceptional moments a handful of times during a lesson.

Myth 5: Clicker training is only good for tricks and trick training is an insult to the horse's dignity.

Reality: Insult is in the eye of the beholder. I won't try to convince you that tricks are not an insult to any one's dignity. But I'll say this. Tricks should be fun. And, my own experience with horses is that they enjoy a “good laugh” now and again like the rest of us. So, train a 'trick' or two if for no other reason than to learn how to set a goal, break it down and figure out a way to train it.

However all that left aside hopefully by now you can see that there is a very serious side to clicker training and it most definitely can be used as part of your horse's “serious” dressage training. Don't be surprised though when, as a result of clicker training, your dressage horse starts to discover that even dressage can be more fun.

Photo 5 : For work in hand the click can highlight those moments you would like the horse to seek out again.

Myth 6: You would not be allowed to carry a clicker or make noises during a dressage test so clicker training can not work for dressage.

Reality: It is true that you wouldn't be allowed to carrying a clicker in a dressage test. But then there certain championship tests in which you are not allowed to carry a whip either. However this doesn't keep people from training with a whip before and after the test.

So if you had been clicker training, the assumption would be that by the time you get to the testing stage you would be showing the finished results of your training. At least for the level you are testing at. In other words, the time for clicking little steps would be past. Once the horse understands what is expected of him he will continue to do it with only minimal reinforcement which can be done when you leave the testing arena.

Most of these myths are just a matter of misunderstanding about what clicker training is and how it fits in. What more dressage riders are discovering is that not only is there no conflict (between clicker training and dressage) but learning about clicker training has made it possible for them to tap into that elusive relaxed and playful approach to training that the old masters spoke about but they were unable to figure out how they did it.

I will sum up with a quote from The Complete Training of Horse and Rider by Alois Podhajsky (emphasis is mine):

“After a successful exercise, it is effective to walk for a while on a loose rein. The horse will soon accept this gesture from the rider-a break from the work-as a reward, and try to merit a repetition. It is interesting to note that Xenophon specified as a reward that the rider should, there and then, dismount and lead his horse to the stable, not ride him back. Food or sugar after as successful exercise is another way of showing appreciation, provided it is given immediatelyÉFrom the manner in which rewards and punishments are administered, interesting conclusions can be drawn as to the character and mind of the rider.”