The most important thing that clicker training can give to riders  of any discipline is a new way of thinking. Clicker training teaches us to be open minded and creative in our thinking. To consider the horse's point of view. It also shows us that all training problems have the same basic issues at their core.

The challenge we riders have when it comes to applying clicker training to every day training is that they appear worlds apart. Most serious riders have trouble seeing how to chunk down what we know about riding into small clickable bits. I had the same trouble initially.

Most of us learn to ride by jumping into the proverbial deep end.  What great trainers know is that one must always start at the beginning.  So, what we need is more information about the things that need to happen before Real Riding happens. That is where the clickable moments begin.

Clicker training teaches us principles related to changing behavior.  It doesn't teach us WHAT to train.  For that we need models from which we can draw. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Everything we need is already here if we simply look closely enough. We can start by remembering that the Old Masters said that the training begins with the first time the halter is put on.

It is unfortunate that there is so little out there on the subject of what training needs to be in place before beginning serious under saddle training. Most books seem to gloss over the early training and go straight to what the horse needs to do once under saddle.   Here is an interesting passage from Francois Robichon de la Guerinieire's Ecole de Cavalerie first published in 1731...

"There used to be persons in charge of exercising the foals outside the breeding barn when they were still wild... Those with the most patience, skill, energy, and diligence were chosen; the perfection of these qualities was not as necessary for horses who were already being ridden. These people would accustom the young horses to allow someone to approach them in the stable, to pick up all four feet, to touch them, and to put on the bridle, saddle, crupper, girth, etc. They gave them assurance and made them gentle when mounted. they were never harsh or forceful, because at these times they would only use the most gentle methods that came to mind. Through this ingenious patience, they made a horse familiar with and a friend of man, maintained his vigor and courage, and made him understand and obey the first rules. If one were to imitate today the plan of these old connoisseurs, one would see fewer horses who are injured, ruined, one-sided, stiff and vicious."

Remember this was written over 250 years ago! Does it not make you a little curious what the "most gentle methods" were? What was this "ingenious patience"? Well what ever they were I think they would have appreciated clicker training.

Most people aren't starting young horses so it is easy to think that this stuff doesn't apply to you.  Ah, but, it does.  Throughout history the masters have said that it is the performance of the 'basics' which differentiates the average rider from the great rider.  What are these basics?  Where do they start?  How can a rider who is working with a horse already under saddle evaluate whether these basics are in place?

So where does training your riding horse start for a clicker trainer? The old masters speak of asking questions of the horse. Can you step your inside hind under your body? Do the horse's muscles remain relaxed while doing so? Can you take weight on your outside hind leg? Does the horse's joints bend softly when doing so? Can you bend left and right? Can you go forward softly? Can you stop softly? If the answers to these questions are "YES" we are on our way to a fine ride.

As a clicker trainer we can relate to this concept of asking questions. If the answers to the questions above are not yet "yes". Where do we begin to get to yes? The best place to start the search for a model that these old connoisseurs would have approved of is in my opinion the work of Bill Dorrance as told through his book, "True Horsemanship Through Feel". This has to be the greatest book ever written on the subject of horsemanship. Truly a "must read".

The difficulty that many traditionally trained riders will have is this ground work is so preliminary that it does not look like 'real riding'. But that is the challenge with training. You need to teach your to see a sliver of what will be and build on that. How the horse accepts haltering and leading provide clues to how things will go under saddle. Does the horse lower his head softly for haltering and bridling? Does he lead up freely, not pulling back on the line or charging ahead?  Does he stop easily and softly?  Will he back up easily?  Can you ask the horse to displace his hindquarters or his shoulders equally well?  These are all components of the skills needed to perform with lightness and suppleness later under saddle.  Each can be chunked down into clickable moments that can be rewarding for the horse to perform.  The more the horse's mind is engaged in the learning the lighter his movements will become.