I see people releasing a pressure cue before they are getting the behavior they want happen often and in many different forms. For example, picking up on the reins and asking the horse to stop. The horse ignores the cue and keeps going. The rider thinks he’s done something wrong or let’s go of the pressure on the reins for another reason. The horse has inadvertently been given a release of pressure which tells him that this was the correct answer. The horse then continues to ignore rein cues to stop. This miscommunication can grow quickly in to a frustrated and confused horse and rider. I expl ..read more

Clicker training requires a marker signal. This marker is usually a click from a handheld clicker or a tongue click. The marker signal tells the horse that what he is doing right now is what you wanted and he will be getting reinforcement soon. The signal creates a bridge between the behavior and reinforcement. It can be very hard to feed at the exact right moment when the behavior you want is happening and that is where the marker signal comes into play. I’ll talk about how to pick out a good marker signal for your horse and how to start clicker training with a fearful horse ..read more

My mustang Atlas recently injured his eye which required me to put two different medications in it four times a day. I used clicker training to get him to cooperate during this process. I discuss how I did this with him at liberty and what I learned from this experience ..read more

Training horses with positive reinforcement is different than training using traditional training methods. There is a lot more attention to detail, planning, and arranging the environment. These are all little but important things that will make you more successful in your training. I’ll talk about these small things that I didn’t realize were so important when I started training with R ..read more

We can easily get wrapped up in why we want to show our horses. We can often forget how horse shows and other events feel like to the horse. Horse shows are filled with scary things that can cause a horse to be very stressed. I’ll talk about some important things that we should take into consideration and prep for while taking a horse somewhere new ..read more

We all get burn out and just need a break sometimes. There is a culture in the horse world that you must work with or ride your horse all the time, no matter how you or your horse feels. But instead of working just to get something done, there are lots of other things we can do while still getting a mental and physical break from working with horses. I’ll cover some of those options and why they are beneficial ..read more

Start buttons are a tool used in clicker training where the animal performs one before to let the handler know he is ready for another behavior. I have found start buttons to be very helpful in horse training. I’ll cover what start buttons are and how to use them ..read more

Once the horse is ok with crossing and standing on a tarp, then you can start training the next two behaviors. I’ll explain the process of teaching a horse to be ok with having the tarp over his back and how to teach him to drag a tarp from the beginning ..read more

The usual ways of training a horse to cross a tarp include chasing, pulling, and pressuring the horse until he does it. By forcing a horse to cross in this way you can very easily make going near the tarp a source of pain and fear, making your goal even harder. By using positive reinforcement the horse will be more willing to cross the tarp and will do so faster and easier than any other form of training ..read more

All horses spook at some point. I’ll give you some tips on how to help your horse when he is afraid. Keeping the horse under threshold and slowly building their confidence is key ..read more