Report from Clicker Expo - Chicago 2011 Part 2

Horse Training and Degrees of Freedom
This has been my usual long way round to an important point. So many times I see horses and handlers struggling because the handler has over-faced both himself and the horse. When this happens, he almost has no choice but to reach for the punishment options to keep himself safe.

At the Expos someone always asks: "but Ken what happens when you have the first time dog owner with a Rottweiler who has his jaws clamped around his owner's leg?" Ken's response is: that's an animal that needs advanced handling skills, and he shouldn't be with a novice trainer.

And that's when I want to say: but that's the horse world! We often have novice handlers paired up with horses that require training skills that are well beyond the owner's abilities. So is this a lost cause?

No. What Ken so deftly showed us with the belugas is you choose carefully both the environment and the behaviors you ask for.

I generally recommend that people start their horses with protective contact. I begin in stalls or small paddocks. This isn't simply because I don't know which horse is going to be the overly reactive one when food is introduced. It's because I want to limit the trainer's tool-box choices. I'm taking away degrees of freedom. I'm saying: "Right now I want you to discover how powerful positive reinforcement is. I want you to experience targeting and free shaping. I want you to see how much you can do with these training techniques." If I let someone put a lead on a horse and work in their usual setting, it's just too tempting to slip back into same-old, same-old problem solving. The horse will crowd into their space, and before they've really given other options a try, they're swinging lead ropes to get the horse to move away.

When you have a thousand pound animal running you over, it's no good saying: "Don't do that," to the swinging lead rope. So when you have a novice handler with a horse that needs advanced training skills, one of the safest options is to manage the environment. You limit the range of training skills needed by limiting the behavior the horse offers. When you have a barrier separating you from your horse, you don't have to worry quite so much about your horse barging into you. It gives you breathing room to learn new skills and to develop new ways of thinking.

That also holds true when you have an experienced trainer who is very practiced in their familiar horse-handling techniques. Limiting the environment still has value. So for both handlers initially restricting the degrees of freedom results in more freedom long term. That's especially important for the novice handlers. I've watched videos where someone is trying to clicker train a horse out in an open area with three other horses hovering around. An experienced trainer could handle this situation, but they'd be tempted to dip into their horse-handling tool box. When it's a novice handler, you can definitely see the risks they are taking. You can see the resource guarding, the uncertainty and the anxiety in the horses, the reverting back to old habit patterns in the handler. It is so much better to take a lesson from the Shedd Aquarium's training, and to say that's not the best way to handle this situation. It's okay to put your horse in a stall or small paddock. It's okay to stay in the safety of your home arena. It's okay to work on the ground instead of getting on. It's okay to ignore all the people who are pressuring you to ride before you feel ready.

With the belugas that young trainer was presenting to a group of very skilled, very experienced clicker trainers, but I'm sure he wasn't feeling resentful that Ken was only letting him ask for a few simple behaviors. I would guess that instead he felt very privileged to be able to work with these amazing animals at all. And I'm guessing that he felt even more privileged that Ken chose him to be one of the trainers representing the Shedd Aquarium's training to the Expo faculty.

When we're working our horses, we need to keep this young trainer in mind. We benefit, and our horses benefit, when we take the time to solidify our training skills. Understand what each exercise, each layer of the training gives us, what are the benefits, what are the limitations of each technique. Then instead of saying - "oh this doesn't work" - you'll find yourself understanding how the mosaic of training techniques all fit together, and you'll be more effective and more creative in using them all.

By the time one of Ken's trainers is given permission to use punishment, Ken knows he can trust that trainer to use it correctly. He also knows that trainer is so creative and effective with the other training options he has that punishment as a solution will rarely be resorted to. It will never be overused, or abused.

Expanding Our Degrees of Freedom
At one point in Robin's training I was really struggling with the training issues that the limitations of a large boarding barn created. Robin needed more turnout which I couldn't give him, especially in the winter. We were both operating under limited degrees of freedom, and it was creating frustration in both of us. Robin was showing me behavior I didn't want. I could have turned into a "horse trainer", but I was determined to solve our problems with clicker training. So I placed myself under restrictions that were similar to Ken's. I took the "horse training" options off the table. (I am referring here to the compulsion-based training methods that are so prevalent in the horse world. I put the phrase in quotes to separate it from all the horse friendly, clicker-compatible training that is also out there. I'll leave it up to you to decide where in the overall continuum the training you've learned falls - and at what point something belongs in the "horse training" category.)

Ken is right. When I took certain options completely off the table, when I knew that no matter what, I was not going to slip anywhere near the "horse training" section of my tool box, I did become more creative and more effective as a clicker trainer.

Fear is a terrible constrictor of freedom for both you and your horse. Fear of your horse, fear for your horse - both create tension. Fear tightens our bodies and it tightens our minds. It makes it harder to find good training choices. When we reduce the fear by giving ourselves permission to go slowly and to learn thoroughly, we end up expanding our degrees of freedom. I know there are quite a few people joining the list who are new to clicker training. The best advice I can give you is to go slowly. Take your time with the foundation lessons. Enjoy the learning process. Control your environment as needed. As you discover what the clicker tool box can do for you, the degrees of freedom will open up. That feeling of freedom is a wonderful gift we give to ourselves and to our horses.

Have fun!

Alexandra Kurland