In this video I show you how I get started clicker training a horse. I always start out by keeping a barrier between me and the horse whether it is a fence or the stall door. The next step is to show the horse the target as it is a visual aid for them and helps them to understand what the click is all about, this is a starting point. By them touching the target, hearing the click then getting a treat it is teaching them “Yes” that is what I want. At first I stay in one place with the target until they are touching it on a consistent basis whether it is high, low or off to the side, after that I will start moving a couple of steps away getting them to follow the target. 

If at first your horse is afraid of the target then you would not expect him to touch it as you would reward them for looking at the target until they had enough confidence to touch the target. Some horses are afraid of the click noise at first and there are several things you can do to get them used to the click. I will talk about this in another blog post. I keep the sessions short to begin with as they last anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes. It is better to do several short sessions a day than to do a long 30 minute or hour session. With targeting I always do several short sessions the first day to make sure they understand before I start moving with the target.

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