Aardig verhaaltje.
C/R staat voor Click/Reward
Just wanted to post a clicker experience. I am not any where near an
expert or what you would call a trainer (except for the fact that we
are always 'training' when we interact with horses).
I have a yearling colt that needs to experience being away from home
for a week, no other problems, just has never traveled.
A friend has a filly that kicks, won't lead and is generally wicked.
The deal was made that my colt could go to her farm for a week and I
would bring the filly here for some handling and 'training'. The
only catch, the owner said there is no way to get the filly out of
the field of 6 horses and onto a trailer without setting up a way to
drive her into it.
Bets were talked about, like cleaning ALL of my stalls for a month,
huge sums of money, etc because there was ABSOLUTLY NO WAY this filly
would lead from the group or load onto the trailer.
The filly is kept w/halter on in the field. In the am, she was
caught and held so that I could get near enough to hold her halter.
I spent about 10 minutes showing her to target on a lead line while
the rest of the horses crowded around and generally interfered. The
filly is very small and low horse in the herd, so this was a
challenge for her to stay with me while they were all trying to bully
in. But I also ran off the other horses, so think that gave me a leg
up in her way of thinking. But that was it in the morning.
Then we hauled some other horses to a show and came back in the
afternoon when there was less than an hour of daylight left to get
the filly loaded.
This time, I went out to the field and she let me walk up to her. I
put a rope through her halter (so it would slide out if she took off)
and asked for a step. I C/R each little step. Pretty soon, she was
following me to the gate (a place she doesn't pass through often). I
C/R all efforts to move through and now we're out. We walk around a
bit with high C/R rate. Then we walk to the back of the trailer. I
C/R any curious looks inside and she's up to the back of the
trailer. Owner at this point is amazed that she's not running loose
in a panic and everyone has that "holding their breath" look hoping
she doesn't panic and run. The look on their faces is actually kind
of funny.
The filly puts one foot in, I C/R (and can see the owner behind her
looking like she's wants to ram the filly the rest of the way in. I
ask the filly to back out (owner's face looks like -oh no).
I ask the filly in again and she puts two feet in (owner looks ready
to ram), I C/R and ask her to back out (owner looks like -crap!).
Eventually she's all the way in. Owner wants to slam the trailer
shut. I say no, we're learning here. So we walk around inside the
trailer and I ask her to step off the trailer in a calm way. (C/R
through all this). Then we walk back up to the back of the trailer
and she gets C/R for looking in again and putting feet in again.
Then she gets put into a stall to think while I eat a quick drive
through 'dinner'. Owner is confused, why didn't we slam the doors
shut to keep her in there. I explained that I'm not trying to trick
or trap the horse and that she was fine before and will go in again.
The goal isn't to trap the horse in the trailer, its to teach the
horse that SHE can load into a trailer just fine. I also will be
unloading this filly alone, after dark on a strange farm, so want to
have at least three 'sessions' so she's got the C/R system down
pretty well. Owner thinks I've screwed up.
Then (about 20min) I go get her from the stall. She follows along
with me fine and we get to the back of the trailer. I hold her while
aother mare is loaded into the front stall. Then its her turn. She
hesitates a small amount, but generally loads on nicely (very high
C/R through this whole process). And I ask the owner to close the
back doors.
Again, I only had 1hr of daylight so BOTH of the two 'training'
sessions and the 20min break were less than an hour. The owner was
amazed (but is now reniging on all bets/promises - of course).
I kept emphasizing to the owner (and to her kids who thought the
filly did well because she 'liked' me) that all I did was reward good
behavoir. It is not magic, only a different way of thinking. I've
been showing the 10yo about clicker training and hopefully she'll
take it to heart.
BTW: My yearling colt was introduced to the trailer the day before
the exchange and the 10yo girl watched how I did it. The day of the
exchange, the 10yo girl had trouble holding him OFF the trailer while
the mare going to the show was loaded into the first stall
Now, I admit that this is not classic clicker training, but it shows
how even the fundamental concepts used on-the-fly can be very
helpful. And, I'm sorry, but with PNH approachs, we would have been
talking about weeks (of not months) of training to get that filly
away from the herd and onto the trailer.
As for the unloading. The filly was so frightened that she would not
eat any 'treat', but she still remembered the C/R. With tounge
clucking as the only reward, I was able to get her to step off the
trailer and lead into a stall past many new and scary things.
Piet
Natuurlijk bekappen is zo simpel, mijn paard kan het zelf (s)!
Warboel
