>>> You have to learn how to do it right. If you just grab a clicker and go, you may have mugging problems.
People talk a lot about the mugging, but honestly I haven't had THAT much trouble with that part. That's really not why I question it. I just think there is much more that can go awry with c/t than the mugging part. I'm sure some people can teach it can better than others. I've used it a few times, and I will probably use it again - sparingly. I don't think I've ruined any horses with it, and I think it helped a few in some cases, but I've seen some horses who simply remind me that it's not always a good thing to do. I've wanted to bring this up for a while, but I can't really remember hearing the downsides of c/t openly discussed on this list - only the positives. The horses who become click-aholics worry me. The horses who seem to become so addicted to getting clicked that they will try anything and everything for praise, offering one behavior after another. Sometimes I like for a horse to stand quietly and trying to think it through before simply "doing". Just as with any training idea, I know of horses that have developed bad habits through misapplied c/t. There are horses that have been made absolutely unbearable by inappropriate c/t. And I'm sure there are successes due to c/t. Karen Thomas [EMAIL PROTECTED]
