Icelandic Horses
When you train behaviors in any method you need to teach stimulus control.
That means the animal does the behavior every time when it is cued to do so,
but doesn't do it without the cue. The fun thing about clicker training to me
is free shaping a behavior such as laying down then putting a cue on it. Buford
does lie down on a verbal cue, lie down. I took him to a sandy spot to roll,
said lie down as he went down and repeated it several times until he understood
the verbal cue. He lies out flat when I say flat, again taught through free
shaping. He doesn't lie down unless I verbally ask him to. Tony, who is on my
working with feet video, picks his foot up and holds it up for me if I say
foot, but will keep it on the ground when I run my hand down his legs and feel
them unless I give him the verbal cue. When horses first start clicker training
they are very eager to show off and earn a scratch or a treat. The key to
stimulus control is a clear consitent cue and not rewarding the behavior unless
you asked for it. Karen Parker
