MY clicker BIO

I was introduced to clicker training in 2000 when my husband and I brought my chocolate lab puppy Ula to train with Thomas Lambert of Canine Connections....it was a totally new concept and I loved how well it worked, how positive it was and how aware it made me of what I was doing and how my new student was receiving information about doing what I wanted. She was a perfect first student as she was easy to train and very smart. About a year later (2001) I purchased a 3 year old Paint (guess who - Wet Paint) and he was a handful most of the time, just being a sassy youngster! My mother in law, being a horse lover herself, found me a book about clicker training horses (fascinating concept) written by a dolphin trainer and so my clicker training journey with horses began...

(around 2007 at Moose Ridge Farm)

I played with this new concept of clicker training my fiery 3 year old, for example my first exercise, waiting and clicking the moment he stood still at the cross-ties for half a second, this encouraged him to stand, once he quickly figured out how to get those cookies he stood wigging his knees! And to this day, at age 20, he stands very still and will wiggle knees in hopes for a click and a treat! I taught my miniature horse to drive with a harness in-hand and then eventually pull a cart with clicker training as my most powerful tool! You can see her pulling her cart through Lincolnville Center at the annual Strawberry Festival each July...

(Annie-Sue is so good at her job, thanks to clicker training, the summer camp kids drive her in-hand to practice feel through their rein connection....this photo was taken about 2008)

In 2005 when I purchased Radu, who was age 5, he too became an interesting test subject. When he was about 9 I brought him to a new indoor arena one winter and taught him to target the arena letters in the spooky corners of the ring to make them less worry some and I clicked under saddle when he did what I wanted but I wasn't that vigilant nor was I really understanding how amazing this clicker training tool with horses could be and how important it was to learn proper techniques until I took 2 intense training courses in (I believe it was around) 2010 and again in 2011 with the horse clicker guru Alexandra Kurlund and that's when the real understanding began...

(2009 when I brought Radu home to Moose Ridge Farm)

After the course, I started my horses over by starting with target training and implementing Alexandra Kurlunds ground work exercises with much more awareness and started to get positive results and began to learn more about my horses personalities and training buttons. When my indoor arena at my farm was completed in 2013, I started to click and reward during the lessons (Wet Paint, Apple, Annie-Sue and Eugene were very happy to play along) when they responded appropriately to their students cues. They loved the cookies and completely understood that if they did, for example, the halt transitions perfectly then they would get a click and a treat. I love it, Apple and Paint nicker when they do a good transition and then look me right into my eye. It made arena work fun and also helped the students feel the moment of the desired movement, or transition. I was onto something...

(Arena fun 2012 with Genie, Pedro and Apple and their students)

Last fall, 2017 I started preparing my working student for a horseshow and wanted to involve her more in the process of when to cue and how to develop a clickerable desired moment. I was also revamping how Radu was going as he became heavy and bracing against my hand and I wanted to create a lightness in his frame and let him know exactly what I wanted by my click and reward him for it. My training methods greatly improved our connection, his balance and performance. And Bea and Pedro became more of a team. This is when I developed the Click, Treat Reward System. Wet Paint already had a very good background and understanding of what the click meant and his eagerness for treats was very apparent which made him a perfect clicker training student! Not only did the clicker training work as a very good training tool but it also helped me develop as an instructor. It is amazing how much there is to learn and I am always humbled and in awe of what I know and what information I don't know; I am constantly learning weather it be Dressage movements during lessons from my wonderful trainer or from teaching students or riding and making my own discoveries by listening to the horses! This is just the beginning of more possibilities to come...

(2017 A very beautiful day and a proud moment after 2 excellent tests with my two favorites - Bea and Pedro at Puckerbrush)