Whispering Horse - Clicker Training Equines

12/11/2026

I’m so tired.

I’m tired of social media, of all the unkind people and the way fb and the algorithms work - or don’t work!

I’m sick of the fake pages full of AI, the bots, the mean people, the abusive horse training practices and the anti R+ training horse people.

I had a mean person message me today, while saying they weren’t trying to be mean (red flag), they were just giving me some advice 🙄 and the thing is, I can cope with straight out insults, but when they try this psychological stuff to try to get to you, it’s really exhausting dodging the mind games, especially from a fellow R+ trainer, omg.

There are so many other things I could be doing and putting my energy into and that would be much better for my mental health.

But I do love talking about training.

But it’s not fun talking to yourself all the time.

Or worse, being criticised when you do.

The last time I talked about how I was feeling here on my own page, someone I used to know accused me of “whingeing” all the time. I cannot win. I cannot even talk about how I feel and what my experience is like putting myself and my training and beliefs out there.

I’m so sad that I finally finished my book to help people get started with R+ training and I’m struggling to find the energy or enthusiasm to talk about it and fb is now at a point where it is very difficult to advertise anywhere.

You know what’s weird? I resisted TikTok because I heard it was so toxic, but I’ve actually been having fun just sharing silly videos of my donkeys and horses. That’s it. It’s fun and I get a little dopamine fix as well, which isn’t bad. I’m not trying to change the world, people are not trying to learn anything from me, I’m not trying to teach people, I’m not virtue signalling anyone or holier than thou. I’m just a regular person having fun and sharing stuff about my horses and donkeys. I missed those days.

Here’s a pic, it’s pre-FB. Hubby and I would just go for a ride together and have fun and live in the moment.

12/11/2026

There's lots of ways to shape movement without frustration using positive reinforcement.

I prefer to shape the behaviour where the equine offers to move first. In this way it’s their idea and most importantly, they understand the behaviour. I then put it on cue and they always offer to move off first and I follow and in this way we match up nicely, especially in our footsteps.

This approach is a great way to prevent frustration and the grumpy face and pinned ears you sometimes see when the equine is following, rather than initiating the behaviour. Horses don't like to chase their food and they love predictability.

When we shape them to move, where it's their idea and they understand the goal, it gives them a a certain amount of choice and control and that's reinforcing in itself and empowering for them.

Walking or running away from the horse with food can cause a lot of conflict behaviours such as tense face, pinned ears, faster speeds, head flicks and even bucking and rearing. It can look "exciting" but it's not fun for the horse.

I always want it to be fun for the learner.

Here's one simple way to shape behaviour without frustration and without the horse having to chase the human with the food.

It’s not my preferred method, but it’s a great example of one of the ways we can shape movement without walking or running away or ahead of the horse and therefore avoiding frustration.

The horse can potentially be a little heavy on the forehand at the start with this particular technique. But once you get it on cue, you can fade out the cone and they will not be looking down or leaning down anymore. You can also use the precision of your clicker and a technique called "feeding for position" to get a nicer more upright frame in the horse.

11/11/2026

Negative Reinforcement versus Positive Reinforcement.

Replace dog with horse or any animal!

Many people use body pressure to move their horses too.

Watch the animal offer the bare minimum with plenty of stress signals or an enthusiastic zero latency happy bouncy "hell yes!!" behaviour!

Video in the comments.

Video credit: Eileen Anderson - Eileenanddogs

11/11/2026

11/11/2026

Positive Reinforcement works with all species, even native species!

Look at these gorgeous Dingoes!!

I've been lucky enough to train dingoes in the past, as well as wombats, kangaroos and various native birds!

11/11/2026

"Advanced training is just the basics done well."

(Ken Ramirez)

11/11/2026

If you want to support me, please click the "like" button on posts as a bare minimum 💜

10/11/2026

A lot of people seem to be stuck on *just* Operant Conditioning, or "the quadrants".

There are lots of other things involved in training, of course, but I really want to emphasise something - don't forget about Classical (Pavlovian) Conditioning!!

A lot of R+ trainers think everything is "click and treat" and it's not!!

A lot of people think in terms of "clicker training can make them feel better".

Most of the criticism of R+ training is because people don't consider or understand the role of Pavlovian Conditioning. There are people talking about "Beyond the Operant", which is a perfect example.

If you're dealing with emotion, you need to learn about Pavlovian Conditioning!

Please!!!

10/11/2026

Any time I have to come and go through gates, whether on foot or on a vehicle, it's always easy with my clicker trained horses and donkeys.

Feed time is always a pleasure as well. There’s never a struggle or disagreements or any unsafe behaviour at the gate.

Horses trained with Positive Reinforcement and all the associated pressure free and force free approaches means my life with them is easy and conflict free.

I understand how to manage the environment, the antecedent arrangements that “set the scene” for behaviour and how reinforcement history and Matching Law can work for us, or against us.

All this leads to a happy and peaceful life and most importantly, everyone is safe.

Photos are my horses waiting near the gate, having a little nibble and (semi) ignoring me entering, collecting empty hay nets and then leaving with my vehicle to go fill them and get their dinner ready.

I have to open the gate very wide (and inviting) right in front of them when I am coming and going. There's every opportunity to sneak out through that gate, but they don't.

There's never any crowding or dangerous behaviour either.

10/11/2026

Come join me!

I have been very busy putting together training and learning content on my Patreon account.

I had a zoom meeting with Dr Susan Friedman and some other R+ trainers the other day and it was very interesting! I had the chance to ask a couple of questions that sent us down a rabbit hole about things like consent versus assent, different schedules of covariation such as conjugate versus synchronous reinforcement and more!

I’m also working on some new training projects that I wanted to share and show the process and my thinking, my success and my failures.

Currently I am working on a hoof targeting project, where I am working my way towards Mercedes standing on a couple of Surefoot Equine Stability Pods. Unfortunately I went for THE hardest version, not the easy square mats, but the bumpy round raised teeny pads - so the training is going to be interesting to see if I can actually achieve my goal. I may actually fail and you get to watch and that’s ok too!

I will be talking about the science of learning and R+ training and sharing videos there and regularly updating the Shop with various products people can purchase.

Link in the comments