Whispering Horse - Clicker Training Equines

02/09/2026

Just a video of my donkey Seymour, who used to be feral.

He's light as a feather to lead and we have a nice little conversation going the whole time.

It doesn't get any better than this!

02/09/2026

When we are training our horses and other animals, there is behaviour and there is an emotion that becomes associated with that behaviour.

But we don’t train an emotion, we are not clicking and reinforcing happy or relaxed or whatever. We train a behaviour and depending on how we’ve trained, a particular range of emotions is created and becomes associated with the behaviour, ourselves and other things including the context.

Many people seem to think that there is only Positive Reinforcement (R+) to train our horses and other animals. Or that the only other alternative to R+ is Negative Reinforcement (pressure and release, R-).

But we have an amazing (force free) tool box we can call upon when training, particularly when we are dealing with fear and uncertainty. But it’s not only for that, it’s for introducing things such as halters, rugs, boots, fly veils, being hosed, being sprayed, travelling and also bridles and saddles. They may have an unhappy history or may simply be novel to the horse. It could be as simple as asking your horse to soak their hoof in a bucket.

We can change how they feel without them really being aware of it, if we do it well enough, it’s pretty amazing.

If we are dealing with fear or simply wanting to train a horse to accept something we put on them or do to them or somewhere they need to be, we are not necessarily asking them to *do* something, so we don’t need to use R+ training. We can utilise Systematic Desensitisation (SD) and Counter Conditioning (CC). We can use a bridge/click, but it's not essential, it depends what we are doing.

It is absolutely invaluable to learn how SD and CC works and become good at breaking things down into the smallest components or exposures that you can. In this respect, it is not that dissimilar to how we train when we shape in very small successive approximations with R+ BUT there is no contingency, no "strings attached" on receiving the low value food.

Learning to watch how your horse responds to things is useful, but you don’t need to be an expert on reading body language or calming signals. If you are doing a SD and CC procedure, all you need to think about is whether the horse tried to get away or avoid the stimulus that you are conditioning? If they *behave* in any way in response to the thing, then you’ve probably exposed them too much. If we trigger the fear response, we risk sensitising and not desensitising them to the thing. Escape or avoidance behaviour could be as small as a slight lean away, look away or being slow to take or eat the food or alternatively, too fast.

SD and CC is not easy and if you think you’ve broken it down into the smallest pieces possible and are not getting results, I’ll bet you can get creative and break it down even more. This takes skill and creativity! The great thing is that you can never go wrong in breaking something down too small and if you’re observant enough, your horse will tell you when you haven’t broken it down enough.

For example I see a lot of people do things like rug training or saddle training and they start with the rug or the saddle pad or saddle. That's pretty much the largest exposure you can offer the horse, it should be the last exposure of the stimulus, not the first!

This is something I specialise in and I see a lot of people struggle understanding and executing a good SD and CC program. I can help!

I have a fb post that covers this topic in a lot more depth, with some great links to even further reading. Let me know if any of the links do not work. I'll put the post link in the comments.

01/09/2026

This also applies to horses, donkeys and mules.

This is a really interesting paper about Eustress. I used to get a lot of people talking about eustress on my page because they had this funny idea that I didn't want my equines to experience any stress whatsoever, which is basically impossible. Their idea was that when we stress horses in training, it's a good thing, because it's "eustress". But as I always say; it depends how you train!

When we read about the definitions and how this paper suggests zoos can improve the quality of life of captive wild animals and improve welfare outcomes as a result - it's a pretty different thing to causing an animal stress in a training context.

The idea is to create environments, including training scenarios, that challenge the animal's behavioural repertoire and foster problem solving abilities within positive affective states.

I love the focus on not only attempting to reduce negative states, but to actively foster positive states, which have been shown to improve welfare outcomes.

From the paper:

Sympathetically designed enclosures in zoos that mimic key wild/ecologically relevant resources combined with species-appropriate husbandry practices can result in positive challenges that are ultimately beneficial by eliciting favorable affective states. The use of environmental enrichment alongside, or built into, ecologically relevant exhibits encourage species-typical behaviors and cognitive engagement. Reward-based training provides animals with control and choice (over their interactions with their environment and care) as well as further stimulation during routine management practices (Pomerantz and Terkel 2009; Spiezio et al. 2017). Enabling natural life events (e.g., seasonality in foraging opportunities) and stable social dynamics further enriches animals' lives and can help foster behavioral diversity by providing specific stimuli that ultimately lead to the performance of new behaviors.

Definitions:

"To clarify the distinction between forms of stress, it is useful to consider the interaction between arousal and valence (Mendl et al. 2010). Arousal refers to the level of physiological or behavioral activation, while valence reflects whether an experience is perceived as positive or negative (Mendl et al. 2010). Distress is therefore understood as high arousal with negative valence, whereas eustress represents high arousal with positive valence, arising when animals engage with challenges that are meaningful, controllable, and within the coping capacity for that species. This distinction is important because physiological indicators commonly associated with “being stressed” (e.g., elevated circulating glucocorticoid concentrations or heart and respiratory rate) may reflect heightened arousal (e.g., excitement) rather than negative welfare (e.g., fear) (Abercrombie et al. 2005; Moberg 2000). As such, not all stress-related responses should be interpreted as detrimental, as some may be a reflection of positive engagement with the animal's environment."

Link in the comments.

01/09/2026

01/09/2026

Fantastic visuals!

These are all sourced from Dr Sue McDonnell's equine ethogram, which is publicly available.

01/09/2026

Fixed it!!

31/08/2026

“But the theory of ‘individual lead mare’ roles is not true. There is no particular lead mare in a group.”

* * *

“These results, says Krueger, suggest that leadership is shared within a herd, which may prompt some trainers to revise their thinking. “While the hierarchy (of a herd) may be largely stable, the minute-to-minute decisions may be governed by other factors, and being a ‘boss’ does not necessarily mean that you become a leader your horse would choose to follow.””

Link in the comments.

31/08/2026

There's something I've found extremely useful in my force-free training and most especially for husbandry and cooperative care type behaviours.

Pre-planning is super important.

If you have to do anything that has the potential to be unpleasant/ aversive for the equine, such as emergency vet visits, this is especially important to keep in mind.

Equines have a very strong sense of place. PLUS there's an emotion about that place, based on prior experiences.

We build that when we clicker train in a particular place and build a positive reinforcement history and a positive emotional association with that place.

It becomes like a magnet, it’s their "happy place" and they want to be there, because it makes them feel good.

Similarly, we can do that with certain behaviours, but I'll save that for another post.

We can use that positive emotional response to a particular place that we've built up via our R+ training and any systematic desensitisation and counter conditioning - if it's done well. We be thankful that it not only makes training easier and more pleasurable, but we can also use it to ameliorate any potential problems that may occur if things go wrong, but also for vet visits, hoof care issues and emergencies.

If you’re consistent in clicker training in certain places, you have a little extra force-free tool up your sleeve for emergencies or behaviours your equine might find more challenging.

Using things like mats can help you mark places, but they’re not essential, because the equine remembers locations really well.

I've used well liked locations for emergency vet visits and it is amazing how they are so much calmer and at ease, especially if you can squeeze in a bit of training before the vet arrives, if that's safe to do.

Here's an example of the crazy good emotions that are connected with a place, how it becomes *their* place and they damn well want to be there!! 😄

It was hoof trimming day, but it was a little muddy and I thought I might put my once feral donkey Seymour in a different drier location from where we usually train.

Let’s just say he was extremely not happy and he wanted to be in his training area. Now!!

Even though he’s had emergency vet visits there, injections, hoof x-rays and some unpleasant hoof care in the past there, the overriding emotion he feels about that place is pleasure and he wants to be there.

My normally mild mannered polite donkey was extremely upset and irate and he let me know.

That’s his happy place!

(Check out the video at the end.)

31/08/2026

Applies to equines too!! 🐴 🧡

31/08/2026

PLAY! A cute little example of youngsters playing together - it’s an important part of their learning; their physical, mental and social development, it’s not ‘just’ fun!

*** Note there is no human involved with a bum bag running around, and notice how rough they play - it’s a contact game - which they cannot do with humans!!