Jane loves On Target training!

Let me get this straight! A training system that covers everything from clipping to piaffe? How do I know that's not some kind of gimmick? I'm not into 'quick fixes'.

Neither am I. And like many horse people I know, I'm suspicious of gimmicks too, but I would like to be able to some things a lot better with my horses.

This is where learning about what motivates horses to learn and perform comes in. The On Target system is actually very simple, and it works alongside your current activities. Basically the horse is taught a 'bridge' signal that means a reward is coming. This means that you can be more exact in timing rewards that are not so easy to deliver in the moment such as giving some sugar at the exact right time in piaffe: You would have to release the aid, which most horses find to be an insignificant reward compared to something more inspiring such as the sugar lumps used at the Spanish Riding School. Then you would have to stop the horse in order to give the sugar, but by that time your horse probably won't connect the sugar with the piaffe, but for stopping instead, and he'll have to think back to what happened when he was asked to stop, a real test of concentration and imagination! With a bridge signal the guess work is removed from the horse. All you need to do is give it in the moment, then provide the promised reward as soon as is convenient afterwards.

What behaviour to reward is up to you, it all depends on what you would like your horse to do. Say you did want to clip ears more easily? You would identify key components of the task, like the horse holding their head within reach, accepting you holding the ear, accepting the clipper noise, vibrations and then cutting. Then you would do each of these in turn, communicating with your horse each time they get it right by giving the bridge signal when you see correct behaviour during one of those key components. Then you would give the reward.

Horses love this accurate feedback because it means it's hard for them to get things wrong, plus, like Jane, they love reward reinforcement and are willing to participate.

Want to find out more? Attend the On Target demo with Shawna Karrasch at 7pm on Saturday 24th August 2013 at Pencoed College. Call Jenni Nellist on 07974 569407 or email jenni@jenninellist.co.uk for booking information.