Clicker Trained Horses Don't Ask for Treats by Becoming Nippy

Clicker Trained Horses Don't Ask for Treats by Becoming Nippy

Most people are hesitant to train with treats because they are concerned that their horse might become nippy.  They are right.  Training with treats can cause a horse to be nippy, but training with clicker doesn't.

Clicker horses are trained to do a specified behavior, and when they do, they are clicked and get a treat.

They don't get a treat for begging, mugging or being nippy, so most horses don't even try those things.

If Cole wants to beg for a treat, he will do a trick without me asking him to.  He knows that might work, but he knows that nipping won't.

For the horse that doesn't figure that out and tries to nip or is too pushy when you are giving him his treat, you just need to change your treat delivery.  In the early days, I experimented with Ranger.  I clicked him and had the treat in my hand, but my hand was closed.  Nibbling on my hand didn't give him the treat, so he tried other things.  When he turned his head away from me, I gave him the treat.  We practiced it, so he knew he would only get the treat when he turned his head.

It only took one lesson.

He wasn't nippy, and most of the time when we gave him the treat, he didn't have to turn his head away--but he always remembered the lesson.  When he wanted a treat, he didn't nip us or grab at the treat bag--he turned his head away.  If we didn't give him a treat--he would just do it again.

By teaching a horse that they won't get a treat by nipping, but will get it by doing something we want them to do, in theory, it could actually teach a nippy horse not to nip.