Target Training for Horses

As I learn more and more about clicker training I find that there are many uses for this type of training, and that every horse owner or rider can apply it to some areas of their horsemanship. One exercise that I found very helpful as I was learning how to first use the clicker is targeting. This is also a good exercise for horses that are just getting started with clicker training, plus targeting can be used to train many different things.

Targeting is basically just teaching a horse to touch something. I use a homemade target which is simply a water bottle on the end of a dowl rod. The horse learns to touch the target when it is presented and then as you start moving the target around you can essentially create many different behaviors which you can then train your horse to do with a separate cue from the target. It may sound a bit complicated, but its actually not. In today's video, I will show basic targeting and then demonstrate how I used targeting to teach one of my horses to lower her head and line up for mounting.

After you watch the video, share any ideas you have for other ways to use targeting with horses.

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