The Click That Teaches: A Step-By-Step Guide in Pictures

Well...H-O-L-Y C-O-W!!!This book is AMAZING.I can't put it down (no I'm not exaggerating). It's THAT well written.Do you want details...EXACT details and even PICTURES to go with them and EXACT step by step lesson plans?Then get this book.It's everything you need to know from beginning to end, from groundwork to riding, from manners to how to's and don't and do's...You get answers to questions and the why's and the how's and just well, everything you need to know to understand Why this works and Why you should give it a try with your horse.I have gone through the beginning steps and have gotten amazing and fun results every time.A horse that wouldn't trailer load? Piece of cake with TARGETING.Just follow the step by step in this book to find out how to make it that easy. Yeah, no kidding.Clicker training, isn't about tricks or gimmicks or just circus acts.It's about communicating with your horse in a way that you can say "let me show you a game" and the horse can say, "yes" without fear of punishment or of needing to worry about having to escape escalating pressure.If you want a laid back approach to training, any horse at any stage of their life and training... you should give this book a definite look.Totally 100% worth it.

I've had a few minor and a few serious problems with my horse over the past 4 years. I've listened to lots of advice, read lots of books and articles, and sometimes felt a few of the "fixes" I'd applied helped. But then, the same basic issues would rear their ugly heads again and each time I had less and less patience and belief that the problems would be resolved. When I first stumbled onto clicker training, I thought it would be a fun way for my horse and I to spend time together. I didn't begin to grasp the issues clicker training could address until reading Ms. Kurkland's website, The Clicker Center. After reading the site in its entirety, the mistakes I've made with my gelding seemed glaringly obvious. Specifically, the information on poisoned cues made me look at training in an entirely new light. I quickly ordered her book. Already the difference in my attitude towards my horse and his towards me has dramatically changed. Not only is he now being lunged "at liberty," he is offering the most correct and beautiful use of his neck, back, and abdomen by choice. His movement has completely surpassed what he was offering only a few weeks ago prior to clicker training. He even throws in some beautiful extended trot to earn a "jackpot." Our time together is once again fun whether we're targeting new objects, working on calm trailer loading, or working on building his topline. The book has opened a whole new way of looking at training and is helping me to fall in love with my horse all over again. I would recommend any video or book by Alexandra Kurkland if you're willing to improve your horses life and improve your relationship with them while achieving your goals and having fun at the same time.

I have read many clicker training books and this is one of my favorites. The book is meant to be a guide that you can take with you to the barn and use immediately. The information is very clear and precise. It is set up in a way that is extremely easy to navigate and find how to teach your horse exactly what you want. I love the solutions box where you can find help for specific problems via different exercises the book demonstrates. The photographs in the book are very bad, but it doesn't lessen the value of the book. You don't need calendar quality pictures of horses to train them. It does show how to train tricks, but more importantly it gives a flood of useful training lessons for the riding horse. This book is incredibly practical for every horse owner.

Whether you're just getting started clicker training, are an experienced clicker trainer who wishes to translate your skills over to horse training, or have clicker trained your own horse are are simply looking for new ideas and a clearer approach, Alexandra Kurland's book will be an asset to your collection. It gives very clear steps, from introducing the clicker to your horse, to more advanced skills on the ground and in the saddle. The examples given for the various skills are great, because they always offer more than one approach to achieving the goal, and the reader gets to choose the options that work best for them and their horse.The traditional, and even the more modern "natural", types of horsemanship all rely to some extent on punishment ... whether it's direct punishment or the applying of uncomfortable pressure. Clicker training gives the horse lover another option, a gentle, positive approach that yields great results without intimidating the animal.This book is a highly recommended purchase for anyone looking for a more positive approach to horse training.

This is a very comprehensive guide for those interested in clicker training their horses. The book lays it all out very simply and is very easy to follow.

Lots of useful information and good photographs

It was a very helpful book in moving forward with my horse