20 Tips to Get Started with Clicker Training

1. Push and release the Clicker so that it makes the ‘Click-er!’ noise.  Then give the treat.
2. Always Click! during the behaviour you want.  After is too late.   If you find it hard to get your timing right, try clicking early.  Early will tend to be better than late (at least the horse will be on the way toward the behaviour you want, not doing something afterwards)
3. Click! once and only once for each behaviour.  If the effort is very good – offer more rewards NOT more clicks ( but see number 9 first)
4. Reward each behaviour that you Click!
5. When the horse is learning something new, its up to you to make it easy enough that the horse can get it right!  Remember you want him to succeed.  If your horse isn’t getting rewarded very often, the task you’ve set is probably too hard.  Make it easier.
6. Be patient and quiet.  Let the horse work it out.  There’s nothing worse when you are working on a puzzle than having someone constantly trying to ‘help’ you, over your shoulder.   If your horse isn’t getting it – it’s too hard.
7. Keep training sessions short.  Three 5 minute sessions is better than one 20 minute session.
8. Allow thinking time in between sessions.  A novice horse may make more progress on two sessions a week than 5.  He is thinking in between (and his brain is changing).
9. Keep treats small.  They are meant to be little rewards, not a meal.  If the treats are too large your horse will spend too much time chewing and this will increase the time between repetitions of the behaviour and slow down learning.
10. Start with safe treats like pieces of carrot or apple.  Don't tempt fate by using something overwhelming like sweetfeed before you have established nice food manners.
11. During the learning stage of each behaviour the horse will learn fastest if your rate of reinforcement is very high.  Lots of clicks and treats – always make it easy for the horse to get it right.
12. Plan what you are going to Click! Have an end goal and think about the steps along the way.  You’ll soon find out if your steps are too big – your horse will tell you.
13. Always ensure that the horse does understand what you want before you start adding new criteria.  If he is only touching the target correctly 50% of the time now – there’s no point putting it even further away.  You always want your horse to feel its easy to get the rewards.
14. Add only one new criteria at a time. 
15. When you add a new criteria, you may have to slack off your standards on other criteria for a short while.  For example if you want your horse to pick up his foot for the farrier you can teach him to lift his foot quickly when touched, but when you start to ask him to lift higher or for a longer period of time he may not be as prompt at first.
16. You can’t fix bad behaviour with Clicker.  You CAN create good behaviour.  If you want to fix a problem, think what you do want instead and build it by rewarding that replacement behaviour.  If you have a specific problem behaviour try to think of a behaviour that cannot be done at the same time as the problem behaviour - this will make the replacement more successful.  For instance: If your horse constantly fidgets teach him to stand on a mark or touch his nose to a fixed target - he can't do both (fidget and touch the target) at the same time so the rewarded behaviour will eventually win.
17. You can only add a cue when the horse starts to offer the behaviour voluntarily. With horses you can turn prompts into cues - be careful what you prompt.
18. Don’t order the animal around.  Clicker Training is not command based. If the horse isn’t responding to a cue then you haven’t taught the cue correctly or the horse doesn't understand the behaviour.  Take your training back a step or two and ensure the horse understands the cue and the behaviour.  If in doubt, be patient - you may just have some hesitation (latency) as the horse works out what you want - don't worry you can fix that too.
19. NEVER punish a horse for getting the answer wrong.
20. NEVER punish a horse for getting the answer wrong!