When you are starting out with clicker training it's easy to forget that this is a practical skill as well as a mental one.  It's easy to get into bad habits with the clicker and your training but is also just as easy to fix them if you pay a little attention to what you are really doing when you are training.  Here's some more practical tips to help you with some common issues.

• How often are you clicking? Not often? Then your horse isn’t learning much.  When you start an exercise the rate of reinforcement MUST BE HIGH.  If it isn’t, check if your criteria are too high? Make it easier and\or look for smaller ‘chunks’ to get your horse started in the right direction.
• Don’t do the work for the horse. This is not the same as making it easier.
• Your horse is not an appliance, your clicker is not a remote control – watch out for the habit of pointing your clicker at the horse when you Click!
• Can you see the behaviour? If not, move, so you can.  You can’t click correctly if you can’t see the exact moment the behaviour happens.
• Don’t have your hand in your pocket or treat bag.  It is distracting for the horse and draws attention to your hand and the food not the clicker.
• If you haven’t clicked yet – why are you thinking about treats?  Click, THEN get the treat.  The delay will make the click! stronger.
• Be quiet with your body and your voice.  Your horse doesn’t need verbal encouragers and will not appreciate ‘no reward markers’ (NRMs).  Think, when you are solving a puzzle do you like someone constantly hovering over your shoulder telling you where to put things or when you are wrong?
• Pay attention to your horse, but don’t intimidate him\her.  Adopt a casual and friendly body stance – try not to stare down your horse, lean in to him or hover over him.
• Always look for the small tries – don’t miss them.  Remember you need to have a high rate of reinforcement in order for the horse to work out what you want. 
• Be careful of inadvertent corrections.  If you are leading with a lure or target – don’t let the lead line pop him on the chin or nose if he’s a little slow or wide.  Train without a lead line and halter if you can (get’s rid of this problem and gives your more free hands)
• If you need to have a lead rope – tuck the end into a belt or your pants if you find it difficult to handle plus the clicker and controlling your horse.  It will also help you to refrain from using to control or modify the horse's behaviour.
• You have two hands – one for the clicker, one for the lead rope or target.  If you are finding that there are ‘other things’ in your hands, examine what they are.   If you have one hand in your pockets or treat bag – take it out, it shouldn’t be there.  If you are constantly using the lead rope to move your horse , or juggling the target – examine whether you are working, or the horse is.  If you are having difficulty with too many tasks for your hands – you are probably doing too many things you shouldn’t be.
• Breaks do not have to be long but they do need to be there.   Take minor breaks between training different behaviours and even between changing criteria.
• Don’t work too long.  Look for progress but don’t set goals for each session, work at your horse’s pace. 
• Only train for one criteria at a time.  A criterion is what you judge the behaviour by, so if you want ‘head down’ – then start by clicking ANY downward movement – down is you ONLY criteria – not how much or in what direction sideways or why he put his head down – just that it went downwards…!
• Have you accidentally captured a secondary behaviour? Don’t worry – clean it up later.  Train one criterion at a time.