I love giving clinics. I love sharing clicker training with others, and I am always honored when someone lets me have a play with their horse. Over time I have come to know many of the clinic horses well, and I consider them to be part of my extended equine family. I always get a chuckle when a horse I haven’t seen for months gets excited when I turn up at the barn. “You’re here! We’re going to play!”

I love this photo because this horse began by actively warning me to stay out of his space. His body was covered with “No Trespassing” signs. Teaching him to give hugs changed all that.

The hug begins as simple body part targeting. The horse learns to bring his nose to your hand. With your palm over his nostril you can feel the horse breathing in, breathing out. Click as he exhales and pretty soon you are clicking as the horse relaxes and melts into your waiting hand.

Adding in your second hand gives him two target points to orient around. This can become an exercise in body awareness and balance. Or you can turn it into a social hug.

It’s hard to tell who enjoys the hug more – horse or human. I suspect the best answer is we both do.

Modern Horse Training is wonderfully sneaky. Simple behaviors such as basic targeting transform into so much more.

This is one of my favorite before and after comparisons. The changes in the way this horse is holding himself occurred after three sessions held over a day and a half. The Awareness Hug very much contributed to the changes you’re seeing.

“Before” he’s in a higgledy-piggledy stance with his balance pitching forward. He looks stuck. Under saddle you could imagine it might be a chore to get him to go forward with enthusiasm.

“After” he’s lifting up. He’s standing much more over the support columns of his legs. He looks so much more athletic, as though it would be easy to go forward.

The Awareness Hug is taught in detail through my on-line clinics. I’m tempted to say it is part of Clinic #6: Connecting the Dots since I have a unit that is specifically on The Hug in that clinic. But everything is connected to everything else. To truly understand the details that helped change this horse’s balance you need to connect the dots through all the clinics.

To learn more about my on-line clinics visit my web site: theclickercenter.com