To put it simply, an animal tends to repeat an action that has a positive consequence and tends not to repeat one that has a negative consequence. Trainers can take advantage of that natural tendency by providing positive reinforcement following an action that they want the animal to repeat. In order for the animal to connect the positive reinforcement to the behavior that he is doing, the reinforcement must happen AS the behavior is occurring, not afterwards. The actual reinforcement can't always be gotten to the animal at that precise instant, however.

"Clicker training" is a term used to describe a way of training animals that has become increasingly popular in the last decade because of its gentle methods. The scientific term for it is operant conditioning. The term came to mean a small box known as a clicker but and really can be coupled with any Marker.

Trainers needed to find another way of letting the animal know that he was doing the right thing, so they began using a conditioned reinforcer. A conditioned reinforcer is anything that wouldn't ordinarily be something the animal would work to get. A primary reinforcer, on the other hand, is something that the animal automatically finds reinforcing, such as food or water. It can also be something intrinsic such as the opportunity to rest or even the opportunity to go forward.

We're naturally wary of gimmicks that seem to pervade the riding and horse training industry. Most seem to be designed to permit the handler or rider to ignore good horsemanship techniques in favor of forcing or coercing the horse to do something in lieu of the human learning how to properly handle the horse and him or herself.

But once in a while someone develops a truly ingenious technique which doesn't replace good horsemanship, but instead addresses some specific barriers in horse training which, when removed, greatly facilitates the application of good horsemanship principles. Heavy doses of clicker training without appropriate application within the framework of a sensible natural horse training program could result in horses which did not tune into the handler's space, energy and intentions. Clicker training is not a replacement for appropriate resistance free or low resistance (natural horsemanship) handling techniques.

And, here is where Alexandra Kurland excels. Putting into perspective the positive reinforcement with the less than unique idea that we'd like to ride our horses she gives us the balance of both the worlds of classical horsemanship combined expertly with the marker signal indicating "yes". The marker truly highlights and captures a moment in time of the elegance of perfection.

Alexandra Kurland is the author of "Clicker Training for Your Horse" and "The Click That Teaches" video lesson series and step-by-step training guide. Her articles have recently been featured in John Lyon's Perfect Horse.

Ms. Kurland earned her degree from Cornell University where she specialized in animal behavior. She has been teaching and training horses since the mid-1980's. A pioneer in the development of humane training methods, Ms. Kurland began clicker training in the early 1990's. She very quickly recognized the power of clicker training for improving performance, for enhancing the relationship people have with their horses, and for just plain putting fun back into training.

Dolores Arste was first introduced to clicker training when one of her horses became unmanageable biting and rearing and generally being very difficult to train. Dolores is a practicing Life Coach and avid teacher of the clicker method combined with Horsemanship techniques such as Clinton Anderson, John Lyons and Parelli Natural Horsemanship. She is the author of an audio e-book "Finding the Clickable Moments". You can find the e-book and articles including "Who uses Markers" on her website at: www.zenhorsmanship.com

When she's not coaching or teaching clicker training she's out riding one of her 5 horses in the beautiful countryside of Galway, NY or Hatfield, AR.