Episode 210: Ann Edie Pt 1: Riding a Clicker-Trained Horse

I was asked recently: “Do clicker trainers ride?” This question confused me at first. Of course, we ride! I wrote a book about riding, and I have produced DVD lessons, on-line clinics and other resources that look directly at riding. But then this person went on to say that the clicker trainers in her area don’t seem to ride. She was wondering if it was just too complicated to ride with positive reinforcement.

Hmm. I know that these days there are many variations on the theme in terms of what people mean when they talk about clicker training, but for me there has always been a direct connection between ground work and riding. The expression I use is: Riding is just ground work where you get to sit down and ground work is riding where you get to stand up. I have always seen the connection between the two, so, of course, I carried clicker training with me when I rode.

But this question made me think that we should do a podcast that was specifically on riding. To help with this I invited Ann Edie to join us. Many of you will know Ann already. She’s Panda’s person. Panda is the mini I trained to be a guide for Ann. In this episode we talk about Ann’s big horses, her Arabian Magnat and her Icelandics. I always referred to Magnat as a one in ten million horse. Ann describes what this means to her. She shares what it was like to ride him and the training that created what many times felt like magic carpet rides.