I find that when I train a new equine, I focus on feeding *out there* and work on delivering the food with my out-stretched arm, away from my body and my food pouch. This is to prevent a horse trying to sniff, nudge or forage on you or try to help themselves to the food. This is part of how we teach a horse to behave in a way we like, how to behave “politely” around food.
If we are having problems with a horse that’s too close, is pushing us, nudging us, sniffing us or is riveting on what our hand is doing, ‘feeding for position’, ie. feeding ‘out there’ is how we combat this.
I also love it when I train a ‘naïve’ horse and I can see how swiftly behaviour changes and they follow the flow and placement (position) of reinforcement (food). They see a glowing red dot, which is where the food is given most often and they put their head where they ‘see’ it, in order to get the food. Even a horse who is not clicker savvy, can learn to change their behaviour in order to continue to receive positive reinforcement. It’s so exciting and I love it and I have to admit that as much as I love my horses and donkeys, there is something super exciting about communicating via R+ with an equine for the first time.
There is also the phenomena that learning and behaviour doesn’t end after the click with clicker savvy equines. Animals are still learning and behaving after the click. They’re continually learning and behaving!
Time doesn’t stand still between the click and the food.
That means the food acquisition stage not only reinforces the marked behaviour, but it reinforces all behaviours after the click, up to and including the actual acquisition of the reinforcer (food). That might mean that after the click, which also functions as a cue, not just a marker signal, the horse learns where to be, to get the food. This could also mean the horse learns to perform a behaviour in order to acquire the food. They may have to do something, walk somewhere, perform another behaviour, or just keep their head and neck straight, facing forward, not curved towards us, in our space.
Behaviour never stops. 