LATEST THOUGHTS

The equine world has waited an extremely long time for this book on
equine clicker training. Ben Hart is unique in that he is not trying
to teach a series of step-by-step instructions for (over-)controlling
your horse in specific situations. Instead his approach is to guide
you through just enough learning theory to enable you to understand
how to use clicker training in any future situations.

Also uniquely, and very importantly, Ben devotes space to the
appropriateness of clicker training and how to recognise when it is
the right tool for you and your horse. He is not afraid to advise
against its use and his compassion and empathy towards the horse (or
donkey or mule) at all times outweigh his adherence to a method or
tool. He is also not afraid to address the more emotive subjects,
such as the potentially damaging combination of positive and negative
reinforcement and the emotional development of the clicker trained
horse.

In today's age of hype, marketing and egos, Ben's teaching is
refreshingly free of commercialism. He doesn't even try to sell you a
clicker, just impart some of his wisdom and experience. He
distinguishes between the clicker training of dogs and horses and has
tailored his approach to the grazing nature of horses. But I wonder
even if his approach might not benefit dogs and their trainers as well.

In case this is sounding all too gushing, in the interests of
balance, the book does have the odd flaw. I hope there will be a
second edition that deals with the typos. I also hope that a glossary
and index will be added so it is easier to remind myself of what was
said where. But these imperfections are a small price to pay and do
not reduce the 5/5 star rating.