Does Target Training Help Reduce Horses’ Stress?

Does your horse have a mini meltdown when you try to load him on the trailer? Or maybe he gets jittery when you walk him up to the mounting block. Depending on your horse’s personality, you might consider practicing target training prior to these types of high-stress situations.

Previous study results (Ferguson and Rosales-Ruiz 2001; Hendrisken et al. 2011) have shown that target training—using a clicker to cue the horse to touch an object with his nose, and then offering a food reward—is effective at reducing stress and avoidance behaviors in horses. But if you target train a horse in a low-stress environment, does that training transfer over once he’