Simplify Shaping With Loopy Training

Do you ever feel like, despite your careful planning, your training sessions go nowhere? Or that you never know when to move on to the next step in your shaping plan? Does your horse struggle to understand when you want? Or get frustrated during their session?

Fear not if you answered "yes" to any of these questions. Odds are the structure of your training sessions could use a slight tune-up to get you back on track.

Shaping complex behaviors is a delicate balance. You need to ensure your horse isn't bored (by tasks that are too easy) OR frustrated (if things are too hard). It's a fine line to walk. You may feel frustrated trying to figure it all out!

Luckily, experts already did the hard part for you and developed a formula to take the guesswork out of knowing when it's time to move on and when you need to take a step back. It's called Loopy Training and it's here to unstick your training sessions.

What is Loopy Training?

Loopy Training was developed by Alexandra Kurland, an animal behavior specialist. Loopy training is just what it sounds like: training in loops! Instead of thinking of a training session as a series of disjointed events, loopy training asks the trainer to think in terms of loops: seamless consecutive events that are all connected. Her proven formula helps trainers evaluate their sessions so they know when to take the next step (or if they need to go back and reevaluate).

When training in loops you want to get 3 to 5 clean loops of behavior before moving on to the next approximation. Using this simple guideline, you can match your training session to your horse and meet them where they are at-- ensuring a fun, engaging, and productive session!

What is a Loop?

This all probably sounds great, but you may still have a lot of questions, like what is a loop? and what makes one clean?

A loop is made up of an antecedent (the cue), the desired behavior, and the consequence (the reward). Each loop begins when you ask for a behavior and ends when you reward for it. It's called a loop because of its circular nature. After going through a loop you are back at the beginning where you can give another cue and start over again.

Each training session will be made up of dozens of loops, one flowing effortlessly into the other.

How Do You Know When a Loop is Clean?

A clean loop is when you make it from antecedent to consequence without tension or unwanted behaviors. The horse should display the desired behavior with willingness and at the correct criteria.

A loop is unclean if the horse...

• hesitates

• walks away

• displays calming signals

• paws

• rushes

• pins ears

• pushes into the human's space

• does an unwanted or unasked-for behavior

A clean loop should look effortless, with the horse understanding and excited to perform their task.

Training in Loops

For trainers shaping behaviors, Loopy Training is indispensable as it serves as a check-in to ensure the plan is working.

Once you know what you are looking for (and don't want to see), using the principle is easy.

1. If you get 3 to 5 clean loops, move on

2. If you can't get 3 to 5 clean loops, break the steps down further

3. If you can get 3 to 5 clean loops on step 1 but not on step 2, make the steps even smaller

Think of it like a flow chart:

Shaping With Loopy Training

If you were going to use Loopy Training to teach your horse to back up it would look something like this:

**Keep in mind that before you can train with loops your horse needs to be conditioned to their consequence (in a process called loading the marker) AND you should have a clear shaping plan in place so you know where you are going.

First, you will place your hand on the horse's chest and say "back up" (or whatever other cue you want to use). As soon as they even shift backward, click and reward. That is one loop. After a brief pause, start the next loop beginning with the cue (the hand of the chest and voice cue) rewarding after a slight shift backward.

Reward often for small tries in the beginning.

Following the structure of Loopy Training, once they respond readily to the cue with a shift back 3 to 5 times, it's time to move on. Your next approximation might be a single step back. Work until they have 3 to 5 clean loops with a single step and then move on to two steps and then three, etc.

However, if at some point you are unable to get a clean loop or your horse becomes frustrated, it's time to take a step back. For instance, maybe you have worked up to five or six steps but your horse swings their hindquarters out on the last step and can't seem to back straight. Or they are getting upset or frustrated when you ask.

Following the flow chart above shows you it's time to take a step back. You might go back to just three or four steps until that is solidified. If you still can't get past the sixth step, you may need to make the jump between approximations smaller. For instance, ask for five steps back and then a slight weight shift back instead of a sixth step.

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With Loopy Training, your training session should feel like a winding river, looping back on itself but not touching. Be on the lookout for clean loops as you train and be ready to move on. If things get too difficult, take a step back before frustration sets in. And enjoy effortless shaping!