Beyond the Saddle: Holistic Clicker Training Program
Are the Horses Calling You? Do you want to learn horse handling-techniques that align with your ethical values?
Fall 2025 Program
September 14th through October 10th, 2025
Starr Horse Retreats offers this deeply immersive, four-week, hands-on program with a herd of 17 horses living freely on 30 acres in the Carson Valley, 30 minutes east of Tahoe.
Film clip of clicker training results using positive reinforcement
What is Clicker Training?
Using a clicker and positive reinforcement allows us to communicate with clarity and kindness, teaching horses to associate a specific desired action with the sound of the click. The click acts as a precise marker, capturing the exact moment the horse performs the behavior we want to reinforce. When paired immediately with a reward, the horse quickly learns to connect their action with both the click and the positive outcome.Through this method, we can teach a horse virtually anything that might be taught through traditional training techniques but with a more compassionate approach. Positive reinforcement aligns with an ethical framework that values trust and mutual respect, fostering a deeper connection with the horse while achieving the same results in a way that feels harmonious with the heart.
Why Clicker Training?
Through clicker training, we can teach a horse virtually anything that might be taught through traditional training techniques but with a more compassionate approach. Positive reinforcement aligns with an ethical framework that values trust and mutual respect, fostering a deeper connection with the horse while achieving the same results in a way that feels harmonious with the heart.
When horses are in a state of survival—whether due to environmental stress, insufficient nutrition, or lack of a supportive herd dynamic—it is not ideal for them to fully engage in their natural role as healers. Their energy becomes focused on meeting their essential needs, leaving less capacity to support humans in their healing journeys. Creating an environment that nurtures their well-being allows horses to move out of survival mode and step into their full potential as intuitive guides and partners in transformation. This is why clicker training, emphasizing positive reinforcement and clear communication, is essential—it fosters trust, engagement, and a sense of safety, helping horses thrive and align with their natural capacity to heal.
A Program Centered on Connection
This program is about learning techniques and partnering with horses as divine beings to help humanity awaken and ascend. Our horses are intuitive healers, offering profound lessons in love, presence, and alignment with our higher selves. Through this program, we will explore:
• Intuitive Communication with Horses: Unlock your ability to connect deeply with the horses, listening to their wisdom as sacred guides and divine co-creators. Learn to partner with them as lightworkers in service to Gaia’s healing.
• Positive Reinforcement Training: Dive into ethical, compassionate methods to shape behaviors through clicker training, targeting, and other techniques that build trust and joy in the human-horse relationship.
• Bareback Partnership: Experience the beauty and freedom of connecting with horses through mindful, bareback interaction, honoring their sovereignty and unique gifts.
• Rewriting Your Narrative: Work alongside the horses as mirrors to heal ancestral wounds, release old patterns, and discover your soul’s purpose, stepping into your fullest potential as a starseed and lightworker.
• Building Community: Become part of a supportive and visionary collective dedicated to spreading this mission, hosting retreats, and co-creating a new paradigm of human-animal collaboration.
Together, we can create a ripple effect that ushers in a new paradigm that honors the wisdom and sovereignty of horses, fosters healing within humanity, and contributes to the more incredible healing of the Earth.
Despite the growing acceptance of positive reinforcement in child-rearing and dog training, R+ remains largely resisted in the equestrian world. This resistance reflects a deeper cultural conditioning—a reluctance to relinquish control and acknowledge the sovereignty of another being. By embracing food rewards as a form of positive reinforcement, we take a crucial step toward healing our relationship with horses and addressing our own internalized wounds and patterns.
An Opportunity to Co-Create
This is more than a program—It is an invitation to join a pioneering community of like-minded individuals ready to help redefine how we engage with horses, ourselves, and the world. As a participant, you will play a vital role in shaping this offering and helping it grow into something extraordinary.
Additionally, Participants Can Explore:
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Horse-assisted healing and intuitive human-animal connection.
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Co-creation opportunities to bring your vision to life include developing corporate retreats, Equine Assisted Learning programs, or practicing energy work.
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Higher consciousness principles that align with our work with horses.
Costs
This profoundly immersive, four-week, hands-on program is offered at a special introductory price of $1500 per person. While this is our third positive reinforcement program, it is a significant evolution. Our previous programs were structured with a primary focus on horse training. For the first time, we are embracing a holistic approach, where horses are recognized as healers and clicker training is an integral part of this dynamic.
Four-Week Program
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Weekly Theme: Positive reinforcement clicker training is woven throughout all weeks, strongly emphasizing skill-building and practical application. The culminating project allows students to demonstrate their progress in partnership with their chosen horse.
1. Equine Enthusiasts (Owners)
2. Equine Education Experts (Professionals)
3. Equine-Assisted Education
Areas of Learning
Week 1: Laying the Foundation: Positive Reinforcement and Intuitive Connection
Focus: Establishing the basics of positive reinforcement and intuitive communication, creating a strong foundation for partnership with horses.
Week 2: Deepening the Connection: Trust, Healing, and Mutual Understanding
Focus: Strengthening trust and refining skills while exploring the healing potential of the horse-human bond.
Week 3: Transformative Training: Healing Through Partnership
Focus: Expanding training into therapeutic practices, blending connection with healing for horses and humans.
Week 4: Mastery in Motion: Integration, Celebration, and New Beginnings
Focus: Culminating learned skills in a meaningful project, celebrating growth, and preparing for integration into everyday life.
Participants who decide to stay on-site will have the flexibility to go home on weekends or stay for optional excursions, including:
🏔 Skiing at Heavenly Valley Ski Resort (just 30 minutes away).
🦄 Wild Mustang excursions in the surrounding area.
💎 Crystal-picking adventures at nearby Crystal Mountain.
About Our Teachers
Melinda Starr
Melinda Starr has been actively using positive reinforcement and clicker training since 2020, fostering a compassionate and ethical approach to equine care and training. Her 30-acre sanctuary, Starr Horse Retreats, is entirely bitless, and the horses learn ridership techniques through clicker training and Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive (LIMA) methods.
Melinda’s dedication to Positive Reinforcement has transformed the lives of many horses who arrived at the sanctuary from challenging pasts. Through these compassionate methods, she has witnessed their evolution into joyful, empowered beings who fully embrace their roles as healers and teachers.
At Starr Horse Retreats, the herd of 17 horses serves as multidimensional healers, guiding participants through transformative experiences that reconnect them with their higher selves and the energies of the planet. These remarkable beings play a vital role in awakening consciousness and unlocking ancient genetic memories of trauma and fear encoded in ancestral history.
Since founding Starr Horse Retreats, Melinda has created a sanctuary where horses and humans alike can heal, evolve, and thrive, honoring the sacred connection between all beings.
The Horses
Our best teachers are the horses themselves. Our herd of 17 equines at Starr Horse Retreats in Minden, NV, consists of 11 horses, three donkeys, and three ponies. Our horse teachers are ready to empower you towards self-efficacy to launch you into the R+ holistic horse-handling world of clicker training.
Co-Creation and Shared Intentions
At Starr Horse Retreats, every participant is a student and a teacher. By bringing their unique gifts, energies, and intentions, each person contributes to the collective experience, creating a space for co-creation. This dynamic exchange allows all participants to offer their “medicine”—their wisdom and strengths—while also receiving from the community and the horses. As co-creators, the participants set their intentions, which are honored and integrated into the retreat experience, ensuring their learning journeys unfold naturally. This approach fosters a deep sense of unity while honoring each person’s individuality.
Hug a Butt: Angelene Hall
About Your Stay
Our Holistic Clicker Training Program residents have free lodging in either the Chalet, Bunkhouse, or Container Cottage on our 30-acre equestrian facility at Starr Horse Retreats. Our facility has four arenas, a 10-stall horse barn, Gathering Grounds, and 30 acres of pasture with multiple obstacle courses for walking and riding.
We offer hands-on training, optional field trips, and ancillary activities for integration.
All meals and housecleaning are the responsibility of residents.
Beyond the Saddle: Holistic Clicker Training Program
Highlights of the Program:
• Daily Positive Reinforcement Training: A hands-on focus ensures students leave with practical skills.
• Bareback Partnership Sessions: Enhancing trust and physical connection with the horse.
• Culminating Project: Encourages creativity, personal growth, and confidence.
• Intuitive Communication Practices: Journaling, reflection, and group discussions to solidify learning.
The total cost for 4 weeks is $1,500.
Sample Schedule
Week 1: Laying the Foundation: Positive Reinforcement and Intuitive Connection
Focus: Establishing the basics of positive reinforcement and intuitive communication, creating a strong foundation for partnership with horses.
• 9:00 - 11:00 Intention Setting for the day and intuitive communication with the horse partners. Sharing Progress and Challenges.
• 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM: Overview and basics of Positive Reinforcement overarching goals
• 12:30 - 1:30 PM: Lunch
• 1:30 - 3:00 PM: Hands-On Clicker Training: Shaping Behaviors with Targeting Techniques. Application: Working with Your Partner Horse
Week 2: Deepening the Connection: Trust, Healing, and Mutual Understanding
Focus: Strengthening trust and refining skills while exploring the healing potential of the horse-human bond.
• 9:00 - 11:00 Intention Setting for the day and intuitive communication with the horse partners. Sharing Progress and Challenges. Developing intention for the final project.
• 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM: Rewriting Narratives: Helping Horses and Humans Heal Ancestral Trauma through Free Liberty Meditation
• 12:30 - 1:30 PM: Lunch
• 1:30 - 3:00 PM: Hands-On Clicker Training: Shaping Behaviors with Targeting Techniques. Application: Working with Your Partner Horse for the final project.
Week 3: Transformative Training: Healing Through Partnership
Focus: Expanding training into therapeutic practices, blending connection with healing for horses and humans.
• 9:00 - 11:00 Intention Setting for the day. Horse partner, communication, Sharing Progress and Challenges.
• 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM: Integrative Training: Combining Clicker Training with Healing Exercises
• 12:30 - 1:30 PM: Lunch
• 1:30 - 3:00 PM: Bareback Partnership: Developing Balance and Connection
Week 4: Mastery in Motion: Integration, Celebration, and New Beginnings
Focus: Culminating learned skills in a meaningful project, celebrating growth, and preparing for integration into everyday life.
Monday - Thursday:
• 9:00 - 11:00 AM: Morning Circle: Visioning the Culminating Project
• 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM: Project Development: Designing and Practicing with Partner Horses
(Examples: Teaching a new behavior, creating a trust-building exercise, or showcasing a therapeutic interaction.)
• 12:30 - 1:30 PM: Lunch
• 1:30 - 3:00 PM: Coaching and Feedback: Fine-Tuning Projects
Friday (Final Day): Graduation and Celebration
• 9:00 - 3:30 PM: Presenting Culminating Projects: Sharing Achievements with the Group
• Lunch Celebration and Closing Ceremony: Gratitude and Farewell Circle