Whenever our horse does something that we've asked for, it's imperative that we give a reward. This reward lets the horse know that they gave the correct response and 'marks' the spot where the behaviour occured, making it more likely that the horse will offer this response the next time we ask.
Most people know how to train a dog. You ask the dog to do something, the dog does it and you give a treat. That’s called positive reinforcement, you reinforce the behaviour by adding something positive. This form of training can also be used with horses. The most popular method of positive reinforcement with horses is called ‘clicker training’. The same method can be used without a clicker, perhaps the words ‘good boy’ to mark the behaviour then the treat given. This is easy to understand and the importance of the reward is understood to promote learning.
However for some reason rewarding horses when using negative reinforcement seems to be less well understood. Negative reinforcement is where a negative stimulus is applied, the animal responds and the negative stimulus is removed. In this situation the removal of the negative stimulus is the reward. Sometimes when I’m doing lessons I see people apply a negative pressure, then not remove the pressure when the horse responds. These same people understand to reward if using positive reinforcement, but don’t realise it’s exactly the same for negative reinforcement. The pressure must be removed as soon as the horse responds or the horse will be confused or even detrained.
An example is where the rider puts pressure on the horses sides with their legs, the horse increases their pace, and the rider continues using leg pressure. From the riders perspective they want more, the horse hasn't given them as much as they want, so they continue applying the aid. From the horses perspective they responded but it didn't result in the negative pressure going away, so they give up trying as nothing works. Eventually the rider ends up doing more and more while the horse does less and less. The rider will sit there kicking the horse just to get them to walk. At this point they blame the horse and say they’re lazy or stuborn. What has happened is that they’ve taught the horse not to respond to the leg pressure, because they have not rewarded. Rewarding the horse when using negative reinforcement is essential to ensure horses learn and retain their skills.
It’s been described well by one Australian horse training legend Tom Roberts. He asks the question, ‘why do you jump up when you sit on a drawing pin?’ Most people would answer ‘because it hurts’. But the true answer is because we know that if we jump up it will stop hurting. This is what we are looking for by jumping up, the stopping of the pain from the drawing pin (the negative stimulus). It’s exactly the same for the horse. They don’t do what we ask because we apply a pressure, they do it because we remove it. By removing the pressure the moment the horse responds, the horse learns the correct response, we're saying 'Yes! Yes! That's it!'
Another Australian trainer, John Chatterton, talks about the principle of 1%. If our horse gives 1% of a response we must reward it. This lets the horse know they have done the correct thing. Without it they won’t know. If we release after they’ve given 1% then the next time we ask we might find they’ll give us 5%, then 10% then 20%, and on and on it goes.
Rome was not built in a day and horses are never trained in a day. The rider who is willing to build on a behaviour will end up with a horse who responds fully to the lightest aid. The rider who expects it all today will end up with a resistant, dull horse who is unhappy and no pleasure to ride. This is a very important principle, resulting in a happy horse who is a pleasure to be with and is responsive and light to all aids.
Suzy Maloney B.Eq.Sc.
Happy Horses Bitless
Lismore, NSW, Australia
Ph: 0401 249 263
Email: happyhorsesbitless@gmail.com
Web: www.happyhorsesbitless.com
Facebook: Happy Horses Bitless Bridles
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