by Stacie Moyle

Created on: August 03, 2011   Last Updated: August 08, 2011

You’ve been training your horse with big dreams in mind. In order to reinforce the desirable behaviors, you want to reward your horse. Fortunately there are a number of ways to reward horses in training.  In order to understand the effectiveness of rewards it’s important to look at the types of reinforcement for behavior—positive and negative.

Positive reinforcement is the introduction of something pleasurable or appealing as a response to a change in behavior.  This type of reinforcement readily encourages repeats of the behavior that immediately preceded it. For instance, if a horse is given a sugar cube immediately following the lifting of a foreleg, the horse will be eager to repeat the task. Often trainers will use a food reward for teaching tricks like bowing.  The association of a pleasing sound in the form of your voice saying “good” in a relaxing tone can be perceived as a form of positive reinforcement as well. When used simultaneously with a food reward, a bridge is formed between the two concepts.  Since horses, by nature, are not as vocal in their communication as animals like dogs and humans, vocal reinforcement is often a weak form. It should be strengthened by associating it with something like a treat or a pat. Stroking or petting the horse is another form of positive reinforcement as the reward is a gift given to the horse for its actions. Horses nibble, groom, and rub on one another regularly, so a soft pat of the hand can have a deeply positive feeling to the horse.

Overall, positive reinforcements are the most desirable method for rewarding a horse in training. There are drawbacks however. Food rewards can produce unwanted side effects of begging and crowding for space if the trainer does not maintain solid ground rules. Too often owners use feed treats without it being associated with good behavior, rather with placating impatient or unruly behavior thereby rewarding it and making it worse.  Finally, the biggest factor in whether positive reinforcement will work is whether or not the horse is afraid or motivated—in such cases negative reinforcement is likely to have more meaning.

Negative reinforcement involves the removal of a negative stimulus to a change in behavior. It has a motivational factor of setting a horse up to look for a situation that represents more comfort, more peace than the one he is in. For instance, all riders squeeze their legs on the side of the horse to

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>