When working in the positive reinforcement quadrant of operant conditioning, treats or food, are often provided as a reward. Many see this as a bribe, but is it really? Is a reward a bribe? I think not. I see a reward as a reward IF the intention IS to reward and reinforce a desired behavior. Perhaps in the human world, once could have a motivation of a bribe to influence someone to do something with ulterior motives, I would say that is possible. But in the animal or horse world, I don’t see it that way. Many horse training professionals with long lists of credentials and years of training talk about the food reward as a payment or thank you, or something that helps the animal feel good, or positive about the experience. My observation and experience with Food Rewards, when delivered with proper timing and dosing is a huge motivator for my horses. In the past, I strictly used release of pressure or negative reinforcement, removing a stimulus, as a reward, and I was able to train my horses to do incredible things. But to be honest, there was a part of me that felt like I just had obedient horses, and they were, and that’s great, but there was something inside of me that seemed to be missing. I didn’t see that wonderful joy I now see in my horses who WANT to OFFER COOL STUFF, like liberty half pass in collection! Now they ask me, is this what you want? Is this it? Then instead of waiting for me to ask them for something, like a trot transition, they offer it from the previous training session. I see food rewards a positive motivators and my horses seem much happier emotionally than in the past. Try it out, see what you find! Google some trainers and see what they say about HOW to deliver treats as the timing and dosing is highly important! Enjoy your time with your horse! Motivate them with something they love!!!

Our equine dentist is a licensed veterinarian who only does teeth and loves it. Yesterday while assisting him with a few of my horses we started discussing sedation. He gave me some tips about how it works after I asked if my horse was sweating from the sedative or from the sympathetic nervous system being activated. He explained how the chemicals lie on some of the cells and don’t activate them ….. ok, honestly I have no idea what he said but something like that, but the bottom line was that it was the sedation. We kept discussing training and sedation. Then he said he wanted to get better with horses and someday be able to do his job without sedation much like a dentist he saw in a video. He said the dentist would take 45 minutes to 1 hour for each horse but it was what he called ‘Real Horsemanship.’ He talked about how the man would approach the horse, just stand there engage in a conversation and soon the tools would be working and the dentistry would be done. (Funny thing is I had a dentist like this in the past). Now, some argue it’s impossible to really get to the back of the horse’s mouth without a speculum and I wonder about that too but the point isn’t that, it’s horsemanship – the new way of being, or perhaps the old way of being.

This new ‘Choice-Based’ training is just that: it’s new and it’s choice-based! Too simple, I get it. What I mean is that it’s pretty new for horsemanship, that a horse can actually have, or be allowed a choice to participate or not in its training. Who knew? In the past, I was always focused on the training, the asking, the obedience, and then the reward – which was release, reward, relax. But now I’ve discovered there’s ACTUALLY MORE!!! Could it be true that there’s more than just having a well-trained obedient horse? I tell you today, there IS more!

The freedom to choose comes to both us as a trainer and to to the horse. We are free to choose which style of training we want to follow. If we choose to follow choice-based training, then the horse has the freedom to choose too! Can it be possible that the horse will choose to be trained, to be engaged, to participate in our exercises, our sometimes-very-difficult-and-strenuous-exercies?

The answer is YES!!! Since I have found the choice-based training style, I’ve noticed a much more engaged and willing herd! (All four of my equines, soon to be extended to my brave 2-man papillion canine pack living in the house!) It’s quite amazing! In the past I was pretty much focused on the horse doing what I asked, or ‘obedience training’ and after experiencing the wonder, the ease, and the joy of choice-based training, I will never return.

Make your decision and follow it wholeheartedly!!!

There comes a time to make a decision. Am I going to do this or am I going to do that? Or am I going to do both in Incongruency? Am I going to straddle the fence or am I going to leap over it and rush into the new field and experience all the new things that are in THAT field, not THIS one?
As a horse trainer I’ve come across many methods, ideologies and programs. I’ve learned, and am continuing to learn, which ones resonate with me and which ones don’t. Am I ready to ditch the ones that don’t and run away or am I going to cling a little, hold a little, not really let go? Well, I have to make a decision.

What I’ve learned is to Trust the Process, and I’ve always said The Process Will Lead Us to the Goal, but I don’t focus on the goal per say, I trust the process. So when something new comes along, I trust it’s OK! I follow it, I go along, and then if it’s proven inaccurate by my horses, then I go back! I don’t strangely just adapt everything I see or hear, but I review it and see if it aligns and resonates, then we go.

There’s a decision but there’s also flexibility. If I make a decision for myself and my horses, I must always remain flexible for those who aren’t ready to jump the fence and run into the new field. Sometimes safety and comfort are better! Sometimes peace if needed over a little adventure. I can make a decision and allow others the flexibility to stay where they are or come along, and even that IS a decision. It’s a decision to stay, it’s a decision to go. Whatever the path we take, it’s all going to be OK.

I’ve been pretty effective in getting results with my horses over the years. I felt I had done a good job with them, using what I knew and always asking myself how I could do better. Recently, some new information has come into my arena and I’m quite mesmerized, happy, overwhelmed, and excited!
In my lessons with students, I’ve noticed the ones who have used positive reinforcement training in the past or present often got much faster results that I had. Ouch. But I’m an open person so I went to figure this out.
What I found was that there’s not only one way that a horse learns, as I had been taught in the past, but there’s many ways a horse learns and we need to always be finding the Easiest way for our horse to learn. The reason for this is just simple fairness. It’s more fair to train in a way that works with the horse.
I have used pressure and release for so long I was able to get great results, or so I thought. Then I started adding positive reinforcement and got greater even faster results! Who knew? My horses are happier, willing and want to do more with me than ever before.
OK, there’s more! Then I came across this training around the Central Nervous System Down Regulation in Horses an Humans. Blows my mind off the charts! I started implementing things I have learned and my horses are learning and progressing even faster! What I have done inadvertently over the years is blow through a horse’s ‘threshold,’ that is how much pressure they are able to take, I just forced them through that because I had the pressure and release techniques to do so. When I started changing the way I do things, when I improved myself, my horses got better. I now look to see if my horse has reached a ‘threshold’ and then I wait, that’s all, just give the horse time, space and attunement if needed and voila! my horse is back with me, calm, stable, able to handle the situation. I’m very very excited about this and just tipping my toe in the water so to speak. There’s tons of science and information online to research and learn about this. I encourage you to do so. Google Sarah Schlote, Dr Richard Peters, and even Warwick Schiller does some interviews with these individuals who are teaching this so find him and listen to his podcasts. That’s what I’m doing and I’m loving it!