For an inexperienced trainer, a horse will often learn through trial and error. You may try different approaches and eventually get the result you intended. However, to become a more effective trainer, you must systematically approach a task and monitor results.

The media has taken training strategies to a new level of awareness with films such as “The Horse Whisper” and “Seabiscuit”. These films show the gentleness of horses and the ease of bonding with humans with a gentle, non-violent approach is taken in training.

Each horse is different in the way it perceives its environment. Horses have a high sensitivity to the objects and movements within their immediate environment resulting from their innate “flight response”. Training a horse involves four key components: the stimulus provided, assessing the horse’s response, reinforcement, and skill attainment (training).

• As a trainer, you begin the process defining the skill you want your horse to learn.
  You initiate a stimulus (cue) to elicit a response from your horse. The use of your legs, hands (i.e. picking up the reins), voice (commands) and even the weight of your body can be used as cues for your horse.


• When pressure is initially exerted, the horse’s first response is to move away. Using a lead rope is an approach to teach the horse to move in a given direction. Pulling on the rope will cause the horse to move in the direction of the pull in order to escape pressure.



• The release of pressure when the horse moves in the right direction becomes its reinforcement. In this instance, reinforcement is positive. The horse can also experience negative reinforcement. If it fights the pressure from the reins by pulling against it, the horse will experience increased pressure and discomfort. Negative reinforcement is used to teach the horse how to avoid discomfort. Through consistency of each type of reinforcement, the horse learns comfort (i.e. the release of pressure) through positive reinforcement and avoidance (increased intensity of pressure) through negative reinforcement. It is repetition of stimulus and consistency in reinforcement that change behavior into conditioned (predictable) responses. The end result is attainment of the skill level identified as the training goal.

Using a systematic process to train your horse will allow you to establish incremental measures of the effectiveness of your approach. It will also provide a basis for assessing the adequacy of your stimulus to initiate behavioral responses. Keep in mind:

• The cue/stimulus you use (verbal or physical) should be used on a consistent basis unless you find out that your horse responses better to an alternative cue;



• If you are going to use reward as positive reinforcement for a maneuver or behavior, it should be given immediately after the behavior is performed so the horse learn by association


• Define in advance what constitutes mastery of the maneuver by your horse. This will ensure that your horse is properly trained and will not have to be retrained in the future for bad habits.

Labels: Training

¶ 10:19 AM