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In the past, I've emailed a lot of
info where I describe key principles in
horse training.
One I like to harp on is the prin-
ciple of "kindness."
Instinctively, most understand the
kindness thing. After all, why be cruel to
your horse.
Even though that's a given, that's
not the principle reason I preach about being
kind to your horse.
When I say "treat your horse with
kindness" the importance in training is this:
When a horse does as you ask, he
should be rewarded with kindness such as a
carress on the point of shoulder or forehead.
The thing a lot of people don't get
is kindness with punishment. (When I say punish-
ment, I don't mean whipping or hitting a horse.
Punishment "ONLY" refers to negative reinforce-
ment which can be as light as an abrasive tone
of voice.)
When a horse needs corrected through
negative reinforcement then it's my practice
to almost immediately follow up with kindness
such as caressing.
The reason is to keep a horse's con-
fidence up and principally to reinforce you're
still his buddy...even though he did something
wrong.
Here's a good story that'll reinforce
my point.
About 9 years ago, I moved into another
house. My son and I went to get it ready for
the move in. At the time, he was around 3 years
old.
While I was cleaning parts of the house
he was running about.
We were just about ready to leave when
I noticed the carpet didn't look right in my
bedroom.
I checked it out and found paint had
been spilled on it. It was wet and fresh.
Upset, I called him in the bedroom and
angrily asked, "DID YOU DO THAT?!!!"
After hearing my tone, he knew he was
in trouble. He was nervous. (Hmmm, just like
a horse)
Then I said, "I'M MAD AT YOU FOR DOING
THAT!!"
Within seconds he started crying. It
broke my heart that I had broke his.
Immediately and with extrememe compassion
and heartfelt words I said, "I'm not mad at
you anymore."
The crying ceased in a few seconds except
for the occassional gasps of air he needed to
settle himself.
The lesson was, he needed to know he
made a mistake but more importantly he needed
to know I still loved and approved of him. Had
I not countered the negative reinforcement, I
think it would've been injurious down the road.
And that's how I see it with horses. You
should make sure they're loved and approved of even
if they "spilled the paint." For if they continue
to feel a little afraid and uneasiness, it'll
be harder to train 'em.
But one has to be careful in timing the
kindness because you could reinforce the wrong
behavior.
For instance, if you go to catch your
horse and he runs from you but finally lets you
catch him...and then when you catch him, pet him,
then say "Good boy" you teach him to run from
you.
Why? Because he learns he'll get
petted and told he's a good boy "after" he runs
from you and later gets caught.
Paul Esh, a featured trainer from
http://www.SuperStarsOfHorseTraining.com, tells
on his video why this is so important.
It's amazing what you can learn from different
horse trainers because each has there unique things they
do.
That's why SuperStars of Horse Training exists.
You learn from the best of the best of horse trainers.
What they do with horses you can too after see what
they show you.
To learn more go to:
http://www.SuperStarsOfHorseTraining.com
About The Author
Andy Curry is a nationally known horse trainer and author
of several best selling horse training and horse care books.
He is also well known for finding, interviewing, and filming
expert horse trainers and making their expertise available
to horse owners who want to learn different horse training
tips and secrets and how to solve behaviorial issues with
horses.
For information visit his website at www.SuperStarsofHorseTraining.com.
Andy Curry |
