Behavior Modifying

Each time you work with a horse, it is beneficial to use vocal cues to reward a horse or teach a horse. In How to Think Like a Horse by Cherry Hill, she writes about horses behavioral corrections. Horses are very vocal and action oriented creatures, and learn from that easily. Responses to horse behavior need to be immediate, consistent, appropriate, and concise (Hill 134). Horses minds don't stay set on one thing, you must react within 3 or so seconds of the horses action for your reward or discipline to really matter to the horse. If I were to take Leo and run him in a circle and he were to misbehave, I would yell something or pull on the lead as a punishment. Horses are animals that generally want to please humans, and will learn after a few times of doing something wrong.

Negative and positive reinforcement can be used, not to punish a horse, but to get a desired response. For example, "When a horse does something that you life, if you immediately give him something good or make him feel good, it will encourage him to repeat that behavior in the future...If as soon as a horse does what we want, we remove a negative or unpleasant stimulus, we have used negative reinforcement to strengthen the desired behavior" (Hill 138-139). If you put pressed against the horses face, it is unpleasant, and they will move away from it. The desired reaction was for the horse to move, so you release the pressure against their face. That is good negative reinforcement. Not hurting the horse, or using positive reinforcement are both great ways to teach a horse. With Leo I use both positive and negative reinforcement. Generally I use negative reinforcement, like the picture above. But sometimes I use positive reinforcement. After reading the book I think I will use more positive reinforcement because it is more rewarding.

Hill, Cherry. "Bucking." How to Think like a Horse: The Essential Handbook for Understanding                   Why Horses Do What They Do. North Adams, MA: Storey Pub., 2006. 134+. Print.

Would you use negative or positive reinforcement? What would you do if your horse misbehaved? Do you think this is better than punishing an animal for misbehaving?