Which horse changed your life? Was it a challenging horse? I bet he wasn\’t cooperative all the time, was he? The horses that changed my life were \’stubborn\’, \’difficult\’, \’dangerous\’ or \’challenging\’. Some horses had \’character\’ according to the salesperson, which usually meant that they are not very cooperative. \’Stubborn\’, \’difficult\’ or \’dangerous\’ What does a horse have to […]
The horse that changed my life Read More »
It was 1999 when I heard about clicker training for horses. I knew dolphins were trained with a whistle and fish to reward them, but that was about everything I knew. I decided to try it out with my 21 year old pony Sholto. I learned about learning theory during my study Animal Management, but
Change to Positive Reinforcement Read More »
For me the clicker represents force-free horse training, friendship, fun and life time of learning. Let me explain.
The clicker, for me a symbol of … Read More »
How valuable is a behaviour to you when it is associated by the horse with aversives (-R, negative reinforcement)? Is a behaviour that is associated with something pleasurable /appetitives (+R, positive reinforcement) worth less, or more to you? Or do you not care at all what your horse\’s associations are with your ways of getting
Reflections on +R vs -R (positive reinforcement vs negative reinforcement) Read More »
It sounds contradictory: how can less be more? In horse training it often is true. We try too hard. Three examples of less is more. Don\’t over ask We expect too much of our horses. We don\’t realize during training that a learning process consist out of many, many baby steps, which shapes a behaviour. Work on one criteria
Have you ever had the experience that you followed your horses\’ lead and you found out something unexpected? A story One day my clients horse was very obstructive. He wouldn\’t let her mount, he kept walking away and when she finally managed -with a lot of patience- to sit down, he bucked. That was a bit
How to … Listen to Horses Read More »
