I am reading a very interesting book. It is called Before Happiness and is written by Shawn Achor. You can look it up if you want. In this book you can find ways to improve your succes rate. The thing I like most is that I have already been using a lot of these strategies in my […]
Feel more successful in riding and training your horse Read More »
In another post I explained the power of a variable reward schedule and how to use it into your advantage. A variable ratio schedule is the most powerful reward schedule because it takes the longest for a behaviour to become extinct. How can you use this information in re-training undesired behaviour? \’Extinction\’ of behaviour Extinction means that
Tips to re-train undesired behaviour in horses Read More »
Horses learn in a certain context. Each change in the context of training your horse should be considered as a new criterion. Use this to set yourself and your horse up for success. What is a \’context shift\’? If you want to teach your horse something new, like targeting, practise this in the beginning always in the
Setting your horse up for success: context shift Read More »
Whenever an idea forms about what I want to teach my horse Kyra I set it as a goal. I then start writing a training plan and make a shaping plan to achieve this goal. Goal setting My goal in this example is teaching Kyra to stand still, next to a mounting block, until I mounted and give the
How to teach your horse anything Read More »
Is the translation of a Latin saying. A saying with a long history starting with the Romans. Festina lente, maybe you\’ve heard of it. To me this has proven a very valuable oxymoron  and it is one of my favourite personal mantras in horse training. If you take the time it takes, than it takes less time. So many times I wanted a result
My favourite motto is… Make haste slowly… Read More »
Teach your horse to stop grazing or ignore grass when you lead him
\’Grass Training\’: Teach Your Horse to Stop Grazing Read More »
In positive reinforcement training one of the techniques to get behaviour is called \’shaping\’. In shaping the goal behaviour is achieved by splitting the desired behaviour into many tiny steps. Each step is trained separately (clicked and reinforced). A criterion is only raised if the previous tiny step is confirmed. In this way you can build a behaviour from scratch (free
How to… shape behaviours Read More »
Clicker training your horse can be difficult and confusion. The Key to Success is writing a shaping plan. A shaping plan is a written manual to train a behaviour from scratch. In shaping the trainer splits the goal behaviour into easy achievable steps for the horse. Then you rehearse and reinforced each step, until your
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In 2015 I wrote about the key lessons (your keys to success) for horses. Not only the horse needs to be set up for success, but also the trainer. These three Key Lessons are for Trainers*). They will help you reach your goals quicker and enjoy the journey more: a training plan, a shaping plan
Key Lessons for Horse Trainers Read More »
In part 1 of this trilogy I talked about how my vision and use of \’timing\’ and taking emotions into consideration changed the way I train. In part 2 I mentioned how I changed the  way I use rewards now. There is another tool I now use completely different. It is my training journal. Before my reward-based
New Uses for \’Old\’ Tools in Clicker Training, part III Read More »
