I think the point I’m trying to make is that even though we talk about rewarding a horse for its effort, as an essential element of the training process the concept is entirely foreign to horses. How much this affects how we apply a reward will depend on how much emotion we attach to the term.
Kids and Horses
The first horse that I belonged to was called Luke. Well, when he came to live with me his name was Sebastian, but I couldn’t let him carry that burden for the rest of his life. He didn’t deserve that. So Luke became the name he answered to when I called him for dinner or when he ordered coffee at Starbucks and when the bakery asked what name he wanted on his birthday cake.
One Horse, Two Sides
Most of us appreciate that all horses are different. When training, what works for one horse may not be the best approach for another. The almost infinite variations of a horse’s nature combined with their varied experiences (nature plus nurture) mean the chance is almost zero in finding two horses responding identically to identical training.
What To Do
Pressure Creates The Conversation Between Horse and Rider
While I encourage us all to reflect on how little pressure we can apply in our training, I believe the criteria for judging the amount of pressure to use or not to use is NOT in how loud is our energy. Pressure is not the enemy of good horsemanship - no matter what source the pressure comes from (positive or negative reinforcement). It’s in how effective it is in opening and maintaining the conversation between us and our horse. If we do too little, a horse will ignore us. If we do too much, a horse will be obedient because it will be afraid not to be obedient. If we get it just right we will have the best relationship, the most willing performance and so much fun.