Horse Riding Training

Najorka Horsemanship - Ken and Elle -

Positive and Negative Reinforcement, What is it?

Najorka Performance Horses, www.centralflareiner.com, www.horse-riding-training.com, Najorka Horsemanship.  This a great place to learn about Natural Horsemanship, Reining, and Just Good Horsemanship.

Positive and negative reinforcement are both designed to encourage a particular behavior in the future. Together they can be thought of as reinforcers – actions by a trainer to encourage desired behavior.

Things that a horse inherently perceives as either positive or negative are primary reinforcers. Examples of positive primary reinforcers are food, a scratch on the withers, a rest break; negative primary reinforcers are preasure on the mouth and a spur on the ribs. The horse does not have to be taught to feel good about positive primary reinforcers or bad about negative primary reinforcers  – his reaction to them is intrinsic.

Secondary reinforcers must be learned. Positive secondary reinforcers are much more common in Horse Training than negative secondary reinforcers. Although a gruff warning could be thought of as a negative secondary reinforce because the horse has learned that this sound means that he had better not do something wrong, a verbal scolding after the fact would technically be classified as punishment. Punishment is another discussion.

Positive secondary reinforcers are things which the horse learns to appreciate such as a part of a kind word. To teach a horse to perceive a secondary reinforce as a reward it should be initially linked with a positive primary reinforce. For a horse to respond to the trainer’s voice as a reward, consistent words, tone, and inflection must be used at times when the horse is receiving a primary reinforser. For example, if you were to say” good boy!” in a pleasant, praising voice as you fed your horse a treat or as you released the reins so he could stretch his neck, when you later used the phrase during a training situation, it would tend to elicit a sense of Contentment in the horse and he would likely relax and stretch.

It takes a trainer with good knowledge, a keen sense of feel, and good reactions to reward a horse properly and effectively.