Reinforcement In Horse Training

Reinforcements in horse training can be either giving the horse something it likes i.e. positive reinforcement, or removing something it does not like i.e. negative reinforcement. Both positive and negative allows for a connection between a specific stimulus and the desired response, so that when the specific stimulus is presented again there is a greater chance of the horse’s making the correct response according to Tarpy. Like stimuli, reinforcements can be either natural or learned. Trainers teach horses learned reinforcements (secondary) by pairing them with natural reinforcements (primary) in the same way that a new stimulus is paired with an old stimulus. That is, they present the new, secondary reinforcement then follow it with the old, primary reinforcement. …show more content…
After a number of such pairings, the horse will associate the voice praise with the rewarding properties of the treat. People in equine industry mainly utilize secondary reinforcements in horse training, and they use more negative reinforcement than positive. However, most equine learning tests employ primary positive reinforcement. This can make it difficult to apply equine learning research to training procedures or to utilize learning test results as an indicator of later training success of a horse. However, a study by Haag et al in the 1980’s indicated that equine learning abilities are similar under primary positive and primary negative reinforcements. They reported that the ponies that learned better in shock avoidance, a negative reinforcement situation, also were better learners in a positive reinforcement single-choice point