Being able to read your horse’s body language and facial expressions are one of the most important aspects of successful positive reinforcement training. Because we are looking for and reinforcing calm and relaxation, it is vital that we know what those emotions look like. Conversely, we need to be able […]
Hi Guys, Shawna here! I am often asked about the feasibility of combining positive reinforcement(R+) and negative reinforcement(R-). It is not a simple answer. Some people have referred to this practice as combined reinforcement, but this is not a scientific term or construct. I think the thing we need to […]
Did you know that Shawna does a podcast on equine clicker training? It’s a great way to hear Shawna discuss popular topics in positive reinforcement training, and even get questions answered! If you go to the website, https://www.horseradionetwork.com/shows/equine-clicker-101/, you can leave a voice message for Shawna that will be […]
Last week we started talking about Karen Pryor’s ‘Ten Laws of Shaping’, and what those look like in terms of real-world examples. The second guideline identified by Karen Pryor in her book, ‘Don’t Shoot the Dog’, is as follows:
“Train one aspect of any particular behavior at a time; don’t try […]
One of the seminal books on positive reinforcement training with animals (and humans, too!) is ‘Don’t Shoot the Dog’, by Karen Pryor. When I was a zookeeper, this was required reading, and really has been the manual of this method of training for exotic animals since it was published. For […]
Many of you have told Shawna how much you enjoy her ‘Ask Shawna’ series on youtube, so she is back at it! This episode is about helping the over-excited/over aroused horse relax around food. Enjoy, and be sure to leave a comment. […]
One of the participants in our last workshop was Sarah Matlock, an instructor of Applied Equine Behavior at Colorado State University. We originally met Sarah at CHATTcon (Convergence of Human and Animal Training Technologies) in Seattle in July and were lucky enough to have her come learn with us earlier […]
We just finished our final R+ Weekend Clinic and Intensive Workshop of the year, and we are blown away by all the wonderful feedback we have received from our participants. With their permission, I will share some of their comments with you here. The first is from Connie Kuusisto, a […]
Below I have included a link to a fascinating article. I think what struck me most was the benefits of FREE play. While we humans can become a bit too goal-driven, we know that utilizing positive reinforcement (R+) training with lots of freedom to choose is way more mentally productive, […]
As we bring the concepts and skills of R+ into the traditional equestrian world, one of the first confusions to arise is often, “What is truly positive reinforcement? Is using pressure to create behavior, then rewarding that behavior, a form of positive reinforcement?”
Both ‘treat’ and ‘reward’ have been used in […]