Posted by
sharon on Jul 9th, 2009 in
Dressage |
1 comment
The other day I was writing about reinforcement and that by doing nothing to get in the way of a behavior is the same as rewarding it. Then, while riding yesterday and today I realized that I was letting my mare, Danke, get out of balance and I was doing absolutely nothing about it! So, guess what? Since I allowed this to continue, of course, little by little the problem was getting bigger and bigger. ...
Recently I wrote about horses who drag owners to eat grass. In response, Nell made a deceptively simple comment, “So what if your horse has a fit? – does this work both ways?” I’d replied, “Sure, if her ‘fits’ get your attention!”
That exchange got me to thinking about reinforcement in general and how important it is to understand how behaviors get stronger or weaker. This...