Welcoem to posts!!
in the future - u will be able to do some more stuff here,,,!! like pat catgirl- i mean um yeah... for now u can only see others's posts :c
~Emotional Balance In Training~
The thing I love most about this photo is that Izzy is equal parts relaxed and engaged.
This can be a very difficult balance to strike sometimes in R+ training because if the horse is not engaged they will simply leave (or just be unmotivated and not engage in active learning) but on the other hand there is a chance of tipping over into over-arousal, frustration, tension or over excitement.
Factors that contribute to a healthy emotional balance in training include:
-The horse's environment meeting all their behavioural needs to a good standard.
- Having a clear context cue for when you are training and then you are not.
- Spending more time with your horse outside of formal operant conditioning/ "training sessions" so that you can build a relationship and your presence doesn't over-activate emotional systems association with training and the horse doesn't feel coerced into trying to gain a reward whenever in your presence.
- The value of the reinforcer you are training with.
- The horse having free access to food of the same value during training (horses are contra-freeloaders and so although they will feel more comfortable saying 'no', they will still say 'yes' when they want to train.
- The antecedents surrounding training (if there is an over-arousing, frustrating build up to training this can cause unregulated emotions and behavioural fall out in training).
- How you train (if there is a lot of extinction, frustration, confusion, too high criteria, too low criteria, etc, this can lead to activation of unwanted emotional systems in training).
- What you reinforce.
- Waiting for a calm moment to initiate training.
- The length of your sessions.
- The structure of your training sessions (podcast episode on this on Spotify).
- Waiting for your horse to tell you they are ready for the next cue.
- Moving on when the loop is clean.
- Having a strong foundation of essential, calm skills before moving onto more energetic behaviour.
- And much *much* more... ofcourse depending on the individuals involved and the specific situation.
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