Expectation and Reward

As I was helping a student recently in the Game of Contact, I realized that the reason her left-brain horse was heavy and sluggish was because he was bored, but when she asked if she should be more provocative I said that I didn’t think that was the problem as much as her expectation of the quality of his response. Granted, I think we should always be careful not to bore a horse in his training, but being provocative and doing lots of different and “interesting,” fun stuff is not always the answer and can have its limitations, especially when it comes to riding with precision.

I asked if I could ride her horse because I wasn’t sure what was needed, and as I engaged my seat to ask for the walk… nothing happened. So I closed my legs lightly, and still nothing happened. Hmmmmm! Responsiveness was the issue here – I expected the horse to respond with light aids and he didn’t. That meant that the way she was getting him to respond was by using a LOT more effort than me. Here’s the problem – a horse can feel a fly land on him, so when you are applying 1000 times more physical pressure than a fly, you are working way harder than your horse! It’s not that he can’t feel you, he just doesn’t respond until a certain amount of pressure is applied. This would be like telling a dog to sit 10 times, and he doesn’t sit until the 10^th time. You’re actually training him to sit when you say it the 10^th time! So concerning the horse, if you keep going to Phase 3 and using a lot of pressure he’s only going to move when you get to Phase 3, and he’s going to stop moving unless you maintain a similar level of pressure.

Here’s how I improved it: I asked lightly and politely expecting a positive response. When he ignored me, I started flapping the Savvy String around until he jumped forwards (note – I create commotion vs smacking him). The moment he moved, I released all pressure and rubbed and scratched him effusively. Then I asked again. It took about 6 repetitions before he responded as soon as I lightly asked. Instantly, his whole attitude was different – more alert, more connected, brighter. He even started moving more athletically and lightly on his feet.

When I put the rider back on, I gave her the same focus – expect more. After just a couple of attempts, things went beautifully but when she petted him, she did it quite modestly. I told her to make a big fuss of him, not just say “good boy.” Here’s the key: to the degree that you insist, you need to reward. That means big rewards for big tries and small rewards for small tries. Keeping that balance is really important, it makes your horse want to try harder. Here’s why….

• If your horse makes a small effort and you reward him big, he will begin to do less.
• If your horse makes a big effort and you reward him small, he will lose motivation to try.

Gabby and her horse playing with 'expect more and reward appropriately'

So the key is to put it all in balance – big rewards for big tries, small rewards for small tries. Sounds simple doesn’t it? The hard part is expecting the appropriate level of response, and I say “appropriate,” because how much response your horse can give is directly proportional to his level of education and the ability and confidence you have to ask for it. For example, you don’t want to ask a green horse or a worried horse for more than he’s able to give.

Pressure and release is the cornerstone of horse training – it’s a simple as that. But how you ask, and when you release is where the art of horsemanship really is.

Tagged as: linda parelli