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Re: [RC] pin pricks/punishment/rewards,etc - heidiRe "Influencing the horse in a way it can understand us is, IMO, true horsemanship".Well,they understand punishment just as well or better than reward. Does anyone think horses only communicate to each other in a physically friendly way? Chico is the most friendly,and willful,and stubborn horse God ever created. He sent him to me because there was no other place Chico could go except into an Alp can. Chico understands what I want and need him to do perfectly well.I win every argument except the ones that leave me eating leaves and dirt.But the debate NEVER ends. Quiet moments in the shade of the trees? All the time. ZERO correlation to under saddle debates.They are not dogs. Bottom line here---a horse ONLY understands punishment if he FIRST understands what it is that you want and then willfully does otherwise. You CANNOT make a horse understand what it is that you are asking by punishment. I agree that Chico sounds like he knows what you are asking and is pushing your buttons. When you start with an already spoiled horse the methodology DOES differ somewhat from starting a green horse with a clean slate. I'd also add that some horses are more amenable to reward than others, and some are more sensitive about punishment than others. Same is true of dogs, kids, and just about every species in this universe. The thing about punishment is that 1) the horse has to already know that his action was inappropriate in order for it to be really effective, 2) the punishment has to fit the "crime" (you don't wallop him bloody for a small misdemeanor), 3) the punishment has to be short, sharp, and instantaneous, or he doesn't connect it to the "crime" at all and just thinks you are a jerk, 4) YOU have to be able to switch your own emotions from punishment to reward instantaneously if HE switches from wrongdoing to the right behavior. Heidi ============================================================ I still prefer what it is that BH100, Tevis, The Duck's Soup of Endurance, etc. has to offer...but, to see a horse canter over sand for those distances...Good Lord, it humbles me. ~ Frank Solano ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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