Reward the Thought - RES027 - a podcast by Van Hargis

In this week’s episode of Ride Every Stride, I want to discuss the importance of “Rewarding the Thought”. What I mean by Rewarding the Thought, is all about rewarding the positive tries in your horse’s behavior to ultimately achieve the goal that you are searching for.

Many years ago, I had the opportunity to attend a clinic with Tom Dorrance, one of my generation’s best horseman. An important lesson I learned during this clinic was the importance of timing. If we can relay or communicate to the horse at the appropriate time, we can get the response we’re looking for. We should study the body language that the horse is showing us - through their eyes, their ears, their tails and even their feet. The horse will give us clues as to what he is feeling. Is he scared? Are his ears pointed away from us? Does he want to escape? Does he want to go forward? 

Horses want their environment to be calm, predictable and peaceful; they don’t want to be stressed. Does our presence with the horse promote peacefulness and harmony? Or does it bring pressure and discomfort? We need a balance between the two. In order for us to be the leader, we need the horse to want to be with us. If we pay attention and observe the feedback that we are getting from the horse, we can apply the appropriate pressure to get the horse to do whatever job it is that we need him to do. At the moment the application of pressure or cue starts, we need to be able to tell if the horse is reacting positively and if so, we relieve the pressure, we reward the​ thought​ and the horse continues with the positive action. 

This process continues until we achieve the final outcome. It may take one step if it is something simple we are trying to achieve or it may take several. Each positive step forward, each time we reward the “try”, we gain another step.

Key Takeaways:

Spend time observing our own and other horse’s behavior so we can determine what they are thinking. Study their eyes, study their ears, their tail - these are all indicators of their thoughts. By studying horse’s body language, we can determine their thoughts and therefore reward the positive thoughts. The thoughts control the actions. When the positive thoughts are reinforced, it gives the horse courage to follow through with the action. The actions help to achieve our goals.

Four specific questions that need to be answered about these goals:

• What do we want? (Be specific)


• Is it fair? (Is it within the capabilities of the horse?)


• Can I ask in a way that they understand?


• How did he do? (How do you measure the performance?)

Timing is important when we are asking for a specific action from our horse. When we ask and

 

when we reward are key to achieving success in getting what we want.

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