You might see these terms a lot more recently, R+, reward-based training, clicker training etc, but I think there is a lot of confusion over what it actually is and how to do it well so this unfortunately means it gets a bad rap.
Positive reinforcement simply means we are adding something to reinforce a behaviour, which in the case of horses is usually scratches or food, we refer to this as a reward. The term has nothing to do with positive or negative emotions and is simply a scientific term used to describe the reinforcer. People often mistakingly confuse praising or patting the horse during the training as positive reinforcement, when the training has actually been more pressure/released based with some praise at the end and we must remember a reward is only as valuable as the individual horse deems it to be.
Another damaging misconception is that its as simple as feeding your horse a treat when he offers a desired behaviour and this is where the wheels can fall off and people will start to tell you it creates pushy, dangerous horses. Any training can create frustrated horses if it is not done well. Horses are really smart, if your horse is pushing on you and mugging you for food it’s because you inadvertently reinforced that behaviour, and it’s nothing to worry about because you can simply reinforce food manners again at any time and the pushy behaviour will stop.
We need to consider what kind of reward is appropriate for that horse, if scratches are of high enough value to your horse then you can absolutely train with positive reinforcement without food, but only your horse can be the decider of that. In terms of food rewards we need to use the lowest value food we can find that the horse is still motivated to try for. For some horses this might look like hay or low sugar chaff, for others maybe some meadow nuts. For a lot of horses training with very high-value food like treats, carrots and sugary food is inappropriate and can be the reason you find your horse becoming pushy and frustrated.
As with any other training, using positive reinforcement well requires good timing, good observational skills and the ability to break things down into the smallest steps. If you accidentally reward the wrong behaviours you’re going to end up with a very frustrated horse and a very frustrated you. We need to start in a suitable environment and set the horse up to succeed by making the questions easy, then we can logically shape behaviours without the horse getting too frustrated.
Most people who practice positive reinforcement training use a marker signal so you can really specifically mark the desired behaviour as it can be difficult to deliver the reward with such accurate timing. The marker signal is a bridge that tells the horse “yes that was right a reward is coming”. Many people use a clicker, I personally just make a clicking sound with my mouth, people also use words like “yes!” which you are unlikely to say to your horse by accident.
I heavily lean towards positive reinforcement training with traumatised, nervous horses, there is nothing else so powerful. Trying to convince a horse that is already frightened of humans that we’re good by putting them under more pressure and causing them intense stress just seems illogical and unkind to me. Positive associations with humans can be built very quickly when we take the pressure off and they start to associate our presence with something lovely.
Anyone can learn how to use positive reinforcement training to improve their relationship, help with behavioural issues and just have fun doing cool stuff with their horses. You just need to learn how to do it well like you do with any other skill.
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