I totally understand and appreciate this video, thank you for making it...R+ has totally improved my understanding and use of R-. So many times when people are not aware of what the 4 quadrants of teaching behavior are, they end up using a lot of Positive punishment in their negative reinforcement training without realizing it. Which I think is the real problem with the horse world in general and that causes almost all problems of confusion and fear based behaviors including, aggression. R+ helped me to clarify in my mind what I was actually teaching in each moment with each individual horse instead of reacting to what the horse was doing. It also became clear how the horse was viewing the things I was doing so I could know if I was actually using reinforcement or if the horse was starting to view what I was doing as punishment. There should be freedom to think and choose in R- without fear or intimidation if it's done correctly. Although I strive to use only R+ the last few years after 40 years of using R-, I am not opposed to teaching and in fact I believe it's very important to teach a horse to yield to my feel/touch/suggestion, but without using escalating pressure or causing fear or force. I have come to love teaching my horses to respond to my "feel" on the lead line, reins or my hands on their body by using tactile R+. To be able to know how to stand tied and feel confident about the pressure the halter applies when they move and understand how to respond to it confidently. I think that the misunderstanding about R+ is that horses will not be equipped to live in the real world. But I've found the exact opposite, that as the R+ training continues on, it causes confident and emotionally resilient horses that handle new situations with amazing calmness and trust in people.
I totally understand and appreciate this video, thank you for making it...R+ has totally improved my understanding and use of R-. So many times when people are not aware of what the 4 quadrants of teaching behavior are, they end up using a lot of Positive punishment in their negative reinforcement training without realizing it. Which I think is the real problem with the horse world in general and that causes almost all problems of confusion and fear based behaviors including, aggression. R+ helped me to clarify in my mind what I was actually teaching in each moment with each individual horse instead of reacting to what the horse was doing. It also became clear how the horse was viewing the things I was doing so I could know if I was actually using reinforcement or if the horse was starting to view what I was doing as punishment. There should be freedom to think and choose in R- without fear or intimidation if it's done correctly. Although I strive to use only R+ the last few years after 40 years of using R-, I am not opposed to teaching and in fact I believe it's very important to teach a horse to yield to my feel/touch/suggestion, but without using escalating pressure or causing fear or force. I have come to love teaching my horses to respond to my "feel" on the lead line, reins or my hands on their body by using tactile R+. To be able to know how to stand tied and feel confident about the pressure the halter applies when they move and understand how to respond to it confidently. I think that the misunderstanding about R+ is that horses will not be equipped to live in the real world. But I've found the exact opposite, that as the R+ training continues on, it causes confident and emotionally resilient horses that handle new situations with amazing calmness and trust in people.