Positive Reinforcement Training | Its All About The Patience
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- čas přidán 8. 04. 2023
- I have teamed up this week with @BLHorsemanship1 to learn all about positive reinforcement and how to can help a horse like Blondie to be heard and rewarded within training but in a clear and methodical way.
I hope you find this as interesting as I did to film it.
Miri x - Krátké a kreslené filmy
Some things to mention about starting with positive reinforcement that weren’t discussed with Miri already doing bits with Blondie. It’s advised to start with protected contact (over a fence, over a stable door etc) and conditioning the bridge or the click so the horse can make the association. Using a low value reward but a high rate of reinforcement to encourage the small steps in the right direction. I always advise to teach a neutral position or “head away” with the use of a bumbag or a pouch to prevent mugging. Chewing sends signals to the brain so it’s important to allow the horse time to chew before asking the question again. Horses should always be feed before training so they aren’t hungry or over excited. Thank you to Miri and Blondie for having me❤
Is there any websites that speak about positive association? I'd love to learn x
So nicely expressed. I agree, Blondie should not be allowed to "sniff" the treat pouch, and also to have to 'look away' when feeding any treat. Poor thing, she's so traumatized but given her size & behaviors.... not a good combo for our dear Meri!
@@mdee860 Miri is learning just give her a chance bless her 😂
@@CourtneyBlythe - I know & I adore her for that! I think she's a wonderful human! ♥️🐴♥️
@@CourtneyBlythe There is, a Dutch Grand Prix amazone, Jolanda Adelaar, is teacher at the Tinley Academy, and she also trains her own horses like that. She is on CZcams ( translation captioned) and socials. :)
"Easy" animals (horses, dogs, etc.) don't teach you nearly as much as the "harder" ones do! Good on you for expanding your education and finding a way of training that works for Blondie. Shelby Dennis on CZcams also does positive reinforcement like this and does it ridden as well, in case you were looking for another person for guidance! 😊
I like the idea of calling it subtraction, I think that's a better way to say it rather than negative
Thank you for sharing as always Miri 😊
I come from a background of dog training complex behaviours with operant conditioning (this type of positive reinforcement), and I had a few observations.
- Timing is incredibly important. It will make or break how good you are as a trainer. Your 'good' bridge, or marker, needs to be used as SOON as possible when she does whatever you want. The bridge marks what you want, so the better you can be with your timing, the... well, better lol. The top trainers work with chickens to get their timing super fast. If you're off with your timing you can end up reinforcing things you really don't want.
- When getting a great result on a new behaviour, a jackpot treat can be given (medium value, either multiple low value or something a bit tastier than normal low value) as a strong reinforcer. Then take a little break or do a different behaviour and come back to it.
- You can give treats without a bridge as part of classical conditioning. This is easy to use because you don't need that split second timing. For instance if you have a horse that is difficult to lead but relaxed for a little while, a treat can reinforce their whole mood. Or reinforcing relaxed behaviour in a stable, or before loading etc. You're not catching a specific action, moreso the feeling and actions in a whole a moment.
- When starting any animal with operant conditioning, spend some significant time getting them used to your reinforcer/bridge/marker. Just say 'good!' give treat, and repeat many times. If your horse is looking for the treat when you say good, or click, then you're ready to train. Try to always use the same exact sound, which is why people like clickers. They are better for timing too, but have obvious problems with horses. You can get a variety of different clickers with softer or harsher sounds. If using a word, use one you're less likely to use in everyday conversation around your horse. The same goes for any cues you attach to tricks/actions you train.
- If your horse is too excited about the food, try a more boring food! You should use the most low sugar/high fibre boring stuff your horse will tolerate but will still be quite happy to work for.
I could go on all day. I love that you're getting into this and it has massive potential to improve Blondie's life. Really looking forward to seeing updates on this!
Brilliant Miri, thanks for sharing and to BLHorsemanship1 for sharing her knowledge. For those interested, Dr Gemma Pearson has also shared a lot on the topic on H&H Podcasts which are free to access and a couple of CZcams videos which others might find useful.
Hayley is an incredible horsewoman, I'm so proud of her and her achievements. She always thinks of how the horse feels, no matter what. We should all aim to be like her 💕
Love that you are giving positive reinforcement training a go with Blondie! I’ve been learning about this type of training for several months now and have seen some nice improvements in my horses. Even just teaching them the stand facing forward behavior or head down has helped in so many situations. Since I’ve reinforced those behaviors so much, they have become a familiar and nice behavior to have them come back to when they are anxious. In terms of pressure cues like with riding, I’ve found that if you teach the behavior with a non pressure cue (body language, voice, luring, etc.) you can then start to incorporate the pressure as the cue. With this way, the pressure is not something that is pushing or forcing them to do the behavior, it is simply a cue that doesn’t get louder if they don’t do the desired behavior. The horse then has a positive association with the pressure cue. I’m definitely no expert and am learning more about this way of training everyday. Shelby Dennis has some great videos on positive reinforcement training as well.
positive reinforcement is the best!! 🥰🐴
I am very excited to see the combination of self relaxation and R+ you can work with for Blondie. Its so rare to see someone branch out to try a combination of training methods and admit that not every method works best for every horse. Blondie is lucky to have you.
Thankyou for showing this. I have a mare that I knew had problems with saddling. I had to introduce the muzzle to saddle her using positive reinforcement. But she literally would savage if she saw a saddle on a fence. I am now able to get her to smell her saddle cloth and put it on her back without the muzzle some days which is a huge step. ( I know people will say that a muzzle isn’t the way to go but she has scared a few people with her mouth but I am working on that).I love watching your journey with Blondie. Thankyou for allowing us to experience this with you.
what i do with asking them to move in the saddle is teach them voice cues on the ground, then introduce it in the saddle, then have body/leg aids blend out the R+.
Congratulations!! It must be so satisfying for her to enjoy being touched after her tribulations with PSSM.
Tip for improving your timing : Hide something in a room, take a second person and guide her with your Click to find it.
This way you have to Click every move of the helper in the right direction...Because this is what a marker does- catch the exact moment of the wanted behaviour.( Otherwhise you might end up reinforcing unwanted things.)
This was very helpful to me.
For advanced "Clicker Trainers" think of a body position for your helper and click them towards it. Fun to do and eye opening for correct timing.
I would also advise you, to choose a different marker( Brontes Blog called it a bridge) other than "good", as it is a word we use so often.
In the beginning every marker equals a treat.
The teaching of "food politeness" would also be my first step.
I hope you can make some sense of my comment as English isn`t my first language.
I hope you will come to love R+ training☺
I had such a wonderful day and it was really awesome to watch Hayley teach you and Blondie. I learned so much! She's doing great under your care Miri x
Miriam your so in touch, Kind!!! The list goes on with your knowledge, Seriously any horse/pony in your hands is properly safe and treated how they should be xx
My OTTB exhibits a lot of these behaviors especially the agitated tail flicking. Thank you for giving me some more tools to use when she's in this frame of mind!
Thanks for sharing this journey. I know it’s not easy sharing content like this however it so valuable and can definitely help others who experience similar behaviour in their horse. Blondies so lucky to have you
Thanks for sharing! I did this with my then 4 year old teaching him to pick up his feet. I still do it to this day - probably my should start to wean that away, but we both enjoy that “cluck” and reward. 😊
I used "X" for my bridge. It's easy quick hands free to use and a unique sound horses are unlikely to randomly encounter. It worked exceptionally well with my mule and her Arabian dam.
Another super rich session👌🏼Love what you do and utilising everyone’s experience like Schiller is exactly what I do too 💞 retired my ex ottb after he kept saying no to his tack I just knew it was time. Nothing extreme happened but I listened before he had to tell me No!!
Always interesting to watch your work.
😊
Hi Meri!!! Love that you're so eager to think "outside of the box" for Blondie's traumas. Have you tried "Lick It" horse treat? I think that would help Blondie stand still for her XRays & for the Farrier! Also, have you watched any of Warwick Schiller's 'Attuned Horsemanship' on CZcams? About 8 (+/-) years ago, he underwent an amazing epiphany & changed from being a former Australian 'Cowboy Type' Trainer - to a highly evolved Horse Centric approach. He has interesting Podcast guests, & is intensely reading/studying/sharing both Human Psychology - as well as Equine. Really good stuff & I think you (& Blondie) would glean a lot of gems💎 from his site. PS: I also watch (CZcams) some of 'Steve Young Horsemanship' (from the UK!) as well. That's where I learned about the 'Lick It' treat 😊 Hope that helps, poor Blondie is one of the most reactive/C-PTSD horses I've watched. My own beloved horse (Mikey) was an Off Track Thoroughbred (OTTB) who came to me with major issues- but we got through sooo many. ♥️❤️🩹♥️ I think you learn the most from difficult behavior horses. I'm rooting for you & Blondie.
Really enjoyed this, I am curious to see how the positive reinforcement marrys with the TRT. Would you mind if I popped you a private message with a question??
Please do x
Have you ever used CBD oil with Blondie? Also does she get regular physio--chiropractic treatment & massage? Has she ever had acupuncture or laser treatments? I can only imagine that if she is in pain it would certainly be a distraction from whatever you want her to learn. Also what, if any, herbs have you used in treating her? Amino acids?
I get the positive reinforcement, and it definitely has a place, but worried about the continuous feeding of treats. Any thoughts on it?
It wouldn’t be continuous feeding as sessions should be short, the rate of reinforcement would then be lowered with more experience plus rewards should be low value so something like hay pellets/cobs or fibre nuggets :)
How could you incorporate positive reinforcement with lunging?
for my mare, i started with baby steps, like so small it seemed like it would take forever. i had to first teach walking without me next to her, where i gradually increased distance and then marked & treated. then, worked on our “send-off” in each direction and gradually added strides. once she got pretty consistent with that, we just kept adding steps and skills. if she got too worked up, then taking a break/ending or doing something that she was confident with worked well! if you & your horse are familiar with target training and reverse round pens (this is deep into R+ territory lol) then practicing with that is super helpful too!
By using a target stick and or a reverse round pen. It would be broken down into smaller steps first :)
🫶💖👏☀️