I want to talk briefly about a technique that I see quite a lot from students and a few other professionals. It’s the use of pressure in a tugging or ‘on/off' fashion.
I believe negative reinforcement principles offer the best pathway for providing clarity to a horse. In my opinion, this makes it at the top of the list of kind and gentle training principles.
Many people use ear bonnets or ear plugs to muffle noise while improving focus and reducing stress in horses that are sensitive to noise. They are very common at horse competitions and a lot of people swear they help the performance of their horses.
It seems to me that, like a horse, a rider is always a work in progress. Neither a horse nor a rider is ever finished learning. If this is true, then maybe there is no such thing as a rider that is not green.
