M. McCullough Equine

08/02/2024

Horses deserve bettee

07/21/2024

It's important to listen to the horse

07/13/2024

Sometimes all a girl needs is to be told she's okay and she does, in fact, have express permission to fall right asleep in the arena 😅❤️

07/11/2024

This may not look like a lot to most. But to me it's so much progress for me and Ms Sophie, as individuals and as a team!

This pony has taught me so dang much in the short amount of time I've had her. I really thought I'd be the one with things to show and teach her (which I have, and she's come such a long way). It's amazing what an animal will teach you when you listen.

So grateful for the animals I have and my mentors for teaching me what I know!

Call now to connect with business.

07/07/2024

12/05/2023

There is no research that supports the notion that correctly using food rewards aka positive reinforcement and low stress “soft” training methods makes horses inherently more dangerous.

The research, in fact, supports the opposite.

You want to know who is pushing the notion that horses fed food rewards end up being dangerous, pushy and without boundaries?

The people who are not trained in these methods.

The people who don’t have an understanding of operant conditioning and thereby cannot fathom how you could possibly address unwanted behaviour without physical punishment.

And, so, they create the narrative in their heads that people who opt to use variable reinforcement of other behaviours, counter conditioning and addressing the root causes of stress are simply letting horses walk all over them.

That there are these mythical R+ horses who becoming human flesh eating monsters, to the point where R+ training needs to be labelled as dangerous and unsafe…

But, that’s simply untrue.

The research doesn’t support it.

Ironically, in virtually all species, punishment has the highest risk factors of meeting aggressive, stressed and otherwise dangerous behaviours.

In virtually all species, positive reinforcement shows high success with minimal downfalls, unlike punishment.

Studies on horses show stressed horses are the most dangerous as this is when they engage in flight behaviours that injure humans.

Want to know what stresses horses?

Punishment.

Can you make a horse dangerous and pushy if you use R+ improperly?

Absolutely.

But, that requires improper use.

Positive punishment, even when timed and used “correctly” still sees behavioural fallout and deleterious behaviours because at its core it is a behavioural suppressant.

By all means, don’t use food in training if you don’t want to.

But don’t be so desperate to vilify a method that you write fictional reasons as to why it’s dangerous.

People who are confident in the methods they use shouldn’t feel in such competition with R+ that they need invent false reasons why they and others shouldn’t use it.

Research doesn’t lie, but people who are triggered by it sure do.

Sources:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10888700802100942

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159122001095

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1558787812000950

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168159107002869

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jaba.241

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2019.00350/full

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003347209006034

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-010-0326-9

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/6/3/15

https://beva.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.2042-3292.2011.00296.x

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jeab.653

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S135917890900038X

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1558787808001123

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0891524502883183