To Punish or Not to Punish ...

That is the question. When a horse reaches out to nip you, do you reach for the nearest object to wail on the horse? When a horse refuses a jump, do you use the crop to punish him so next time he'll think twice about refusing? When a horse barges through you on the lead line, do you yank on the lead to make sure he knows just who is the boss? These are negative punishments. Do they work? Well, judging from the amount of riders I've seen who are constantly carrying a crop, or fighting with their horses, I'd have to say, no. Negative punishment does not work. I've seen far too many "blow ups" with horses to think otherwise.

Think a minute ... if your dog gets loose from its run and takes off, what do you do when he comes back? Yell and tell him what a bad dog he was for running away? Or do you call and reward him for listening to you and returning home? To me, yelling and screaming at the dog and maybe "spanking" him will just set his mind to thinking that every time he comes home, he's going to get in trouble. Now if I were that dog, I'd think twice about coming home! If I were a horse that constantly gets wacked with a crop every time I face a fence to jump, I'd quit going up to that jump at all! I'd start running in the opposite direction. Particularly since I would be wired to run when I get scared. That is the horse's base behavioral foundation ... to run when scared. If running is not an option, then back hooves targeted towards whatever is causing the fright will do just as nicely. A horse is designed to be this way and thousands and thousands of years in existence has not changed this behavioral base in the Equine family. Doesn't it make more sense to reward a good behavior instead of punishing a negative behavior? Reward the animal for its good behavior in order to establish a positive behavioral pattern?

Rewards set up good feelings ... motivations to repeat the behavior that brought on the reward to begin with. Punishment deters the negative behavior but also plants seeds of resistance. It is those seeds of resistances that one day, after months or years of growing, will someday blossom into a full fledged "Ive had enough!" mindset. On the other hand, I've yet to experience, in almost 50 years, of an animal or human who won't continue to try to receive positive rewards.

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