Lindsay Grice's Blog Posts Tagged 'communication' (8)

Equine Behaviour term of the week: Primary and Secondary Reinforcers

Reinforcing a behaviour is something a trainer does to make the response more likely to happen again. When a builder reinforces a bridge or structure, he’s making it stronger. And that’s what I want to do each time gets the right answer.

A primary reinforcer is giving the…

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Added by Lindsay Grice on December 28, 2012 at 7:57am — No Comments

Do Some Horses Learn Quicker Than Others?

Smart. Clever. Dull. Clueless. We all have stories of horses that connect the dots and others that …don’t. So, really, are some horses sharper than others?

As a trainer, I’ll swear to the value of having a well-defined, systematic approach to training. I’ve also learned (sometimes the…

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Added by Lindsay Grice on December 11, 2012 at 7:34am — 4 Comments

Equestrian “luck”

Horse psychology insights: for a winning edge in the show ring and in…

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Added by Lindsay Grice on November 12, 2012 at 9:00pm — No Comments

Blaming My Horse

When I assume my horse “should know better” the truth is at that moment, I’ve really just run out of creativity, patience and my knowledge of equitation science.

Equitation Science is using the system of how horses learn and…

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Added by Lindsay Grice on November 5, 2012 at 9:00am — No Comments

Flight Response

Flight response: A horse’s instinct as a prey animal, to flee from perceived danger.

Dr Andrew Mclean says “A structure deep inside the brain called the amygdala, sorts out stimuli as to whether they are fearful or not. Fearful stimuli receive special recognition by the brain in terms of…

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Added by Lindsay Grice on October 29, 2012 at 8:30am — No Comments

The Rhythm of the Course

The common denominator shared by hunter courses and competitive trail courses is that each have a prescribed distance between obstacles which determines the rhythm in which the course should be ridden.…

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Added by Lindsay Grice on October 23, 2012 at 8:55am — No Comments

Training term of week: Discrimination

Discrimination is the ability to choose or differentiate between things. We make it hard for our horses to discriminate when we’re wishy-washy with our cues.

Dr Camie Heleski, Michigan State University, describes a study that illustrates this point…

In a study by Flannery, ponies…

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Added by Lindsay Grice on August 23, 2012 at 7:44pm — No Comments

How do we know what we know?

In the information age, Q and A columns , blogs, and on -line forums provide an buffet of answers to the questions horse owners have as they try to communicate with their 1000 lb., non-English speaking partners. The process of equine training and management can be puzzling. In in the horse world,…