Finding The Balance Between The Carrot & The Stick

      We’ve all seen the movies, where the girl or guy feeds the wild, seemingly untrainable horse an apple and he becomes calm and docile. They then proceed to ride bareback into the sunset.

           On the other end, we’ve all seen the scene in The Horse Whisperer where Robert Redford ties the horse’s leg up and whips him forcing him down on the ground. When the horse gets back on his feet, he is then ridable and calm. Seems like fantasy lands, but it isn’t for some people.

            There seem to be two very large extremes in horse training. I like to call them ‘The Carrot vs The Stick’. On one extreme we have ‘The Carrot’ type trainers. These people do not use bits, spurs, whips, crops, or sticks. They do not use any training methods or gadgets that cause pain to the horse or force the horse in any way. Sounds good at the start, but these people also do not believe in using ropes, saddles, or anything that they think forces the horse to do something. They only use clickers, target training, and treats. They believe the horse’s involvement needs to be completely voluntary.

            This very ‘crunchy’ mindset is not applicable with horse training. Many of the trainers who much prefer 'The Carrot' to 'The Stick’ will say this is their stance, but they still enjoy riding their horses. If it is deemed unethical to ask the horse to do anything he might not decide to do by himself, it becomes a slippery slope that leads to everything the human does with the horse is unethical. Everything can then be questioned. Isn’t it then unethical to ride the horse? Work with the horse? Keep the horse in fences? After all, I’m sure the horse didn’t agree to being kept in a fenced pasture owned by a human. 

 

      This training environment sets up horses to fail because it lacks structure. The horse cannot feel safe and depend on the human as a partner if the human doesn’t act like a leader. Some horses, especially stallions, can become very aggressive and irritated by the clicker/carrot method.

             

        On the other end of the two extremes, we have 'The Stick' type trainers. The macho western riders muscling their way through domination training. And the neurotic english riders determined to impress a judge by how well they have forced their horses into painful frames. The western rider’s mind set is, “If it’s been done this way for decades, it must be the right way." The neurotic english rider’s mind set is, “If it’s expensive it must be better.” 

 

      These horse riders are born from pressure. Pressure from friends and family that own, train, and/or ride horses. And pressure from other trainers on television, expos, and seminars. All these people pressure these individuals to work with horses in these ways to achieve things such as popularity, awards, and recognition. 

 

      This training environment sets up horses to fail because the bully tactics only work on horses who give in to the pain and domination. The horses who do not give in end up being labeled crazy or untrainable. These horses obviously develop trust issues with humans that run so deep, some are forever branded with fear and anger.

            So between these two extremes, where is the happy medium? The most effective way to train horses is through a calm but structured setting. You don’t need to listen to every showman marketing their latest gadget, you don’t need to feed a whole bag of treats to your horse to get him to like you, and you don’t need to bully him and cause him pain to get him to respect you. Give your horse the structure and safety of a leader, the joy and happiness of a friend, and the comfort of knowing that you won’t cause him any pain.