My Opinion on the Use of Bits

I do not believe in the use of bits on horses. In my opinion, no horse needs a thick bar of metal sitting in their mouth! The bit sits directly on a very sensitive bone in the horses mouth, with a nerve called the trigemenal nerve. Janene Clemence says, on her blog called "To Bit or not to Bit" 
(http://www.naturalhorseworld.com/Downloads/ToBitorNottoBit.pdf), "The Trigemenal Nerve sits directly below the bit. The trigeminal nerve is directly enervated to the brain. Anyone who has had a toothache knows what nerve pain is! Trigemenal Nerve pain (Tic Douloureux) is one of the most severe pains known to mankind. Humans suffering from it begged to be killed as it is so unbearable"
"It is truly only a matter of choosing NOT to cause pain to the horse; bits are not necessary for control whether on the ground, up in the saddle, or when being driven...and a bit is not necessary at the ‘advanced’ level of dressage (or other sports) for ‘micro control’. There are ways to develop the horse correctly bitless for any discipline, and there are people to turn to that can help those who decide that the bit truly does not have a place in the mouth of a horse."

Many people argue that it depends completely on how you use the bit. I, however, could not disagree more. Horses are extremely sensitive animals, and their mouth is the most sensitive part of their bodies. They can feel it when a fly lands on their skin, so how would they not be able to feel metal sitting on the bone of their mouth? If the reins are being used, and the bit is simply placed in the horses mouth, the horse experiences severe pain. 

Arguments such as "my horse needs a bit, he is too strong and he bolts", "horses need bits, otherwise we could get majorly injured", or the common, "my horse likes his bit" are invalid. If one experiences a problem with a horse, it was most likely caused by distrust, fear, pain, or frustration. Horses were not born with bits in their mouthes, thus, they do not need them. 

If the bit is used in a very harsh and cruel way, many injuries can be caused to the horse, such as bleeding of the lungs, tooth loss, ripping of the skin of the mouth, etc. 

So many people are afraid of loss of control. But, it has been proven that a bit offers no more control than a bitless bridle. Someone who is using the bit for control is, in fact, misusing it, for the bit is supposedly made for a "communication tool". If this is the case, why couldn't we communicate just as effectively without the bit? Horses communicate through body language and energy, not by yanking on each others mouthes! Many people also do not realize or accept that control is an illusion, and we will never be able to find a way to force the horses understanding, love, or willingness. 

I hope you have enjoyed reading!

Trick Training

On todays post, I will be explaining what trick training is and why people use it with horses. I will also show a few different tricks to cue your special equine friend on.

Trick training is when a horse (or animal) is taught to do a certain move on a cue. For example, you can cue behaviors such as: smile, paw, lay down, nod, pick up an object, and many more. This type of training, however, has nothing to do with Liberty Horsemanship. To trick train, you do not have to be at liberty, and to be at liberty, you do not have to trick train. For many, it is just another fun thing/way of bonding. It is also used as an aid for other types of training such as dressage or western riding. Many people do shows with horses in which they perform lots of unique movements. It is almost always used with positive reinforcement. Check out a few of these websites for more information:

http://www.trickhorse.com/training_n.htm http://www.trainyourtrickhorse.com

http://www.ivyshorses.com/trick-training.htm 

Tricks to cue for horses:

Paw/Jambette:

Side pass (cross-stepping) :

Smile:

Kisses:

Bow:

Lay down:

I hope you've enjoyed learning about trick training!

Credits:

Bow photo - My friend Jade Mckinven: @h0rsel0verr on Instagram, & YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC01ybfHSJvTX7hzcOfVZMYA?app=desktop

Side pass photo: http://www.carolynresnickblog.com/what-is-the-point-of-liberty/

Lay down photo: http://www.carolynresnickblog.com/have-i-got-a-new-horse-and-human-sighting-for-you-and-lesson-in-how-to-begin-the-lie-down-at-liberty/

Friendship Vs. Dominance

Many people in the horse world believe that horses are not our friends - but rather a possession for us to hop on to whenever we please, one who must obey every command in no more than a heartbeat. They believe that the only way to work with horses is to break their spirits, and make them 'get used' to every challenge that appears in their path. They don't have a choice in whether they want to accept the challenge, they are just forced into it instead. This, in my opinion, is exactly where these people go wrong.

These gracious beings are so much more than push button toys who are completely submissive to those that are 'above' them. It has been proven with so many people that when we are friends to  horses instead of using dominance, they experience incredible and magical results. 

I do not believe in dominance for a few big reasons. One reason is that horses are dominant about very few things - food, water, and shelter. These are the only times in which the pecking order is shown. As humans, we do not eat horse food, drink their water, or stand in shelters from the rain. So why do we show dominance toward them if we have no place to do so?

A horse named Bucky pinning his ears, about to run at the two horses so they will move away from his food.

Lilo pinning his ears to get another horse to move out of his way.

The alpha horse is usually always off by himself, away from the herd, because the other horses do not want to be around him. I would not want to be the one that no one wants to be around! Being bossy to the horse and pushing him around does not solve problems - in many cases it makes the issue even worse. By being dominant, the horse may 'respect' you, but they will not trust you in the magical ways that they do with friendship. 

By using friendship, you and the horse will have a beautiful relationship based off of love and trust. I believe that the only way to experience something so magical is to treat the horse as nothing less than a treasured friend. 

For more information, here are a few websites:
http://goodhorsemanship.ca/the-dominant-horse/
http://www.training-horses-naturally.com/horse-behavior.html

Photo Credits: Me :)

Positive Reinforcement

Positive reinforcement is a very effective way of training horses, or any animal, really! It has been scientifically proven that positive reinforcement is a more humane way of training animals and has much better results in comparison to pressure and release and punishment. 

A highly preferred method of positive reinforcement is clicker training. Clicker training is a way of rewarding behavior by showing the horse, or animal, exactly when they did something right. It is a much more accurate way of positively reinforcing the horse as opposed to just handing them a treat. It is more accurate because the click noise of the clicker marks the correct behavior right after it was shown. Clicker training was created by B.F Skinner, and the name was created by Karen Pryor. 

It is used with animals such as dolphins, dogs, leopards, wolves, giraffes, rhinos, and is now very popular with horses. This training method makes "aggressive" animals act in loving and kind ways toward humans, and scientists have proven that it is a much more effective way of training. It is slowly changing the way that we work with horses. Instead of sticking to the traditional methods, many people are transferring to clicker training because of the profound results that we have experienced.

I use clicker training with horses because it increases confidence, helps solve behavioral problems, keeps them engaged and willing to participate, and makes everything more fun.

These are box clickers. The box clicker's sound is extremely loud. 

There are many other types of clickers as well.

Using clicker training makes everything more fun for the horse because of the rewards. It makes the horse want to participate in activities instead of being forced to.

This is an example of a horse that is engaged and willing to participate. As you can see, the horse is very excited to follow the woman over the jump because he/she is being positively reinforced.

Clicker training also helps build a horses confidence. When I first got Lilo, he had very low confidence and he was completely broken (mentally). He would never touch an object or have fun because he was afraid that he would get reprimanded for it. But ever since we've began using clicker training, his confidence level went through the roof!

This is Lilo now. He has the confidence to play and have fun with objects, run and buck when he is excited, and to express his feelings all of the time.

The amazing thing about clicker training is that you can teach anything that you want to the horse! It makes the process of training go much smoother than using negative reinforcement because of the horses  willingness to complete the tasks. Negative reinforcement is never used. Instead of punishing the horse for actions that you do not want, you reward what you do want and ignore unwanted behavior. This makes the horse feel more comfortable, and it increases trust.

Clicker training helps solve behavioral problems by showing the horse what you want them to do instead of what you don't want. It is a way of shaping behavior. People now use clicker training for disciplines such as dressage, jumping, western riding, as well as many other fun things like trick training and groundwork. 

I believe that this huge change should be made with all animals that we work with. Positive reinforcement is such a powerful and amazing method of training, and it definitely beats negative reinforcement! Horses are loving and willing, but so many humans treat them with such disrespect and pain. The reason why these animals get labeled as dangerous and aggressive when working with them is because they are simply trying to defend themselves from the pain that they endure. Clicker training makes them want to do things that we ask, and the "danger" of the horses disappears, because they no longer feel the need for defense. I believe that this training method will soon have an incredibly huge impact in all of animal training. 

Sites: http://www.theclickercenter.com/index.html

http://www.clickertraining.com/all-animals

http://www.useyourclicker.com/clicker-training.html