8 ways to motivate horses

Motivation is an important but sometimes forgotten part of horse training. Being mindful about what training method you use, and how it motivates your horse, makes a huge difference in the training progress and your relationship with your horse.

“There are many ways to motivate horses. I am not to say that one motivator is better than another. My point with this summary of methods is that we, as horse trainers, have many options when it comes to motivating our equine partners. Mix and match, use whatever is appropriate, and if your horse has done really well, give a big reward."

1. Negative Reinforcement

The most commonly used training method is to use pressure to get a horse to do something, and then take the pressure away when the horse does it. This is how horses respond to the lead rope and the riders aids, like leg aid and rein aid. Horses always seek towards the least amount of pressure, and have a good memory of what makes the pressure go away. But it`s very important to release in the right moment.

Horses learn from the release not the pressure itself.

Negative reinforcement is sometimes confused with punishment. Punishment is when you punish a horse for doing wrong, or when pressure becomes so load it`s prevised as punishment. It`s also important to keep in mind that when pressure becomes constant nagging, horses will ignore it.

A great way to avoid these complications is to operate through feel, which simply told is signalling by taking the slack out and by using body language, not by applying pressure.

2. Approach and Retreat

Horses are less afraid of objects retreating from them than objects that are approaching them. They are also less afraid of things they initiate to touch themselves, than things that are forced upon them. They also like to chase stuff.

When desensitizing horses to, for instance, plastic bags, approach and retreat can be used to reward and motivate the horse to be brave. By removing the plastic bag when the horse is calm, the horse is rewarded and motivated to stay calm, because being calm makes the plastic go away. Approach and retreat motivates horses to be brave and makes them feel like they are in control, as opposed to flooding where the horse has no choice but to accept the circumstances.

3. Positive Reinforcement

To ignore unwanted behavior and reward wanted behavior when training a horse is called positive reinforcement. When the horse does something you think is good, it is rewarded with a positive stimulus such as a treat. Positive reinforcement is effective when teaching new things and can be highly motivating for the horse. It also inspires horses to be creative and try different behaviors to receive the reward.

When using treats, most horses will figure out where the treats come from and try to grab them by nibbling or biting, simply ignore it and make sure you do not reward this behavior. Also, make sure that your horse is not pushy or anxious when receiving treats or other rewards. When practicing positive reinforcement, you get what you reward and we can just as easily teach horses to be anxious and aggressive as to be brave, willing, and polite.

4. Counter Conditioning

You can also use rewards (positive reinforcement) or release (negative reinforcement) to motivate a horse to be less afraid of something, it may or may not have bad memories of. This is done to swap bad associations with good ones. Counter conditioning can be very useful when training horses that have had trauma of some kind, horses that are reluctant to approach scary objects or shut down.

5. Time and Play

Most riders have experienced a horse that stops eating when left alone in the stable, or seen horses being so caught up in play that food is of less importance. This is because horses value being in a herd, more than they value food. Horses are highly social animals. Spending time with your horse just hanging out or to play with your horse strengthens your friendship and is very motivating for them. If you give your time and your unconditional presence, horses will give the same in return.

6. Variation

Varying the training by putting up obstacles, playing music or doing unusual tasks like herding, racing other horses, ponying and trail riding builds physical as well as mental strength and motivates horses to associate work with fun.

7. Choices

By making your idea your horse`s idea through choices you probably don`t have to motivate your horse ever again, because what horses do from own choice is different than stuff they do because they have to are are rewarded/paid to do it.

Choices allows horses to say no in a way that turns it into a yes. And it`s in many ways the exact opposite of pressuring horses to do something.

Put simply: The horse chooses where to go and you choose what to do when you get there.

If you horses is reluctant to go into the corner, dismount and praise your horse when the horse goes into the corner from self.

If your horse is attracted by the gate, do your training by the gate.

This will change the horses perception of situations and places by changing their idea and their association with it.

By giving choices we don`t have to win battles with the horse as we can let the wrong thing unfold and simply reward or release on the right thing.

What horses learn from own experience and choice is more profound than when they are told what to do and what not to do, it makes liberty easy without needing to train lots of obedience or rely on treats. Having a choice makes horses motivated and confident in a lasting way and what I do to stay safe and have fun when retraining horses others have given up on.

8. Stop when the Going Gets Good

Fairly obvious, but if you train or ride for so long that your horse experiences exhaustion or pain, he or she will not be motivated for the next session. Also make sure that the equipment is fitting and that your horse is not experiencing any discomfort due to lameness, sharp teeth, unbalanced hooves etc. and that keeping a balanced and good mood when around horses is crucial for their wellbeing.

A good rule of thumbs is to always end a session when the going gets good. We have all been there, thinking just one more lap of this fabulous canter and we call it a day. Next thing you know the fabulous canter is gone, and you end up trying to squeeze a few canter strides out of a not- so- motivated horse. If your horse does something really well, jump off and take a break. Untighten the girth, hang out and be pleased with yourself for keeping your horse motivated. You have just given a big reward and increased the probability of more of the good stuff to come, even if the session in our time line isn`t finished.

Thank you so much for reading! If you want to get started with your horse check out the free training at the bottom of the page 👇