In the past, I've emailed a lot ofinfo where I describe key principles in horse training.

One I like to harp on is the prin-ciple of "kindness."

Instinctively, most understand thekindness thing. After all, why be cruel toyour horse.

Even though that's a given, that'snot the principle reason I preach about beingkind to your horse.

When I say "treat your horse withkindness" the importance in training is this:

When a horse does as you ask, he should be rewarded with kindness such as acarress on the point of shoulder or forehead.

The thing a lot of people don't getis kindness with punishment. (When I say punish-ment, I don't mean whipping or hitting a horse. Punishment "ONLY" refers to negative reinforce-ment which can be as light as an abrasive toneof voice.)

When a horse needs corrected throughnegative reinforcement then it's my practiceto almost immediately follow up with kindnesssuch as caressing.

The reason is to keep a horse's con-fidence up and principally to reinforce you'restill his buddy...even though he did somethingwrong.

Here's a good story that'll reinforcemy point.

About 9 years ago, I moved into anotherhouse. My son and I went to get it ready for the move in. At the time, he was around 3 yearsold.

While I was cleaning parts of the househe was running about.

We were just about ready to leave whenI noticed the carpet didn't look right in mybedroom.

I checked it out and found paint hadbeen spilled on it. It was wet and fresh.

Upset, I called him in the bedroom andangrily asked, "DID YOU DO THAT?!!!"

After hearing my tone, he knew he wasin trouble. He was nervous. (Hmmm, just likea horse)

Then I said, "I'M MAD AT YOU FOR DOINGTHAT!!"

Within seconds he started crying. Itbroke my heart that I had broke his.

Immediately and with extrememe compassionand heartfelt words I said, "I'm not mad atyou anymore."

The crying ceased in a few seconds exceptfor the occassional gasps of air he needed to settle himself.

The lesson was, he needed to know hemade a mistake but more importantly he neededto know I still loved and approved of him. HadI not countered the negative reinforcement, Ithink it would've been injurious down the road.

And that's how I see it with horses. Youshould make sure they're loved and approved of evenif they "spilled the paint." For if they continueto feel a little afraid and uneasiness, it'llbe harder to train 'em.

But one has to be careful in timing thekindness because you could reinforce the wrongbehavior.

For instance, if you go to catch yourhorse and he runs from you but finally lets youcatch him...and then when you catch him, pet him,then say "Good boy" you teach him to run from you.

Why? Because he learns he'll get petted and told he's a good boy "after" he runsfrom you and later gets caught.

Paul Esh, a featured trainer from http://www.SuperStarsOfHorseTraining.com, tellson his video why this is so important.

It's amazing what you can learn from differenthorse trainers because each has there unique things theydo.

That's why SuperStars of Horse Training exists.You learn from the best of the best of horse trainers.What they do with horses you can too after see what they show you.

To learn more go to:http://www.SuperStarsOfHorseTraining.com

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