Horse Training Methods to Avoid

There is no perfect training method for working with horses. Every horse is different, and you have to be flexible to accommodate your horse’s needs. That said, some methods and trends can be dangerous when utilized incorrectly. These are just my opinions, and this article is designed to be a conversation starter more than anything. Some methods have good aspects and bad aspects. Discerning the good from the bad is part of maturing and growing as an equestrian, and the most important thing is finding what works for your horse.

Flooding: Overwhelming the Horse’s Instincts

The first training method I want to address is called flooding. Flooding is when you overwhelm the horse’s prey instinct and trigger a fear response. In simpler terms, it’s throwing your horse into the fire—kind of like a parent teaching a child to swim by just throwing them into the deep end. The idea behind flooding is that the easiest way to learn something is to just get it over with.

When saddling a horse for the first time, flooding may look like throwing the saddle on the back, tightening the girth up all the way, and then just letting the horse buck it out. While the theory is that by just getting something over with you’ll accomplish your goal faster, the truth is that the horse hasn’t learned anything beneficial from the experience. If anything, it learned that when you put the saddle on its back and tighten the girth, it should buck.

I took this approach with my horse Tucker when I started him under saddle about eight years ago. He’s a sensitive horse, and after the first time of putting the saddle on his back, the next time I approached him with it, he was scared. Ever since then, he has always been more hesitant about new things being put on him or brought around him. Flooding seems to do more harm than good; the fastest way isn’t always the best way.

Unavoidable Uncomfortable Moments

While I don’t agree with flooding, I believe your horse is, at some point or another, going to experience uncomfortable moments. That’s just part of learning and developing. When I was in school, learning geometry made me uncomfortable; it was much harder than I was used to. But as I learned the process, it became much easier. You can prepare your horse and take the time to help them feel more secure and curious, but there is going to come a point where they will have to encounter something new that they’re not used to. So, while flooding is wrong, there are moments where encountering your horse’s instincts will be inevitable.

Letting the Horse Say No

The next training method I would never use is letting my horse say no. The horse may say no by walking away from the handler or avoiding an obstacle. This is a recent trend in horse training and centers around letting the horse decide what they want to do. This may be an extreme view of the method, but it’s the only explanation I’ve really heard of.

In my mind, allowing your horse to say no defeats the purpose of horse training. When it comes to training and learning in particular, saying no will stunt growth. Let’s go back to the saddle training example: if my horse says no every time I go to put the saddle on it, and I respect that wish, the horse will never get saddle-broken.

Understanding the Horse’s Discomfort

All that said, there is an aspect of this that I understand. If your horse is saying no—they don’t want to do something or they aren’t comfortable with something—we have to ask ourselves why. Why don’t they feel comfortable with this? Could I do something that would make them want to say yes? I don’t think we should ignore the principle of making training as fun and enjoyable for our horses as possible.

Using Excessive Equipment

The next training method I disagree with is any method that requires the use of excessive equipment such as harsh bits, spurs, big licks, or even martingales. It can also look like tying any part of your horse to itself—like tying its head up, tying it down, or even tying it sideways. If you require excessive equipment to get your horse to do something, then you’re doing it wrong, and there’s a probable chance that there’s a gap in their training.

Sonora Carver taught her horse to dive into water from a 40-foot tower—the horse was jumping off a tower! With the right methods, you can train a horse to do anything, including riding around without a bit or spurs.

The Subtraction Theory

This is a concept called the Subtraction Theory. The Subtraction Theory states that to solve a problem, you must take something away. This is counter to our current culture, which believes that to solve a problem, you must invest in more—like more money, ideas, resources, or people. But I believe that horses work best with the Subtraction Theory. It requires equestrians to fill all the gaps of misunderstanding or anxiety their horses may have and go back to the basics.

The Importance of Negative Reinforcement

My next point is probably the most controversial, but I believe all horses should be taught to understand negative reinforcement. There’s a current culture in the horse world where they completely shun the idea of negative reinforcement.

What Is Negative Reinforcement?

For those who don’t know, negative reinforcement involves the removal of an unpleasant stimulus to increase the likelihood of a desired behavior. In horse training, negative reinforcement is usually done through pressure and release. The unpleasant stimulus would be pressure—like pulling back on the reins or squeezing with your legs. Once the horse responds correctly, you release the pressure. This method encourages the horse to repeat the behavior to avoid the pressure.

Positive Reinforcement vs. Negative Reinforcement

The opposite of negative reinforcement is positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement involves adding a pleasant stimulus—like a treat or a scratch—to increase the likelihood of a desired behavior. A method of positive reinforcement is clicker training. Positive reinforcement has proven to be very effective for horse training, especially with horses that have experienced traumatic situations or have a very strong flight response. It helps the horse desire to work rather than just making them work.

Why Negative Reinforcement Is Important

But that said, I still believe every horse should have negative reinforcement training for a few reasons:

1. Safety: As prey animals, a horse naturally wants to fight any pressure that tries to contain it. With pressure and release, you teach your horse to think about and respond to the pressure rather than just react. If a horse doesn’t know how to respond to pressure, it could be tied up or get its leg stuck or its head caught. Its flight response would immediately kick in, and the horse would start struggling to get free.
2. Universal Training Method: Pressure and release could be considered the universal training method for horses. If, for whatever reason, your horse has to be handled by someone else, it’s best that they have the understanding of negative reinforcement, as most people will use that method when working with horses.

Learning from Experience

As with anything, learning is a process, and I’ve learned that a training method was bad by using it myself. We’re all human, and we all make mistakes. So if you’ve used these methods, no condemnation. This article is just to help pinpoint some things that we can do to help better ourselves as equestrians. As long as you’re working towards what’s best for your horse, it should be easier for you to decide what methods you want to use.

If you want to learn more about the training methods I’ve seen be highly effective for my horses, you can check out my online horse training courses on my website here.

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