15/10/2026
Reinforcement is about strengthening a behaviour, in other words making a behaviour more likely to occur. Reinforcement increases the likelihood of specific responses in learning and training.
Thus, negative reinforcement means something is subtracted to increase the likelihood of a behaviour, however negative reinforcement is not the same as punishment.
In negative reinforcement, a mild pressure or aversive cue is removed as soon as the horse offers the desired response, making that response more likely in future.
For example, a rider might apply light leg pressure while in the saddle, and release it the moment her horse steps forward.
Punishment, by contrast, happens after an unwanted behaviour and is intended to make that behaviour less likely.
It may involve adding something unpleasant, such as the removal of an attractive stimulus to make a response less likely in the future.
For example, walking away when the horse paws in the trailer may encourage the horse to stop pawing because the reward of human company is removed.
Negative reinforcement teaches the horse what to do by releasing pressure at the right moment.
Punishment attempts to stop what the horse should not do by applying a consequence after the behaviour.
Punishment also sometimes occurs when humans assume the horse is displaying ‘naughty’ or ‘disrespectful’ behaviour.
These behaviours are symptoms of the horse’s confusion. Instead of punishing the horse, trainers should look at the underlying reasons for the behaviour (usually mistakes made in the use of negative reinforcement).
