08/05/2025
YES 🙌
I don’t think about the 'quadrants' when I train.
I know them. I study them. I teach them. In my pro trainers course, we go deep into theory including the quadrants because it’s important to understand what’s happening under the surface.
But when I’m actually training, I’m not standing there mentally labelling everything as R+ or R- or worrying whether a moment fits neatly into a category. I’m focused on the horse. On clarity, choice, trust. Mainly on being kind and fair.
The quadrants can help us understand behaviour. They can guide our thinking when we’re planning or stuck. But they don’t define training. They certainly don’t define good training.
Science can support theory. But it’s how we train, with feel, timing, and care that really shapes the experience.
I do believe, with a capital B, in teaching every horse guardian how learning works. How consequences function. How we can be kind and how we don't need to train with tools that cause discomfort. Sometimes that begins with meeting the human on their own journey, where they are now. Over time it will become clear to everyone that understands learning theory that we can be kind or not. The choice is then theirs.
