On Mon, Mar 24, 2008 at 04:26:54AM -0800, Nancy Sturm wrote: > >> Would it be OK to be consistently inconsistent? > > I had a trainer friend in the old days who used the consistantly > inconsistant method because she said when they went to shows, she couldn't > guarantee consistancy and they did better when they got used to it. She > trained the national champion Appaollsa trail horse, so her method seemed > not to ruin her horse.
this is also the reward schedule that works best on rats; it's a standby of undergraduate psychology labs :) > I use the complete other method, assuming that all horses are autistic and > need structure and routine in their lives. I feed by the clock. It makes > life easier in some ways because they become so habituated to the schedule > that they never have to be caught. They're waiting at the gait at exactly > 4:00. this is probably beter for their digestion, though i am not sure it is better for their minds -- horses didn't evolve being fed by-the-clock. we feed free-choice hay (stjarni doesn't get grain to speak of at all), and stjarni comes to see me 90% of the time i appear rather than having to be caught. (he won't get up from a nap in the sun, but will allow me to go to him and lie down alongside :) --vicka
