Sometimes force is used as a method of making horses behave in a certain way, but for results to be sustainable in time, it is much more effective to use other training techniques.
People involved in training horses have a great responsibility for the future of a horse; The lessons they learn in the first months and years of their life form the basis for how they deal with new or challenging situations throughout life. In today’s post we are going to tell you about one of the many ways the horse learns, this one is quite particular.
Many times you realized that something you could not understand or process one day, you did it the next day. Horses act the same, they learn at night. They record all the teaching and process it while they sleep. In training sessions, the trainer may notice that the horse responds better to what was taught the next day. It is proven that the horses process the information at night and the next day they tend to show greater ease with respect to what they have learned. This type of learning is called “latent learning” and it is the capacity of memory to store an experience unconsciously, without having an immediate need to do so. Horses perform this process while they sleep. For this reason, you should not be frustrated if the horse does not fully understand what you want. On the contrary, you must remember this incredible skill and try to create a good work environment so that the horse can relax and give itself that latent learning. Allowing them time to think about a situation will help them learn faster.
Successful horse education and training require a great deal of knowledge about how horses behave in a natural environment and how a horse can learn to modify its behavior in response to its environment. For this reason, understanding this new concept is key to seeing the good results in this beautiful animal which has many peculiarities that make it unique.
