Since I have nothing better to do today (because I'm sick and stuck inside, sigh!), I shall try to explain my reasoning here.
The reasons behind both bitlessness and clicker training are similar, at least for me. It's all about being humane. I'm a bleeding heart, and I love animals almost to the point of silliness. Really. I've loved them all my life. I'm a really compassionate person by nature, and I'm always very aware as to how my animals are feeling. They can't talk and it's not like they can sue people who mistreat them, and a lot of times they don't even understand why they're being punished or what they did wrong. They don't think like us, and people don't understand that. Having said that, I absolutely believe that they have feelings, of course. But they don't have the same kind of reasoning we do, and we can't really explain it to them, now can we?
Clicker training, for me, is a way to talk to my animals. Now, with my kitty, it's not so important. She knows what I want from her, because it's very simple. She's small and snuggly and very un-menacing, and she has very few rules in my house.
1. Don't jump on my dresser or my coffee table.
2. Don't knock over breakable things.
3. Be sweet and cute.
Examples of rule #3 being followed. Isn't she adoooorable!?
Her life is pretty simple, so communicating with her is easy. She knows when I approve, and when I don't, and the difference is clear and she understands her boundaries. Listed above are really the only rules she has to worry about, so it's an uncomplicated existence.
Horses, however, are entirely different. They're a lot bigger than we are, and they can get dangerous if they don't understand or act out. Now, my cat acting out and running around like a maniac... that's adorable! Aww, look at the kitty bein' a racecar. But a horse, running around like a maniac? Oh God, someone stop it, it's going to hurt someone! Catch it! Tranq it! Do SOMETHING!
See where I'm going with this...?
Clicker training is how I tell my horse which responses are correct. It's gives me and my horse a way to talk to one another. It's not me saying "here, I'm going to poke you and annoy the crap out of you until you move over, and then I'll stop. And if you pick the wrong answer, I'll smack you." How eager would you be if your teacher or professor trained you that way? It's a miracle that horses still want to BE with us and have relationships with us after how we've gone about training them! So in clicker training, I give my horse a "YES!" answer. It's clear, precise, and most importantly, the HORSE controls whether or not it wants to do any given behavior. It's entirely within the horse's power to get me to click... or not. So she can help control the pace we go, what we learn, and how we learn it. It's an amazing tool, and I highly recommend that everyone with a horse gives it a shot. It opened up an entirely different world for me and my horse, and I'm still learning.
It's amazing how suddenly, when I started using positive reinforcement, I realized just how much I was programmed to correct the horse instead of rewarding it for the correct behaviors! It's very eye-opening, and something I still struggle with a lot, but I'm trying very hard to get better.
And now, bitless. It's the same sort of thing. I've never believed in huge bits or crazy contraptions to control horses; I've always known that if you can make your intent clear, the horse will do whatever it can to please you, as long as it's physically and emotionally possible for the horse. All my life, every horse I've worked with, has tried so very hard to understand what I was asking and do what I wanted.
So... why do I need a stick of metal in its mouth? What's the point? If I could, I'd ride off bareback and bridleless into the sunset. But I'm not that good, yet. I do, however, think that Reina and I can take a step forward and learn to go bitless. This is my compromise with myself. I'm trying to teach myself to be a better horseman, to listen instead of tell.. and I think this is a great place to start. Eventually, I want us to be able to communicate without anything but us. But for now, this will do. This is my starting point.
Besides! I get to order awesome matching gear like this:
We're gonna be communicating in STYLE. Oh yeah!
And besides. I never really bought into the "be the boss" mindset. I mean, if that's how my horse has to see it, then fine. But my horse shouldn't treat me like a lead mare! Heck no! I don't want to be kicked, bitten, grumped at, tested... nope. I'm a human, not a horse. I don't want my horse to move whenever I walk towards it. And besides - my horse is allowed to have an opinion. I don't tell her where to put her feet; she doesn't tell me where I want to go. It's a partnership. I've always thought about it this way. My horse has always been my buddy, and that's how it always will be. And I've never had disrespect problems; she trusts me, and I trust her.
So, there you have it. My philosophy and why I'm doing what I'm doing.
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