Why positive reinforcement training?

Around here the idea of training something in the 'non-traditional way' is something that a lot of people find hard to get their heads around. For me it makes perfect sense, why choose traditional training methods over methods that the horse actually understands? I think that sometimes people like to stick with what they know, this is perfectly understandable. The unknown is a scary thing to face. What I do believe in though is methods that make life easier for both the animal and the human. For me, clicker training has been the main source of my positive reinforcement training with horses. But to be honest, any reward-based training system seems to work wonders, even with horses that have had bad experiences.
I have been lucky in that I live on a farm where there are a lot of young horses. The family that owns the farm breed their own horses so there is a steady stream of horses that need educating as they come in to start their ridden life. They tend to live out their first two to three years in a group, playing and having an awesome time being horses. They see people and get fuss and cuddles but there is no formal handling as such. This means that you are dealing with quite large beasties when it comes to halter breaking etc. 
Luckily these guys are bred for temperament and in the many years that I have been working on the farm and helping with them, there has never been a particularly difficult one. In fact usually, the most difficult part is teaching them some manners. However, their response to positive, reward-based training is incredible. Becuase they want to be around and they like the attention, they are willing to learn. I had a colt to work with once, he was due to go off to be started and schooled, the issue was he had never loaded. When I got back from work I found him still in his stable. Four hours of gentle encouragement with lines behind him, all of the tradition ways to encourage a horse to load, and he refused point blank to go on that lorry. I left him to chill that night but the following day I thought I would give it a go. By turning it into a bit of a game for him, and asking him small and simple questions to work out, I had him loaded in half an hour. For every question he got right he got rewarded. Every mistake was ignored and the question asked again. He was allowed to make mistakes, that's how he worked it out. But he worked it out so quickly that it surprised everyone. Some people locally think I have some magic talent or that I'm a horse whisperer.
This is not the case.  I use pressure and release games and reward based training to encourage these babies to do as I am suggesting. I never force them. They are allowed to make mistakes and to take their time. Generally, I aim for one correct answer per session. But all of them differ. Some of them might take 5 sessions to get the right answer, whilst others get several questions right in one session.
I am lucky in that these youngsters always come in fairly confident and happy to be fussed, their temperament is brilliant. All I am doing is breaking everything down into small manageable steps that the horses can understand. It's simple logic to me, but around here it is not a common way to do things, a lot of people don't think to try it, but when they see it it makes perfect sense to them.
It's a massively rewarding experience to me, To have these young horses on my side and happy to do as they are asked is a massive thing to me. Especially when they feel safe doing it. It's what has inspired me so far and will continue to do so.

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