I think this is a great post from Confidence Blog by Effective Horsemanship (see link below). It is full of food for thought. My goal has always been to help people learn the principles of behavior so that they may continue on their own with confidence. At Sea World I felt like I had done my job when I could sit back and watch a sea lion that I trained, successfully do a show (over 100 trained behaviors) with another trainer. Then I knew I had succeeded. The goal is to fade myself out of the equation. The same is true for people. I feel like I have made good progress when people truly understand the principles and can think through them on their own. I want them to take the concepts and run with them. Applying positive reinforcement to the training equation takes a shift in thinking since it is very different then traditional horse protocols. So there is a learning curve. However, I didn’t create positive reinforcement training. It is based in solid science and research done over decades. I am just helping to facilitate the understanding of how our horses learn and how to apply it to everyday situations. I continue to learn with every horse and every person. Anyway, I wanted to share it with you. I would love to hear your thoughts. Enjoy…
Here is a link: http://www.effectivehorsemanship.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/hereos-and-gurus-how-the-guru-syndrome-stops-you-getting-true-confidence/
