Alternatives to Whipping a Horse

Throughout history, much of the training of horses has involved the process of humans gaining the respect of this much larger animal, by whatever means necessary. Using a whip to command respect has been done, but some horse trainers decline to use this method of punishment to gain control. Instead, they turn to personally developed training methods that rely upon gentleness and patience.

  1. Gentleness and Patience

    • A primary factor in training a horse without the use of a whip is engendering trust. Proponents of rejecting the whip in favor of gentle and patient approaches to horse training support the notion that whips only inspire fear and stubbornness in a horse, while treating a horse with patient commonsense brings the horse into line with the trainer's desires. To approach horses in this fashion, a trainer's most important tools are his own hands and ability to speak to the animal in a calm, soothing voice.

    Parelli Method

    • Pat Parelli, a former rodeo rider, and Linda Parelli, a former dressage event rider, work together to help horse trainers and owners understand the horse's natural thought process. To avoid mastering your horse by means of force or whips, the Parelli's advise their students to observe the horse's position in nature, as an animal of prey. Because of this, when threatened, a horse's instinct is to do whatever it can to escape. This couple offers training events and packaged courses for at-home study that link horse behavior in captivity to the behavior exhibited by horses in the wild. By learning about the natural impulses of these animals, horse owners and trainers can learn how to work with the instincts of the horse, rather than attempting to make an animal respond by use of force or application of a whip.

    Clicker Training

    • This training method is aimed at eliminating problem behaviors that even the most accomplished trainer or horseman might encounter. The Kickin' Back Ranch has utilized behavioral training that originated with B.F. Skinner and was instituted as a method of working with animals such as dolphins and dogs. The clicker is used to interrupt the horse at the moment of enacting its particular bad behavior, redirecting to the desired behavior, and rewarding this with a food treat. The interest in and desire for the food, causes the horse to focus on what needs to happen to achieve the treat and overrides the habitual bad behavior pattern. Clickers made especially for use in training horses are available from the Wild Horse Mentors website (whmentors.org).

    Franklin Levinson's Method

    • Franklin Levinson is a world-renowned horse trainer who specialized in approaching horse training through connections to the natural instincts of the horse. He offers workshops and recorded programs that instruct humans in many of the natural approaches to training. He advocates, for animals that need redirection, the use of appropriate consequences that address undesirable behavior without punishing the animal through whipping. Levinson suggests redirecting the horse into motion. He proposes that horses are naturally lazy, so that an appropriate reward for good behavior is allowing the animal to rest. When a horse needs to experience a consequence for unwanted behavior, it should be made to move. Levinson proposes that the horse will not receive this request as a punishment when the trainer is exhibiting strong, calm leadership characteristics.