8th May, 2010 Cause and effect-ive

It's simple really, behavioural problems become established when there is a cause (even if it is a natural cause) either physical or mental and then the behaviour is effective. It then becomes the horse's default position. Accordingly the best way to address the behaviour is to seek out and eliminate the cause(s) if it is still there as well as making sure that the behaviour itself is no longer effective. Training that only concentrates on one end or the other is less likely to succeed. Eradicating the cause does not guarantee that the horse will give up the behaviour as he may have established a pattern and still finds the behaviour gives him some sort of reinforcing release. Forcing the horse to stop the behaviour by using gadgets or punishing him may supress the behaviour temporarily but it will usually find a way out somewhere.