Choosing the right food

When we start R+ a big question is, "what treats should i use?"

This depends alot on your horse, their diet and your behavioral goals. It will also evolve with time and by situation.

Generally i suggest everyone start with low value food in large handfuls. Giving your horse food in training is new and your horse might be a bit too excited. Low value food reinforcers can be fed safely in larger amounts, this helps the horse feel satiated, reinforced, and relaxed. As we establish strong safety skills like a calm default "stand facing forward" these large handfuls of low value work great.

Often people ask if they can just use scratches or verbal affection. Yes, it's certainly nice, if your horse actually values those things (not all horses enjoy touch or chattering humans). But its often not high enough value to get much more than the most basic behaviors and doesn't work to keep those behaviors strong when needed later.

Using slightly higher value food can be a great tool when we ask for harder, faster, or more emotionally difficult behaviors (like the real vet experience). You can feed less, having a faster behavior, click, treat, loop repetition. This can be great for agility, riding, or other active skills. But may be too stimulating for some horses when working on duration or calm, still behaviors (like standing for tack or grooming).

We can also use really high value reinforcers, but we need to use these with care. These will be very stimulating and exciting for our horse. So it's not great for calm, relaxing behavior. But can be helpful for emergencies where you NEED their attention (like a vet) and they may not be super ready. It can be more engaging and coercive, which has benefits for emergencies, but not for day-to-day use. You may push a horse beyond their comfort level, out of desire for the food, then having behavioral fallout when their emotions catch up.

Its important to remember we are using treats to train, to reinforce desired behaviors, to show horses that scary things can be safe and fun. We want the horse to grow, develop their skills, and be able to respond honestly about how they feel. We don't want to use high value food to coerce them into compliance for something they aren't ready for.

***disclaimer, the value chart and types of food is what i generally find for most horses. Every horse is an individual. If certain horses find different food higher or lower value, go based on how the horse in front of you responds to the food. If its over arousing, use lower value, if its boring and the horse gets bored, increase the value. You can increase and decrease based on chew time too for duration or speed. You can adjust according to the horse you're with and the situation you're dealing with.