Neutral Reinforcement

Extinction and extinction bursts are described in Emma Lethbridge's book Knowing Your Horse: A Guide to Equine Learning, Training and Behaviour...

http://books.google.com/books?id=MLf...page&q&f=false

(Is giving the title of a book also considered to be advertising? I have nothing to gain financially by recommending Emma's book.)

What is "neutral reinforcement" anyway? Do we need a new term for something that can (and should) be described perfectly well using existing terminology?
 
For want of a better term Neutral Reinforcement comes from working where the progress in a horse's training comes from working within this neutral zone.

The balance between negative and positive reinforcement or the middle of the middle ground working towards a 50/50 partnership.

This is giving the horse the credit for understanding that life provides both negative and positive stimuli and so is looking for a balance between the two.
 
Fburton was it you that put up a piece about ignoring a horse banging the stable door until it stopped being called 'extinction burst'. The quote said about it first becoming worse before it would stop. If this was done badly the horse would end up banging more and it would be harder to stop next time this method was tried. (A bit like dieting.. lol)

I see many problem horses and this has struck a cord with me, as the more peolpe try to help a problem horse, but don't with all the best intentions they can make things worse.
 
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