Episode 118: A Twist On Extinction

You’ve been reinforcing your horse for the good behavior you want, and now suddenly that process stops. You’ve just thrown your horse into an extinction process. You’re about to experience the emotional fallout that creates. Stopping positive reinforcement is how we normally describe the extinction process, but what happens when someone stops punishing a behavior? This is another way in which a horse can experience extinction. What does this process create? And does this help us to understand some of the extreme behavior horses sometimes show early on in their introduction to clicker training? That’s the twist on extinction that this podcast explores.