Do Equestrians Know How Their Horses Learn?

leg pressure when the horse yields. This is termed negative reinforcement. In contrast we can apply punishment to stop horses from showing behaviours we deem bad or unwantedundesired. Punishment can also be subdivided into positive punishment adding something unpleasant such as pressurepain or negative punishment removing or withholding something pleasant.  
What do equestrians know about learning theory? 
A study investigating riders perceptions and understanding of learning theory conducted as part of a MSc dissertation project and involving 10.28 participants revealed gaps in equestrians theoretical knowledge of the terminology positive and negative reinforcement and punishment when participants were asked to select the correct definitions or provide practical examples. Of all survey participants 85. 4 percent believed that positive reinforcement was the most successful horse training method. In contrast 82. 5 percent of all participating equestrians thought that releasing the aidpressure which constitutes negative reinforcement would be the most effective reward and those participants selected the incorrect definition of negative reinforcement considerably more often. When the participating riders were asked whether they knew how their horses learn certain behaviours 95. 8 percent said yes but only 25 .9 percent provided a correct or partly correct example of negative reinforcement and 20 .8 percent confused negative reinforcement with punishment possibly due to respondents lacking knowledge of the terminology. 
Why is this the case? Equestrians may be receiving misleading or incorrect information from their coaches as significantly more study participants who indicated that the licensedqualified coach would be their main knowledge source for training knowledge selected the wrong definition of negative reinforcement. This is not surprising given that some professional equestrian coaches and veterinarians may lack a clear understanding of the principles of learning theory. Therefore the correct application of learning theory by some amateur equestrians could be questioned.