Want Carrots With That?

Training goes faster when positive reinforcement involves food rewards rather than physical contact in the form of wither scratching, according to a note in The Horse.

Though it produces a temporary slowing of heart rate, indicating horses enjoy it, scratching a horse’s withers as a reward did not produce the same rate of improvement as when horses were given carrots for showing obedient behavior.

In addition, horses rewarded with food in a French study stood closer to humans and sought more contact outside of training sessions.