What motivates a competitor? A great performance. Improving. Winning.

Often that comes at a real cost to the horse’s well-being, not because the rider or trainer doesn’t care, but because they don’t know any other way to get that kind of performance. So why would we be getting excited about plans for a Young Horse Development program at Via Nova aimed at high-level sporthorse competition in the future?

Connection Training is an online resource for anyone starting Positive Reinforcement with their horse. Hannah Weston, Rachel Bedingfield and Claire Waldron of Connection Training have been some of our important mentors at Via Nova.

Are you worried that by feeding treats when practising Positive Reinforcement (R+) training with your horse, you will end up with a horse that is biting or nipping? Don’t! A foundational element to R+ training is establishing desired mannerisms. Follow the videos below for safe hand-feeding practices.

Practicing Positive Reinforcement (R+) with your horse means having food at the ready and easily accessible. So what food containers work best when training your horse, and what type of treats are the best to use? Watch the Via Nova team as they discuss and explain.

Positive reinforcement is introducing a desirable reward to encourage certain behavior. At Via Nova, using Priority to Positive®, we are exploring this from every aspect of horsemanship. As simple as it sounds, there is a right way to bridge and reinforce when practising Positive Reinforcement (R+) with your horse. And a lot of nuances! So let’s break down all the aspects of Hand Feeding Safely to get you and your horse off to a good start.

In this video, you can follow Vinnie, Via Nova’s school pony, for a practical guide to Positive Reinforcement training for horses. We will cover the two basic flavors of reinforcement so that you can understand motivation, how to look for your “yes”, create an opportunity for the horse to do the right thing, and the magic created when using markers in training.

Santa Fe, NM – May 24, 2022 – Via Nova was thrilled to sponsor the American Horse Publications (AHP) Annual Equine Media Conference in Lexington. We wholeheartedly agree with AHP Executive Director Chris Brune’s conference theme: Inspiration.