Hi, I've tried to methodologically test my horses to discover what their preference is (nudge, spur or stick) by tracking how many moves they go forward while using only one of the three choices for all 50 moves over the course multiple explorations; but no clear pattern emerges. That being said, I get better results by using a mix of choices, especially by using a specific choice for a specific obstacle, like stick for a pond, spur for ravines and nudge for thickets.

So the question I have is do horses have a single preference for all obstacles, or do obstacles have a preferred choice regardless of the horses, or does each horse have a preferred choice for each obstacle? And what would be the method to discover the horse's preference?

The other question is how does the bravery rating affect exploring and/or round pen training? Does it increase the chance of overcoming an obstacle, or does it increase the chance of a successful picture, or something else? I've had sub-pars consistently go further than an Elite, mind you they were both untrained at the time.

Since I have large bravery breeding programs, most of my exploring involves untrained 2yo's that end up rating from superb to world class. Back when I had less foals to test, I round pen trained some elites to 100% and explored with them some. I feel like I can say with a reasonable degree of certainty that trained horses stand better for picture taking than untrained horses. However, I still have not come up with a good way to figure out which option to use to avoid spooking. I know White Hills has done more testing in that area.

I have some World Class mares and stallions that are 100% trained and I still cannot figure out a consistent method to get them through without spooking. What works one day does not work on another, there does not seem to be any rhyme or reason. I am now training up a set of Elite geldings to see if maybe they will be a bit more consistent.

I have found that when exploring for the first time for a rating a WC or Elite often spooks at the first opportunity while a Sub Par or Superb will make it through several spook opportunities without doing so.

I have found that the ones with more training stand still more often for pictures.

Alright, thanks for the feedback! I'll keep tracking them I guess and see if I can get some kind of pattern to show up...