Whip or carrot, what's best ?

[Nojacketrequired]

Everyone has had great things to say about all the reasons to use a whip for cueing turns, bend etc.

I’d like to point out that carrying a whip is also about safety.

There may come a time while driving when something happens that puts you, your horse or someone else in immediate danger. You may need to make that horse move RIGHT NOW in a certain direction without thought to anything else. Using the whip as an immediate forward aid is a great way to do that.
If you have no whip, the consequences may be tragic.
Why take the chance of not carrying a whip?

NJR

[NRB]

I personally think that hell will have to freeze over before +R takes hold in the horse training world. Just look at how long it took in the dog training world.

[MySparrow]

^ I think that’s an interesting point, and that the question of positive and negative reinforcement is a complicated issue. Pressure is not always negative, is it? My horses will happily lean into pressure, even rub against it for a good scratch, if they aren’t yet aware that I’m asking for something.

I think the key is that the horse must have the concept that you are communicating a request with your aids, not just making uncomfortable “noise” from which they must move away to gain relief. That’s the big divide that must be bridged, and it’s bridged differently from one horse/human partnership to the next.

[Ari_Rox]

Hello again, I’ve tried to read everything and understand the points made, it was a steep learning curve for me, thank you to every one for contributing.
So far I’ve heard a lot about whips and why so many of you use them.
I’ve learn that mostly no one uses them as punishment and I can quite see that in a difficult situation a whip could get both horses and people moving away from danger fast.

I’m still wondering if anyone knows of a way to well see my last bit…

“If one doesn’t use a whip ( and lets face it at first it looks like an easy opion) how else does one communicat with the animal you’re driving ? Any ideas welcome”

Some of you have mentioned clicker training, which I have only heard about but never seen in action. Is there any other way of training (for horses and people) that would be suitable for driving ? I hope I have worded all this in the right way, it’s hard to explain sometimes and I really don’t want to get more negative remarks towards myself just for asking questions.
Maybe I should not have put the bit about an easy option, and now I see I spelt that wrong

[MSP]

I have seen better studies that concluded that positive reenforcement was more affective for training horses. Seems to me this most recent study was a waste of money and time.

The whip as an aid is a training tool not a means of punishment. Therefore a whip can be used while training using positive reenforcement. For me that means it isn’t a case of the Whip or the carrot but the whip and the carrot.

I drove many years with out a whip, long story but suffice it to say it was because my horse had an aversion to whips.

I used my voice and got creative with the driving lines when driving my OTTSTB with a fear of whips.