8 augustus 2009
ERMELO (KNHS) – After winning the gold medal in the Young Riders team competition and the silver medal in the Juniors competition during the European Championships Dressage for Juniors and Young Riders in Ermelo, The Netherlands, the entire Dutch dressage team were invited back-stage for a unique experience in the Dolfinarium in Harderwijk. The dolphin trainers proudly explained in detail the training principles for dolphins.
Training dolphins is a special art. These super intelligent animals exclusively learn by reward, for example with a fish or a pat on their head. If they don’t perform well, the trainers don’t react but if they do well, they are rewarded extensively. Training horses and dolphins is a different matter all together, but national coach, Tineke Bartels still expects her riders to have learned some new things about the learning mechanisms of animals. “I believe that besides the fact that is was fun, it was also very educational for my riders. It makes them think. There are similarities in the training but certainly differences as well. Saturday and Sunday, we will start competing for the individual medals with a fresh look on things.”
On Saturday, all Dutch riders will resume the fight for the individual medals in Ermelo.
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