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Behavior Blog

Can We Go Forward By Going Back?

Wooded Trails

Working on evolutionary biology and psychology, and I came across a paper on the evolutionary context of what we now call “ADHD”.

empirical-tests-of-natural-selection-based-evolutionary-accounts-of-adhd-a-systematic-reviewDownload

In my graduate course on Animals & Society, we’re learning about how people are born with an affinity for animals and natural history. This got me thinking about how ADHD peeps tend to gravitate toward other ADHD peeps, and end up making even more ADHD peeps.

For at least one million years, human beings existed as hunter-gatherers. One milion years! That is about 95% of our total existence on planet Earth. 😮 So for the majority of our species’ existence, we lived in small groups of 50 or less, we shared resources, responsibilities, hunted and farmed together.

Our physical and psychological traits adapted for that kind of communal, natural living, not for the kind of existence we’re experiencing today. Things like sitting still, focusing on one or two things for long periods of time, and emotional homeostasis are VERY modern requirements of human beings. It’s no wonder there are so many of us with these ancient brains who are struggling to exist in modern society.

And while some people with ADHD have symptoms that significantly interfere with their everyday functioning, I wonder what kind of peace and wellness we might experience if humans returned to a more natural lifestyle.

I mean, I know we can’t go backwards, but I do wonder how we might nudge the pendulum toward the middle a bit so more people can grow their own food, move their bodies more, change the way they learn (looking at you, post-war American education system), and enjoy meaningful relationships with their family, friends, neighbors, and their animals. -HGH

Two horses grazing
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My Vet Was Impressed

When the most sought-after veterinarian in your state comes to treat your horse, you call the horse in from the field, reinforcing her response with a bridge signal, and all three horses walk quietly up to the open gate, wait patiently for their next instructions, and target mare (Siouxsie) puts her head in her halter and walks quietly with you to the barn, you don’t think much of it….

Until said veterinarian leans back on your fence, crosses his arms, smiles real big and says, “My goodness, your horses are beautifully trained. I’m impressed. No, really. I. am. impressed.”

That’s when you begin to feel like the digs from some pros about backyard barn owners are more about them and less about you.

Horse friends, you don’t need to hit, shank, pull, push, or force your horses to do anything. An open and curious mind that considers a task from the horse’s point of view (not a human one), and good timing will usually get you what you want. You need to be willing to let go of what you believe is necessary to get horses to cooperate, and at the same time, take inventory of your own strengths and weaknesses. We can’t ask horses for the emotional fortitude required to work with us if we’re not willing to do our own inner work. Self-observation, even when what we observe is painful, is, I promise you, the key to progress. Try it when you’re doing stalls or picking paddocks. It’s incredibly freeing when you have a “Poop Epiphany”!

Finding a balance between training that involves shaping specific behaviors and training that is more social – what I call, “Herdmanship”, is something I’m studying and experimenting with now. I’m looking for a combination of methods that will teach my horses how to behave with me socially, to trust me, to follow me, and then to be interested and engaged as students when it comes time for me to teach them specific things like go, stop, turn left, slow the #*&)@ down please, and so on.

For millions of people around the world, horses are not a hobby or a luxury. They are as essential to our existence as air and water. If you know me, you’ve heard me say this many times before.

Horse people shape society in ways non-horse people would never imagine. We bring what we learn in the barn out to the world at large: humility (that often comes from having dirt for lunch), resilience, empathy, a sense of community, ingenuity, and a strong work ethic. Of course, not all people who ride horses are “Horsepeople”. There’s a difference. Horsepeople are the ones working behind the scenes to make it possible for People Who Ride Horses to actually ride horses. But if we play our cards right, we might just turn the latter into the former, and that would be a good thing for horses *and* people.

-Helena

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Introduction to the Fly Whisk

First ride on Clarabelle after scoping clear, and first ride since January of this year!

How does one go forward with a 5-year-old off-track thoroughbred whose recent health issues are barely north of resolved?

In our case, we start over. Like, from scratch. It is important to have a plan for every encounter with this young horse, and every encounter involves creating a positive reinforcement (R+) history.

Clarabelle and Helena work with a fly whisk.

Clarabelle’s swishy tail and aversion to being brushed persists, even after her ulcers have healed. This could be because she still has hindgut pain from colonic ulcers or an inflamed large intestine, or it could be residual anxiety from her association of pain with being ridden. If I’ve learned anything from treating Siouxsie’s GI issues, it’s that healing a horse’s hindgut can take a very. long. time. So, the two things that I need to summon at this point are patience and lowered expectations. Or rather, realistic expectations.

It’s okay, and quite realistic, to get as little as 1% progress in each of my objectives with Clarabelle. On this day, my plan was to groom, mount, and dismount with as little anxiety for CB as possible. This means clicker training while grooming and for mounting. However, since the flies have just hatched in our part of the country, I quickly realized that I needed to fasttrack CB’s expsore to the fly whisk, my favorite tool for fly relief while mounted.

With R+ training, Clarabelle quickly caught on to the relief of this disembodied tail coming at her face from all directions. It is one thing to help a horse become comfortable with a new tactile sensation from the ground, but another thing when doing it while mounted. So CB and I walked around the ring (in-hand), while I swished the whisk here and there, clicking and feeding each time she accepted the touch without anxiety.

Once I was satisfied that she understood what was happening from the ground, I decided to proceed with the mounting and dismounting exercise. Clarabelle did so well with all of the above, that I asked for another 1% from her. This means we walked under saddle, slowly, in a 20 meter amoeba for a few minutes. I gently used the whisk on her, but only when the flies were actually present. The idea was to reinforce the relief that the whisk provided her, instead of just using it randomly. The more comfort Clarabelle experiences while in my presence, the more she will come to associate me with comforting things.

After 10 minutes of relaxed walking, it was time to “reward” Clarabelle’s efforts by ending the session. (I know that the word reward in this scenario is debatable, but that’s a topic for another day.) My goal was to simply provide my young horse with a good experience under saddle, with the hope that the good experiences will eventually flush out her memories of the uncomfortable ones.