Behavior

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Behavior Blog

“All Training Methods Can Be Harmful”

Rope halters, patience poles, and clickers, oh my!

A recent discussion about the dangers of rope halters, patience poles, and other forms of restrictive training methods got me thinking. (Can you smell the smoke from there?) Is clicker training really as dangerous as tying a horse to a pole and letting the horse learn through physical and emotional struggle that efforts to escape are futile?

Hmmm. Think about that for a minute. Like, really try to envision the learning process in the horse. Now, close your eyes and imagine that you are tied to a pole by your head. You are confused, possibly frightened, and definitely having a panic attack.

I did this exercise recently, and you know what I thought?

Fuck that shit.

Then I wanted to find the idiot who tied me up and kick ’em in the arse. Or head. Whichever was closest.

While it is possible for all training methods to be done in a way that is harmful to the horse, not all training methods are fair to the animal, let alone effective or humane.

Animal Welfare Science Can Help Us Keep Enjoying Horses

Leveraging scientific research for the improved welfare of domestic horses is the goal of animal welfare science. If we want to continue to enjoy the company of horses, their recreational benefits, and even their commercial value, we must evaluate all methods of shaping behavior–whether those methods are old ones or new ones–from the perspective of the horse, who is an animal. We are not “training horses”, we are shaping the behavior of an ungulate-a hoofed mammal. When we remember that the horse is something more than the label we have given it, a certain measure of respect and consideration seems to take priority in our work with them.

Exonerative Beliefs

Exonerative beliefs are part of a belief system that people develop in order to absolve themselves of blame (Cornish et al., 2018), particularly to overcome the cognitive dissonance associated with the inhumane treatment of animals (Serpell, 2005).

A common phrase we hear that is a classic example of an exonerative belief is: “All bits have the potential to be harmful, it all depends on the skill of the rider.” This is often heard in response to concern about the use of painful bits.

Or this one:

“All training methods have the potential to be injurious to the horse. It all depends on the education of the trainer.” This justification is typically heard from people who have little experience with or knowledge of the scientific application of positive reinforcement.

To anthropomorphize animals is not necessarily bad. In fact, it is what enables empathy in us. Or, perhaps it is the other way around: our empathy leads to anthropomorphizing. Either way, when we empathize with an animal’s feelings when they are treated inhumanely or even just stressed out, our internal acknowledgement of the horse’s reality leads to cognitive dissonance – that uncomfortable feeling we get when we do something that contradicts something we inherently believe is ethical. Cognitive dissonance is so ingrained that we rarely recognize it when it is happening.

When you, or someone you know, tries to downplay positive reinforcement, be on the lookout for cognitive dissonance. Do the statements about R+ reflect inner conflict, or ignorance? Or both?

Is Positive Reinforcement More Dangerous Than Other Training Methods?

There is no debate about skill level and training methods. It is common knowledge that inexperience in any endeavor increases risk of failure or injury. This does not, however, exempt certain training methods from being more inherently dangerous than others. Positive reinforcement (aka clicker training), for example, is less dangerous than restrictive training methods because it engages a different part of the horse’s brain.

Intense or chronic pressure, whether physical or psychological, triggers the horse’s Sympathetic Adrenal Medullary system (SAM). This is an unpredictable physiological loop that can result in explosive behavior or the learned helplessness and exhaustion that accompanies “flooding”. In fact, the term flooding refers to the hormonal overload that happens as part of the horse’s SAM response.

When a horse is so over their emotional threshold, the parasympathetic nervous system has no choice but to shut everything down in order to prevent death. If this is the training method one chooses to use, they do so because they either do not understand how this part of the horse’s nervous system works, or because they have developed strong exonerative beliefs (justification) for its use.

As horse trainers, it is important for us to reflect upon our own belief systems and try to identify what things we cling to, especially if those things help us to feel more in control of the process, relevant, knowledgeable, comfortable, or safe. I am not immune from having exonerative beliefs. Most people have them. This part of the human psyche has been functioning for hundreds of thousands of years, with research and literature supporting the existence of exonerative beliefs surrounding animals hunted for food going all the way back to the Paleolithic era (Serpell, 2005).

Happy Horses are Easier to Teach

Challenges in clicker training are surmountable even with just a little education. Sometimes, clicker training difficulties require creativity more than knowledge. The principles of operant conditioning are static, so once you understand the principles, clicker training becomes far less dangerous than methods that engage the horse’s SAM (fight or flight) system.

And remember, horses crave predictability. Routine, habits, and repetition in their learning isn’t just an ethical approach to teaching them, predictability also releases hormones that create a positive affective state in the animal (puts ’em in a good mood). Happy horses are much easier to teach and train. Hard stop.

Transition, Not Change

To eliminate all traditional methods of training horses is not the goal of animal welfare science. It is unrealistic and impractical to do away with traditional training methods. Instead, we can slowly and methodically replace the most stressful methods with kinder ones. Thankfully, we now have scientific methods and data to help us figure out which ones are which. – HH

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References:

Cornish, M., Woodyatt, L., Morris, G., Conroy, A., Townsdin, J. (2018) Self-forgiveness, self-exoneration, and self-condemnation: Individual differences associated with three patterns of responding to interpersonal offenses. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 129, 2018, Pages 43-53, ISSN 0191-8869, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.03.003.

Serpell, J.A. 2005. Animals and religion: Towards a unifying theory. In: de Jong, F. & van den Bos, R. (Eds.) The Human-Animal Relationship, pp. 9-22. Assen, Netherlands: Royal Van Gorcum.

Wooded Trails
Behavior Blog

Can We Go Forward By Going Back?

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

Behavior Blog

Training the Horse as a Student-Athlete

It is becoming increasingly clear that horse training works best when broken down into specialty segments: Life skills (like basic husbandry and handling), psychological skills like emotional regulation, intellectual skills, and athletic development.

If you compare the equine athlete to the human student-athlete, those segments make more sense. Stacy Westfall uses the horse/student analogy often, and I find it very helpful when trying to decide on the right path for teaching my horse a particular skill.

A student-athlete begins their learning at home, as a young child. Basic communication skills, safety, emotional security, social skills, and etiquette. When the child moves on to kindergarten, there’s a mixture of life skills and problem-solving taught in a classroom that is designed specifically for kindergarteners. As kids move up in age, life skills are still taught through the high school level, but there is a greater emphasis on critical thinking, problem solving, and then athletic development.

If we think of horse trainers and their role in the development of working horses, it is important to identify which human role they would take on if the horse was a human child.

Some coaches are great parents and teachers, while others are really only good at coaching. As we regard ourselves in relation to horses, it is important recognize ourselves as the parent, the teacher, or the coach. Are you good at all three? Some people are. If not, which roles best suit you? Do you have the skill set (or desire) to teach a horse basic life skills? That process requires a lot of patience. Imagine yourself as a kindergarten teacher! Does the idea delight you or make you shudder?

Growing up as a highly competitive athlete, I trained under a few coaches who had little patience, but that characteristic didn’t preclude them from being great coaches. In fact, the best coach of all, in my experience, was the one with the least amount of patience. He was brusque and easily frustrated, but also incredibly supportive, generous with his time, and terrific at helping his athletes find their best performances through confidence-building tasks.
-HH

Are you a talented rider who teaches and trains in order to pay the bills? You may be very good at riding and competing, but struggle with training a horse, having to rely on excess equipment, supplements, drugs, or other workarounds in order to get a cooperative athletic partner.

The point I am making is this: The development of an equine athlete requires an understanding of the horse’s motivations and intrinsic needs, as well as a realistic view of your own skills and motivations.

It is not necessary for one person to wear All of the Hats, and it is not necessary for one training method to accompany a horse throughout their education. Do not be afraid to step outside of your own expertise and ask for help. Do not feel like asking for help diminishes your expertise, authority, or talent in ANY. WAY. On the contrary, the most accomplished, talented, successful athletes are the ones who value and recruit specialists outside the scope of their abilities or experience. And, no matter how highly you value your own abilities, the reality is that you are not excellent at everything, and you don’t have to be.

So consider recruiting some help in an area that challenges you beyond your emotional, physical, or mental threshold. To do that, however, you will need to allow yourself to accept the reality that it’s okay to even have a threshold.

For help understanding your horse’s needs and motivations, please feel free to reach out.

Truck and horse trailer
Behavior

The Best Laid Plans

… require flexibility and understanding.

I had plans to drive Siouxsie to a nearby farm for a meet & greet-style outing. The objective is to introduce her to a new space without asking anything of her beyond traveling and managing her emotions at the new place. Basically, load –> travel–> unload–> nibble some grass–> reload–> go home. All good.

Siouxsie loaded like the sugar plum that she is, and gave us no trouble while in the trailer. Yes, she called out once or twice and passed a nervous pile of manure, but overall, she was fine.

Clarabelle, on the other hand, now gets very agitated when Siouxsie leaves. Actually, Clarabelle gets very excited when any trailer comes or goes from our property. This is something for which I will need to come up with a specific training plan.

When you have a small herd, attachments are strong. Even though all three of my horses can comfortably and confidently leave their herd behind individually, being the horse that is left behind is far more challenging. This meant that today’s exercise with Siouxsie evolved into something different than originally planned. Big surprise. /s

On a different day, I may have let Clarabelle cry it out, so to speak, but the foundation of our new barn was just started, and there are about 12 four-foot deep holes on the other side of the pasture fence. I couldn’t take the risk of a highly motivated mare getting out and ending up in a hole. Just the thought of it makes me throw up in my mouth a little.

Pole barn footing

So…

An Alternative

Instead of heading over to my instructor’s farm, I drove Siouxsie a few times around our property, then unloaded in an area where she doesn’t spend a whole lot of time. This accomplished a few things:

1) It gave her a low-stress experience loading and traveling, creating a fairly positive association with the trailer. Every positive experience counts, even for seasoned travelers.

2) The very short trip in the trailer helped build trust between us. She trusts me and walks into the trailer, and I maintain my trustworthiness by keeping her safe and under her emotional threshold.

3) It gives Clarabelle the chance to experience Siouxsie leaving the herd, the trailer leaving the property, and then both returning in short order and with no chaos.

In this training exercise, I used both R+ and R- to create motivation with the former and relaxation with the latter. Siouxsie, who despite loading and unloading in a mannerly way, will always be an anxious horse.

Knowing what motivates and comforts a horse is the most important part of shaping their behaviors (otherwise known as training). In animal behavior science, food is known as a Primary Reinforcer; the food reward reinforces the behavior that immediately comes before it. In prey animals like horses, the other primary reinforcer is safety.

Since we can’t put safety in a bucket and use it to reinforce our horse’s effort to chill out, we have to look for other ways to create a strong sense of safety, one that is more powerful than a horse’s innate fear. This is where the concept of Leadership comes in, and this is where I believe that considerate use of negative reinforcement can be very helpful.

In Siouxsie’s case, I would even go so far as to say that the pressure / release (aka negative reinforcement or R-) is not enough to establish my Leadership under stressful circumstances. Sioux needs pressure / relief, meaning, I must use pressure that is strong enough to match her inherent anxiety, so when I offer her relief from it, the anxiety bubble that she is hard-wired to develop, will pop. And because I control the release, the pop is not explosive. In that moment, Siouxsie can fully exhale and become present in the moment with me, not with whatever threat she anticipated in the new environment.

Using a Different Quadrant for Leadership

As a user, trainer, and disciple of R+ for teaching horses most things, I also accept that there are times when one of the other three types of operant conditioning may be in order. The key to getting it right (and with the horse’s welfare as the priority), is knowing what your horse needs in general, and what your horse needs in a specific moment of training.

Since Siouxsie hasn’t traveled lately, I used R+ with a food reward to make loading a pleasant experience for her. But once we unloaded in an unfamiliar space, Sioux’s anxiety surpassed her desire for food, which made R+ ineffective in that moment.

I have a small horseman’s stick with an even smaller flag on the end that I sometimes use for very conscientious R- work. In this situation, I used the flag to clearly but kindly have her back up, yield to the left, yield to the right, maintain a safe space between us, and then offered her release from the work and the pressure of the flag. This took no more than 2 minutes total–if that. When I gave her relief from the pressure, she let out a big sigh, dropped her head, and made soft, inquisitive eye contact with me. From that point forward Siouxsie was relaxed and cooperative with even the most subtle of cues.

A very simplified explanation of the four quadrants of operant conditioning.

So, while you may think that I am an R+ zealot, you are not totally wrong. I am firm in the belief (and the scientific proof) that R+ is the most effective teaching tool for horses. Period. But, I also believe that there are times when one of the other training quadrants are more effective than R+. Knowing which method to use and when is where experience and understanding intersect.

Despite the last-minute change in plans, I am happy with the progress we made today and for maintaining my trustworthiness as a horse keeper.

For more information about how you can better understand your horse’s needs, feel free to reach out to me here.