Horse training  

 

equiculture

developing responsible horse ownership

 

 

Responsible horse training

 

If you are interacting with horses be it riding, leading, feeding or breeding you have the added responsibility of learning about certain aspects of horse training. This section of the website deals with subjects such as Learning Theory, positive and negative reinforcement (pressure and release training), habituation  and many other subjects to do with horse training. Every time a person interacts with a horse, they are consciously or unconsciously training the horse. If a person does not understand what they are doing they may actually train the horse to behave incorrectly.

 

Training is a fascinating subject and what you learn about training will help you in many ways (not just with horses). Horse training has evolved over centuries. Some people like to follow traditional methods and some prefer ‘newer’ methods. Whatever style of horse training you prefer it is important that you understand exactly what you are doing and think about your training from the horse’s perspective. By understanding how horses learn - training becomes an even more fascinating subject. The science of Learning Theory is now being applied to horse training and applying this to your training results in reduced stress for people and horses. When you understand how horses learn you can get the best from your chosen style of horse training.

 

Most forms of horse training (and domestic animal training) use negative reinforcement. Good horse trainers, however they label their own training method, already use negative reinforcement well even if they do not give it its scientific name. Many of them  call it pressure and release training (which is also a correct term). Many people (including many horse trainers) get the term negative reinforcement mixed up with the term punishment, thinking that they are the same thing but they are not. Negative reinforcement means that pressure (a stimulus) is put on a horse and is taken away when the animal gives the correct response. A typical example is that when riding you squeeze the horse with your legs and the horse steps forward, you then remove the pressure of your legs. Negative means the removal of the pressure and this is what the horse learns – that to get the pressure to go away the horse must give the correct response (in this case step forward).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whereas negative reinforcement is a very powerful training tool when applied correctly, punishment that may involve the infliction of pain is NOT as it does not communicate to the horse what you want him or her to do - punishment says no rather than yes - and it can frighten the horse. In the above scenario, punishment would be hitting, kicking, jerking or shouting at the horse if the horse responds incorrectly (i.e. instead of stepping forward the horse steps sideways). Punishment can undo your training as the horse becomes afraid to try out responses. A horse learns by trial and error but if the horse becomes afraid to try then it becomes fearful and stressed. Eventually some horses give up even trying and learned helplessness can be the result.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Positive reinforcement is when the horse is rewarded when he or she gives the correct response. Again positive reinforcement is often confused with bribery by some trainers when it is not. For example bribery would be holding some feed in front of the horse and expecting the horse to follow that feed when trying to get him or her to load into a float. Positive reinforcement is where once the horse has stepped into the float they are rewarded with a scratch or edible treat. The horse does not see the reward until he or she has given the correct response. Think about how you get paid to go to work, you would not call that bribery, the money is the reward for working. With horses, negative reinforcement is usually still needed to get the horse to give the correct response, but when he or she responds correctly, the horse can be rewarded with a with a scratch or an edible treat. Dog trainers now use positive reinforcement extensively, and many horse trainers are adding this powerful tool to their repertoire of training techniques.

 

 

 

 

 

These concepts will be explained much more fully in future articles. The relatively new movement in the training of horses called Equitation Science uses learning theory - why and how horses learn new things - in order to understand why and how some training methods work and are better for the horse. Through this section of the website you will learn about such subjects as:

 

• Learning theory – the science of how horses learn.
• What positive and negative reinforcement mean and how to apply these techniques correctly.
• How habituation, getting the horse ‘used to’ scary sights and sounds, works and when is the correct time during the training process to use it.
• The pros and cons of various ground work methods and ridden work techniques.