Horses, as social animals, are naturally wired to engage in allogrooming (grooming between horses). This behaviour establishes and maintains social bonds, with horses selecting specific partners. Allogrooming also strengthens pair bonds and enhances herd cohesion.
Research indicates that allogrooming in the region of the neck and withers, compared to any other region, causes a significant lowering of heart rate, suggesting a calming effect and potential anxiety alleviation. This lowering of heart rate is also seen when humans groom horses in those regions. This natural stress-reduction mechanism is accompanied by increased oxytocin, the pleasure molecule, reinforcing the behaviour and its positive social and emotional effects. Allogrooming frequency among horses tends to increase after herd conflicts, implying a role in conflict resolution and social harmony maintenance. After a disagreement, it helps to reduce tension and reaffirm social bonds.
Horses that are kept singly often show insecure behaviour that many riders and trainers do not recognise as a consequence of separation.
Fulfilling horses' need for touch and social interaction is not just about preventing problem behaviours; it is also about addressing their fundamental psychological and emotional needs.
By providing environments that allow for these natural behaviours, we can significantly improve horse welfare and reduce stress-related issues.
( reference: Equitation Science International - ESI )
Positive reinforcement increases the likelihood of the behavior. Research shows it can increase the speed of learning by 40 percent (Carol Sanke, 2010)
Positive Reinforcement training can be used, for example, to assist in desensitization, for float training, in groundwork and for higher level dressage movements. Positive reinforcement (with or without a clicker) allows us to interact with horses in a way to which no other training method even comes close.
There is a growing body of research to suggest a role for positive reinforcement in contemporary horse training. Many people don’t understand how to apply Positive Reinforcement correctly & effectively. A study by Paul Mc Greevy & Warren Smith back in 2008 found that only 2,8 percent of qualified equestrian coaches in Australia could correctly explain the use of Positive Reinforcement in Horse Training.
Measuring TEMPO
Have you ever been told to ride more FORWARD? Take coaching for example, when we use words like ‘forward’. What does forward mean at that particular moment? More tempo, more stride length or both? They are both different and they should be recognized, trained and corrected as such.
Did you know that Tempos are quite standard and prescriptive in dressage and even in jumping? Stride lengths on the other hand, are quite variable because back lengths as well as limb features influence stride length.
So, tempo for optimal performance is fairly standard. Some breeds are quicker like the baroque breeds and horses below 14.2 hands are quicker also. Therefore, when judges say that this is a good forward walk, what they mean is that the tempo is almost precisely at 55 beats per minute, per leg. A good forward trot, a working trot, is at 75 beats per minute. A good, collected trot comes in at around 65 beats per minute. Canter is 95. Passage to be around about 55bpm. Piaffe is about the same, maybe a little bit quicker, around 58bpm. In jumping, 110 beats per minute gives the horse an ideal momentum to translate horizontal velocity to the vertical power to jump. Correct tempos deviate only by up to 3 beats per minute.
You can measure Tempo by e.g. installing a Metronome app on your phone.
( Reference: Andrew McLean, The Horse Magazine )
Afternoon happy snap with a client, Note the beautiful backdrop with mountains!
Macedon Ranges, VIC
THE PRINCIPLES OF TRAINING
Regardless of whether a horse is used for sport, work or leisure, certain solid training principles arisefrom an understanding of his natural behaviour, mental ability and learning capacities that determine success, part success or failure in training. These can be encapsulated into eight key principles and these should be adhered to at all times.
1. Appreciate the similarities and differences in mental abilities
between horses and humans.
Horses and humans share a long and mutually dependent history; they are as much a part of our heritage as we are of theirs. In our interactions with the horse it is understandable that we focus on the qualities that our species share and the similarities between us. However, failing to acknowledge and understand the fundamental differences in the equine and human brain can lead to problems.
Like us, the horse is highly social and being isolated from others can be extremely stressful for both species. We also share an ability to learn rapidly via trial-and-error learning, classical conditioning and habituation. However, unlike us the horse cannot voluntarily recall his memories, neither can he imagine, develop abstract ideas or reconstruct events and it is unlikely that he can think in the future. The horse’s memory is inextricably linked to his senses and must be triggered by a sight, sound or physical cue. Trainers should be careful how they describe horses because so much human language implies higher levels of reasoning, that have negative consequences for the horse.
( reference: Academic Horse Training - ESI )
This is an excerpt of the article series 'Conversations with Dr Andrew McLean'
Learned helplessness
Animals need to have predictable stimuli that are consistent, not inconsistent. If their world is unpredictable and uncontrollable (by them such as being able to give answers that make pain/pressure go away), and they cannot give an adequate response to make things get better, then they try to solve it by fighting, escaping, or finally becoming apathetic.
For example, many people keep spurring the horse every stride because they say it is lazy. But that also produces, in the end, a kind of depression that is the road to what is known as learned helplessness. The animal is unable to remove the pain, and he just gets used to it and that’s basically what learned helplessness is when animals tolerate pain and are unable to resolve it.
Our communication with horses must be clear, and that involves the importance of light aids that we have always talked about in equestrianism in the last few hundred years. If you give a light leg, rein, seat aid and the horse responds, they then may have a happy and normal life. They understand the light pressure and respond to it, so the pressure is taken away and everybody is happy. But if they do not respond to light pressure and that pressure becomes stronger and stronger, and still no response, they are likely to have some degree of learned helplessness and become increasingly unresponsive. It may not be critical enough for them to stop performing, but it might be significant enough to make their lives miserable. It makes the horse’s life more worthwhile too if you are generous with tactile reward. Praise and caressing the withers can great help your training efficiency, as well as making the horse’s life happier.
“Horsemanship is the art of mastering our own movements, thoughts, emotions and behaviors. Not the horses.” — Mark Rashid
What is False Collection?
False Collection means forcing the horse into apparently collected outline through simultaneous actions of rein and leg aid. or with the use of gadgets, rather than progressive development through training over time. This is one of the most common causes for problem behaviours to develop.
In this instance, the horse is constrained between rein and leg aids - two opposing aids that should never be used simultaneously. The horse simply cannot respond to two opposing cues at a same moment and in long term this causes significant psychological damage to horses. It will on its worst escalate to a conflict behaviours at a later date, or at the very least it will weaken the responses the horse gives, to going forward, slowing and stopping aids.
The responses become heavy and delayed, resulting for use spurs and stronger bits and eventually leading to a state where the horse becomes dull to even constant heavy aids. It causes confusion and pain to horses and sadly often goes unrecognized by many riders. At this point the horse is often described as "lazy, unwilling, dull, stubborn" and such.
So why is forcing horses into a frame such common practice? Simply, a lack of understanding of the Training Scale - the rider has simply failed to understand the learning processes and biomechanics of the horse. In addition, many trainers and coaches still advocate for this outdated and incorrect method.
Horses cannot clearly differentiate such conflicting aids. Rein pressure should be kept as the aid for slowing, stopping and turning. Adding a second meaning to one aid is confusing for horses. Which is why we should not try to elicit several different responses from one aid. You can however, train one response from multiple aids, for example when seat, voice and rein cue all mean stop.
In addition, the muscle groups that execute a forward movement are different to those that perform the movement of slowing the horse down. Therefore, pulling on the reins
Clicker training can be used, for example, to assist in desensitisation, for float training, in groundwork and for higher level dressage movements.
Positive reinforcement (with or without a clicker) allows us to interact with horses in a way to which no other training method even comes close.
#betterworldforhorses
#equinebehaviour
Failures to respond to classical conditioning must be corrected with negative re enforcement.
Eg The rider’s seat won’t fix a failure of stop or go. It has to be corrected with reins or legs.
Light responses to negative re enforcement must be established before we introduce classical conditioning into training.
Dip.
