Helen Jacks-Hewett - McTimoney Animal Chiropractor

23/06/2025

🧠 ISES Principle #9: Correct Use of Signals (Aids)
Let’s be real — most of us are better at training our dogs than our horses.
Why? Because with our dogs, we’re clear. One cue = one behaviour. We don’t try to use “sit” and “down” interchangeably. We don’t give the signal for roll over and then expect a bark. And we certainly don’t stack conflicting cues on top of each other and hope for the best.

But somehow, with horses, that’s often what we do.

I’ve heard it a thousand times:
“How do you turn your horse?”
“I use my leg.”
“How do you stop?”
“My leg.”
“Rein back?”
“Leg.”
“Go forward?”
“Also leg.”

See the problem?

For cues (or aids) to be effective, they must be easy for the horse to discriminate — that is, easy to tell apart. The cue for stop can’t be the same as the cue for go. The rein aid must always mean slow down — even if you’re using it to flex the jaw, lift the poll, or round the outline. If it doesn’t, you get a muddled mess in the horse’s brain — like teaching a child that 2+2 sometimes equals 4, but sometimes 7.5… and occasionally 3. 🤯

🐴 When cues get messy, horses either:

Go dull and stop responding

Show conflict behaviours like bucking, bolting, rearing, or tension

Lose trust, because they’re confused and overwhelmed

So here’s what we do instead:
✅ One signal = one answer
✅ No clashing aids — don’t try to decelerate and accelerate at the same time
✅ Use rein aids to slow, and leg aids to go — never both at once
✅ Sequence your aids with good timing, especially once the horse is educated

In high-level training, we can layer aids close together — a leg tap for longer stride followed by a rein for half halt — but they’re always timed cleanly, never stacked.

Your seat, your voice, your rein and leg aids should become a fluent, clear language. But clarity starts simple.

👉 Ask yourself today: Do each of my signals have only one meaning? If not, it’s time to clarify the conversation. Your horse will thank you.

22/06/2025

🧠 Day 8 – The Correct Use of Shaping in Horse Training
ISES Principle #8: Correct Use of Shaping

If you're training a horse (or any animal), shaping is essential. It's one of the most important tools in your kit — but in horse training, it's often overlooked.

So, what is shaping?

Shaping means breaking a behaviour down into bite-sized steps your horse can succeed at — and reinforcing those steps as you build towards the final goal.

🐬 Take dolphin training, for example:
They can't use reins or pressure — they rely on positive reinforcement and shaping.
To teach a backward flip, they reward the dolphin for just lifting its nose at first. Then for jumping a little. Then for twisting. Over time, each small success adds up — and eventually, the dolphin is flipping.

That’s shaping. And it works beautifully in horse training, too.

🐴 Let’s say you want to teach leg yield:
❌ Many riders jump in asking for everything at once — on the bit, forward, straight, flexed. That’s not training. That’s wrestling.

✅ Shaping means rewarding:

Any basic attempt at moving sideways.

Then obedience — a light signal gets an instant response.

Then rhythm — the horse keeps yielding until told otherwise.

Then straightness — the horse maintains body alignment.

Then contact — finally addressing head and neck posture.

And finally, proof — the horse can perform anywhere, anytime.

💡 Don’t be in a rush for the “end product.”
True training means helping the horse understand each stage first.

A common mistake? Riders fixate on the frame too early. But posture is the result of functional movement — not the starting point. Focus on the legs first, the shape later.

And don’t worry if your shaping scale doesn’t match the old German training scale. Mine starts at basic attempt, because I don’t assume the horse is already broken in or signal-obedient. Most aren't.

When shaping is done well, your horse stays confident, relaxed, and responsive — because they understand every step.

📩 Want a free PDF summary of all 10 Principles of Horse Training, including my custom Shaping Scale and practical examples?

Comment “PDF” below and I’ll send it your way.
The download also includes a link to my full Equitation Science course.

Let’s train with clarity. Let’s train with compassion.
Let’s train with a plan. 🧠💛🐴

21/06/2025

🧠 Day 7 – The Correct Use of Classical Conditioning
Part of the ISES 10 Principles of Horse Training series

Ever wondered how horses learn voice commands or respond to your seat? It's not magic — it's science. Specifically, classical conditioning.

Most of us have heard of Pavlov and his dogs. He rang a bell, fed the dogs, and soon enough, just the bell made them drool. That’s classical conditioning: when a previously neutral cue predicts something meaningful.

Horses are masters of association, but unlike us, they don’t ruminate. Their associative window is just 3 seconds — after that, the connection fades. So if you're not spot on with your timing, they simply won't make the link.

Let’s say I want my horse to respond to the voice cue “Back.” First, I’ve got to be sure he knows how to back up from a light whip tap on the chest (that’s trained with negative reinforcement, the removal of pressure). Once that’s solid, I say “Back,” then apply the whip tap. Over time, he’ll start stepping back when he hears the word — because he’s learned that the voice cue predicts pressure, which he can avoid by responding.

🔁 The new cue must always come BEFORE the trained one. If you give them at the same time, or get the order wrong, you’ll either confuse the horse or delay learning massively.

This applies to seat cues too. Riders often say, “My horse stops just when I breathe out or sit taller.” That’s great — until it doesn’t work. When there’s pressure in the environment — say, the judge’s box, loudspeakers, or separation anxiety — the seat aid is the first thing to fail. Why? Because it was only ever a predictor of something else (like a rein aid). And if that rein aid hasn’t been well-practised, you’re left with nothing to fall back on.

✅ Make sure your rein and leg aids are solid. Then layer your light aids — your voice, seat, and posture — over the top.

Remember: those subtle cues are a veneer, not a foundation. The foundation is always your stop, go, turn, and yield — clearly taught, consistently reinforced, and never reliant on fairy dust.

20/06/2025

🐴 Day 6: Principle #6 – The Correct Use of Operant Conditioning

If there’s one thing every horse person needs to understand, it’s this:
Training is all about consequences.

That’s the whole idea behind operant conditioning – a sciencey term that simply means:

“We do something to influence whether a behaviour happens again.”

There are four quadrants to operant conditioning:

Positive Reinforcement – you add something the horse wants (e.g., food or wither scratches) to make a behaviour more likely

Negative Reinforcement – you remove something the horse finds uncomfortable (e.g., rein or leg pressure) to make a behaviour more likely

Positive Punishment – you add something the horse dislikes (e.g., a whip or shout) to reduce a behaviour

Negative Punishment – you take away something the horse wants (e.g., attention or food) to reduce a behaviour

Let’s break it down:

💡 Reinforcers = More Likely
Negative reinforcement happens every time you ride: you apply pressure (like leg or rein), and when the horse gives the correct response, you remove it. That removal reinforces the behaviour.

Positive reinforcement is when you give something your horse likes – food or wither scratches – at the right moment to make a behaviour stronger.

🧠 Patting ≠ reward.
Big slaps on the neck aren’t naturally reinforcing. Most horses wince or flinch at a pat — it’s something they learn to tolerate, not something they enjoy.
Instead, wither scratching and food rewards are the things horses actually want.

🚫 Punishment = Less Likely
Punishment is tricky — especially with horses.

Positive punishment is when you add something unpleasant to reduce a behaviour — like hitting a horse after it refuses a jump. But here’s the catch:
The horse probably has no idea why it’s being hit.
It doesn’t have a prefrontal cortex like humans — it can’t reason or connect events like we do.
You might just be teaching it to run faster next time — or to fear you.

The only positive punisher I actually recommend?
An electric fence. Why?

The timing is impeccable

The horse learns exactly what caused the consequence

The effect is instant and doesn’t repeat unless triggered again

It’s clear, predictable, and teaches the horse to avoid pressure

Negative punishment is when you take something away.
For example, if your horse is pawing in the trailer, and you stop giving attention or food, it may learn that pawing gets it nothing, and standing still gets a reward.

⚖️ Balance is Key
We don’t train with just one quadrant.
The real art of ethical training is knowing when to use what:

✔️ Use negative reinforcement to shape core responses like stop, go, and turn.
✔️ Layer in positive reinforcement for motivation and emotional balance.
✔️ Use punishment only rarely, and only when it’s fair, effective, and well-timed (like the electric fence).
✔️ Avoid harsh or meaningless punishment that creates fear or confusion.
✔️ Learn what your horse finds reinforcing or punishing — because your intention doesn’t matter. Only their interpretation does.

This is the foundation of science-based horse training.
Understand it, and you’ll be a better trainer, rider, and horse owner.

19/06/2025

Day 5 – Principle 5: Habituation and Desensitisation Done Right
Not all horse spooking is bad behavior—much of it is simply poor habituation.

🧠 The fifth principle of ethical horse training is about the correct use of habituation and desensitisation techniques. In short: getting your horse used to things without triggering their fear response.

We do it all the time as humans. If you move next to train tracks or an airport, you might struggle to sleep for a few nights… but eventually, your brain filters it out. That’s habituation. Horses go through this process too—whether it’s getting used to girths, clippers, rugs, hoses, or even carrying a rider.

But here's the kicker: the horse has the most developed amygdala of any domestic animal. That means their flight reflex is deeply embedded and easily activated. And once that fear is triggered, it gets stored in the brain like a wildfire waiting to reignite—even years later.

❌ This is why flooding (overwhelming a horse with a scary stimulus until it shuts down) is so dangerous. It may look like the horse is “quiet,” but in reality, they’ve likely disassociated. That’s not calm. That’s survival.

✅ Instead, we use evidence-based techniques like:

Gradual desensitisation (exposing the horse to small doses of the stimulus without fear)

Overshadowing (teaching the horse to move their feet to light cues while near the scary thing)

Stimulus blending (pairing the scary thing with something familiar, like hosing while spraying with an aerosol)

Counter-conditioning (pairing the scary thing with food rewards)

Clicker training (shaping calm behavior using secondary positive reinforcement)

Approach conditioning (training the horse to move towards the object and "remove" it—great for moving objects like umbrellas, prams, bikes, or a horse ball)

All of these techniques are designed to build trust without triggering fear, and that’s what ethical, science-based training is all about.

So if your horse spooks at the float, panics when clipped, or shies from a cyclist… it’s not misbehavior—it’s a chance to revisit your desensitisation plan.

🧡 Flooding is never the answer. And chasing a frightened horse with a tarp is not training, its trauma.
👉 Want the free video + PDF where I break down all 10 principles of ethical, evidence-based horse training?

Just comment PDF below and I’ll send it to you directly.

19/06/2025

This message doesn’t seem to be getting through to dog owners yet it’s something we have known about for a long time in human and equine sports medicine:

Rapid cooling of your dog (or horse!) is essential when they are over heating - they don’t die of cold shock but they do die of failure to reduce their temperature quick enough, so rapid immersion in cold water is they best way to help them.

🐕HEATSTROKE IN DOGS🐕

We've been banging on about this for years! HEATSTROKE is a MEDICAL EMERGENCY! Fortunately, now more and more professionals are communicating the same message!

Whilst the need for rapid cooling with COLD water (1-15°C) has been recognised for decades in equestrian and human medicine, the dog world has lagged behind, and very poor information still circulates. e.g. "cool the paws", "cover with wet towels", "avoid cold water as it will cause shock"

THE KEY MESSAGES ARE............

💦"WET THEN VET"💦

💦"COLD WATER IMMERSION" (1-15°C)💦
(If you can't immerse, keep pouring ANYTHING COLD over the dog - hose, soft drinks, milk, etc)

💦Dogs die of heatstroke because they were NOT COOLED QUICKLY ENOUGH, NOT BECAUSE THEY WERE COOLED!

♨️RISK FACTORS FOR HEATSTROKE IN HOT WEATHER♨️

♨️Large dogs
♨️DOUBLE-COATED breeds
♨️Brachycephalic breeds
♨️June, July, August (UK)
♨️Exercise, being outdoors, left in cars

EDIT: - If a dog is PANTING, it's struggling to control its body TEMPERATURE! 💦HOSE IT TO COOL IT DOWN!💦

❤️PLEASE SHARE - Spread accurate information; potentially save a dogs life!❤️

CHECK OUT FREE RESOURCES HERE: https://askanimalweb.com/managing-dogs-in-hot-weather/

Welfare in the Heat: https://askanimalweb.com/heat-welfare/

If you don't believe me, look at the research: Beard S, Hall EJ, Bradbury J, Carter AJ, Gilbert S, O'Neill DG. Epidemiology of heat-related illness in dogs under UK emergency veterinary care in 2022. Vet Rec. 2024;e4153. https://bvajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/vetr.4153

18/06/2025

10 Principles in 10 Days – Day 4
Principle 4: Regard for the Affective and Emotional State of the Horse

To train a horse ethically, we need to understand not just how they think—but how they feel.

This principle is about tuning into both:

The horse’s affective state: its general outlook—optimistic or pessimistic?

And its emotional state: what’s happening right now—is it calm, alert, stressed, or shutting down?

🌤 Affective State:
Think of this as your horse’s baseline mental health.
Is your horse curious? Willing to try? Or has he stopped offering behaviours altogether?

That doesn’t mean he’s lazy. It means something in your reinforcement history has taught him not to bother.

❌ Poor reward timing
❌ Inconsistent pressure-release
❌ Punishment
All of these chip away at optimism and lead to withdrawal.

💡 One study on calves showed that those separated early from their mothers gave up trying when training cues changed—while those with maternal contact stayed curious and adapted quickly.

That’s affective state in action.

You can build optimism through:
✅ Clear reinforcement
✅ Correct use of pressure-release
✅ Positive reinforcement—like a wither scratch or food reward
✅ Avoiding punishment
✅ Training in short bursts: get 3 good tries, then rest and repeat

💥 Emotional State:
This is about how the horse is feeling right now, in the training moment.
Are they:

🧠 In a calm, learning-ready “ventral” state?

🔥 Triggered into fight, flight, or freeze?

🧊 Or shut down completely—what we often mistake for “quiet,” but is actually dissociation?

You’ll see it in:

The eyes and jaw

Breath holding

Tension or stillness

Sudden movement or collapse in energy

When a horse is dysregulated, learning can’t happen.
And if they stay there too long, it starts to affect their affective state too.

The goal is to train horses that are:
💛 Emotionally calm
🧠 Mentally curious
🫱 And motivated to try again

📩 Want the free 10 Principles of Horse Training PDF + Poster, plus a link to my full course?
Comment “PDF” below and I’ll send it straight to you.

Your horse isn’t being “difficult”—he’s communicating.
Let’s learn to listen to both the emotional state and the deeper affective pattern.
🐴💛🧠

17/06/2025

🧠 10 Principles in 10 Days – Day 3
Principle 3: Regard for the Mental and Sensory Abilities of the Horse

To train a horse ethically and effectively, you need to understand how they think, learn, and see the world.

And the first truth to accept is this:
A horse’s brain is not like a human brain.

🚫 Horses don’t have a prefrontal cortex like we do.
They don’t reflect on the past, or imagine the future.
They don’t daydream, worry, plan, or plot.

They live fully in the moment.
And yet we often hear things like:
🗣 “He knows better.”
🗣 “He’s doing it on purpose.”
🗣 “He’s testing me.”

That’s anthropomorphism—projecting human thoughts or motives onto the horse—and it’s not just unfair, it’s unhelpful.

If you want to change a behaviour, stop labelling the emotion and start looking at the legs.

For example:
❌ “He freaks out at the float.”
✅ “He steps backwards when the float appears.”

That tells you what to train. It’s not personal—it’s neurological.

📸 Memory:
Horses have a photographic memory, not a flowing, video-like one.
They respond to images in real time. If the hose isn’t there, it’s not scary. If it’s in view, they react.
That’s why they can’t have phobias the way we do—they react only to what they see.

👀 Vision:
Horses see mostly in shades of green, light, and dark—like looking through an olive lens.
But their night vision is excellent, letting them move safely through dark paddocks and detect movement long before we can.

🧠 Learning:
When you’re training a horse, you're not just getting a response—you’re building a neural pathway in the brain.

And building that pathway takes up to 10x more glucose and oxygen than what’s needed to keep the heart beating. That’s huge.

That’s why I use a simple rule:
✅ Train until you get 3 improved responses in a row
⏸️ Then give the horse up to a minute of rest
🔁 Repeat the cycle two or three times

By the third cycle, the response is usually starting to stick—without exhausting the horse mentally.

It’s not about how long you drill the exercise.
It’s about giving the horse time to process and let the brain recover so learning can take place.

This principle reminds us:
Don’t overestimate your horse’s mental powers.
But also—don’t underestimate them either.

Because the horse is a blameless participant in the training process.
And if we truly understand how he learns and sees the world, we can train with more kindness, clarity, and success.

📩 Want the 10 Principles of Horse Training PDF + Poster, plus a link to my full online course?
Comment “PDF” and I’ll send it straight to your inbox.

Train the brain, not the emotion.
Observe the legs, not the drama.
And always remember: the horse is doing the best he can with the information we give him.
🐴🧠💛

16/06/2025

🌿 10 Principles in 10 Days – Day 2
Principle 2: Regard for the Nature of Horses

Let’s talk about who the horse actually is—not as a competition animal or a riding partner, but as a species that evolved in the wild.

This principle reminds us that good horse care (nice gear, top feed, clean stable) is not the same as good horse welfare.

True welfare means meeting the horse’s natural biological and emotional needs—and that requires understanding ethology, the science of how horses behave in their natural environment.

Here’s what the horse needs:

🐴 Herd connection
Horses are social animals. They regulate through touch and presence, forming deep bonds through mutual grooming and wither-scratching.
If they can’t bond with other horses, they need us—and rubbing their withers (for 2+ minutes!) has been shown to release oxytocin and reduce stress. It’s why I often break horses in bareback—skin-on-skin matters.

🌾 Constant grazing
Horses are trickle feeders, designed to graze for up to 13 hours a day. This isn't just for NUTRITION , its to their mental stability - they are designed to chew and chewing helps keep them well adjusted mentally.
Feeding three large meals a day in a stable doesn’t meet this need—what they actually need is low-grade hay or pasture to nibble on all the time. It’s vital for digestion, calmness, and behaviour.

🚶‍♂️ Freedom to move
In the wild, horses travel up to 17km per day. That movement keeps their body and mind in balance.
Without it, we see tension, stiffness, and even behavioural fallout.

🧠 Control and predictability
In a herd, horses know how to navigate their world. They don’t show stereotypies like weaving or crib-biting—those only develop when we add unpredictability and confusion through inconsistent handling or isolated living.

This principle is a reminder that welfare isn’t about what looks good.
It’s about what the horse needs, based on millions of years of evolution.

Let’s stop asking “Is this horse well cared for?”
And start asking, “Is this horse well?”

📩 Want my free PDF + poster covering all 10 Principles of Horse Training—plus examples of how I apply them every day?
Just comment “PDF” and I’ll send it your way.

16/06/2025

When horses are denied regular contact with other horses, they can experience increased stress, which may manifest as restlessness, stereotypic behaviours (such as weaving or cribbing), and even health issues like digestive or musculoskeletal problems.

Social isolation has also been linked to heightened anxiety, learning difficulties, and a greater risk of injury, as horses deprived of companionship are more likely to become despondent or withdrawn.

Humans can offer comfort and support to horses during periods of social isolation, but cannot fully substitute for the social bonds horses form with other horses.

A recent (2025) study by Janczarek and colleagues examined this issue by measuring heart rate, heart rate variability, and behavioural responses in 12 horses during brief isolation periods.

The researchers found that even with attentive human support, horses still show physiological and behavioural signs of stress when isolated from other horses. Mares, in particular, remained stressed regardless of the type of human interaction.

Janczarek, I., Gazda, I., Barłowska, J., Kurnik, J., & Łuszczyński, J. (2025). Social Isolation of Horses vs. Support Provided by a Human. Animals

15/06/2025

🧭 10 Principles in 10 Days – Day 1
Principle 1: Regard for Horse and Human Safety

Let’s begin this journey with the principle that everything else depends on:
Safety—for both the rider and the horse.

We tend to think of horse riding as risky—and it is.
You’re 20x more likely to suffer a serious injury on a horse than on a motorbike.
One serious injury occurs every 350 hours spent with a horse.
And around 60% of those injuries happen for behavioural reasons—the horse shies, kicks, bolts, bites, or bucks.

But here’s the thing:
Half of those injuries don’t even happen under saddle—they happen on the ground.
And many of them happen because people never learned how to read a horse’s emotional state, or how to intervene before fear becomes dangerous.

These days, more and more people are coming into horses later in life, often without a background in stock or large animal handling. I think it’s fantastic that our sport is becoming more accessible—but that also means we’ve got to talk more openly about safety basics.

📍 Where to stand.
📍 How to read body language.
📍 How to avoid being over-horsed.
📍 And how to recognise when your horse is confused—not “naughty.”

And let’s be clear:
Just being nice to your horse is not enough.

To have a calm, safe, willing horse, you must be an effective rider, an effective handler, and an effective trainer.
Because horses don’t thrive on cuddles alone—they thrive on clarity.

And here’s the other half of the equation that often gets missed:
We must also protect the horse’s safety.
Not just by avoiding risk, but by avoiding harm.

Like doctors, we need to adopt a version of their oath:
“First, do no harm.”

And yet, in some corners of horse sport—especially in dressage—we’ve normalised training that does harm:
⚠️ Tight nosebands that leave dents in nasal bones
⚠️ Overbent frames (like rollkur) on locked reins
⚠️ Forceful aids that cause pain but are dismissed with, “he still went out and won, so he can’t have been suffering”

But horses don’t yelp like dogs.
They don’t cry out like humans.
They endure.

They’re prey animals. Showing pain would get them killed in the wild. Even a mare giving birth does it silently.

And that’s why the responsibility falls on us—not to assume they’re fine, but to train and care for them in a way that respects who they are.

Because horses are sentient beings.
They feel pain. They feel fear.
And they also feel joy, companionship, and connection.

Our job is not just to ride them.
It’s to protect them, understand them, and ensure they can trust us.

First, do no harm. Always.

📩 Want the full 10 Principles of Horse Training PDF + Poster?
Drop “PDF” in the comments and I’ll send it your way.
The PDF also includes a link to my in-depth online course where I teach these principles in action—step by step.

Let’s make “safety” mean more than just avoiding accidents.
Let’s make it about honour and respect for the horse.
🐴🧠💛

15/06/2025

This is great, someone who is actively seeking to put ethics and evidence into horse training 👏

🐴 10 Principles in 10 Days: How to Tell If Your Trainer Is Actually Welfare-Friendly
(Even when there’s no whip in sight.)

After the recent Heath Ryan incident, we’re all asking…
How do you actually tell if training is ethical?
Not just “effective” or “traditional”—but truly welfare-friendly?

Here’s the truth:
Unethical training doesn’t always look like someone hitting a horse.
Sometimes, it’s far more subtle.

🚩 It’s a trainer telling you to crank the noseband one hole tighter.
🚩 Or to “hold him back and kick him forward at the same time.”
🚩 Or to “just keep his head in and push him on.”
🚩 Or “get a harsher bit.”
🚩 Or “tie a knot in the reins so you can keep them short to keep him round.”
🚩 Or “he just needs to be kept apart from the others—he’ll get over it.”
🚩 Or “don’t stop now, keep going!”—even when your horse is clearly scared or shutting down.
🚩 Or ignoring your horse’s signs of stress and pushing through, regardless of the risk to you or your horse.

These are not just old-school habits. They’re warning signs.

That’s why I’m doing this:
👉 10 Principles in 10 Days 👈
Each day, I’ll break down one of the 10 First Principles of Horse Training, developed by the International Society For Equiation Science. They’re grounded in learning theory and animal welfare science—and once you know them, you’ll never unsee what’s really going on in a training session.

Each post will show:
✅ What the principle means
✅ How it shows up in everyday training
✅ What to look for in your own lessons or coaching

🎁 Want the full poster + PDF guide that explains all 10 principles and how I apply them to real horses, every day?
Just comment “PDF” below and I’ll send it directly to you.

📎 The PDF also includes a link to my online course that takes you through the 10 principles in depth https://go.hartstoneequestrian.com/principles-horse-training-library — perfect if you’re ready to learn more.

Let’s bring ethics and evidence back into equestrian sport.
The horse is always the blameless participant. Let’s train like we believe that.

👇 Drop “PDF” below and follow along for the next 10 days.