Spence Horse Sense

23/03/2025

📢 Exciting Opportunity at Blue Cross! 🐴

Blue Cross Rolleston rehoming centre is seeking a dedicated Adoptions Coordinator - Horse to join their team. This permanent, part-time role is perfect for someone passionate about equine welfare.

Find out more and apply 👉 tinyurl.com/2wdjh372

Application Deadline: March 30, 2025

16/03/2025

Any plans for the 12th April? If not maybe you'd enjoy joining me near Portadown for a workshop on how horses feel and learn? We'll be focusing on body language, behaviour and expression and what they tell us about how the horse is feeling, how we use this information to improve both our training and our horse's welfare and wellbeing, how this impacts on relationship and safety. This will be inside in a very comfortable space, we will look at lots of videos, have lots of discussion, and hopefully lots of learning too! If this sounds like something you would enjoy just get in touch! See comments.
Venue kindly sponsored by Equine-X 🤩🤩 as part of their 'Keeping it Real' philosophy.

13/03/2025

First Spence Horse Sense Northern Ireland practical workshop of the year kicks off in April!

Understanding how horses feel and learn
Saturday 12th April 10am to 4.30pm

Have you ever wondered how your horse feels about things? At this workshop we will discuss equine body language and behaviour and what they tell us, and understanding how this relates to training, motivation and learning. This is a classroom based day with lots of video and group discussion and exercises.

We have a beautiful, comfortable class room space for this workshop, this is an upstairs space so you need to be able to go up stairs to attend.

If you're interested in attending and want to find out more, give me a shout or go to my website for information and booking (link in comments below)

This is the first of a series of six running at Dukes Livery Stables and Cross Country, Portadown. You can book them individually or all together, depending on what you're interested in. The rest of the workshops are yard/ arena based with horses.

The venue has been very kindly sponsored by Equine-X, as part of their ‘Keeping it Real’ ethos, for horse wellbeing and performance.

About Equine-X
A registered feed company and BETA Trade member based in Northern Ireland.
Home of CONNEXION®, a premium nutraceutical for tendons, ligaments, bones, cartilage, and other equine connective tissues.

Remaining dates:
Saturday 17th May 10am to 4.30pm How to Build Reward into Regular Training

Saturday 14th June 2025 10am to 4.30pm Target Training

Saturday 9th August 10am to 4.30pm Liberty Work

Saturday 20th September 10am to 4.30pm Work In-hand

Saturday 11th October 10am to 4.30pm Confidence Building

Each workshop builds on the skills learned at the previous one, and you will learn how to train with a marker signal such as a clicker as part of the series, along with a deeper understanding of horse behaviour, motivation, body language and emotion and how these relate to learning theory. However you can also attend only the ones in the series that are of interest to you. I have online courses and can do one to one sessions to 'catch you up' with anything you might have missed!

12/03/2025

I’ve been very busy recently doing a bit of virtual spring cleaning, updating both my websites, my online courses site and my behaviour business site.

I’ve also been busy planning this year’s calendar. As well as the Make A Difference event at Bransby Horses on Thursday 10th April, I’m running a series of workshops here in Northern Ireland. You can book on to any one individually, but they do build together so booking the whole series could be really useful in terms of making a training plan for you and your horse this year. Or if you prefer learning by observing others and then trying things out at home in peace and quiet, come along without your horse! We have plenty of unmounted spaces too.
The goal of the workshops is to help you develop better ‘Horse Sense’ by developing your eye and reading of body language and behaviour, learning how that integrates with learning theory and motivation, so that you can then improve the training experience for your horse. We will focus on how to better understand how to use positive reinforcement in training, along with the use of a marker signal such as a clicker.

I first started running workshops on this type of thing in 2004 and the horse world has come a long way in the years since. We are all much more aware of the value of using food in training, however it is very important to learn to do so in a careful and informed way. I was doing a talk for a branch of The Pony Club recently and showed them video of me using a clicker and food to train a horse. They were all particularly impressed by how polite he was around the food, how he didn’t mug me and was relaxed and happy to walk away from me and eat his hay when I told him the session was finished. If you would like to understand how you can train this way and the value it has both for you and your horse, then these workshops are definitely for you!

The workshops will be at Dukes Livery Stables and Cross Country, Portadown.
For more information just click on the link below:
https://spencehorsesense.com/spence-horse-sense-events-2025/

I am very grateful to Equine-X who are sponsoring the venue as part of their ‘Keeping it Real’ Ethos for horse wellbeing and performance.

• About Equine-X
• A registered feed company and BETA Trade member based in Northern Ireland.
• Home of CONNEXION®, a premium nutraceutical for tendons, ligaments, bones, cartilage, and other equine connective tissues.
Premium Horse Supplement – Equine-X Connexion | Science-Driven Formula | equine-x

I’ve also been working hard at updating my online courses website. The address for this has also been updated along with a new name ‘Psy-HTEC, Psychology for Horse Trainers and Equestrian Coaches’. This is to reflect the strength that my Psychology background, lecturing and extensive practical experience brings when it comes to understanding horse behaviour and learning. The courses are still being revamped but I’ve lots of exciting developments on the way in terms of coach, trainer and rider education…. watch this space:
https://www.psy-htec.com/

Of course, I’m also still available for online and face to face coaching and behaviour work, just check out my website https://spencehorsesense.com

If you are a Pony Club Centre or Branch of The Pony Club in Area 17 I am happy to do a free talk for you on Pony Behaviour, Learning and Welfare, just pay my travel expenses! To book in contact me .

Looking forward to seeing you all out and about this year!!
Helen 🐴😍🐎 xo
Ps want to stay up to date on all developments with my online courses? Sign up for my mailing list and I’ll email you when new courses are available 🥰

11/01/2025

Further Clarity on What Horses Want
Jan 11, 2025 by Dr Helen Spence

Just to follow up on a few points raised from my previous blog post. Life isn’t always about doing what we want, it’s also about restrictions.

Sometimes we have to do things we don’t want, because they are good for us. Sometimes we don’t get to do things we want, because they are bad for us.

That’s just part of life, and for our horses, we make those decisions. But we do need some knowledge and understanding to know what is good or bad for the horses, and how to weigh the physical health benefits or costs against the mental health benefits or costs.

What is good for the body may not always be good for the mind, and vice versa. We have to be prepared to compromise.

Sometimes the advice from the vet or CAB may be required to help you find the best balance for that individual horse. That’s where the team approach is of most benefit, when professionals work together to discuss and pool knowledge so that the outcome is best in terms of welfare and ‘a good life’ for the individual horse.

But we shouldn’t have to be made to do something that we don’t like, that causes us stress or discomfort, and has no real benefit for us, just because someone else wants us to do it. Okay, we might choose to do something for a loved one that we’re not mad about, for example watch a film we find a bit boring, or go to a work dinner with people we aren’t so keen on, but we do have a degree of choice there, especially if we are doing it through love. But we shouldn’t be expected or forced to do something, through fear, that we really aren’t comfortable with or find stressful: that isn’t an example of a healthy relationship, and in this day and age with increasing awareness of the dangers of coercive control we should recognise where the boundaries lie.

By the same token when we look at our interactions with our horses, we need to be aware that yes, if they have a good relationship with us, they may choose to do things they aren’t quite so in to, but if they are doing activities that they don’t enjoy, or find stressful, just because they are scared to say no, that really isn’t a healthy relationship.

How do we know if the horse is complying/ conforming because they are scared not to, or because they’ve learned they have no choice?

We need to get better at reading body language and behaviour, better at understanding motivation, learning and emotion. When we have this knowledge and understanding, we can observe and assess an individual horse, and recognise how they are feeling about the activity in question. We can look for indicators of stress and discomfort, or signs that they have shut down or are in a depressed state, or simply have become compliant and a little switched off.

If this is something you would like to learn more about, you may be interested in some of the courses that I run. I’ll have a series of new courses launching this year that will cover these areas, as well as the courses I already have. To be kept to date with these as they launch, sign up for my mailing list at

https://forms.gle/M7tM4qFm2UG8cNkz5

Thank you!!

If you would like to receive email updates about Spence Horse Sense Courses and Training opportunities, I would really love it if you would sign up to my mailing list! Email is the best and easiest way to stay in touch, so I really appreciate you taking the time to do this.Thank you xo

08/01/2025

Do Horses Want To....?

I've just published a new blog post but for those of you that don't follow my blog, here it is. A great video popped up on my Instagram feed this morning. Kelly Lambert, professor of behavioural neuroscience of the University of Richmond is leading a team studying neuroplasiticity, anticipation and motivation. As part of the study, they trained rats to drive miniature cars. The initial training was done by shaping behaviour using fruit loops as a reward. However, they found that as the process went on, the rats became increasingly enthusiastic, running to the side of the cage and jumping in anticipation when they knew the opportunity to drive was coming. Lambert said it reminded her of her dog getting excited before a walk.

Aside from what this tells us about how much rats like driving toy cars, it got me thinking about horses and how we train them and the expectations we place on them.

Just before Christmas there was a very well written post from Renate Larssen. The Equine Ethologist, asking ‘Do Horses Want to Compete’. This blog post seemed to provoke a considerable amount of debate in the equestrian community, with people quite divided in how they felt. Speaking as a Psychologist and Clinical Equine Behaviourist, I think the more pertinent question is not ‘Do horses want to compete’ but ‘Do Horses want to do *insert any activity that we do with them*’.

Looking at the rats in the study, they are quite clearly telling the researchers that they like driving for driving’s sake, not for the fruit loops.

Now certainly the fruit loops are an important part of the story. By initially training using an appetitive (pleasant) stimulus, the researchers would definitely have helped the rats to be more optimistic about participating in training, more willing to have a go. But it was the fact that they discovered through experiencing it that the activity itself is fun that has led to the sustained enthusiasm.

Puppies may not initially get excited about seeing a lead, and lead training has to take place before on lead walks can happen, but over time dogs learn that walks themselves are enjoyable. So they get excited when they see the lead.

Do they feel the same way about going to the vets? Well that depends on their experience of vets. Some dogs might bounce in to the surgery, others might tuck their tail and drag their feet.

Careful work with training and motivation can help, but there are some activities that just always need an external reinforcer added in to make them ‘worthwhile’.

You can make the initial training fun, but it is only if the activity itself remains fun that you get continued enthusiasm. Otherwise you have to pay for it forever.

For example, you can train a horse to voluntarily cooperate with worming or injections using food, but since these are, in themselves, unpleasant experiences, you will most likely always have to add the odd positive reinforcer to maintain that voluntary cooperation.

But if you are working with an activity that the horse really enjoys, then you might need to use the food to initially teach them what behaviours are involved but once they know how it works, they keep doing it because they enjoy it.

Think of this as a way that we can explain how things work… if the rats were kids, we would just use words to explain how to drive the toy car, or demonstrate it… the shaping with food rewards just helps us get across the language barrier until they discover for themselves the fun to be had.

So what has this to do with our question ‘Do Horses want to…’?

In the equestrian world currently, how many horses are actually trained to do tasks using appetitive stimuli? We know that the majority of mainstream equestrian training practices are actually based on using negative reinforcement, which relies on the use of aversive stimuli and escape and avoidance responses. This doesn’t always to lead to an optimistic outlook. So we aren’t always starting from the best place. Certainly those horses that are trained using positive reinforcement are beginning their training from a happier place.

More importantly, we need to ask our horses, if the reinforcers (appetitive or aversive) are removed and you are given choice, do you still choose to do this thing? Now that can be a rather tricky thing to unpick, since the person observing the horse needs to be skilled enough to recognise how the horse is feeling. Some horses will comply and behave in a certain way because historically, they’ve had to. For example, it is possible to train a horse to be ridden brideless using pressure (aversive stimuli, negative reinforcement). Not all ‘liberty’ is truly free. If the horse is well enough drilled with the bridle, they are much more likely to ‘behave’ without it: hence why these tend to be ‘highly trained’ horses.

This is a very different picture to a horse that has been trained at liberty using food or scratches (appetitive stimuli, positive reinforcement) from scratch.

But the actual task itself needs to be fun/ enjoyable for the horse if they want to keep doing it long after the reinforcers are removed.

You can use food or pressure to train just about anything, but can you keep doing it six months, a year, two years later without food or pressure? That’s where you find out what the horse really wants.

So what things do our horses really enjoy? Well that depends on a number of things. We have species specific activities that they choose, for example grazing together as a herd, mutual grooming or hanging out with friends, social play, object play. But these are also impacted and shaped by life experience. A horse that hasn’t grown up in a herd may feel the need for these activities but lack the social skills to safely and successfully take part in them. Then there are the activities that they might find fun but they’ve never been exposed to. Those rats didn’t know they liked driving the toy cars until the researchers showed them how to do it.

So learning and exposure are important. Driving toy cars isn’t in the natural repertoire for rats, but some of them certainly seem to like it. Will all rats like driving toy cars? Not necessarily. It will depend on individual personality, life experience, how they are first introduced to it. If they had been trained using aversive stimuli that could have tainted any future enjoyment, or reduced their willingness to take part.

Dressage or jumping or hacking alone might be fun for some horses, depending on personality, physical fitness, life experience and learned associations, but not for others. Some might enjoy jumping 90s and not 1m40s. Some might enjoy a bit of lateral work or piaffe and passage but still not enjoy the sustained effort required for a Grand Prix test. Perhaps none of them will enjoy any of it if it requires sustained physical pressure from reins or legs, or some of them might enjoy it despite those things? We need to remember that they are individuals and not machines.

The key I feel is training in a way that allows for choice, pays close attention to how the horse is feeling at every stage of the process, and doesn’t rely on sustained long term use of reinforcers, but instead focused on the task itself becoming something that is fun. If it isn’t fun, then that’s not the job for that horse.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can train in this way, you may well be interested in some of the courses I have running this year, to sign up to my mailing list just pop over to my website or click on the link in the comments 😊.

Please note, there will always be things that horses ‘have’ to do, that they may not choose, and there may be things that they choose that actually aren’t good for them at all. For example, overeating, avoiding essential healthcare, choosing to run out on the road… I’m not saying here that we must only do things that are fun and not worry about the rest, or that we can’t stop them making bad choices. I’m just commenting on training and the kinds of activities we expect our horses to take part in.

07/01/2025

Stabling and Behaviour Problems

By Dr Helen Spence BSc (Hons) Psych PhD ABTC-CAB Equine APBC Full Member (Equine)

I first posted this on December 7th, 2015, on an old blog of mine, but it is as relevant today as it ever was, with many yards still offering very limited winter turnout, if any. Thankfully there have recently been a few posts doing the rounds on social media discussing this very issue, so I felt it was a good time to reshare this discussion of the impact of stabling on behaviour.

You will often hear behaviourists say that horses benefit from increasing turnout time. A commonly used concept is the idea of increasing access to the three ‘Fs’- Friends, Forage and Freedom.

I can honestly say that in all the years that I have been in business, I have yet to come across a horse that hasn’t benefitted long term from this approach. That includes some poorly socialised, seemingly agoraphobic (fearful of open spaces) and rather stressed horses.

Yes, initially we have had to do work in order to help them cope, but in all cases, long term, they have ended up being happier, healthier, and most importantly for owners, less stressed and safer horses to be around.

However I occasionally meet resistance to the idea that a horse may benefit from increasing their time spent out of the stable, particularly in the winter months.

This can be for a number of reasons. The most simple one often is that people feel sorry for the horse.

Let’s face it, many humans wouldn’t like to spend their time outside in the cold, wind and rain. Our natural tendency is to seek shelter from bad weather by hiding in caves. We feel safest when tucked away in a small area with an entrance that’s easy to defend. We wrap up in warm clothes in order to keep out the cold. We sit by the fire and pull the curtains against the dark, staying safe by huddling together.

On the other hand, horses naturally feel safest in open areas with a good view of the horizon. Being with the herd means that many eyes and ears can monitor for potential predators. They need the freedom to choose to be able to express their flight response in order to feel safe. They generally aren’t too bothered by the rain as long as they’ve plenty to eat. They will seek out shelter from the wind and the worst of the rain, but don’t be surprised to see them out in the middle of the field munching away even on very wet days. Horses have super duper winter coats that can adapt according to weather conditions.

It’s easy to be anthropomorphic (ascribing human attributes to a being that is not human) and say that, because you know that you would be happier in a cosy warm dry stable, that your horse is too.

And here’s the tricky bit. To all intents and purposes, the horse may well appear to be happy. They may eat all their hay, lie down and sleep, stand calmly, and, proof most important of all, be hanging about at the gate at coming in time, seemingly eager to get in. Obviously your horse must love being stabled. Hey, in wet weather they just stand at the gate, begging to come back in, even when you have just put them out! Why does this happen?

In my experience, it’s all about habit and expectations. Food is a huge factor. So many people give their horses a bucket feed and a pile of hay when they first come in from the field. This food is a huge reinforcer for the horse. If you then get in the habit of bringing the horse in when you see them at the gate, the behaviour soon gets reinforced. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the horse actively wants to spend more time in the stable, simply that the act of waiting to come in has been heavily reinforced.

This is particularly the case in winter, if horses are turned out during the day for just a few hours on to muddy pasture with little grass. Another factor is the need to remain with the herd. If all the horses go in and out at the same time, then this is a group activity. It is very important for horses to stay wih the group, safety lies in being with the herd.

So, we’ve established that your horse is happy in the stable. However you’ve got the behaviourist out because you’re having a few issues related to riding and handling. Your horse is perhaps spooky, or behaving unpredictably when you ride. They may be more reactive than normal, or finding it hard to deal with new objects and experiences, showing less curiosity and more fear than would be ‘normal’ for them. Perhaps they have become irritable about grooming, or they’ve taken a strange dislike to another horse that never used to bother them.

The behaviourist immediately says, you need to decrease the time your horse spends stabled, and, ideally, you need to turn them out with friends and provide sufficient ad lib forage to keep them settled and happy together. Why does this change in routine help your seemingly unrelated behaviour problem?

The answer lies in what I’ve written above. Horses feel safest when they have the ability to choose to run away from potential threats. As soon as we take that choice away, we create stress for them. They are forced to stay in close proximity to all kinds of threats, whether that is the grumpy horse in the stable next door, the kid that plays football in the yard every day, or the shouty man that mucks out and can behave unpredictably.

Or even very simple things like the wind causing a bit of tin on the roof to flap slightly, or the sound of traffic on the road outside.

Whatever the stimulus is, the emotional reaction will vary from one horse to another. That’s why some cope better than others with stabling. However, the more stimuli that a horse is sensitive to, and the more they have to ‘bottle up’ their response, the more problems you are likely to see outside the stable, in terms of reactivity and the ability to deal with stress.

If sustained over a long period of time this can start to have an impact on physical health, including suppression of the immune system.

So is it really as simple as just turning them out more? Unfortunately not! There are other factors to consider, including the quality of the turnout, whether there is a dry enough area for the horse to lie down and sleep (failure to be able to sleep deeply can also increase stress levels!), the amount of shelter available, the amount of forage available, and the stability of the social group.

The ideal scenario is one in which the horse has freedom of choice, with open shelters, hard standing, pasture, good friends and plenty to eat.

Unfortunately this is not a set up offered in most livery yards.

Therefore, if you are having problems, seek expert advice from a suitably qualified and experienced equine behaviour consultant. During a behaviour consultation, the behaviour consultant will be able to look at you and your horses individual circumstances and give you appropriate, tailored advice.

2025 addition: I recommend an ABTC registered Clinical Animal Behaviourist specialising in Equines, or CCAB. Please visit APBC, ABTC or FABC for further information.

19/12/2024

I've had quite a few queries about loading issues lately so I thought it would be nice to offer a coupon for 50% off my trailer loading course as a little Christmas gift to you all! The coupon code is LOAD1 and to take advantage of the offer just go to https://helenspence.podia.com/trailer-loading-course-2022 and enter the coupon code at checkout 😁. Offer is valid until 11.30pm on Saturday 21st December 😁. If you have a loading issue I always recommend you contact a Clinical Animal Behaviourist that specialises in horses (like myself!) to help you, it is super important to understand the underlying issues that are leading to your loading problem. However for a good overview of how to teach a young horse to load and to help you better understand how loading problems develop, and some hints and tips to keep you right, this is the course for you!!

Ever wanted to learn the best way to teach a horse to load & travel? Or to better understand what is going on when horses struggle with loading or travelling. The course includes a recording of a workshop from September 2022 and numerous practical training videos. Recommended for those with youn...

04/09/2024

Think before you ride....
For me the most important thing in any of my interactions with my horses is 'how is he/ she feeling?'.
I pay attention to their body language, facial expression and behaviour and use that to guide me in recognising how they feel about what is going on around them, the situation they are in, the training or riding in doing. My job is then to take steps to help them feel better. This might be through stopping training, adapting what in doing, moving to a place/ situation where they feel safer. But more often it's through recognising the very early signs and taking steps before it gets to that point, making sure that my choices are good ones and that they STAY relaxed or very close to it, rather than waiting till it goes wrong and then fixing it.
If you want to learn more about how to do that, check out my website, you can purchase my online video courses or you can book in for a training session with me virtually or an actual visit. Perhaps you are a professional trainer who wants to further develop your skills in which case I can offer regular mentoring and support.

24/07/2024

Being the change and what it means for me….
Jul 24, 2024spencehorsesense
In 1999 I was shown how to use a clicker and positive reinforcement to train horses. It was a revelation to me and made me question everything I had previously been taught. Over the following years I learned to apply all the theory I had covered in my Psychology degree to real world training situations.

I was full of enthusiasm, eager to share what I’d learned and by 2003 I had started delivering workshops, coaching riders and aspiring trainers, and starting youngsters with an emphasis on reward and the emotional well being of the horse. I wasn’t alone, at that time there were a few of us starting out and sharing our knowledge and experience, but we were very much in the minority.

However, I firmly believed that this was the future of horse training and that we were going to see significant changes in the horse world.

Since then there has been a growing body of trainers working along the same lines. There has been an increase in awareness of the impact that different training methods have on the horse.

People have gone from asking me ‘what on earth is a behaviourist’ and ‘how can you train horses with food/ scratches/ without ‘normal’ training aids? to ‘what type of training do you do’ to just accepting my role as fairly normal.

But has the horse world actually changed?

The answer is yes and no . I think for sure that awareness has shifted. And we know that public opinion has changed. But if we were to be a fly on the wall at various yards across the country, at training sessions, lessons and competitions, I think we would still see many practices that I know make me intensely uncomfortable.

This saddens me immensely. Surely with our very famous ‘love for the horse’ both in the UK and Ireland, we should be doing a better job?

It is absolutely possible to keep horses, care for them, train them, even ride them, in a way that takes account of physical and mental wellbeing, that recognises their emotional needs and provides good quality of life. Those of us that have had the academic training and practical experience are more than happy to share our knowledge and practical skills with everyone else.

Do we need to ban competition with horses? Maybe? Maybe not? I think that perhaps the focus should be on showing people the alternative.

If you can’t train using a whip, spurs etc as aversive stimuli, how can you train? You need to know and understand the possibilities in order to begin to change. I (and my colleagues!) know that it is absolutely possible to work in a different way, one that in my opinion results in much happier horses.

How do we change the world? I believe we need to highlight the alternatives, to showcase the best approaches in terms of positive mental and physical wellbeing for our horses, to demonstrate that horses can be willing partners in the process.

Just to be clear, I’m not perfect, I’m not always as patient as I should be, but I do try hard to keep improving, evolving, learning, growing and to keep sharing what I’ve developed with my clients. I’m not here to judge anyone on their practices. I’m just here to share what I’ve learned. For me, that’s how to positively be the change.

Because of this I’ve decided for the next month to make my Getting Started with the Clicker Course available for just £1, along with big reductions for those who sign up on my Reading the Horse, Practical Skills with the Clicker and Learning Theory in Context courses.

Just go to the link in the below 😊 to get the course for just £1.
https://helenspence.podia.com/getting-started-with-the-clicker

Sign up and you will be offered the other three courses at discount prices at checkout 😊, up to you whether you choose to add any or all of them!

My way of doing what I can to be positive and show that there are lots of us out there doing our best for our horses.

Will you join us?

Helen xo

Perhaps the most important thing you can do is build a solid foundation for your training. Learn how essential these foundations are, how to build a solid foundation and points you need to consider when working with the clicker. Even if you have already been working with the clicker for a while, you...