08/29/2022
I have another super interesting study that’s just been published. It’s great and very relevant, as I use scratches and massage a lot with my 4 donkeys, because they love tactile interactions, in particular scratching, brushing and massage. It was especially useful when I first got my donkeys, as a way to start some communication and build some positive associations, as they all came very fearful of humans and would run away and were hard to catch for their previous owners. I currently have a mini donkey who shows a lot of fearful behaviours and often runs away or doesn’t want to engage, but he will solicit for scratches.
I’ve also suggested this to other donkey owners, especially as they are wary of using food, that scratches are a great way to not only work on the relationship, but reinforce practical behaviours. People think it’s hilarious, but when my hands get tired, I have a whole bucket of different brushes I use and the favourite scratching tool is a spaghetti server, it’s perfect.
I’ve used scratches with my donkeys to teach nose targeting, leading behaviours, the start of voluntary hoof lifts and I’ve also taught shoulder and hip targets to my horse when she was moulting and very itchy. It’s definitely a valuable reinforcer in certain contexts. I think certain horses and ponies really value scratches and massage and particularly at certain times of the year when they are moulting and particularly from people they know and like.
The study used scratches/touch to train and put two different behaviours of stand and come, on cue. The scratches/touches were in 1 minute bouts, which is a really good amount of time, I think. I like that these behaviours in themselves were potentially indicative of how the equine was feeling about the touch, as standing (not walking away) and coming for more scratches is a pretty good sign that the reinforcement was liked and of some value to them. The study was very flexible, letting the equine participate or not and also to be able to move and offer preferred body parts. All 3 equines in the study met the criteria and learned the behaviour and cue via scratches as positive reinforcement.
I think doing a value test on various scratches and touches would be really useful, to work out what was the most reinforcing, down to what was the least. We could use this information in the training, to give the horse or donkey more information and feedback on their approximation. For example, we could give really good high value scratches for a really big or good approximation in the right direction and a less favoured scratch if they were getting off track a little. Scratching really lends itself to conjugate reinforcement, where we can have this fantastic feedback loop between the equine and ourselves.
I previously shared the Sankey et al and Takahashi et al studies regarding wither scratches and neck pats and I agree that the delivery of reinforcement is so important and most likely also the associations and relationship the equines have with people in general and with the researchers. I thought the mini mule Sancho in the study did very well, considering he would have been a handful as a 2 yo little mule living alone. He did well according to the data, lots of nuzzling and nibbling at the start that faded away after training. Young donkeys and mules are super social and playful - my two mini donkeys play and chase each other all day, it’s fun to watch and they get a lot of exercise. I think attention needs to be paid to the equine’s lifestyle, whether their needs are being met, etc as that can affect their behaviour and particularly their reactions to things like touch and social interactions in general. Lone herd animals can get quite frustrated and become unsafe around people when their needs are not fully met.
Finally, I also think it’s important to be aware of potentially triggering a response to pain that we may not be aware of. I know in the past I’ve accidentally hit on a sensitive/sore spot and it’s not fun for the horse, therefore we need to watch their reactions carefully. Obviously any animal who’s experiencing pain is not going to find scratches or touch reinforcing and we need to be mindful of that when first exploring what they like and don’t like.
You can read the abstract here:-
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jeab.786
