Whileaway Ranch

02/08/2025

In 1992, Dr Schulten Baumer and a young Isabell Werth were working with Gi**lo. Isabell told THM:
“We do a lot of rising (trot) to relax their backs. We cannot afford any tension in the back, because to get rid of it is very difficult. When Gi**lo is in the relaxation phase, you can see that between this relaxation, we get him to swing into the passage in a loose manner, followed by a relaxed moment again.”
For more: https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2023/04/gigolo-and-isabell-werth/

02/02/2025

Horses are often praised with tactile stimuli, chiefly with a scratch at the withers or a pat on the neck.

Caressing the horse at the wither region lowers heart rate and increases the duration of relaxed behaviour, so this activity provides an easy reward.

Horses have evolved to find grooming one another (allogrooming) rewarding, so a scratch on an appropriate part of the body is a primary reinforcer.

By comparison, the far more common practice of patting or slapping horses on the neck, if too forceful, can even be aversive or at best neutral to the horse.

Patting is reinforcing only if the owner has coupled the pat with something inherently pleasant.

Horses have not evolved to be motivated to offer certain responses for pats on their necks.

Therefore patting, if it is going to be used at all, should be conditioned as a secondary reinforcer - and secondary reinforcers should be carefully trained if they are to become effective as rewards.

Equitation Science 2nd Edition
By Andrew McLean, Paul McGreevy, Janne Whinther Christensen & Uta König von Borstel.

📖 The full text is available for purchase from our website.

01/29/2025

A study by Niittynen et al. (2022) examined the relationship between oxytocin levels and behavioural responses during foundation training in 19 young horses through five foundation training sessions over nine months.

They measured salivary oxytocin and cortisol levels before and after training sessions, as well as recording behavioural responses during training.

The team found that horses exhibiting more cooperative behaviours towards their trainers, such as nuzzling or seeking contact, showed increased salivary oxytocin levels. Conversely, horses that displayed signs of discomfort during training experienced a decrease in salivary oxytocin.

The study also revealed interesting differences between green yealings and more experienced 2-3 year old horses.

The yearlings undergoing initial training, had higher salivary cortisol concentrations compared to their more experienced counterparts.
This suggests that the training process may be more stressful for horses encountering it for the first time.

As the training progressed, the researchers observed a decrease in both salivary cortisol levels and fearful behaviours across all of the horses.

This indicates that horses generally became more comfortable and less stressed as they became accustomed to the training routine. Oxytocin may play a role in promoting positive human-horse interactions, while cortisol levels reflect stress experienced during the training process.

Understanding these physiological changes could potentially help trainers develop more effective and welfare-friendly training methods for horses.

Full study ➡️ Acute changes in oxytocin predict behavioral responses to foundation training in horses" by Niittynen et al., published in 2022 in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science.

01/28/2025

“Today, the School’s Riders and First Riding Masters, who have served a long apprenticeship in their profession, are such guardians of tradition. They started as pupils in the stables wearing a simple gray uniform. They then learned their trade, and a good seat in particular, on the so-called “Professors”, the old, tried stallions of the School, because learning to sit comes before learning to ride, and only from a secure, pliant, well-balanced seat comes a feeling for the correct aids. Those fine, invisible signs by which the rider communicates with a horse were in fact learned from well-ridden horses who would not dream of acting upon a false aid.

The seat – the rider’s weight which must at all times be fully balanced with the horse that bears it - is of fundamental importance because an incorrect seat will cause the rider’s weight to distort every movement of the horse.

The last word on this, the true basis of all riding, comes from the Director of the Spanish Riding School, Kurt Albrecht, in his book Dogmas of the Art of Riding (1981).

It sounds almost too simple: “The rider must seek to distribute his own center of gravity over the horse and maintain it there throughout every movement, whatever the gait he may require of the animal…”

However, it is no easy thing when the horse canters, gallops, turns, bends, and rising on its hind legs, or even makes a frightened sideways jump. In all circumstances, however, Albrecht says, “…security of the seat is not a matter of keeping a grip with the legs or holding the reins, but entirely of maintaining balance in the saddle.”

Quote courtesy of the book THE SPANISH RIDING SCHOOL: Four Centuries of Classic Horsemanship by Hans Handler

Photo of Oberbereiter Klaus Krzisch and Siglavy Mantua I courtesy of the book The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dressage (Martin Diggle)

01/25/2025

The most influential Dressage Master of them all, Steinbrecht. Celebrate the founder of modern, classical, dressage.
“The rider who has been schooled in such an artificial prescribed seat will present, after a long struggle, not a thoroughly schooled horse… but a wooden machine which, although working mechanically is devoid of all elasticity and freshness in its way of going.”
Dr Reiner Klimke and Pascal illustrate Steinbrecht's principles. https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2022/11/the-most-influential-dressage-master-of-them-all-steinbrecht/

01/22/2025

Horses are very efficient information processors, and they have an excellent eidetic memory (photographic memory). However, there is no evidence that a horse actually reflects on his memory.

Expecting the horse to have the same mental abilities as humans is an unfair expectation and along with it may come feelings of retribution or punishment when humans believe that the horse should ‘know better“

The horse does not have an ‘aha!’ moment during learning like humans do, unless they have been presented with the same or similar task.

Instead, horse learning requires repetitions, which gradually reduce to form habitual responses to stimuli.

Horses require that the trainer has excellent timing in reinforcement because rewarding or punishing behaviours past the moment of the act are futile and create stress.

Andrew McLean - Modern Horse Training Volume 2
Now available for purchase on our website!

01/19/2025

Affective states play a crucial role in an animal's motivation to learn and engage with their environment and positive and negative affective states can significantly alter cognitive processes and behavioural responses.

Positive affective states generally enhance motivation to learn and explore.
Animals in positive states tend to:

➡️ Show increased curiosity and willingness to engage with novel stimuli

➡️ Exhibit more optimistic cognitive biases when interpreting ambiguous cues

➡️ Demonstrate greater behavioral flexibility and problem-solving abilities

➡️ Display higher levels of playfulness and social engagement

In contrast, negative affective states often diminish motivation and learning capacity.

Animals in negative states may:

➡️ Become less responsive to environmental stimuli

➡️ Interpret ambiguous cues more pessimistically

➡️ Show reduced exploratory behaviour and environmental engagement

➡️ Exhibit symptoms of anhedonia (loss of pleasure-seeking behaviour)

Learned helplessness is a prime example of how negative experiences can profoundly alter affective state and motivation. The important distinction here is that the animal no longer tries to cope – it simply gives up and becomes dull.

This was demonstrated in Seligman and Maier's seminal experiments with rats and dogs, when repeated exposure to uncontrollable aversive stimuli led to a deterioration of cognitive, emotional and motivational attributes.

Dogs that experienced inescapable shocks later showed intense hyper-reactivity followed by passivity when presented with avoidable shocks, unlike dogs who had previous experience with controllable shocks or no shock exposure.

Animals that lack control over their environment or experience chronic unpredictable stressors are at higher risk of developing learned helplessness and associated depression-like symptoms.

By recognising the impact of positive and negative experiences on an animal's cognitive and emotional state, we can work to create environments and training approaches that promote positive affective states and enhance motivation to learn.

01/14/2025

𝑻𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓: 𝑨 𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝑹𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈

By understanding and practicing the concept of turning from the center, riders can significantly improve their horsemanship skills and build a stronger partnership with their horse.

01/09/2025

Wanted: Working student for busy Dressage horse training facility in Park City. Ideal candidate is a local resident. Part time position, duties include grooming for USDF Gold Medalist trainer and tacking up, basic horse care and assistance with keeping stable tidy. Stall cleaning on Sundays. Competitive pay and lessons on a schoolmaster horse. Please email or text your qualifications to [email protected] (301)787-4730

01/05/2025

Thoughts?

Skill of the Week_ Mount a Horse

12/24/2024

University of Guelph researchers Caleigh Copelin and Katrina Merkies conducted an preliminary study targeting owners, managers, and coaches of Canadian riding lesson facilities.

The study found that facilities with fewer than six lesson horses reported lower ratios of horses exhibiting reactive behaviours when being tacked up such as biting their handlers and pinning their ears.

This suggests that smaller facilities might be able to provide more individualised care, potentially reducing stress and conflict behaviours in horses.

Lesson horses from respondent facilities worked an average of 2 hours per day.

Longer working hours were associated with higher incidences of horses bucking under saddle. Additionally, facilities with larger herds (13 or more horses) had longer maximum working hours per horse compared to those with smaller herds.

The use of restrictive equipment was also linked to conflict behaviours.

Facilities that reported greater use of side reins saw increased frequencies of reactivity when tacking up, as well as pawing, kicking, and pinning ears while under saddle.

Similarly, the use of flash nosebands was associated with higher incidences of horses bucking under saddle compared to other types of nosebands.

Conversely, facilities with a higher proportion of horses not wearing nosebands reported fewer horses who bucked.

Previous studies have already shown that riding lesson horses have poorer welfare compared to pleasure horses, when comparing incidences of abnormal behaviours, physical injuries, health issues, aggression towards humans, and “depressed-like” postures.

The variability in injury and death rates among lesson horses across different barns suggests that management practices play a significant role in their health and longevity; with larger lesson facilities reporting higher injuries and deaths.

Details on the survey can be found here: https://thehorseportal.ca/2024/12/study-looks-at-welfare-of-lesson-horses/

12/19/2024

Ruby Slippers ❤️

12/14/2024

So I have been having a debate recently with what makes a good dressage horse? so this was my friends opinion:
A good dressage horse has balanced conformation, rhythmic and elastic movement, and strong hindquarters for impulsion. It should be trainable, focused, sound, and responsive, with a charismatic presence. Warmbloods are ideal, but other breeds with natural collection can excel with proper training and partnership.
My opinion:
A good dressage horse is any horse, a horse that is ridden is a dressage horse. The degree of movements and levels are the subjective part. Dressage is not always something we can measure, yes we want elastic movements and strength from the hind but I have seen more native breeds do better half pass than some warm bloods, why is that? Because the rider and horse have a connection, you can have the best conformation, breeding and money in the world, doesn’t mean they will win the class.
So even if your out there doing intro or Grand Prix, understand your abilities, understand your horse’s characteristics and never stop trying to progress regardless of the level; train, listen and build a partnership. Every Olympic horse started from the bottom and worked their way up.

12/12/2024

Rafael Soto, Spanish Medal winner and trainer shares his wisdom:
“Don’t forget that riding is this: to be in balance, to push, to hold and release – the three most important words, push, hold, release. To get to the point when the horse is in self-carriage like he is naturally in the paddock. This is dressage, it comes from the nature of the horse, and we have to go back to this.”
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2022/12/rafael-soto-there-are-only-two-types-of-dressage-good-and-bad/