Time spent in quiet companionship is never wasted. Hanging out with your horse, making no demands, and only touching after they approach and show a desire to engage first helps your horse see you as a friend. It builds trust and mutual understanding. Don't get sucked into thinking that all training has to be active.
I think it's vital to a horse's mental wellbeing to be seen, supported, and encouraged when introduced to potentially scary things; whether it is the first time or hundredth time in his life.
I don't know if this horse has seen a hose before and I don't care. I'm going to help him overcome his current feelings of trepidation with no force, freedom to participate or not, and the reinforcing power of food.
Next time you're horse refuses something, ask yourself what they are feeling, why they are feeling that way, what you can do to support them, and how you can change their emotions.
When I start or restart a horse, I like to set up rituals or repeating patterns that they can be reassured by. For instance, in the beginning I'll spend entire sessions saddling and unsaddling so that the horse can recognize the pattern of this process and become relaxed.
I let the horse investigate the pad and saddle before it's placed on his back. I also mark and reward when he touches either one with his nose. I then follow up with placing it on his back and rewarding with food. I then remove it and hold it out to him to reset the pattern.
When he's grown confident, I will mark for touching the saddle or pad. Then I put it on before moving to his head and giving the food. This is called chaining behaviors. Two seperate behaviors that each resulted in a reward are chained together and followed up by a single reward.
After the horse is fully trained and totally relaxed during saddling, I will switch to an intermittent reward schedule during saddling.
R+ trained horses load on trailer
I once had someone tell me that they wanted their horses to be as good about the trailer as mine are. So, I offered to help after explaining that I train using positive reinforcement. She said, "oh yes, I use clicker training sometimes too". I thought, great, we're on the same page!
My first session with her mare took two hours to get the horse to willingly place both front feet on the trailer (so what does that tell you about the horse's anxiety level?).
I happily reported this progress to the owner who decided to watch next time.
At the start of the next session, the mare calmly walked up to the trailer and stepped in with her front feet. I was so proud of her! However, she was not ready to come further yet.
The owner watched me for a few minutes as I rewarded the horse for stepping on, then backed her off, gave a break, and repeated. She walked away at one point, returned with a dressage whip, took the horse from me, and whacked her on the rump until she jumped into the trailer. The woman turned to me with a self-satisfied grin and said "see, she knows what to do. You just have to be firm". I was flabbergasted. What a disconnect! I thought we were of the same mind but force-free, and positive reinforcement meant something totally different to this person.
I wish I'd had the courage to stand up to this person in the moment but she was intimidating. She truly thought that her way was the best way and there was not going to be any convincing her otherwise.
I'm sharing this story now to make the point that:
- you can't train a fearful horse. They only learn when they are calm and relaxed.
- the quickest way to turn a horse from calm to fearful is by using force, especially physical punishment like a whip.
- positive reinforcement (or clicker training) isn't a simple method of feeding treats after the horse does something.
- in using positive reinforcement training for systematic desensitization, I'm trying to change the horse's emotional response to a
Wait for it...
Excuse me, Miss. You're blocking the view...
Rowdy is learning to stand still in the barn aisle with the aid of a target and positive reinforcement
Saddling Rowdy on cue with an assistant
It's one thing for me to train a horse and have them respond. It's another for the horse to then generalize the same behaviors when working with someone else.
Calling in an assistant trainer is really useful in these situations. I'm able to observe the horse's reactions to an unfamiliar person and give guidance when needed. It also helps bridge the gap between trainer and owner because the difference in body language clarity and timing can be quite jarring for the horse.
We're showing him that he can trust and have confidence in others that handle him.
Helping Luke learn to lift his feet using R+
This horse has been aggressive towards humans in the past. After he broke his owner's ribs with a double barrel kick, she rightfully became nervous around him. As a result he hasn't had his feet handled much for over ten years (except for a yearly trim done under sedation).
I've been working with him using positive reinforcement in order to gain his trust and motivate him to become a willing participant in our training.
He has come a long way. I can now point to each of his front feet and he will lift them. We are working on holding the foot in my hand for a few seconds at a time but that is still challenging for him.
In case you are wondering about my voice cues in the video, his owner (also a reward-based trainer) likes to name her horses' feet A/B/C/D so that the individual leg can be called for and combined with a command (ex. up, come, cross, back).
Training with Empathy: Hips over
Empathy- the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
Horses have feelings. They don't operate on instinct alone. That's why empathy is so important in training.
In this video you'll see me working with a horse who has not allowed his hind end to be handled for 10 years. He is defensive about his whole body but especially his right rear leg. I suspect that he was injured at some point and has a bit of residual pain. He moves soundly in the pasture; trotting, cantering, bucking, and rearing, so I think he is just a little achy. I think he's primarily resentful of human interference and fearful of pain that might be inflicted.
I've been teaching him to target his hip to my hand. You'll see him kick out when I first ask for it on the right side. I don't punish him for this. I reward him because he tried. He moved his body towards me using his bad leg because Iasked him to. It's not something he does on his own. He's been compensating for years. It's hard to move your body in a new way and I understand that.
Some people might say that if I reward him, I'll be teaching him to kick out. This is not true. As time goes on and his muscles strengthen this move will become easier. He will also learn that he can trust me to do no harm so the kicking will extinguish itself on its own. If it doesn't, I'll become more specific with my criteria and only mark movements with no kick.
I'm sharing this in the hopes that it inspires you to think differently about your horse's behaviors. They have limited resources available for communication. We must listen when they speak.
