LURING
We can use food lures to help shape a behavior by keeping a few things in mind.
1. Get your horse confident with food, first. I don’t recommend using luring on pushy, mouthy, biting horses. This represents insecurity around retrieval of food. Stick to simple things, build your confidence and your horse’s confidence. Once your horse is calm around food and knows clearly how to retrieve it, then you can begin bringing lures into the picture.
2. We need to teach the horse how to retrieve food first, so the first step is careful planning on hand positions or bucket layouts to shape the behavior we want.
Example: I want to teach Nova a shoulder yield by following a rope feel. In that shoulder yield, she should step with the outside foot over the inside. I can carefully place buckets to create the behavior, but she needs to recognize to retrieve food out of the bucket first and foremost. We use a lot of bucket feeding, so Nova understands this method of food retrieval. I have also practiced a lot so my own aim is usually pretty good! Did you notice how I use the opposite hand to toss food when I change directions? This is because when I add the cue, I’ll want to be able to maintain it while adding the lure.
While this will be used for yielding on a lunge initially, this setup is also the beginnings of teaching a reining spin.
3. Fade out the lure fast! Once you feel comfortable that the behavior you’re getting is a nice version of what you want, add a cue in front of it pronto.
Example: Nova is luring to my hand, and I’ve used repeated delivery to help keep her head vertical under the poll and prevent an undesirable head tilt that often occurs as a result of training how to bring the nose around. I’ve now added the tactile cue from the rope. I’ll pause for a moment to let her start the behavior before adding in the lure to ensure it occurs. Eventually, the lure will disappear and my marker sound will become the signal the behavior has earned fo
First Introductions to a Bareback Pad
We’ll build this out slowly, adding in elements related to riding with time. By the time she has a bareback pad on, she’ll be an expert at having things fall off her back and handling girth pressure around her belly in all sorts of spots.
Many people have horses “touch” objects with their nose, providing food after to help build confidence. I prefer horses to decide to touch on their own, and give a steady distribution of food, or constant access to food.
While some horses thrive under the “touch” method, I have preferred the raw information I get from behavior when the new object is disconnected from a required behavior. I prefer something more akin to classical conditioning as opposed to operant conditioning, though both go on at the same time, all the time.
What behaviors have you tried this with or want to try this with?
THREE TIPS FOR SUPPORTING YOUR FEARFUL EQUINE
You don’t need to be a master trainer or an expert in horse behavior to start helping your horse today. Some of our best tools to help horses are built right into them—observe your horse and see what things they do to help themselves. Then, re-create those things for those tricky moments that catch you off guard or simply to help when a procedure is known to be uncomfortable to your horse. It can make a world of difference for some horses, and it doesn’t need to take extra time or money.
#horsetraining #scaredhorse #horsehusbandry
FOLLOWED BY WILD HORSES
On a recent trip to a Herd Management Area, I looked over my shoulder and a group of horses was following me. These horses are not fed. This is a wonderful display of their natural curiosity.
When visiting wild horse herds, give at least 100 feet of space and 300 feet for new foals. If horses approach, move away when you are able to do so safely. Never pet or feed wild horses.
#wildhorses #horsesoftiktok
What are your best bot fly removal hacks?
Those darn eggs are superglued on, I swear.
#fall #botfly #horses #barnhacks
LET’S MAKE THIS A TREND
Sprinkle some treats around a paddock or field and let your horse loose to find them!
This is a really easy way to do enrichment. If your horse is on a dry lot, hide them in buckets and on surfaces so they are not eating dirt.
Your horse probably won’t know to search the first time, and likely doesn’t have many opportunities to use their nose. Make it super easy to start so they know good stuff might be available!
SEPARATION ANXIETY: An example modification exercise
Disclaimer: Horses are individuals and their environments and handlers are unique. There is no one-size fits all to solving a problem behavior. Please work with a professional, who can cater plans to you and your horses' specific needs.
Since separation anxiety is one of the biggest challenges horse owners face, I thought it might be helpful to share a relatively low-stress way separation anxiety can be approached. For some horses this process can be quite quick, and others it may take working with a fine tooth comb to identify their sources of fear and how to help them cope through it. These two horses only have each other, so separation anxiety is a very real problem.
My goal is to be able to take Nova on several hour trail rides in a few years without either horse being worried—we're starting now, so we can be well practiced taking walks by the time we begin riding.
Nothing compares to watching wild horses in the field.
Various shots from the last 6 years of observing wild horses.
#wildhorses #horses #isblue #iscolortrend
COMMENT SECTIONS ARE A WILD RIDE
Beware of folks who talk in certainties—our understanding of horse behavior is a best fit model not an unbendable fact.
Research, while valuable, can lead to false or overblown conclusions where only one, or two, studies are repeatedly cited and are treated as more robust than they actually are. And, lack of research can be misinterpreted as a hypothesis being untrue when in fact it is simply untested.
On the flip side, relying only on field based interpretations means we are bringing only our preconceptions to the table and, even if we are trying to be diligent to keep an open mind, we naturally throw out data that does not fit well into our internal models. We are especially prone to circular reasoning, where we think an explanation fits well and then apply it to every similiar situation. We then claim that similar situation as evidence of our interpretation even though it was never verified in the first place!
If you want to develop an understanding, learn from folks who not only provide you an interpretation but have shown you the data and where it comes from, so you can expand your own knowledge rather than relying on parroted thinkpieces which don’t actually expand your critical thinking.
One full minute of a horse falling asleep while getting scratches.
No tricks, gimmicks, or drugs. No magical stick training. 1.5 years of hard work, consistent training, and trying to recreate a safe, enriching world. And finally this horse feels comfortable enough to begin not just enjoying scratches, but taking a nap after asking for them.
Pasture interactions can be a reflection of how the horse feels in its environment and with the training it does receive. For Oberon, even changing to primarily food-based training and having multiple acres didn’t change his opinions overnight. He has needed repeated, good experiences and opportunities to make choices in as many scenarios as possible. We have worked and reworked how we approach challenges. He came to me with an amazing set of behaviors—he loads, leads, ties, holds still for vet examinations, and even could have his feet trimmed. But, he would be rigid, you could hear his breath pickup, and he would sometimes startle explosively. He has a kick that will send you to the hospital.
His behavior didn’t reflect his internal state, because training is only the tiniest slice of the puzzle. You can create some behaviors in days, minutes even for certain ones. But recreating a horse’s world view takes years. For some, depending on past history, current living condition, and age, it may never change. For others, it may not take much to help them open up and begin to explore the world.
But, there is no speeding past to get to this point. Be prepared to buckle up and put in the work. But I promise it is worth it.
GENTLE RESTRAINT
For emergency situations.
Teaching your horses how to respond to pressure and restraint is an incredibly valuable tool. You can apply it in a number of situations and it can help keep them calm with a behavior they know how to do even when the situation makes them uncomfortable. It is not a substitute for training and should be phased out where appropriate, but it can drastically reduce the risk of a behavioral injury in an emergency situation. Just like you would for formal training, try and introduce stimuli slowly and build your way towards the final goal rather than racing to the target—your horse will thank you, and it might save you an unintentional hospital trip for yourself!
Samantha Couper - Equine behavior & consulting services
