Revolutionary Horsemanship

20/02/2024

Unless our horses have been with us since birth, we don't truly know what kinds of trauma they've experienced in their life. Re-building trust with traumatized horses takes time, patience, and understanding. Two of my horses came from a feedlot, my ex-rodeo bronc gelding, and a young, pregnant mare. It was easy to understand where the trauma came from for my gelding, not so easy to understand from my mare, whose attitude most people would (and did) judge as just being a mare. It manifested differently in them, my gelding, who was terrified of any human movement, had a kind eye and wanted connection, even though it took months to get there. My mare, on the other hand, detested the thought of human interaction and was happy to let you know it, with the exception of feeding time, but even then it was, "Just feed me and leave me alone." I grew up with unicorns and thought I knew horses. These horses have challenged me to grow beyond anything I could imagine, and I am grateful to them for that, because it is truly more rewarding (and at times frustrating) than just "riding."

I don’t think people realize just how many horses out there carry trauma with them.

With that, I don’t even mean severely abused horses that have been starved, or beaten heavily. There are plenty of those around, and those usually cause a lot of outrage (as they should).

What I am talking about though, is the horses whose trauma is never really recognized as such. The ones who tolerate humans and their requests, but never learned to trust them. Those who get extremely obsessive about food which are labelled as “bossy” or ”dominant”. Those who deal with severe Separation anxiety, which are said to be “dramatic”. Those who cannot self-regulate, or co-regulate and constantly carry tension. Those who try to express their pain, which get punished for it because “just a mare”.
Those who are “perfect” until they finally get a choice.

Between Unethical weaning practices, unsuitable welfare, constantly moving homes & and ownership, and aversive training/handling approaches, most horses at some point experience trauma. And this trauma can present itself in a variety of ways. Some are more subtle than others.
Trauma doesn’t have to be this huge explosive reaction. Just like people, horses can carry trauma and move on with their lives fairly normally. It can shape their personality just like it can shape ours.
However, that doesn’t mean doing so is healthy.

The horse that has been in 6+ homes before the age of 10, and thus can’t cope with changes. That is Trauma.
The horse that has never had consistent companionship and becomes obsessive with certain herd mates. That is Trauma
The horse that has only known corrections when they tried to express their confusion, fear, or dislike, and turns from “a perfect beginner’s horse” to “Don’t touch me” the moment you stop using corrections. That is Trauma.
The horse that never had a chance to learn from other horses or connect with people and thus can’t trust people to make good choices for them, can’t self-regulate or co-regulate, and can’t think their way through a situation. That is Trauma.
The horse who was only ever fed 2 times a day and was left without food for 6 hours each night, and has thus become food-aggressive. That is Trauma.
The horse who experienced highly aversive training techniques, and thus now gets frustrated, tense and severely stressed out anytime they are handled in a similar manner. That. Is. Trauma.

Sometimes, awareness of this can be a frustration and defeating realization. I think as equestrians we are often blind to this reality, because sadly, it’s just so common to see horses like that.
It’s not until you work with young, untraumatized horses, or rehabilitated horses, that you realize: “Oh! This is how it should be!”

20/02/2024

I believe in continuous education, especially when it comes to all aspects of horses, because when we know better, we do better! Happy and safe horses, and the connection that brings, is the goal most people seek with their horses.

This weeks documentary expose at Helgstrand dressage has shocked the equestrian world, Except, it hasn’t really. Everyone knows this way of producing horses goes on everywhere in the horse industry. In dressage, in racing, in reining, in eventing.

It’s hidden in plain sight. And actually, half the time it’s not even hidden, it’s normalised. I often pass people hacking their horses in draw reins, martingales and gag bits, you can get them at the local tack shop. I don’t know why we’re surprised people use them, it’s all just there to buy.

This can all feel a bit depressing and leave you wondering what to do. Here are some ideas - you may have more of your own.

1. If you’re a coach or riding instructor set out your stand about your principles and celebrate them with your students. Help people understand what the vertical looks like and why it’s important for their horses. Be proud of saying, ‘Let’s take all this kit off this horse and learn a better language’, Be part of a vanguard of change and prioritise ethics over rosettes (although both are possible). The more people in our industry really do it (rather than just pay lip service to it) the less it will be considered the ‘alternative approach’.

2. Companies can change the images they use to sell us stuff. They could use horse models without nosebands, with their faces in front of the vertical, showing signs of what a happy athlete actually looks like. Many incredible vets, scientists and ethologists have long lists of indicators to help identify these attributes, these are freely available on your local social media page - you don’t have to look far.

3. Magazines, do the same as above. Put these horses on your front cover. People can be what they can see, Show riders without loads of equipment on their horses, demonstrating healthy posture, riding in a way that allows horses to see, breathe, move. Include articles about how horses need to move to stay sound and happy based on classical principles of biomechanics grafted to our modern understanding of their minds and body.

4. If you own a livery yard, along with the sign that says no smoking or heavy petting, include a list of welfare practices for how horses on your yard will live and be treated. Friends, freedom, forage. No need to lead in chifneys we can help you learn how to lead your horse well without one. No shouting at horses on your yard, please.

5. If you hire out a venue you can do similar to the above. As part of your contract outline how horses need to treated on your property. Encourage and celebrate teachers who have respect for the horse at the heart of what they do. Explain that as a visiting rider if you need draw reins there are coaches here who can help you find a better way, Be clear about what you welcome and don’t welcome at your venue.

6. If you run a riding club or pony club then focus on education~ there are plenty of amazing people who will come to talk to members about horse welfare, behaviour and how horses learn. People who can explain that when horses buck or rear or nap or spook they’re doing it for what they consider to be very good reasons, and require our support and compassion rather than punishment. They can help your members recognise pain and discomfort and be on the side of their horse. People want to do better when they know better, I believe.

7. We can all collectively not buy horses who’ve been started under saddle before they’re 4. We can push dealers to find horses who’ve been left to grow up and haven’t been sat on or loose jumped while their young bones are still maturing. We actually drive the market, if we say no to horses started too young and pushed too fast, things will change. We may need to pay more to ‘wait’, but we pay less in the long run.,

8. Those of us who ride can be braver about poking our heads above the parapet and demonstrating, ‘There is also this way of doing things’. Even though it may, in the first instance, open us up to criticism as it doesn’t ’look’ like what has become the norm. We can support and encourage our colleagues and peers who are trying to do things ethically with horses; even if it’s not exactly what we’re doing.

This is only a very small starter for ten. The call is also of course for judges to judge differently, but that is really the tip of the iceberg. If we, as a collective equine industry, don’t start to insist on change wherever we are then we may find the public taste for letting anyone ride a horse is significantly reduced.

Change is possible, you may have other ideas for where practical action can take place right where you are now. Please do share your own ideas. it’s amazing what individuals can do.

09/02/2024

https://progressivehoofcare.org/2023/12/dr-tomas-teskey-on-the-equine-dental-body-connection/

Dr. Tomas Teskey will share with us the connection between dental and body balance in this 2 part webinar.

05/02/2024

How is your relationship with your horse? Are they willing to whatever you ask, or is there tension, resistance, or even dangerous behavior? Learn how to take the time it takes to get the relationship right and the rest will come easier and keep you safer.

18/01/2024

This Throw Pillows item is sold by HoofandHeartDesigns. Ships from Hendersonville, NC. Listed on Jan 17, 2024

18/01/2024

Is your horse your Valentine?

This Throw Pillows item is sold by HoofandHeartDesigns. Ships from Hendersonville, NC. Listed on Jan 17, 2024

12/01/2024

Hey Horse Friends! Do you have favorite winter wear? Here are a few of my favorite things this winter, they have been a life saver for my fingers! A winter hand warmer m**f, this one fits around my waist, has an outside pocket I put my training flag in, and inside pockets to hold rechargeable hand warmers. I also have a rag pinned around the strap, when I drain the hose I wrap my arm around the hose, through the rag, and tuck my hand in the m**f. The rag helps prevent the m**f and my coat sleeve from getting wet and dirty. Then I can just walk along and drain the hose with my hands tucked warmly inside. Last year I had battery powered gloves, my fingers still got cold, they weren't very water resistant, they were bulky, made it hard to deal with hay nets and gate latches, didn't hold up well to farm work, and they quit working before winter was over. The other thing that I wouldn't want to be without are my Hisea insulated rubber boots. I'm on my third winter with them, they keep my feet warm, and they are the most comfortable boots I've ever had! I love them! I will post the links to these things in the comments if you want to get some for yourself. If you have some favorites please feel free to share them as well! Stay warm!

24/12/2023

Merry Christmas to all!

Merry Christmas to all followers

21/12/2023

Slow down when passing horses... rule of the highway is 10 mph. It could be the difference between life and death if an accident happens.

*** DRIVERS, PLEASE SLOW TO 10mph TO PASS HORSES ON THE ROADS; “I WAS DOING (insert expletive here) 30”, IS NOT A VALID ARGUMENT IF A RIDER WAVES TO SLOW YOU DOWN ***

I am no saint as a driver, and will happily admit to being in a rush to get to my calls, most of the time. I fully appreciate that we all have somewhere to be in life. But slowing down for a horse on the roads will honestly only take a minute out of your journey, if that, and will help keep riders and horses safe on the roads.

The HIGHWAY CODE STATES TO PASS HORSES AT A MAXIMUM OF 10mph. That is REALLY slowly. That is also not the same as 30mph. Horses are allowed on the roads, so it’s no good moaning about them being on the roads. We can’t “ride in fields”, and it’s important that our horses get some mental relaxation time away from arenas. We don’t want to ride on the roads, believe me, but sadly it’s often the only way for us to get our horses off our properties.

Today, I hacked Johnnie out. Johnnie is 16 years old and outstanding on the roads. However, I still ask drivers to slow down if I can see they aren’t going to. This is for two reasons. Firstly, ANY horse can suddenly spook at something in or behind a fence or hedge, and jump sideways. At 10mph you’ll be able to stop. At 30mph you’ll probably have a horse through your windscreen, and maybe a dead horse or dead rider. Yes, it’s not nice to think about that happening. So don’t be that driver.

Secondly, I try to educate drivers by asking them to slow, so that they don’t terrify my young horses when I’m out on them. It’s not really any help to other riders to thank cars for not slowing down. Many drivers simply do not know that the Highway Code states that they should pass horses at 10mph. Today, I was screamed at by two drivers, for asking them to slow down on a 30mph road. One screamed that they were “doing 30”, and the other that they had “slowed to 30” for me (yes, in a 30mph speed limit). Sorry, but that’s not slowing down for a horse, that’s driving at the speed limit.

Alfred, my 5yr old (horse!) has had a tough time learning that traffic coming towards him, isn’t going to hit him. Some horses just take a lot longer than others to settle in traffic, and despite lots of long reining and leading out in hand, he still isn’t 100% happy. He was doing SO well, until two VW vans in a row didn’t slow down for him when I hacked out 10 days ago. It would have taken 30 seconds out of their days, and instead has set little Alfred back. So today, I took him out on the roads in hand. As I thought, he was really scared again. Traffic seems to be much kinder when you are leading a horse as opposed to to riding one, so he did eventually settle today. A couple of drivers really stood out today, and alongside a wonderful biker on a big bike with 3 headlights (just in case you happen to read this and know who you are!), a driver from Roofline (Waterlooville) and a driver from Trojan Paving, (also Waterlooville), were both outstanding. Some huge lorries also stopped and turned engines off, so THANK YOU; it makes a huge difference!

So just to repeat, for any drivers who aren’t aware, the Highway Code states to pass horses at 10mph; going past a horse faster than this, may scare a young or traffic shy horse, and could cause a nasty accident.

I’ll end by reminding all riders to please wear Hi-Viz, and to thank all drivers that slow down. Hi-Viz may not be “cool”, but being splattered over the road is less cool, and we want to give drivers a chance to see us.

Photo of Alfred out “hacking” today - if you are leading a horse out, always walk between the horse and the traffic (I swapped sides to take a photo on a quiet road).

EDIT: I rang up both Roofline and Trojan Paving today, to thank their drivers; it always goes down well, and means they’ll continue to be kind to us on the roads 🤞

13/12/2023

"CHOICE" - one of the buzz words of Positive Reinforcement training!

But what does it really mean and how do we set it up for our animals?

Is there really choice or true choice for them?

If a trainer is declaring there is choice or even "consent" in the training, there must be options in the antecedent arrangement, in what comes before behaviour as well as what comes after in the consequences.

I recently saw a reel on fb, where the trainer was using food and the horse was communicating beautifully with the trainer that they didn't want to participate. The horse was extremely polite about it, as many horses are, and I saw at least 4 "no thank you" behaviours from the horse, even ducking behind the human and also a potential displacement behaviour (itching themselves) and the trainer continued to ask over and over, holding the bridle up for the horse. The horse also offered other behaviour (a 'smile') another way the horse was trying to receive reinforcement. The trainer even put the reins over the horse's head, but insisted the horse would leave if they really didn't want to participate. The trainer insisted the horse was saying "in a minute" and other anthropomorphic descriptions of the horse's behaviour. The latency was so high on her cue and the horse clearly didn't want to participate. This is not listening or allowing choice in the training and not the kind of R+ training I do, it made me sad. It's a very good example of coercive use of food AND ignoring the horse's clearly expressed choice. No thanks should mean NO.

Whereas I live and train at Phase #4 and #5 in Ken's article below. I believe good training and a strong positive reinforcement history increases the probability of an animal willingly co-operating. I also believe and experience in my training, that through good training and building a dialogue via listening and responding to an animal's behaviour, we give them choices in both antecedent arrangement and in consequences.

I experienced this a while back, when I started training my donkeys and one showed me in her body language and vocalisations that she was willing and enthusiastic. But my other donkey came over, accepted some food, but then stood to the side, with relaxed body language. I didn't see his usual 'in your face' enthusiasm or him huffing excitedly or offering to stand on his mat, where we usually train.

I accepted it as him choosing 'no thanks' and I didn't try to engage him further. I suspect that he had been grazing on a strip of grass I had given the donkeys earlier and he felt satiated enough to not want to train. It was also an extremely hot day and I was happy to call it quits myself.

I didn't press him or try to engage him because I wanted to train, I respected his choice, it doesn't happen very often so I was excited to see it.

He made a choice between training with some low value food or snoozing in the shade with a full tummy, Seymour is very sensible in that respect. 😄

As usual, Ken Ramirez has some interesting thoughts on this subject.

"The use of these behaviors means nothing, however, if the behaviors are coerced. For example, when a chin-rest behavior is used to indicate that the animal is ready to proceed, if the trainer insists on the chin rest and refuses to provide any reinforcement until the chin rest is given, then the chin rest is being coerced and the purpose of the behavior is defeated."
(Ken Ramirez)

Read more from Ken here:-

https://www.clickertraining.com/what-is-choice?fbclid=IwAR2MLhlDk9Z0wYJ0xORFBGTyLEnCG7gCAuGcRoDEzJmnodRr-YqbGH_9xME

07/12/2023

This course was helpful with my horses, dogs, chickens, and grandkids! 🤣

07/12/2023

When we know better, we can do better! We are our horse's best advocate, it is our job to do the best we can for their physical and emotional well-being. That's what this page is about.

Learn the 3 most common mistakes to avoid with EMS and the 4 step guide to recovery

07/12/2023

🤣

Image courtesy of tackwholesale.com

06/12/2023

Beautiful transformation!

29/11/2023

Horses whisper before they yell, it is up to us to hear the whispers before they yell. This post makes good points about being aware of the cues your horse is giving and how to respond. When we know better, we need to do better.

What triggered this post is an earlier post of mine about certain R+ trainers promoting the idea that it's great if their horse walks away in a training session. I can tell you, any experienced quality R+ trainer I've learnt from, has never said to me that this is ok.

It's really not (for the horse), and as I've said in my previous posts, you are potentially in Negative Reinforcement territory and worse, shrugging our shoulders and saying that’s ok, doesn’t encourage us to train better and find answers to prevent them leaving.

I needed a good example video and I've been seeing a lot of videos lately of other trainers doing this thing that I want to talk about, but obviously I can't use their video. But then I came across one of my own videos that is close to what I want to use as an example of what I'm talking about. To set the scene, I've seen many trainers lately doing this exact thing, from a tiger trainer who kept giving the cue while the tiger snarled in her face and when the tiger finally did the behaviour, she then asked for an even more challenging behaviour. To a trainer whose horse gave a calming signal after the cue and they cued the behaviour again and the horse walked away. To a very big name horse trainer, who is very new to R+ training, whose horse repeatedly walks away during sessions and that trainer, much like the tiger trainer, cues more challenging behaviours, instead of easier behaviours, which makes the horse more likely to walk away in the future.

For me personally, walking away is not ok or what I want to see in my training sessions as a R+ trainer, it means I made a mistake. Accepting it’s ok doesn’t motivate me to train better and make it a better experience for the learner. It’s strange that a culture can be developed for the wrong reasons. If a professional coach trains so poorly that their horse leaves or finds the grass on the edge of the arena or path more interesting and reinforcing than what they are offering, look for a better trainer/coach. We want to train to make things better for our animals and accepting our training as so unpleasant that we cause our learner to leave, is not something we should celebrate or aspire to doing.

To quote Eileen Anderson:

"Building escape behavior into a protocol can provide a disincentive to the human to make the process as pleasant for the dog as possible. Rather than working harder to create a situation where the dog doesn’t want to leave, the trainer can focus on saying that the dog is “empowered” by the ability to leave. On the contrary, some trainers, including myself, consider a dog repeatedly leaving as evidence that we have not worked hard enough at making the experience pleasant. It’s a failure, not a goal. It means we didn’t set up our antecedents and graduated exposures well enough."

You can read my previous post about this subject here

https://www.whisperinghorse.com.au/clicker-training-mythbusting-they-can-just-walk-away/

Therefore I thought it might be interesting to do a post to try to address this issue. In particular, what people are doing or not doing, when a horse doesn’t respond to a cue and is either walking away in a training session, or seeming disinterested or disengaged or frustrated or doing some other behaviour or just grazing.

There are quite a few causes and strategies, it’s not straightforward or black and white, but I thought perhaps addressing one of the main antidotes to these problems might be helpful.

The thing I’d like to focus on specifically, is what to do when your horse doesn’t respond to a cue for a known behaviour, trained with Positive Reinforcement and/or appears disinterested in the training or walks away.

I’d like to preface this discussion by saying that I understand there is a lot of old mindset to undo and a lot of old muscle memory to unlearn. This takes work and it takes determined focus and self awareness and I would go so far as to say that these two attributes are some of the most important ones to develop, to be a good trainer. What that means is that in our old ways of doing things, when we gave an (aversive) cue, we expected compliance and if we didn’t get it, we asked again and again and started to insist and to escalate. So it can be challenging to give a R+ trained cue once and if it’s not responded to straight away and with alacrity, instead of asking again and again, we need to pause and question why a horse would not want to do an appetitively trained cue. We want to avoid continuing to ask and worse, ignore any body language that shouts that they are really not comfortable with the situation (which is what I’ve been observing in videos I’ve watched).

In practical terms, this means that we may think we have trained a behaviour well and think we’ve put it on a solid cue and proofed it, but what the horse is telling us is that we haven’t. OR that there is something else happening for that horse, that overrides the appetitive cue we are giving and that most likely will be something they are finding aversive and is interfering with their ability to do the R+ trained behaviour. It could also be that something else is more reinforcing to the horse and has a stronger R+ history, like the bits of grass around the edge of the arena. Lack of generosity, low Rate of Reinforcement (RoR), not reinforcing small enough approximations or asking for a lot of behaviour or even a chain of behaviours for little positive reinforcement, without building up enough of a R+ history on all the behaviours, can all contribute. You are always working within a number of different laws in relation to learning, Matching Law in particular can often trip you up, if your RoR is too low.

We need to be able to think on our feet. It’s all a learning process and we need to be kind to ourselves and accept when we’ve made a mistake and try doubly hard next time. This is also what I love about R+ training, because we develop so many amazing skills and really, they become super powers. Self awareness is key!

Ok, what to do when our horse doesn’t do a cued behaviour that was trained with R+ or seems disinterested or walks away or ignores us?

There’s a couple of options in the moment:

- Cue an easier well liked behaviour (with a strong R+ history) as soon as you realise
- Give free food anyway and then cue an easier well liked behaviour
- Give free food and give the horse an end of session signal, end of session food and give them a break
- Use a Least Reinforcing Scenario (LRS)
- Give the cue again and if nothing happens, go back to the top of this list

What not to do:

- Give the cue repeatedly
- Cue another behaviour of similar difficulty or challenge
- Withhold food for non-response
- Stop training or give the horse a break without giving the end of session signal and food
- Use any kind of sound or movement that indicates the horse was “wrong”
- Use Punishment (“correction”) as a Consequence.

This list is not exhaustive, but gives you some clues as to the way you want to head.

I’ll also add this excellent and comprehensive blog about training behaviours, putting them on cue, Stimulus Control and more. All these things should be trained and in place before we give a cue and expect the behaviour to be performed. Sometimes people think that for example hoof lifting is just about telling the horse to lift their hoof and then you put it on a cue and they’re done. All behaviours need much more than that to be well trained and also safe and in doing so, you build that R+ history which makes the behaviour well liked, fluent and more likely to be performed, more than walking away!

You can read the blog here:-

https://www.clickertraining.com/node/2279

What I’d like to focus on is the LRS, as there is lots of great information out there about it and it’s an extremely useful tool for your R+ force free tool box. Good trainers with an errorless mindset often use it instinctively, I know I do and it’s very useful to keep the horse engaged and feeling successful.

For a great explanation and discussion of the LRS, I’ll put a link to Jose at Train Me Please’s video, that explains what it is. It’s also a very interesting video about how training has evolved over time and the reason for the LRS. There is some focus on the use of the LRS to address problematic or unwanted behaviour, but my main focus and the way I learnt to use it from Ken Ramirez, was as a technique for trainers, when a cue was missed for whatever reason. There’s also some problem solving covered in the video as well.

You can watch it here:-

https://youtu.be/QcYcgIFVgeM

I want to highlight that the amount of time for your LRS can vary depending on the species and the individual learner. Ken Ramirez talks about a micro pause and if you watch him train, sometimes the pause is so small as to be nearly imperceptible. This is because he trains so fast and his animals respond fast, therefore a 3-4 second pause would be way too long. Similarly with horses, a pause that long for many horses is just too long and borders on withholding food. We also want to avoid them inserting any other behaviour in the pause, apart from what should be their default Calm Attentive Behaviour (CAB) or what I like to call ‘standing still and doing nothing’. Obviously this needs to be an established behaviour first, with a strong R+ history already, so that it becomes the horse’s default behaviour, when in doubt and we instigate the LRS.

I’ll add some further links about the LRS that I really enjoyed listening to and got a lot out of, if you want to dive a little deeper into the LRS.

The one mentioned in Jose’s video I found super fascinating. That was the podcast by Zoo Logic, featuring Grey Stafford, who chats with Chuck Tompkins and Ted Turner, who were some of the early R+ trainers who helped develop the LRS. Again, some interesting insights into the early days of R+ and how women and their softer science based R+ approach influenced the industry a great deal in the early days.

You can find that here:-

https://zoologic.libsyn.com/the-least-reinforcing-scenario

The other super interesting discussion about the LRS was from Ken Ramirez, Susan Friedman and Steve Martin at Live From The Ranch. The LRS discussion starts at 20 minutes and resumes at 1 hour and 16 minutes, or like me, I found the whole thing fascinating and listened to it all!!

You can hear that here:-

https://theranch.clickertraining.com/live-episode-38/

Finally, I’ll show you a video where an LRS would be a good option to use, to give you a good visual. It’s not essential to use an LRS, but it can be a helpful tool. Being generous, understanding how to raise your RoR and lower your criteria when you don’t get the behaviour you expected, are important to remember as well. Knowing your learner is really important too. In this video, I have a very good idea why Seymour didn’t lift his back hooves, it had to do with what we had just been doing prior and then I unexpectedly tried to film voluntary hoof lifts after I’d just been teaching him to keep eating while I did something with his legs and hooves. But it’s a good example where I could have used an LRS to return to the voluntary hoof lifting behaviour easier and smoother and made it clearer for Seymour.

You can watch that here:-

https://youtu.be/tLkdfscZimo