01/10/2023
Many of us refer to ourselves as R+ training, clicker trainers, etc... But whole horse care, keeping, and ethically focused training, we don't just use one science, we take information from all the applicable sciences. We aren't following the formula that science lays out for us, like a step by step, though behavioral science gives us a good framework. We are using information, that grows and changes as we learn more, from all the sciences that impact biological life, keeping, and learning. My book, "Equine Empowerment: A Guide to Positive Reinforcement Training" goes into these 3 sciences in depth and discusses how we apply this to our daily keeping, care, welfare and training in a practical way.
Behavioral science is what most people think of when we refer to R+ training. Behavioral science is the study of how we all (all learning beings) learn, problem solve, and choose which behaviors to refer to in various situations. In this we see classical conditioning, the pairing of a stimulus with a meaning. Clicks are paired repeatedly with food, clicks take on the meaning of food. Whips are paired repeatedly with discomfort, whips take on the meaning of discomfort. It also includes operant conditioning, this is where a trigger causes a behavior, then the consequence of the behavior determines the likliehood of it happening in this context in the future. This is the ABC, Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence. Then the 4 possible consequences are the 4 learning quadrants we see so often, positive reinforcement, positive punishment, negative reinforcement, negative punishment. We also have extinction among there. So this science looks specifically at how beings learn, how outside stimuli influence behavior, and how we can intentionally modify the behavior of others.
Behavior modification is what "training" is, but there's much more to keeping horses physically and emotionally healthy and expressing safe and appropriate behaviors than just training.
We also have Ethology. This is the study of the animal in nature. How they developed into the animal that they are, how they developed physically and behaviorally to function in their environment and in their social units (if they are social). We study what is "normal" for horses when not disturbed by outside situations like domestication, confined spaces or limited resources. This science also looks at specific aspects within a species, like how mothers nurture their young, how they choose mates, how they form social units, how they find resources, ways or reasons they display antagonistic behavior, etc... They'll look into every aspect of what a specific species is designed for, what is healthy and normal for them. Then it's our job to take this science and apply it for our domestic species, by seeing more displays of natural, healthy behavior, we know our animals are happy and fulfilled. By not fulfilling these needs we'll see emotional and behavioral fallout, like stereotypic, superstitious, antagonistic, displaced, and other unhealthy behavior. We can learn through what horses do when given complete choice, at what they should have in their domestic setting. For example, how much do they walk in a day in what intervals? They don't canter and jump for 45 straight minutes then sit in a box for 23 hours. We use this information to provide what's best for our horses in their life and their training. What do horses naturally find aversives? appetitive? How do we use this to influence their behavior?
But, I think, most importantly, we have to consider how does our horse FEEL? Ethology specifically looks at what is "normal", "natural", "appropriate" for the species, but they intentionally don't add interpretations such as feelings to their observations (so as not to see things from an anthropomorphic perception). But the whole reason we are choosing to keep our animals more naturally, train our horses more kindly, is because we want them to be happy! So how do we know how they feel? How do we classify emotions?
This is where Affective Neuroscience comes in. This is the science of the brain and nervous system that studies the physical expression of emotions. Which hormones, parts of the brain cause which feelings? How are those feelings then displayed in various species? They're extremely similar across the board, but there is some variability. This study is important to know what our animals are capable of feeling, how they display those feelings, and how we can influence them in a good way.
When we combine these sciences we can see a more complete picture on how to keep, train, and emotionally support our animals in the best ways possible. As the human caretaker of an animal we chose to bring into this world, it's our responsibility to provide for them the best care possible. Domestication comes with benefits that living in nature can't provide, but we can take the best of nature to provide our horses an appropriate lifestyle for healthy living. Behavioral modification can be effective using all the quadrants, they all work, science explains how they all work. But when we take into consideration the neuroscience of how each quadrant feels to the learner, we see why some are more ethical than others. We can also see through ethology what's naturally stimulating to our learners, what is normally considered appetitive or aversive or how they naturally choose specific behaviors in specific scenarios. We can use this knowledge to help influence their behaviors in ways that we appreciate. :)
This is just a simple overview on each of the sciences and why they're all so important to our understanding of ethical training and keeping.
