equine learning | Horse Racing Free Tips

Much has been written through the centuries about the process of training horses, much of it specific to the type of work a horse is meant to do. In a recent webinar hosted by the British organization World Horse Welfare however, experts reminded horse owners that it's critical to take into account the way horses learn and process information when setting up a training program for them, regardless of the job they're intended to do.

Dr. Gemma Pearson, veterinarian and equine behaviorist, said that horses do not learn the way we do. As a species, they have what Pearson called “limited mental capacity” which isn't to say they aren't intelligent, simply that they learn best when complex tasks or situations are broken down into very simple steps where it's clear what they're being asked. Pearson used complex dressage movements as an example. Many of them start with a horse learning two different cues from a rider's leg — speed up, or lengthen stride. It helps horses to feel the rider use different part of the leg for each request, so it's clear what's being asked. The same is true for rein cues, which can be broken down into different but related questions. As a horse's training advances, a rider can combine these clear, well-learned instructions for more complicated results.

“If we teach each response independently, and make it very obvious to the horse what it is that we want, we can then start to put different aspects of that together,” she said.

Horses benefit from clarity, where the correct answer is easy for them to get, and that often means breaking a task or problem down into small pieces, remaining patient, and rewarding the horse immediately for a correct response or even an attempt at a correct response.

From there, trainers must reinforce desired behavior properly, but it's important to think about what reinforcement actually is. Learning theory incorporates several types of reinforcement, but the two most effective with horses are positive and negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is the addition of something pleasant, like a treat. Negative reinforcement is the removal of something undesired as a reward, like the removal of pressure from a rider's leg after the horse begins to move forward.

Pearson pointed out that what we consider “positive” may not always be positive to the horse. Food rewards are shown to work quite well, and scratches on a typically itchy area like the withers mimic the bonding grooming that horses practice with each other. Patting a horse however, is probably slightly confusing to the horse, as it doesn't resemble any kind of communication between horses and if anything is more like a person tapping them as a signal to move. Pearson also expressed doubt that vocal praise is necessarily intuitive for horses either, as horses may pick up on tone of voice but not the specific meaning of a phrase. Negative reinforcement could include the removal of pressure from a leg or a hand, but it could also include a short break in a training session.

Horses are also very susceptible to classical conditioning, the well-known premise illustrated by Pavlov's dog. The dogs in Russian Physiologist Ivan Pavlov's experiment learned that the ringing of a bell meant food was coming, an association they drew so clearly that they began salivating when he rang the bell even when there was no food on hand. Pearson pointed out that horses can also learn to anticipate very well, and that ability comes out in all kinds of ways. Under saddle, it means a horse can gradually become more sensitive to shifts in a rider's position as they prepare to ask for a movement or transition, and will soon react to those shifts without needing the actual cue.

Of course, this level of sensitivity has its drawbacks.

“You get the behavior you reinforce, not the behavior you want,” Pearson pointed out.

Sometimes, it's not immediately clear to the person involved that they are reinforcing an undesired behavior. Pearson used the example of a horse that stretches its head up to avoid taking medication from an oral dosing syringe. The horse has created his own negative reinforcement there — raise head, syringe disappears. The training goal in that situation shouldn't be to prevent the head raise, but to make the horse want to keep the head low and tolerate the presence of the syringe. Pearson suggested a combination of positive and negative reinforcement there, by providing a treat when the horse kept his head low and remained calm, and also by placing the syringe near the horse's mouth and removing it when the horse remained still and calm.

Pearson has consulted on a number of cases of problematic behavior or training challenges through the years and finds that they usually come down to a few core problems. The most common one is undiagnosed pain, which Pearson estimated impacted 80% to 90% of the cases she has seen, and is easily missed if it's not pain resulting in a clear, asymmetrical limp. Other factors can include situational stress or mental stress in a horse's living situation that makes it difficult for the horse to focus on the training session.

“There are no bad horses,” Pearson said. “There are lots of horses where pain is causing problems, there are lots in not-great environments, and there are certainly lots of badly-trained horses.”

Watch a full replay of the webinar below.

The post When It Comes To Training Horses, ‘You Get The Behavior You Reinforce, Not The One You Want’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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As anyone who has trained a horse knows, physical conditioning is only part of the equation — the mental side of an athlete's development can be just as critical to their career trajectory, if not more so. A recent virtual session of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Summit tackled questions surrounding learning theory and behavior in horses, and examined the way our understanding of equine learning can apply to retraining off-track Thoroughbreds (OTTBs).

Our academic understanding of the way horses learn doesn't always mesh with traditional training methods, according to Dr. Robin Foster, certified behavior consultant and research professor at the University of Puget Sound and Dr. Camie Heleski, equine lecturer at the University of Kentucky.

To understand the differences, it's important to know the basics of learning theory. Learning theory refers to the way an organism, from slugs to humans and anything in between, navigates its environment by creating associations between its behavior and its environment. Generally, different species are thought to have different capacities for learning and cognition based on academic research. On a basic level, an organism may learn from positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, or punishment. Reinforcement, whether positive or negative, is designed to increase the frequency of a behavior, while punishment is designed to decrease the frequency of a behavior. The term positive reinforcement describes the addition of something the animal wants — in a horse's case, a treat or a scratch on the face or withers, as a reward for a desired response. Negative reinforcement refers to the removal of something the horse doesn't want.

“In the horse industry, we don't use positive reinforcement enough,” said Heleski. “Negative reinforcement is mainly what we use for traditional training. We squeeze the horse with our legs, applying pressure. The horse moves forward, we remove the pressure.”

Of those three choices, horses (and lots of other species) are shown to learn best through positive reinforcement. Punishment is commonly employed with horses, but isn't actually the most effective way to teach them.

“This is not only true with horses but it is perhaps especially true with horses — when horses do something that is unwanted, maybe it's unsafe, it's not a behavior we're looking for, it's annoying — it draws our attention,” said Foster. “I can't tell you how many people will say, 'I just want to stop that behavior.' It we want to decrease a behavior we don't want, we punish it. But there are better alternatives because punishment itself does not provide any alternative for the horse. It's really important to focus more on the behavior you want the horse to do ad make sure you reinforce that.”

It's easy to think punishment is effective, because it often generates a quick response, but Foster said it's rarely a permanent one. Because the horse hasn't been shown what the handler does want, it's likely the horse will repeat the undesired behavior eventually. This is especially problematic with Thoroughbreds, who Heleski and Foster agree are more sensitive to perceived threats and are therefore sensitive to punishment or reinforcement.

Heleski said she tends to encounter a bias against positive reinforcement in much of the equestrian world because many trainers are averse to giving horses frequent treats. The concern for many is the horse will come to expect food, and become mouthy or pushy in search of it. Most experts suggest handlers ignore pushy behavior and focus on rewards in specific instances where a horse is exhibiting desired behavior — keeping in mind that sometimes, the desired behavior is the absence of something, like kicking out or pawing in a grooming stall. Some horses are especially reactive to treats and will get excitable, searching for the food or trying to guess what their handler wants from them (which, at the start of positive reinforcement training, may be unclear to them). In those cases, Heleski suggests putting a gate or stall door between the horse and handler at first, or dispensing treats into a pan on the ground rather than feeding by hand.

If handlers are really concerned about “mugging” for treats, Heleski said research shows scratching on a horse's withers is a hugely impactful positive reinforcement. The attention, which mirrors mutual grooming, has been shown to decrease heart rate. Foals are also well known to enjoy scratches to their foreheads or the undersides of their necks.

One question Heleski and Foster are asked often is what to do about stereotypic behaviors like cribbing and weaving, which seem to be a focus for some horses no matter what type of reinforcement or punishment is used to stop them. Foster explained that although it may not feel this way, horses aren't doing these things to frustrate the humans around them.

“These repetitive behaviors that bother us — and they really bother people — they are very soothing to horses,” said Foster.

On a biochemical level, many of those behaviors have been shown to provide an enormous stress relief for the horse. It's a coping mechanism for anxiety about something around them. If the horse isn't doing significant harm to themselves, Foster suggested, it may be better to let these things ride. Otherwise, you're trying to take away a coping mechanism that could be very important to the horse, probably without providing alternate stress relief.

The good news for OTTB owners is not only that Thoroughbreds are known as a breed to be quick learners, but they also come off the track knowing a lot already. The racetrack routine includes lots of different stimuli that a horse wouldn't necessarily get in a riding barn.

“If I were to adopt a 3-year-old of another breed, most of the time they would not have had anywhere near the number of experiences that a 3-year-old Thoroughbred has had,” said Heleski. “I think that's a huge selling point to adopting these horses.”

Catch a full replay of the seminar below.

The post Thoroughbred Aftercare Summit: Understanding OTTB Behavior And Equine Learning Key To Success appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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