Training means learning: Pros/Cons of different tRaining approaches. part 1 :Negative Reinforcement22/11/2021  When it comes to training, there are a lot of different approaches out there. Positive reinforcement, Negative reinforcement, training by reward, clicker training, liberty training....the list is long.... Lets have a closer look at some of the training approaches from a horses way of learning, in relation to how their brain works: Part 1 : Negative reinforcement Negative reinforcement relies on the use of pressure and timely release of pressure to train horses. It's only called “negative” in a mathematical sense because something (pressure) is taken away during the training process to reward the horse for a correct behavioural responses. Example: If your horse walks and you apply pressure with both legs your horse might change to a trot. You remove your legs, and your horse thinks "that feels good". Next time you apply pressure with both legs your hose will speed up, hoping it will achieve the same good feeling/release. Lets have a look how that responds with the equine brain: Negative reinforcement works best, when applied in a form that suits the horses nature. Horses are familiar with displacements ( move away from pressure, or apply pressure to displace another horse/ human). They do this within a heard all the time. Dominant mares pin their ears to displace another horse from the food, horses move/displace us with walking into us, swinging their head or hindquarters towards us etc. If we apply pressure on the right side of the horse to move it , it will move to the left etc etc. There are many more examples. The important part is , to release the pressure immediately. If we release it too early, the brain cannot relate the pressure and release, if its too late the moment of relating is gone. Timing is EVERYTHING!  Using negative reinforcement to correct Misbehaviour: Another form of pressure for a horse is to work. Having a break/ rest is a sort of pressure release. Thinking about a misbehaviour such as bucking under saddle when starting to ride. Of course bucking can have several reasons ( discomfort or pain, not fitting saddle....), just lets assume it is not a health or tack issue: If we push the horse into work, more forward, on a circle etc. when he start to buck ( if you are experienced and confident enough to do that, if not please ask trainer for help!!!!) he will associate bucking with more working. As soon as he stops bucking around, you stop him and let him have a break. Learning effect: Bucking- pressure, not bucking- release/break. Then you try the manoeuvre again. If he bucks again, let him work harder, as soon as he stops , release him and have break. Your horse will learn that bucking is not a good idea as it leads to more work. Horses are energy saving orientated ( its their nature), so he will choose the more "relaxing" approach in the future. Remember, learning takes time, especially re- learning or " overriding" old/bad behaviour. Consistency and patience is the key. The downside of negative reinforcement: This training approach is effective but the release has to be done immediately. A lot of riders are not experienced enough to get the timing right and have issues with their own body coordination. Think about riding lessons: Often we need the help of the instructor to tell us when to apply more pressure or release it as we are too busy in balancing our own body and coordinate our limbs on each side. It even becomes more difficult if you need to time the pressure and release simultaneously with your own body awareness and coordination. Negative reinforcement is often used incorrectly when riders apply constant pressure but fail to release the pressure when the horse responds. This is a fatal mistake as it leads to "neural fatigue". Signs of neural fatigue: The horse will stop trying to please, some will become nervous, others will start to buck/rear/bolt or start to fight. When a touch becomes a constant pull on the bit it will annoy and even hurt the horse and human strength will be placed in competition with the horses strength. Not a good solution. Your horse will become "numb" in the mouth area, built up too much tension within the neck and will develop performance issues that will end up in sore muscles and the inability to perform at his potential.  Another problem is "accidental unintended reinforcement". An example: You are cantering and want to start riding in a circle. You grab the left rein to begin a circle, but you grab it too hard and your horse turns too much and you fall out of the saddle onto the ground. By falling off, you relieved pressure of the rein which is a "reward" for the horse. Your horse learns that this is what you want, so it does it again next time. This example just shows, what happens all the time while we learn to improve our riding skills. It also shows how important our own body awareness and balance is, to train our horses correctly in a fair and horse orientated way. Finally, Negative reinforcement teaches a horse to OBEY and RESPOND, but it does not really built trust and connection between horse and rider. It is a more "functional" approach. The horse learns to seek, identify and use humans cues. But your horse does not learn that you are on his side. It learns to do the job. Next time I will explain the Training by reward. BUT please leave your carrots, biscuits and apples in the pocket for now. Training by reward does not mean we use treats. More about this in the next blog. All the information provided is my summary of more detailed information from the fabulous book: "Horse brain. Human brain" by Janet L. Jones  Any comments, questions, requests please contact me. Always happy to help.
Stay curious, for the love of horses! Britta
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 To improve training and management of our horses, we need to understand how they learn, what they need to be able to learn and how they process and remember stuff they have learned. With those information there will be more horse orientated training available, the management of our horses will improve and our horses will be happier and healthier long- term. That's what we all want for our horses, right? When you know better, you do better!!!!! Learning means building connections in the brain. So, how do horses learn???? Horse learn through these 6 types of learning:
Horses are actually FAST learners as they don't carry the extra " baggage" that humans do, such as cognition, planning, judging, reasoning, doubt, arrogance and fear of embarrassment. All these "baggage" is either part of our future (worrying) or the past ( experiences), but not happening when we are PRESENT. Horses are present all the time as they are PREY animals. A horses behaviour is the result of past learning experiences in situations in the past. It is not influenced by his " parents expectations" or " boss demands" just as examples, as it is often in our life as humans. Horses are PRESENT and show us how they are. They do not lie, they might " shut down" but never lie or judge as this is not part of their brain function. Horse have a good memory, so we have to be mindful what we teach them. Their memory is that great that we will need a long time to unteach them unwanted behaviours or reactions. Those of you who have a horse that has made bad experiences in the past know exactly what I mean. Also those of you who have a riding school and horses that are working with the riding students know, that it is necessary to ride the horses yourself on a regular base to "correct" them from the influence of the unexperienced rider.  Lets have a look now on the 6 ways a horse learns: ASSOCIATION: Learning by association happens when two events or ideas are linked. Example: A hay truck precedes hay in time, means the horse relate the truck to the hay. If you praise your horse with the words " good boy" and provide a stroke on the neck at the same time, your horse will link the stroke on the neck with that praise. CONSEQUENCE: Learning by consequence is also often called " operant or instrumental conditioning". What that means is, horses learn by cause and effect. Example: Horses get fed when coming to the gate in the morning. So they learn, coming to the gate results in having a meal. OBSERVATION: Humans learn by observation all the time. Think about children. They copy what they see or hear from their parents all the time. Horses are experts in learning by observation. Foals learn from their mums that a scratch from a human can be pleasant, the farrier is not a monster and certain objects ( plastic bag) are nothing to be scared of if the mum stays calm. Trailer loading is another example. If a horse watch the other horse walk into the trailer with no issues, chances are it will do the same with no fear. EMOTION: Strong memories are built by brain chemicals that cause emotions. So, if your horse experiences fear in a situation it will remember that situation or even the smell, noise or object(9e.g. a trailer...) that was involved with this situation. So, to enable optimal learning create a state in your horse with the emotion of tranquillity, curiosity and trust. Allow your horse to look at you for reassurance and leadership. Feeling safe enables learning and is very important for connection. PROBLEM SOLVING: Horses are able to find solutions in situations where they feel safe and their curiosity is activated. Thins about the situation where your horse managed to open the gate just by playing around long enough on the chain or handle. Problem solving also occurs when horses are trained new lessons. they try to figure out what we want them to do to fulfil the task. TESTING: Most people interpret testing as misbehaviour. But the brain is telling a different story. Testing is is one of the most effective ways of learning in mammals. We do test ourselves when studying to get an idea of the knowledge we have. Horses never stop testing as they always learn. So, next time your horse is testing you, remind him of your expectations so he cannot get away with a misbehaviour. And think about it in a good way, as your horse just asks you want you want, he is just figuring out what you expect from him.  So, when it comes to learning a horse is quite similar in some ways a human learns.
The most important part is, we need to provide an environment that puts the horse in a mental state where learning is possible. So reduce stress, relax yourself as well, and the you and your horse can grow together and live the potential that both of you have. Happy riding! For happy horses and smiling and relaxed rider. Stay curious, Britta We all know the situation: You try to teach your horse to do side pass, to jump, to stand still when saddling (etc etc. the list is long...) but it just seems to be stubborn, is distracted or resisting to do anything. The short answer to that is: WE must change the way of teaching our horses. WE must provide an environment our horses need to be able to learn and WE have to question ourselves before we blame the horse. Horses are willing to please to cooperate, they are prey animals who try to save energy in case they need to run away. ( Hardly no tigers in New Zealand but your horse does not know that....)  The question is: How do horses learn? Which role do we play? What can we provide to help our horses to learn what we want them to? Horses are very good learner. They absorb every information, they look for cues, they remember certain sounds ( of your car or the food bucket....). In an equine environment, horses remember the source of fresh water, good grazing areas, where to find shelter etc.. They learn the hierarchy of the herd, they remember which horse is their friend, they remember the smell of each animal ( dog, sheep, cows,....) within their environment. They learn what situations to avoid and they remember events that caused them fear. In a human environment they learn to associate certain verbal commands with specific behaviours, they know their own rugs and tack and they also remember the meaning of almost 10000 body aids we apply ( more or less successful...). So, horses are definitely capable of learning a lot of things, that's for sure!!! It is also a fact that the animal needs help to learn when it comes to human/horse interaction and performance. Our horses are begging us ( in their silent way): Please help me to understand what you want, teach me what I need to know. By nature, they use their sensitivity for body language and energy around them to find clues of what we want them to do. The issue is, we are not as precisely with our cues and demands we ask our horses to do. We send mixed messages, or reward unwanted behaviour because we are not clear and present within ourselves, or haven't learned the language of the horses yet.  How horses learn: Horses don't do categorisation like humans. They learn each cue and respond to it with exacting detail. To horses, little differences have a big impact in their learning. People often think they have to change course completely if a horse does not respond in a correct way the first time. But more and different cues do not really solve the problem. Stick to the cue you gave your horse and give it time to figure out the "correct answer", trial and error. The cleanest and consistent cues work best. Ask in the same way you have asked before. You horse will figure it out what you want. If it does not work even if you have given ( or think you have) the same signal for the expected task, something is wrong. ITS NOT THE HORSE!!!!! Its either the teacher, the body awareness of the rider/trainer, the environment is not suitable for your horse to learn (stress triggers, distraction....), or your horse is physically not able to perform the task (yet). It is always helpful to check certain factors and the learning environment and mental state of your horse when the training is not progressing as you expect. An example of a problem: If you do pole work on the ground and you want your horse to walk or trot over them, but your horses fails and stumbles within or always touches the poles. You get inpatient or frustrated, your horse becomes helpless because it cannot understand what you want him to do. Solution: A solution here can be to check the distance of the poles! If the poles are too close, it is physically impossible for your horse to do this task. Measurement aids for pole work are available on the web, or your trainer might be able to provide the information too. Basic requirements for learning:
What is happening in their brain when horses learn? Such as human learning, learning means built new connections/pathways within the braincells. Horses gain knowledge by:
Humans add to them the ability cognition, planning, reasoning, forethought and judgement. And the " baggage" of doubt, arrogance and fear of embarrassment. As we all know, this baggage is not helpful for learning. Actually it prevents us from learning and causes stress. Horses are fast learner as they do not have these " baggage" abilities within their learning process. A horses behaviour is a mirror of the past as you know, if you own a horse that did not have a nice previous life before it met you....A lot of bad experiences you have to deal with. But as we know, learning never stops. You can still train a horse with bad experience, it just takes longer, needs more patience and a lot of practise. Like humans, horses with a bad past have a lot of triggers that you need to find out within time and " override" them with new, more positive behaviour. That takes time and needs lots of repetitions over time .( not in the same training lesson)  The good thing about horses is, they never lie. They are honest about who they are. They do not wear a second face or play a second role to be accepted by others.
That is probably the reason why so many people see their horse as their personal coach for personal development. As we know, horses are very useful partners within Equine assisted therapy to work with PTSD clients, young people who suffer from anxiety and even the Riding for the disabled. Horses help us in many many ways. Its our duty to learn as much as we can to improve management, training, handling and dealing with possible health issues. We are all on a good way already, but there is still lots more to learn. For the horses....! As always, if you have any questions, comments or requests for a Blog topic YOU are interested in, please let me know. Enjoy your horse and stay curious! Yours, Britta  We all want to be able to ride with applying " invisible" aids. We all dream of total harmony with our horse, no misunderstandings, no bucking, no resistance.... The good new is: we can achieve this! The bad news: it wont happen overnight and we need to do something for it. We all book riding lessons, trainer advise, buy a better bridle, a better saddle, feed supplements for muscle and joint health, invest in bodywork for the soundness of the horse etc. the list is long what we do for our horses. How about the list what we do for ourselves? We are part of the team and we need to look after our own body as well. Horses notice a tiny fly landing on their body, so what do you think? Will your horse notice if you have a sore back? Tensed shoulders? looking to the right side because something is distracting you? The answer is: YES it does. Horses compensate all the the time the " disbalance" of the rider, as no one is born with the perfect body alignment, straightness and body awareness to notice all the time what our arms, legs, shoulders etc are doing or if they are relaxed or not. Nobody is perfect, but we all working on it right?  Example of your horse noticing what your body is doing ( without you noticing it yourself) Horses can pick up many bodily cue, the smallest one is when you are moving your head. If you turn your head to the left, your body generates automatic reactions so that your whole weight shifts to the left side. Minimal, but it does. that means, you are putting more weight on your left sit bone, have more weight in the left stirrup etc. Your horse will walk under your weight, so it will walk left. You wanted the horse walk straight and have to correct it with the reigns or legs, although your horse just followed the signal of your body. This is just one example of how often misunderstanding between horse and rider happens. You can try this example when sitting on your chair. It will probably not happen now, because you pay attention that you do not shift your weight to the left when turning your head. And that is the idea about improving your body awareness!!!! If you are more aware what your body is doing and be present when riding, you can avoid these little misunderstanding. Simple but very effective. Better body awareness enables the connection from the riders brain ( body perception) to the horses brain (body perception) and results in performance at its best. You can achieve that, in working on your own body perception and invest in your health and mobility. Your horse will thank you for it!!!! From my experience with coaching riders in body awareness it makes a huge difference to the better. Not just improves it the understanding of horse and rider, it results in better performance and more effective riding lessons too. Try this simple exercise next time you start riding or even at home in your chair: You sit on your horse and your horse stands still. You close your eyes ( if safe to do so) and do a little body scan ( means you put your attention in every part of the body bit by bit, starting at your feet), starting with your feet. How are your feet feeling? Is there any pain or discomfort in your feet, ankle, toes? do you notice a difference between your right foot to your left foot? This is just about scanning your body, not about answering questions or judging it. You do this bit by bit up to the top of your head. You can find examples of body scans on YouTube, Spotify or here as an example: https://www.mindful.org/a-3-minute-body-scan-meditation-to-cultivate-mindfulness/ As soon as you pay attention to the areas of your body you are scanning you will relax them. this happens almost automatically as it is the response of your nervous system. What a good and simple idea ey? If you want to know more about body awareness, equestrian yoga and Mindfulness for equestrians, please contact me. I am your coach for Harmony in motion and mindful Horsemanship. Happy to help you improve your body awareness and riding posture and be more present with your horse.  For healthy horses and a good performance,
Britta Bruns Equine Bodyworker Equestrian Coach |
AuthorBritta Bruns, Invercargill Archives
February 2022
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