clicker training horses – Page 4

Click for Action and Feed for Position

I think it’s important to show real life training, rather than carefully edited, scripted and captioned training. I also have to live up to my own encouragement to everyone to be brave learners, be prepared to make mistakes and that ‘the animal is always right, so how can behaviour be wrong’. I think various trainers have said different iterations of this message, from Skinner to Bailey to Ramirez.

There isn’t really mistakes in this video, but it may look like it to some people. I’d like to explain and if you watch til the end you’ll see a rather funny blooper I’ve left in there.

Firstly, note there are 3 points in this post and video, the first is regarding Mercedes’ behaviour, the second is about being mindful of how you deliver your reinforcers, look after your body and your horse’s body and straightness and also how you deliver the reinforcer affects whether your horse is more or less ‘in your face’ and ‘muggy’. Thirdly, I wanted to talk about and demonstrate Feeding for Position and that learning happens after the click.

In regards to Mercedes behaviour, let me say that horses need to move, they are designed to move and domestic horses don’t move enough generally. Many domestic horses are often overweight or prone to becoming overweight, understandably. Therefore when I started R+ training, I was focused on movement and exercise, not standing around and giving a lot of food. This hopefully explains what’s happening with Mercedes’ behaviour in the video. She has a long and strong Positive Reinforcement history with movement, with doing things. She doesn’t do standing still very well in certain contexts. She’s very happy to stand still for certain things, but overall my training is about movement and I like that and I think it’s good for my horses. But if I want to do explanatory videos like these, you can see where this becomes problematic if you watch Mercedes’ behaviour.

The first point I’m demonstrating in the video is about HOW you feed. Looking after your back and your horse’s back requires some attention to detail and practice. Think about being ambidextrous and feed from both sides, both hands and in a way that is cleaner, smoother and easier for both you and the horse. You’ll notice how much straighter Mercedes is when I feed from my left hand on her left side and also how I’m not twisting my back. These small details can make a big difference.

This leads into what I also wanted to demonstrate and talk about and that’s the subject of Feeding for Position and more precisely, Bob Bailey’s famous words “The Click doesn’t end Behaviour, learning keeps going ie. Click for Action, Feed for Position.”

I often explain it as these glowing dots in space that the horse can see, they are places where there is R+ history, where the horse has been fed, reinforced for a behaviour specifically. The horse, any animal, gravitates to places of value where they’ve been repeatedly fed. They can also be super specific about the place, the body part, etc. You’ll see that in my video, I think it took about 2-3 trials and Mercedes kept her head at the ‘red dot’ ie. the place where reinforcement was last delivered repeatedly, down low and then up high.

This is exactly why it doesn’t worry me if she’s a fidget head and can’t stand still (such as in the video), because it would take very little for her to learn that standing still has value and she will quit asking, “when are we going to move??”.

Feeding for Position can be a very useful tool in your force free tool box. I feel that is where the art comes into the science of what we do. Some examples might be when we are teaching a behaviour, but then also using the food delivery to ask the horse to move away from you or to go somewhere else to get the reinforcement. This can be a way to teach a ‘go to a station/hoof target’ behaviour, where you would feed on the station, but then start to offer food away from the station, so that they learn to leave and go there and eventually on cue. Another example might be in Reverse Round Pen training, in order to encourage movement and really hammer home the message of voluntary movement. We would click for behaviour ie. more speed or a nice head or body shape, you might then offer the food/reinforcer ahead of the horse. Although you clicked for behaviour, the horse has to walk (another behaviour) to acquire the reinforcer.

Can you think of any times you’ve clicked for action and fed for position?

I hope you enjoy the video and I’ve given you some food for thought.

When to Choose Between Classical and Operant Conditioning

There is one really important message I’d like every trainer to burn into their brain.

If you are dealing with fear, trauma, phobias, worry, reluctance, avoidance, escape, “lack of motivation”, or any kind of difficulty around your horse training, consider Classical Conditioning, rather than Operant Conditioning (Positive Reinforcement).

Basically, if there is any kind of perceived emotion involved, your ‘go to’ needs to be Classical Conditioning, not Operant.

This is because, as my meme states, Classical or Respondent Conditioning involves how our horses feel and react (without thinking/instinctively) to things.

Whereas Operant Conditioning, as the name suggests, is how we operate on our environment. We (hopefully) have choices and control over outcomes, we behave in a certain way based on our learning history and preferences and we manipulate either our behaviour or the environment, for valued outcomes or to avoid aversive outcomes.

Therefore, if we want to help a horse with something they are concerned about, we don’t get out our target stick or our mat, we sit down and work out a Systematic Desensitisation and Counter Conditioning (SD/CC) plan.

Classical Conditioning is also about the pairing of stimuli. As I’ve said in previous posts, there is always Skinner on one shoulder and Pavlov on the other. Therefore, whilst we may be actively training a behaviour via Positive Reinforcement (Operant Conditioning), there is always a Classical component. This could be the pairing that we have worked on whereby the click = food, or the prompt to get the behaviour is then paired with a cue, or simply that repeated positive emotional experiences in the training means that we ourselves have been paired and coloured with Pavlov’s brush, to become a walking talking appetitive stimulus to our horses.

The danger of using Operant Conditioning for things the horse is scared, worried or previously traumatised by, is that we create Approach Avoidance Conflict. This means that although we are trying to get behaviour, we have forgotten that we need the horse to FEEL ok about the thing. It is less about *doing* and more about how they *feel* about the thing.

I can see how people become unstuck with this, because it’s easier to *do* than to see how the animal feels. That can take a lot of skill and also to take the time it takes for our horses to feel ok. Behaviour shows results, feeling better about something can be much less tangible to many people. We need to hone our observation skills to be able to see when our horses are worried about something and when they feel better about something, rather than see when they are doing something.

I’ll share a link about Approach Avoidance Conflict, but bear in mind that it is written in relation to humans, who have much more choice and control than animals. It basically means that there is a conflict between what is scary to the animal and what they can gain or the human is offering for them to approach the scary thing ie. “click and treat” for approaching the scary (or potentially scary) thing. Rather, we can feed for only just noticing the thing, staying under threshold and progressing in teeny tiny steps.

Approach-Avoidance Conflict

Operant Conditioning is for modifying/training behaviour when the horse feels safe, has their needs met and has no problems or issues whatsoever with everything in their environment and that we ask them to interact with during training. Classical Conditioning (SD/CC) is for changing how the horse feels, helping them cope with stimuli and pairing stimuli.

Finally, we can change an emotional response during a R+ training session. But it takes careful and mindful shaping, allowing the horse choice and control over reinforcers and most importantly teeny tiny approximations, much like we would do in a SD/CC program. We don’t say to the horse, “do this and you get that”, instead we say, “here’s some food no matter what you decide and if you decide to offer more, great, here’s even more food”. In this way we can avoid the Approach Avoidance Conflict, because they get something of value to them and the freedom to choose, no matter what they decide. But it’s an extremely fine line to walk.

Here’s an example of where we are shaping behaviour, but allowing room for the horse to go at their own pace, choose what they want to do (or not) and have no restraint (or compulsion) if they choose to do something or not. There is also other reinforcement available literally at their feet (grass). We are not offering a target to entice them towards the scary thing, in order to get the food, we are asking a question, whilst being super generous with the food.

Helping a Horse Settle in a New Home – the 3-3-3 Rule

There is a 3.3.3 rule that applies to rescue dogs and I thought that we need something similar for horses. Obviously the ideal would be that horses are not continually changing homes, but the reality is very different. Therefore I feel that it needs to be acknowledged and recognised what a traumatic experience moving homes is for horses, so that we can make the best out of a bad situation for the horse. The source of this concept is from Dr Patricia McConnell and Dr Karen London, in their book, Love Has No Age Limit, Welcoming an Adopted Dog into Your Home.

I love this concept and I feel this can equally be applied to horses and probably many other pets and animals. I would go so far as to say that horses would need a lot more time than some dogs, but it’s most definitely meant to be a guide, not a rule and needs to be adjusted accordingly for the individual.

When a horse changes homes, it’s important to remember that this will be one of the most stressful events in their life. Just as it is recognised that moving is one of the most stressful things a human can experience, it is even more so for our horses.

This is because they have no warning, no preparation, no choice, it happens suddenly and worse, usually everything that is familiar to them is gone forever.

This can be completely de-stabilising, disorienting and quite frightening. It’s amazing most horses handle it as well as they do.

Imagine a complete change in diet, everything from the grass you eat, the taste and smell of the water, the hay and hard feed are different, the containers you eat out of look and smell different and if you had to protect your food from being taken away or stolen by other horses or animals. Imagine then experiencing digestive upset, cramps or you have trouble eating the food because it tastes so strange from what you are used to, or just tastes really bad.

What if you came from a small handkerchief sized paddock with just dirt and were thrown into a vast expanse of grass and trees and water and hills, or vice versa, it could be so overwhelming. What if you lived in a herd with plenty of room to run and was forcibly moved to life in a stable or stall. Everything would sound different, the wind, birds and other animals, machinery, traffic and even surrounding human sounds. What if there were obstacles in the paddock you’d never encountered before, what if you hurt yourself.

Imagine leaving all your friends behind, forever. You probably don’t know what a family is, having a mother and father or siblings or aunties and uncles. This is because you were suddenly removed from your mother and lived your whole life with strange horses and tried to get along as best you could. Some of them acted quite strangely, were over friendly, or aggressive, some were calm and some were fun, so you got by the best you were able.

Imagine starting afresh where you don’t know anyone and they don’t know you and you were desperately missing all that you left behind. What if you happily lived in a big herd of friendly horses and then found yourself all alone, not even another (strange) horse in sight. What if you’d resigned yourself to living alone, was pretty depressed about it, but got food and water regularly and were then thrown into a herd of completely strange horses. A herd who all knew each other and had their friends and knew where they fit and didn’t particularly appreciate you being thrown in the middle of their settled and organised herd.

Then there is this strange human who wants to interact with you, touch you, brush you, put gear on you and ride you. How very unsettling and scary would that be, especially when they seem to speak a completely different language with their bodies and their gear, compared to the previous human you had known.

Think about it for a moment, what we do to horses and what we expect from them.

It’s an awful lot.

But we can try to make it better.

The Mythology Around “Liberty Training”

We can’t “train liberty”, because liberty is a state of being, with choices, control and freedom to express and to leave.

Liberty:-
The quality or state of being free:
– the power to do as one pleases
– freedom from physical restraint
– freedom from arbitrary or despotic control
– the positive enjoyment of various social, political or economic rights and privileges
– the power of choice
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Transitioning

Often when we transition horses over to Positive Reinforcement training and attempt to remove as many, if not all aversives from our horse’s lives, we hit a very big bump!

We can decide that we have turned into a butterfly and everything will be rainbows and unicorns from now on – but our horses don’t actually know or understand this yet.

As far as they are concerned, the world continues to be the confusing scary place it always was and they’ve been conditioned to see humans as things to be feared.

We start to give our horses choices and let them find their voice and all of a sudden our horses are either afraid, angry, out of control, confused, unco-operative or just downright not fun to be around anymore.

This is because we have turned their world upside down. Often the reason horses end up being Learned Helpless and shut down is because they are sensitive, they react to things and being trained and handled in the traditional and adversarial way creates more fear and reactivity, not less. People often don’t actually teach horses, they just expect them to do and be what they want them to be. What people then do is escalate what they are doing, they escalate the aversives, the punishment, what they expect the horse to do and put up with and of course, they prevent escape. Instead of escape and avoidance of unpleasant stimulus (aversives), the horse has no escape and no choice and they shut down.

When we transition them over to force free approaches, they are expected to respond, offer behaviour and just well, learn stuff. Never have they been asked to do that before around humans – it’s very confronting, confusing and just plain frightening!! They must surely feel like the ground has crumbled under their feet.

All the fear, worry, anxiety, lack of control and escape comes bursting out of them in a big surge of emotion and behaviour. It’s important we take things slowly, get experienced professional help and most importantly from someone who understands Respondent, as well as Operant Conditioning. Our horses literally need to learn how to learn all over again. Their brains are musty and cobwebby and their emotions have been bricked up behind a wall. It’s going to take the time it takes for them to learn and feel ok about it all, about everything.

This might mean we give them some down time to just be a horse, it might mean we do some simple basic training such as training behind a barrier and dropping some fibre pellets in a bucket and each time our horse looks up at us expectantly, we click and drop some more pellets in the bucket. Do that over and over and don’t think they are not learning anything, they are learning lots. They are learning you are a good and safe person to be around, you bring nice things and that their behaviour matters. They learn that they can control their environment, such as you, and the outcome of their behaviour, they learn that when they look at you, they hear a noise and they get food. That’s pretty cool and pretty fun and it’s easy. You get to admire their beautiful face and they get to learn to like you and learn to like training as well.

This is an example of some simple relationship building training you can do with your equine. This training can form the basis of some foundation behaviours, such as conditioning the clicker (marker signal), teaching a default ‘standing still facing forward’ behaviour, hoof targets (stationing), you can introduce a nose target and you can teach ground tying by working on duration, distractions and distance.

When we transition ourselves and our horses, it’s a huge learning curve. Be kind to yourself and your horse – especially if you suspect they may be shut down. Horses awakening from a place where they learnt that the only way to survive was to keep their head down and not react and not let their feelings be known, will find their voice in earnest!!

So be prepared and be forgiving. We may be paying for the sins of others or ourselves, but either way, our horses had no choice. All we can do is be kind to ourselves and them and put one foot in front of the other, and clicker train!!

Pauline Keil
Whispering Horse

Equine Enrichment – My Journey into Arts, Crafts & Landscaping

Clicker training is lots of fun for our horses, but providing enrichment opportunities is another fabulous way for humans to get creative, have fun and enrich our horses’ lives. Join me on a journey of recycling, foraging and earthworks !

I really love playing around with different enrichment options and dreaming up new ways to enhance their environment as well. There are many easy, fun and cheap ways we can provide stimulation and entertainment for our horses. Often the simple things can be the most entertaining. I have ideas for food puzzles and toys all the way through to environmental enrichment on a bigger scale. It’s best to start with one or two things at a time and most importantly ensure the horse understands how to engage with the item without frustration. Always remember to regularly remove items and refresh or replace with something different, to avoid habituation – where they stop noticing the object in their environment.

Equine enrichment means adding or changing their environment with different substrates and terrain, social interaction with their own species and also other species, sensory experiences such as essential oils and herbs, providing puzzles and toys to fulfil their need for mental and physical stimulation and provide opportunities for contrafreeloading as well as offering a variety of foods to browse, taste and explore. This means that many species choose to ‘work’ for their food, rather than have it just served up to them. Giving them opportunities to enjoy species specific behaviour will ultimately contribute to their overall health and wellbeing. I feel very strongly about taking a whole horse approach to equine ownership/care.

I’ll include some ideas – but this is not an exhaustive list, more to get your creative juices flowing! I’ll provide some photo and video examples and at the bottom, will add links to further Resources and Further Reading. Please note that some of these ideas are for supervised play only, please use your discretion.

frozen blocks containing fruit and/or vegetables in fruit juice or herbal teas
slow feeder hay nets, puzzle feeders and fruit and vegetables on a rope
bobbing for fruit or vegetables
Likits, jolly balls, ball feeders, Kong wobblers, snuffle mats, ball pits or make your own
various grasses, weeds and browse (branches & leaves) scattered and hidden – checking they are safe and not toxic (see Resources)
hide hay and safe treats in boxes, hay nets or under loose hay
dog chews, ropes and slow feeder toys
dab various scents and essential oils in their environment or train scent detection
grow a herb garden or hedgerow
obstacles to step over and climb on
scratch posts
small and large stones, mud, sand and sawdust for walking on and rolling in
river crossing, hill climbs, bridges, platforms and teeter totters
misting station
purpose made horse balls or human yoga balls
water play with a hose or sprinkler
scratches and massage – there are purpose made gloves or use a spaghetti server

I was inspired by the book and concept of Jaime Jackson’s Paddock Paradise and I created a track system for my own horses for part of the year. One of the many enrichment ideas I’ve implemented in this theme, is the misting station. We enjoy very hot dry summers in Australia, so this has been a popular addition and source of enrichment for my horses every year. The fun they have under the mist and the energetic antics of my horses afterwards is not only enriching for them, but a lot of fun to watch as well!

A sand roll is wonderful for back scratches and varied terrain with abrasive surfaces can help condition hooves and give horses a dry place to stand during winter.

Variations in surfaces create interest, hoof conditioning, exercise and even stretching.

Let our imagine run wild as to what we can build and/or provide in their environment.

Stones, bridges and obstacles all add interest and exercise.

Simple changes such as creating scratching poles with cheap rubber doormats or putting hay in slow feeder nets, can contribute to an overall improved lifestyle.

Toys and puzzles are fun and easy – buy or make your own!
(Supervision may be required with some toys and puzzles.)

Sometimes we need to help them to learn how to play with puzzles.

Sourcing and offering different types of food and browse is fun for everyone!

The ultimate enrichment is enjoying the company of their own species!

Finally, training with Positive Reinforcement (clicker) training is another way to add enrichment to our horses’ lives, as well as helping to build a strong and trusting relationship through mutual enjoyment.

Resources

A guide to toxic and non toxic plant lists, compliments of the ASPCA –
https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/horse-plant-list

A useful guide to plants poisonous to horses –
http://www.horsecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Plants-Poisonous-to-Horses-Aust-field-guide.pdf

Ideas on Pinterest –
https://www.pinterest.com.au/search/pins/?q=equine%20enrichment&rs=typed&term_meta[]=equine%7Ctyped&term_meta[]=enrichment%7Ctyped

Trial different food flavours and find the most popular with your horse – “Selection and acceptance of flavours in concentrate diets for stabled horses”, Goodwin, H.P.B. Davidson, P. Harris –
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168159105000973

Herbal Hedgerow –

https://www.mcdowellsherbal.com/treatments/for-horses/516-herbal-hedgerow-for-healthy-happy-horses?fbclid=IwAR1bhnkoY747J9rA-6p0rD2ICAf-unbJzUZG0GQZaWrp-1-cDXFlw3ug408