When can I stop using food is a common question people new to positive reinforcement (R+) ask?

Often these people are considering switching over from Negative Reinforcement (R-) which is a GREAT switch to make. (Being narky I sometimes wish to reply “when do you stop the release”)

There are a few things to consider here. Basically the short answer is NEVER - but there are lots of side avenues we can explore.

Firstly reinforcement makes the behaviour stronger.

So stopping reinforcement, whichever way you do it, should mean the behaviour is invariably going to become weaker and weaker over time, until it just fizzles out.

If you are lucky.

If you are practising R+ then on the way to the fizzle you may discover what is often called an “extinction burst”

This will basically be your horse getting frustrated and shouting I KNOW THIS BEHAVIOUR EARNS ME REINFORCEMENT. This is not a safe emotion to find in a horse – frustration. And not a happy place mentally for your horse to be either. Some horses may bite or strike in their frustration, and can become very unsafe as well as unhappy.

In humans this frustration often leads to violent acts – things being thrown or being punched.

With negative reinforcement – if you stop the reinforcement many things can happen.

If the exercise is pulling on the reins to get your horse to slow down – not releasing the reins when your horse does slow can have a number of side effects.

The ones you will see the most are signs of pain, as well as frustration. Open mouth behaviour trying to avoid the pulling. Head tossing, Running away. Grabbing the bit and running.

Again, unsafe behaviours you don’t want to see, and pain and frustration you shouldn’t want your horse to experience.

If the behaviour is using your heels to make your horse go, if you don’t stop the pressure when he does go, again your horse can become frustrated and uncomfortable and again, unsafe. Instead of just the go forward cue not working, there is a big possibility of your horse kicking or biting at your legs, worse still, bucking, or perhaps even trying to run away from your legs.

Once again an unhappy mental state for your horse, and unsafe for you.

Back to stopping the food.

With R+ the good thing is that anything your horse likes can be used as reinforcement.

Some horse like scritchies. Some like walking to explore. Some like foraging through enrichment boxes. Some like games. Some like that green pick on the side of the road.

And here you need to let go of your R- mindset if you still carry it – stopping the training or giving a rest USED to be a reward: but R+ horses LIKE working, so stopping can actually be a punisher!

Some enjoy their training so much that they will happily perform multiple behaviours for the same small reinforcement that earlier reinforced only a single behaviour. Often you notice that you are already not reinforcing the easier behaviours, but only the newer or harder ones.

You can add duration, and reinforce longer patterns of behaviour, eg walking for 20 steps instead of 3 steps when teaching leading. You can start behaviour chains, and reinforce at the end of the chain instead of each individual behaviour within the chain.

You may find a behaviour your horse really enjoys doing, and this behaviour can be used to reinforce a behaviour he doesn’t like as much. Heard of ‘Premack principle’ - or eat you vegies before you get dessert?

So there are many ways to progress from one behaviour one treat,

but we need to do this as our horse progresses, when he shows he is ready to work like this.

One major occurrence is that performing the behaviour can become reinforcing in itself – it does build a positive conditioned emotional response after all. Meaning that it has been reinforced so heavily, that doing it actually feels good!

So if you have a wonderful equine partner like me – you too may be blown away by your horse leaving their bowl of ‘end of session’ treats, to come and offer to work more for those exact same treats!

But to start (and to solidify) it is one behaviour one treat – and we need to never stop reinforcing – it is of course what makes the behaviour strong.

Written by Vicki Conroy for the PPGA Equine sub-committee

Is whipping an animal wrong?

Think about your answer before reading further –

* Yes * It depends * No

How do human brains work?

What makes one thing right and one thing not right, or something really wrong?

How can people with different biases and different bents see things so differently?

What is needed for something to be SO BAD that everyone (is that even possible?) can see that it is bad? I don’t think I want to see that if horses are the recipient

Maybe you can understand the differences in opinion a little if the person NOT seeing the concern doesn’t have educated knowledge. The weird thing about horse abuse is it is often those with less knowledge who call the offense.

Take horse racing as an example (can of worms!) Many of the people protesting whip use are people who don’t own horses, but think whipping any animal is wrong (and they would be right with that thought!)

Funny thing – a lot of people justifying whipping racehorses also don’t understand learning theory. They claim that in the excitement of the race the horse doesn’t feel the pain! My question to them then, if that is the case, WHY DOES IT WORK?

Thinking of a horses survival - If it hurts, the horse tries to go faster to get away from the pain,

Referencing learning theory - if he does go faster, the whipping should then stop (it doesn't)

So if it works to make them go faster – it MUST hurt.

If it doesn’t hurt it doesn’t work – if it doesn’t work then what is the point in doing it?

Actually, backtrack to the earlier question-

Ask anyone if whipping an animal is wrong, using those words.

Is whipping an animal wrong?

Most answers will be yes it is wrong.

Then ask people who own and ride horses if using a whip when riding to encourage the horse to go forward is wrong? Probably 80% (guessing here) of riders will say no it is not wrong.

Most will have done it.

My wording there could have been less contentious? (I don’t think so!)

Why is using a whip to make a horse go forward seen differently to whipping a horse?

The horse still gets whipped/ hit with a whip

Dichotomy? Cognitive dissonance?

Ask people who ride and own horses if whipping horses to FORCE them to do something horses don’t want to do is wrong? More people here would say yes it IS wrong. Yet using the whip to ‘ask’ the horse to go forward isn’t wrong? (changing the emphasis again but you can see where I am heading!)

If the horse WANTED to go forward he would do so without the whip.

A big problem in seeing the problem, is how widespread the acceptance of hitting horses with whips actually is.

It is advocated in books on riding, taught in pony clubs and riding schools, taught by professional instructors. When all our learning sources teach this, it somehow prevents our brain from registering the issue –

we are whipping horses for our human benefit.

I digressed –

this was going to be an article about the furore over a video-taped incident of someone hitting a horse with a riding helmet, when the majority of riders carry and use whips daily, and very few bat an eyelid.

I think that will be part 2

Written by Vicki Conroy for PPGA Equine subcommittee

I recently had a wobble and acquired two more mini ponies. OK wobble plays things down a little doesn’t it?

It has been quite depressing watching them.

My new horse-centric eyes have seen so much more stress than I would have seen 20yrs ago.

I feel so guilty for upending them and bringing them home and subjecting them to that stress.

It is still on-going, but slowly improving?

They didn’t have a good start.

Both came from a rescue who had them courtesy of owner neglect. Different owners.

I’d been so spoilt in the past having a stable herd. A peaceful herd, coexisting as normal equines should. I’d had one prior new horse introduction to my herd, but it seemed to go smoothly. Equine assimilation with little to no skirmishes.

20yrs ago skirmishes were what we were expected to see –

the ‘lead mare’ dogma and the pecking order.

The ‘sh__ty little pony syndrome’

Over the last 15yrs I’ve been slowly noticing that doesn’t happen.

Starting positive reinforcement training for my horses was probably the best thing I’ve done.

It promoted research, reading, questioning.

Along the way I’ve learnt that in natural, stable herds, the pecking order thing is bogus. Altercations are extremely rare, and when they do occur they end up being about priority access to FINITE resources. Nothing to do with boss or leader.

Access to something the human has failed to provide for them in adequate supply.

Back to the new minis.

Pacing. Calling out.

Squeals and striking. Threatened and actioned bites.

Outright and serious kicking matches.

Completely out of “equine” character.

NOT “narky little sh__ ponies” as the un-educated may want you to believe – but stress.

Remembered or expected deprivation from times of not enough food.

Times of not enough space to behave in normal horse appropriate ways.

Times of learning to respond to un-natural behaviours aimed at them, in order to protect themselves from other horses, who were so dis-regulated they were not acting like horses do.

It has been 8wks so far. Slowly they are starting to show more glimpses of ‘normality’

Other than time, and plentiful resources - I am not sure what else I can do to help them settle.

They are now in the big open paddock with my other minis and horses – plenty of space to move and explore, plenty of grazing (although it is now summer brown with little value)

I have now seen them follow my other minis to the water trough, follow them to the trees for shade and scratching.

They are appearing to be acting mostly in a more species appropriate way, and fitting in.

Old eyes and superceded knowledge would have incorrectly seen nasty little sh__ ponies;

But, these are ponies displaying stress and inappropriate behaviour from sub-optimal (or downright bad!) prior horse care.

These ponies have experienced harmful horse keeping, and have suffered for it.

These ponies need time to adjust and help to heal – not labelling and name calling

Written by Vicki Conroy of PPGA Equine sub-committee

The more you look into modern horse training, the more you’ll find yourself in a confusing and contradictory sea of ‘methods’. You can try the Pat Parelli method, the Monty Roberts method, the Warwick Schiller, Buck Brannaman or Clinton Anderson ‘method’.

Most trainers will have their own training system, their own unique names for everything from their halters, their whips (looking at you ‘carrot stick’) through to their interactions with horses and the horses' responses. That horse has a ‘hard eye’. (What does that even MEAN?!)

Is it clever marketing? Absolutely. It makes each trainer seem so unique and makes your average horse owner feel like this one trainer alone could be the solution to all their horse problems if they just invest in their courses and clinics.

They repackage and rebrand traditional horse training to make it sound like it’s exactly what’s missing in your life.

Truthfully, once you understand HOW horses learn, none of their showmanship holds up.
Yeah, he can make a horse come and stand by the mounting block.
Yeah, he can make a horse run in a circle just with his ‘energy’.

But when you scrub away the gimmicks and look at what’s motivating the horse's behaviour, you’ll find aversives, and lots of them.

While I’m not a supporter of using aversives in your training, I am a huge supporter of knowingly and intentionally training your horse.
For as long as you believe that it’s your energy or your magical stick that’s creating or maintaining the behaviours you want, you’ll continue to struggle with every new problem with every different horse. 

It’s the old ‘teach a man to fish’ situation.
These clinicians give you a fish. A fish for if your horse bites and bucks, a fish for if your horse can’t be ridden alone, a fish for the bolter, the girthy and the hard to catch.
But they’re very careful not to teach you how to fish. Because once you can fish by yourself, their money source is gone.

Learning how to create and maintain behaviour with Positive Reinforcement changed the way I approach training situations.

When I learned how to lunge my horse I learned ONLY how to lunge my horse. I couldn’t take that lesson and apply it to many, if any other parts of my horse training. It didn’t help me learn how to get my horse to back up, to move sideways or to line up to the gate.
It helped me lunge a horse. A GOOD horse, at that. It didn’t give me the tools to troubleshoot if my horse decided NOT to go faster when I picked up the whip. Or what to do when she turned towards me and stopped moving entirely.

When I started learning about R+ and began using it in my own training, I still needed a step by step guide on how to train every behaviour.
I’d hop on youtube to search for a tutorial on how to set up the environment, what to click for and how to deliver the food.
Like with the traditional and natural horsemanship clinics and lessons, I needed my hand held through every early training session.
As time went on, I began to realise I could think through and plan sessions myself.
I could go out and just start clicking for stuff and see what happened. It was amazing and reinforcing for me to see my animals try different behaviours in real time depending on what’s being reinforced for them.
It felt like I had been blessed with a magical power, because, in many ways, I had.

I didn’t need a coach, a pricey clinic, or a course. I hadn’t just learned how to train one or two things with a new ‘method’. I had learned how animals learn.

With that power, I could actually teach ANYTHING.

Now, I still attend courses, buy training books and consume training materials from professional trainers. My imagination and creativity have been found to be somewhat lacking, at times.
The joy of attending a course with like-minded individuals to discuss and learn from each other isn’t just about the practical skills or the theory. It’s about the experience, the shared community and the training plans that only seem to pay off after some tiny little comment from a colleague makes you realise you’ve been overlooking a really important factor in your plan.

Collaboration is key. But just consider this before buying your next clinic ticket - is this trainer teaching me how to fish, or giving me a fish? One will help in the now, the other will help forever.

Written by Madi Holmes of the PPGA Equine Sub-Committee

This is another But they DON’T do it to each other post –

‘They do it to each other’ is a very common excuse or justification for using punishment on horses. A lot of arguments against this focus on – but we are not horses, or, we miss the nuance or the pre-behaviour signals that the horse gives before he attacks.

What I see argued less and I feel is MUCH more relevant – is in fact that horses DON’T do it to each other. Horses that are housed appropriately that is. Those lucky ones that have access to friends, forage and freedom – as all horses should.

Most skirmishes or agonistic displays occur in horses that are kept in sub-optimal conditions. Too many horses in too small a space for example, or too many horses and not enough feed sufficiently spaced to allow all horses to be confident of their food security.

So people often see those inappropriate displays, or they see the young horse being taught manners by their mother or other matriarchs. This then is incorrectly attributed to being bossy, or rank climbing.

All communal, group and herd living species have communication tools. As they grow youngsters learn about body language and their means of communicating with other group members. They learn how to communicate with their con-specifics WITHOUT causing injury.

Puppies in a litter learn bite inhibition when playing with littermates, to enable them to settle differences as adults without injuring each other.

Surely horses learn the same thing through play with other foals within their herd?

Play is often nature allowing youngsters to practise skills they may need as adults.

Communication within a herd or group has evolved (amongst other reasons) to enable the group members to settle altercations WITHOUT injuring each other.

INJURY IS DETRIMENTAL TO SURVIVAL.

Horses are herd animals, it IS how they have evolved. And evolution is about survival, of the individual AND of the species. Evolution ending in death is counter-intuitive! (oxymoron)

Safety for a herd animal involves being a part of the herd. Getting along. Most horse communication is about getting along, NOT about who is going to be boss. If you don’t get along and are outcast, you forfeit the safety the herd offers.

Safety in numbers - more eyes to scout for predators, and the possibility of being the victim is reduced by the numbers in the herd. Safety in being cohesive - when the herd runs you don’t question who has seen what – you trust there is a reason and you go too.

The herd IS safety

If a horse truly was going to inflict injury on a herd member (and they really could) every injury inflicted decreases that herds’ safety. That wouldn’t be very efficient evolution!

Getting along and being cohesive, communicating clearly, watching out for others and staying together ensures better safety and better chances of survival.

Without the human imposed bad horse keeping, equines spend their day harmoniously, peacefully, cohesively. As they have evolved to do.

Written by Vicki Conroy of PPGA Equine sub-committee

Over my many years of horse ownership I’ve been through a lot of different situations with my horses. From agisting as a child when all I had to do was show up and love my horse, through to young adulthood where it was entirely my decision where I agisted and how often I saw them.

I’ve been to different agistments depending on where I lived and my needs at the time. From places with big indoor arenas through to a quiet paddock where I could visit anytime I liked.

Very few of those places looked at a horse's biological needs when setting up their agistment paddocks. They were built for convenience.

Usually having single horse paddocks or at most, a pair. Rotating paddocks only to stop them turning to mud, not to ensure the horses had appropriate grazing. Feeding and rugging based on time of day and the amount of money the owner paid, with far less focus on each individual horse's needs.

In short, it’s a business.

Stables mean more horses on less land, and that means more money.

But horses are large animals, with complex social and biological needs that include a suitable herd, space to roam, and free access to food, water and shelter.

Let’s run through a few things horses DON’T need;

To be ridden

To be whipped

To be dressed up for seasonal photos

To be tied up so people can brush them, or worse, just to ‘teach them to tie’

To compete

To have a job

To be stabled

To be bred for profit

There are exceptions to every rule. An injured horse might need to be rested in a small, secure area such as a stable or yard. Even if that’s the case, it’s best to try and adapt the environment to be as appropriate as possible. For instance, keeping friendly horses nearby, and using novel and enriching toys to keep the horse occupied and happy.

While horses generally don’t need rugs, it can be appropriate and helpful to rug horses who are sick, elderly, or are especially bothered by bugs or extreme weather.

But these things should be the exception. They should be approached with caution, with consultation of equine professionals, and with thoughtfulness. Always prioritising the horses needs over the humans convenience or their ‘wants’.

The horse industry isn’t set up to benefit the horse, but my paddock is. I hope yours is too.

Written By Madi Holmes of the PPGA Equine Sub-Committee

Sometimes when doing R+ with our horses, we run into problems when dealing with other people, and also with equine professionals like farriers and Veterinary surgeons.

In an ideal world, our cooperative care behaviours have been taught well and proofed, and our horse is an angel and the job is done without drama. Having our cooperative care behaviours already trained means OUR HORSE is calmer and way less stressed during their Vet or farrier visit

Sometimes we need that professional though, before our horse is ready.

This should be the exception – not the rule.

It is up to us to train the behaviours we need before we need them whenever possible.

It is NOT our farrier or our vets job to train a behaviour that we cannot get our own horse to do.

We need to value the safety of our equine professionals and have our horse as safe as we can train them. Vets and farriers have enough risk in their job anyway, without us adding to them. And I for one, ALWAYS want that farrier or Veterinary surgeon to agree to come back for a visit when needed, not say no because my horse was unsafe to handle in the past.

How-ever, we also need our horse professional to treat our horse kindly and with respect, and not reprimand them or get rough for ‘playing up’, which in most cases is due to OUR lack of preparation, NOT the horse being naughty.

Know your horses limitations and advise your professional accordingly.

I once needed a farrier for a hoof abscess, on a mare that was not accustomed to strangers and had only had hoof handling by me. She was a lovely mare and tried, but occasionally got worried when I worked with her. I advised the farrier of that, and stressed that she was to be treated kindly. If she needed her foot back he was to give it, we would wait a minute then start again.

I advised that at no stage was he to raise his voice or threaten her, if he did that he would be told to leave immediately (I can be belligerent!) I also advised him that I expected to, and was quite prepared to, pay him extra for the extra time that going slow would take.

My approach was we were going to do what the mare was comfortable with, go slowly and quietly, stop if we needed to then restart, and I was going to hand feed some pellets as we went along. My explanation was quiet, but non-negotiable. The farrier agreed.

It ended being a really deep hard to find abscess. The farrier was great and did as requested, the mare settled with his quiet and respectful approach, and we were able to lance that abscess and relieve the poor girls pain. Good outcome. I was very prepared to get tough with the farrier if I needed to, but I figured he understood english!

Knowing your animal and advising details helps – farriers and Vets meet lots of owners and animals who don’t understand and are not prepared, and the professionals are then subjected to un-safe work practises, and unsafe animal handling.

We shouldn’t expect the professionals to perform miracles that we can’t, but we can expect them to listen to our educated facts, and to treat our animals with kindness and respect

Written by Vicki Conroy of PPGA Equine sub-committee

“Free to Good home”

“Paddock Sound”

“Regretful Sale”

“Companion Home Only”

I’ve never been someone who liked parting with animals. Any animal, ever.

So the idea of selling my horse once I’d outgrown her was a tough concept for me.

But the thing is, horses cost quite a lot of money to keep, to the point where multiple ‘paddock ornaments’ will usually prevent a person from being able to buy and keep a newer/younger/fancier horse, as well as their first pony or their elderly mount. I’ve been exceedingly lucky with my horses lining up well with my life circumstances. I’ve always had the means (at times thanks to my lovely parents) to keep my horses close by. I was able to buy the bigger and more athletic thoroughbred once I outgrew my pony, without having to sell the pony.

The majority of horse owners have the mentality that they either must keep the pony, OR buy the new mount.

You see free or cheap horses constantly being advertised in facebook groups. People wanting somewhere to retire their old horses. Looking for someone to take on their 20-25 year old horse and be responsible for the extra food and vet costs associated with caring for an elderly animal. Someone to take on end of life care and make the heartbreaking decision of when their life has come to an end. Abdicating responsibility.

Because horses aren’t viewed as a member of the family. They’re not a traditional pet.

They’re a sport.

They’re an income.

They’re a means to an end and they can’t be sitting around costing money if they’re not serving a purpose. Whether that’s being a broodmare, going to competitions or just being sound enough to take trail riding.

What happens when they can no longer do what the owner wanted them for?

They’re given away. If they have ANY chance of being ‘useful’ to someone else, then they’re sold. But if they’ve completely broken down to the point where they cannot physically carry a rider anymore, then they’re free to ‘good home’.

They’re called ‘paddock sound’ and they need to go. To make room in your paddock for your next horse.

I was lucky enough that I got my next horse without having to choose between him, or selling my first pony. But make no mistake. My pony was never leaving my custody and care, even if that meant I never got the bigger, fancier horse.

Once an animal is with me, they’re with me forever. They’re my pets. They’re members of my family. Their purpose is to be loved and cared for forever, not just while I find them ‘useful’.

** Disclaimer: My interest in a bigger/better/fancier horse was when I was riding traditionally, prior to learning about and switching to positive reinforcement, fear free animal training and care.

Written By Madi Holmes of the PPGA Equine Sub-Committee

Outspoken horses who express their feelings are regularly labelled and demeaned by humans.

Sometimes there are some lucky horses with the right owners, who notice the horses unhappiness and investigate. They find the problem and fix it.

This is the exception unfortunately, not the norm.

There are also those equines who appear to comply. Chances are high these poor souls initially showed their fear or discomfort, or their unhappiness in what was expected of them.

Un-noticed, unheard equine communication.

Body language that was too small and too subtle for the human,

*because horses generally don’t shout, and

*humans generally don’t listen.

Too few humans notice the horse trying to explain or communicate, so the horse often just. stops. trying.

Nobody notices - or worse, they notice but misunderstand, or notice and ignore.

Then the horse is labelled uncooperative, grumpy, stubborn, trying to evade, or similar disparaging labels that makes the horse the culprit, not the victim.

Horses survive by being in harmony or cohesion with their herd. If disagreements do occur (rare to see in natural herds) then once the disagreement is settled the horses return to their naturally cohesive state. To their safety in getting along.

Similarly with their dealings with humans. Once the horses’ concerns are displayed they tend to APPEAR resolved. Noted and they get along with life, ignored and why bother voicing those ignored concerns again.

So those unheard voices are now stifled.

The horse just goes along with the humans demands in their effort to remain harmonious and hence ‘SAFE’. They acquiesce. Worse - they submit.

They are often not happy, but hard-wiring and the need for herd safety takes over.

The human can now pretend that all is well.

Let’s change this one-sided picture

* Make an effort to HEAR our horses voices

* Treat them like friends whose opinions we value

* Make an effort to help them be truly happy – not just obedient and compliant

And equally as distressing –

“Horses have stopped trying to communicate affiliatively with people as we don’t listen”

Lucy Rees

Part 5 / people focussing on agonistic behaviour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt5BG0V5jnA

Sadly humans also often miss those ’cohesive’ communications that are offered, as well as missing those less cohesive ‘words’ the horse expresses.

Let horses who are not shut down voice their opinion and be heard

Lets celebrate our expressive horses; they can be our greatest teachers

They can teach us humility and respect for others feelings

They teach us all to REALLY listen, listen and ACT on the changes we need to make.

Let's give our horses a better world

Let's make their voices heard.

Written by Vicki Conroy of the PPGA Equine Sub-Committee

Most of us these days are hopefully aware that horses SHOULD NOT be confined to small spaces. They need room to move.

We’ve probably all heard “they move 20kms per day going to and from grazing and water”

What we may not have heard, and it is equally, if not MORE important, is how far horses move WHILST grazing. How far and HOW they move WHILE taking mouthfuls and chewing, which they do for 12 – 16 hrs per day.

When horses graze they place one foreleg forward, then do a sequence of ‘bite off grass, chew, move head, bite off grass, chew, repeat’ around the extended foreleg, then raise head, progress opposite foreleg, repeat above sequence around new leading leg.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ObrV64MgAo to watch a (better) video explanation

Preliminary findings of Lucy Rees/ Christina Salvany documented some 30 foreleg progressions per minute. When distance the foreleg moved was calculated, the figure came up to a possible 30km per day, with head down, stretched back and topline, grazing.

Grazing posture IS significantly important. It is how horses have evolved to eat after all - WITH HEAD LOWERED AND NECK AND BACK AND TOPLINE STRETCHED.

Consider the way humans often feed horses. Stationary piles. Small yards or stables. Chest height feed tins. Feeding regime where the food lasts for little more than 6hrs per day.

Lets look at the postural aspect of this behaviour alone -

Two separate studies on travel sickness pneumonia showed horses displaying early respiratory symptoms from having their heads tied at chest height, as per travel in a horse truck (yet with no travel involved) This is the SAME position as chest height horse feeders.

Respiratory symptoms developing from being unable to stretch topline and lower head to natural grazing position.

Add some feed based dust and pollen to the mix if you dare….

We know confinement and hence prevention of the execution of normal behaviour can cause stereotypies and stress.

Ulcers, colic, choke, and respiratory compromise amongst other things should also be factored in.

We need to stop normalising incorrect and unsafe horse keeping, for our horses emotional AND physical welfare.

What else is happening that we are unaware of with this posturally changed grazing sequence?

Written By Vicki Conroy of the PPGA Equine Sub-Committee