Positively touching

In learning theory speak a 'reinforcer' is a consequence of an individual's action that makes them want to do it again. It is in the individual's view as to how valuable that reinforcer is to them. Animals of all species including is humans will prefer different reinforcers depending on their experience at the time.

Take A Little Hope for example. Five weeks before the first draft of this blog was written she was flat on the floor, devoid of energy and Death Of The Horses was towering over her, scyth in hoof. She had been abandoned to die and would have done if it were not for my friend's acting to save her. I helped just a little bit. In the beginning Hope wanted to sleep mostly and eat a little, preferably while lying down.

Fast forward five weeks she's beginning to find her feet...

She is beginning to learn about human intentions and interventions for life in my friend's world. Basic touch acceptance and leading are where she's starting. Scratching is her preferred reinforcer. She loves to be stroked and rubbed and scratched. She has been deprived of other equine contact recently. For her first two weeks we didn't know if she had contagious diseases such as strangles, and she had some lice we didn't want shared round the other horses. Humans were her only visitors. Since then Hope has been let loose from her stable twice to three times a day to roam the yard and talk to the other horses over the gate while I and my friend get on with the yard chores. She's gone grooming mad, especialy with my two mares who are cobby like Hope and fairly steady beasts most of the time. Hope has steadily become more grooming mad with us humans too. She does like a good scritch, it's only natural. She's none too keen on taking food from our hands at this stage, that's a bit weird - and something she does learn to do later, joining in with the big horses. Right now scratches are the thing, and a great way forwards for her education.

Bronwen and Hope grooming: https://youtu.be/7enkVt8ac-E 

However, her love of scratches does lead us to a problem. Sight of a person arriving on the yard now is very positive to Hope and unleashes all her stored up desire to be in company and feel loved. What is not to like after the confines of her hospital bed?

So when Hope is eating she's happy and settled. When she's made her way over to the grass she is likewise. When she's talking to one of the other horses, ditto. She recognises when we are working, mucking out etc, and takes the hint that we are not availible and leaves us alone. But when we are just hanging out and she is not otherwise gainfully occupied, we are targets for her solicitations! A good sign she is feeling better, but also time for her to learn we can't just be pinned down to groom her forever.

Hope's modus operandi is to approach us with her ears back and to push into our space. It's more normal for horses to approach each other in a gentler fashion when seeking mutual grooming, and to only hesitate and turn ears back when close up to the grooming partner - just before getting stuck in to a session. Hope is still a little afraid of us, despite also having the knowledge that we groom. Not surprising really. She was weak and helpless when she was literally dragged up from the floor. Not the ideal introduction but needs must. Also, we have no idea of her previous humans...

Now is the time to show her that we'll come over to chat and give her scratches when she is settled and relaxed. We can call her name and make a definite start to an interaction with her. Then we can also begin to show her some of the things that will happen in future, such as halters and hoof care. Today I continued my friend's work, I turned my back to her and moved off a little way, waited for her to begin approaching me, said 'walk on' when she did to begin her association between this intended cue and walking with me - finishing this off with a good scratch.

Today A Little Hope is exceeding all expectations. I often stop to share a scratch, and often she stops by as I do yard chores to see what I'm doing, or tags along as I ride Penny and Bronwen in the paddock. She also brings great joy and comfort to my friend who rescued her. She's now a great big Hope :)

 

She's not afraid

Those were more or less the words used when a friend of mine explained that the vet did not think fear had any part in her young mare's abrupt aggressive behaviour. The vet's reasoning was that there was no increase in heart rate to accompany what were ostensibly defensive acts. Defensive because they were triggered by a situation that the young mare had previously linked to pain. Her resulting behaviour was intended to relieve her of the person provoking her distress - the vet.

My question is however, if the heart rate doesn't increase, is fear truly absent? I will explore some of the neurophysiology behind the behaviour.

Increased heart rate is a classic symptom of the fright, flight, fight response. A reflex response driven by the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system.

The subconscious takes note of what was happening right before the event, logging the most notable as warning signals for the future, and also remembers the actions that led to successful escape. It is in the future when the now learned warning signals prompt successful evasive actions, providing the horse with a sense of control they didn't have before. This sense of control gives confidence and calmer execution of behaviour, even evasive behaviour.

This happens because successful actions enable the horse to deliver herself to safety and a state of relief. From there she can continue her usual daily activities.

However the warning signals are still threatening, so fear has not completely left the horse. When avoidance actions are not instantly effective, and/or when the same threatening situation keeps presenting itself, frustration and anger join the emotional mix. Naturally these states drive more aggression more readily.

Going back to the mare in our example. She had been repeatedly exposed to the same sequence, injury/ill health, veterinary examination and procedure,  more/worse pain. Even when examined in passing, when not already in pain, she doesn't get defensive at the end of the examination, she takes action before then: When the vet appears to examine her.

Now that she has practised getting rid of the vet and successfully escaping and avoiding further painful intervention, she is more confident of success from the outset - so doesn't need to get her heart rate up. However, because she is a naturally easily frustrated horse, her early vet fighting episodes mixed anger into her reactions regarding examination. This means that her defensive strategy of choice includes aggression and she resorts to it sooner rather than later as she is confident in its chances of success.

So is she afraid? Yes, vets equal pain! Plus, she is also downright outraged that the vet continues to darken her door. But she also knows exactly what to do about it. So she doesn't put any more energy in than is strictly necessary.

Natural Behaviour

Simply speaking, horses are social, group living herbivores that evolved to live on open grassland. This means that they have developed mental abilities that enable them to thrive in social situations, make efficient use of their home range, and avoid succumbing to predators.
Therefore horses are capable of recognising large numbers of individuals, and remembering how those individuals have treated them so that they can respond accordingly.
They can recognise potential predators, and assess the risk of being eaten today from having learned about what predator behaviour constitutes a threat.
And they are incredibly good at learning about their local geography, what to graze, where and when, where water is, even in drought, where to find shelter in a variety of weather conditions, and most importantly, how to travel between these places.
What they are not necesarily capable of is rationalising as we humans do. For example, a horse is unlikely to realise that the carrots given to him ten minutes after the return from a ride were for being brave about a tractor and jumping a particularly challenging obstacle. As far as the horse is concerned, those events and anything associated with them were left back on the ride, and are not present with him whilst relaxing on the yard enjoying his carrots!
Appreciating this is also to appreciate the normal lifestyle and mental faculties of horses, meaning that much of what we ask horses to do, such as live in stables and suppress their flight instinct so we can ride them, are not particularly normal for them at all, even though we frequently expect these things of the horse and more!

When I consider the origins and maintenance of problem behaviour, and how to go about fixing a problem or gaining a more emotionally stable horse most capable of being trained, I have the horse’s natural existence at heart quite simply because a horse struggles to be anything else.
Horses function best when they are managed and trained in a way that is as close as possible to that for which nature designed them. Fortunately there are a variety of means of accomodating the horse's natural behaviour even on yards where the obvious things such as year round turn out and stable herds are limited.

Courage to try something new!

OK, so Mr Boardman was last seen on a bike, not a horse! But in common with other elite sports people he does have an excellent grasp of 'marginal gains' and going the extra mile to make sure he has one or two over other competitors to give him the edge – recall the funky aerodynamic helmet that all cyclists of the velodrome now use?

In case you didn't know, marginal gains are the the little positive changes that add up to give a competitive advantage. In equestrianism that's the combined effect of the right diet and exercise programme – for you and the horse! Best posture in the saddle, the right saddle, having the horse dentist, getting the physio involved, talking with the sports psychologist. But what about the horse's psychology?

Using rewards in training was one marginal gain that certainly worked for US riders Beezie Madden and Jane Savoie. They applied 'bridge' and 'target' training, communicating with their horses precisely what they did right. This not only ensured that they repeated desired behaviour but that they enjoyed it too - elevating their general mood and attitude to performance.

Could it work for you and your horse? No matter what kind of performance you actually want, from a quiet hack to a Grand Prix effort, come and find out more by attending the On Target demo with Shawna Karrasch at 7pm on Saturday 24th August 2013 at Pencoed College. Call Jenni Nellist on 07974 569407 or email jenni@jenninellist.co.uk for booking information. There are still tickets available on the door!

Jane loves On Target training!

Let me get this straight! A training system that covers everything from clipping to piaffe? How do I know that's not some kind of gimmick? I'm not into 'quick fixes'.

Neither am I. And like many horse people I know, I'm suspicious of gimmicks too, but I would like to be able to some things a lot better with my horses.

This is where learning about what motivates horses to learn and perform comes in. The On Target system is actually very simple, and it works alongside your current activities. Basically the horse is taught a 'bridge' signal that means a reward is coming. This means that you can be more exact in timing rewards that are not so easy to deliver in the moment such as giving some sugar at the exact right time in piaffe: You would have to release the aid, which most horses find to be an insignificant reward compared to something more inspiring such as the sugar lumps used at the Spanish Riding School. Then you would have to stop the horse in order to give the sugar, but by that time your horse probably won't connect the sugar with the piaffe, but for stopping instead, and he'll have to think back to what happened when he was asked to stop, a real test of concentration and imagination! With a bridge signal the guess work is removed from the horse. All you need to do is give it in the moment, then provide the promised reward as soon as is convenient afterwards.

What behaviour to reward is up to you, it all depends on what you would like your horse to do. Say you did want to clip ears more easily? You would identify key components of the task, like the horse holding their head within reach, accepting you holding the ear, accepting the clipper noise, vibrations and then cutting. Then you would do each of these in turn, communicating with your horse each time they get it right by giving the bridge signal when you see correct behaviour during one of those key components. Then you would give the reward.

Horses love this accurate feedback because it means it's hard for them to get things wrong, plus, like Jane, they love reward reinforcement and are willing to participate.

Want to find out more? Attend the On Target demo with Shawna Karrasch at 7pm on Saturday 24th August 2013 at Pencoed College. Call Jenni Nellist on 07974 569407 or email jenni@jenninellist.co.uk for booking information.

Does your horse find your rewards reinforcing?

But I already reward my horses! How is the On Target system going to be any better?

The best person to ask that question and more might actually be your horse!

What would their answer to the following questions be?

1. How much do you like the rewards I usually give you?
2. Do they make you want to work harder or any more enthusiastically for me to earn them?
3. Are you clear about what they are for?

You'll know if your horse is clear about what they are for. They will repeat the same behaviours that got rewarded more often hoping they'll receive the same rewards again.

You'll also know if they like them, because they will perform more enthusiastically for them, after all, what do you get out of bed and go the extra mile for?

If they don't like them, or don't understand what they were for you'll see no improvement, or even a deterioration in performance.

This is all because there is a difference between a reward, something good given to the horse, and a 'reinforcement', an immediate consequence of behaviour that has the effect of the horse doing that behaviour more often in future. A 'reward (positive) reinforcement' is when the reward precisely coincides with the desired behaviour, having the effect of the horse willingly offer more of that behaviour. To aid with timing, the reward reinforcement might be linked to a 'bridge' signal such as a word or clicker that is more practical to give during the right behaviour e.g. clearing a water jump!

So what does your horse think? Are your rewards reinforcing?

Find out more by attending the On Target demo with Shawna Karrasch at 7pm on Saturday 24th August 2013 at Pencoed College. Call Jenni Nellist on 07974 569407 or email jenni@jenninellist.co.uk for booking information.

Marginal Gains?

The concept of marginal gains is familiar to elite sportsmen and women, the accumulative effect of multiple positive changes to training and performance tactics that provides the winning edge. But can food rewards also confer marginal gains?

Already this summer, competitors across the country will have emerged from the ring singing their horse's praises and offering them a Polo mint. But how did their horses even know the tasty reward was for a specific jump or particularly expressive trot? Can such a treat teach anything other than pleasant associations with the arena's exit?

Food rewards certainly did it for Beezie Madden last decade when she applied former Sea World trainer, Shawna Karrasch's On Target training to difficult horse, Judgement. When Beezie took on Michael Matz' former ride he wouldn't jump a puddle, so bad was his attitude to water jumps, but through the On Target system he fulfilled his potential as a top Derby horse with a tribute film from Spruce Meadows on his retirement to boot. So how did that work?

Marine mammal trainers use 'bridge' signals such as clickers and whistles to tell their dolphin students, right in the moment, that their effort just earned a fish – a kind of IOU note if you like. This extra piece of clear communication helps animals learn fast and well, especially when tasks are broken into progressive increments that give them a clue about what to do next.

Soon after discovering horses back in the Nineties, Shawna Karrasch became connected with John and Beezie Madden and set about developing her On Target system, which uses food rewards and bridge signals, with their horses. For the first time ever, even seasoned pros like the Maddens had a consistent and reliable way to reward their horses during training, increasing their enthusiasm for the job and adding another marginal gain to their performances. 

 

The On Target story hasn't stopped there. Nearly 20 years on Shawna is still working her magic, helping riders of all abilities get marginal and quite substantially more than marginal gains, by giving them extra clarity in their training, and better attitude from their horses.

Seasoned horsewoman, Helen Williams applied Shawna's On Target system to gift horse, totally wild and super sharp Lusitano, Sofia, after early efforts to tame her didn't quite have the expected results. Even with many years experience and expertise gained from years in the saddle, harking back to her teens growing up in India and riding with nothing but cotton for reins at the Presidents Estate Polo Club, Helen could only get as far as getting Sofia to eat from her hand. Clearly not enough when Sofia escaped and ran amok with the Glamorgan Hunt, jumping two five-bar-gates from a standstill. Amidst the ensuing chaos MFH Jacky Thomas stated, “That’s a cracking little mare with a hell of a jump – if you can catch her and break her, I’d have her as a Master's horse next season!” Although Mr Thomas might well have made his comments tongue in cheek, Helen did get to work on the mare, and that's when the On Target system came in.

Under my guidance Helen quickly found that using a clicker as a bridge signal gave her a way to tell Sofia which behaviour had earned her the hand fed titbits, setting her up for success. Helen could link the clicker to correct behaviour more accurately than simply handing out the food, helping Sofia to think more carefully about her actions. Now that Sofia knows which behaviour will be rewarded she is willing to cooperate. And she is happier and less reliant on treats as a result. This is because unlike a bribe, the bridge signal comes during the event, not before, and the food or other reward is given after. Therefore Sofia doesn't need food to guide her behaviour.

Quite a bit more than a marginal gain in this case! But if this is what the On Target system could do for something as wild as Sofia and as tricky as Judgement, just what could other horses and riders achieve?

Find out more when Shawna Karrasch comes to Pencoed College for her only UK public demonstration this year, at 7pm on Saturday 24th August 2013 where I will also be raising funds for Welsh cancer charity, Amser Justin Time. Further training will also be available at the Williams' farm near Cardiff. Visit www.jenninellist.co.uk to find out more or look out for the fliers.