Wednesday 25 November 2015

BACK TO BASICS - Conditioning and Reinforcement

Bear with me a while for I must write this post... I just want to revisit the very most basic of basic training principles as it is so easy to become lost in a world of various 'horse training techniques', be they to do  with dressage or happy hacking, desensitising him to this, or training her that... Do we actually understand why and how what we are doing is having an effect on our horses?

In my last post, I mentioned the importance of understanding learning theories when training horses. There are all sorts of different techniques and training methods out there, but to train the horse correctly we must understand how those techniques work and how they all stem back to the basics of classical or operant conditioning. If you don't know what those are, here are diagrams and links to help explain...



{ www.simplypsychology.org/classical-conditioning.html }



{ www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html } 

So essentially, all learned behaviour (anything that is not instinctive) in horses is learned either through simple association or through this process: stimulus > response > reinforcement. In my experience, punishment as a form of reinforcement is not a constructive way to train a horse anything apart from, perhaps, teaching him not to do something (e.g. tapping his muzzle if he nips), because horses are creatures that are easily scared. When they are pushed too far out of their comfort zone, and further toward their 'fight/flight' zone (natural instinct as a prey animal), their concentration on learning a new concept is overrun by an alarm bell instilled in them literally for the sake of their own survival... so we can hardly blame them when they struggle to listen to us because they are scared by some other external factor. I try to not ever instill any kind of punishment when training a horse to do something as this 1) is pushing him further out of his comfort zone, 2) possibly marring his trust in me as his handler, 3) can easily be misconstrued if the timing is wrong and 4) is making him associate the whole situation with fear. That's a lot of reasons not to use punishment. Training horses in ways that encourage them to remain in a relaxed state (positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement) I have found to be the most constructive. Of course, it is not always possible for the horse to remain entirely relaxed and there is a place for the method of 'flooding', but generally I try to use a combination of positive and negative reinforcement, as do many people.  If I were asking a horse to move his hind quarters over, I might apply a slight pressure to them with my fingertips. As soon as he moves them, the 'uncomfortable pressure' from my fingertips is released (negative reinforcement) and I feed him a treat for performing the correct movement (positive reinforcement). The correct timing of reinforcement is key to successful training. 

When Roux first came to me, he wouldn't allow me to catch him in the field. I keep him and Alfie at grass 24/7, so this was far from ideal. Sure, I could slip the rope onto his head collar when he approached me for his feed bucket, but this was also, in my mind, far from ideal. Instead, I used negative reinforcement through a technique where I would increase pressure when he gave an undesired response (when he walked away, I walked toward him) so that I could decrease/release that pressure when he gave the desired response (when he looked/walked in my direction, I would look/walk away). Of course, there are all sorts of methods out there to catch horses, but they all boil down to conditioning and reinforcement and how you are going about using these principles. And the better you understand these principles (along with the horse's natural instincts), the better you can understand, choose and justify the training techniques you come across to use. 

I went on to train Roux to accept being caught through negative reinforcement (his reward was essentially me giving him time and space). His next issue was picking his feet up and having them picked out and for that, I used both negative and positive reinforcement, depending on the stage we were at (and it was a long process!). I've learned so much through all of this, but I just think it's so important to understand how these simple principles of conditioning and reinforcement form the backbone of all horse training and to remember them throughout. 



Friday 20 November 2015

Meet Me...

Name: Aviva Stafford

Where I'm based: Cheshire, UK

Horsemanship/method of training practised and a brief description of application or principles: I certainly try to use a non-aggressive approach, but also a non-domineering one as much as I can help it. In horse herds there is often a ‘boss’ horse who will bully the other horses and some trainers try to emulate this behaviour so that they can be the ‘boss horse’. But I prefer to be like the horse whom the others follow because he has their trust and not because they are intimidated by him.

Whether I’m training a horse to actively DO something or desensitising him to an object/situation he finds scary, I try to break it all down into steps that he finds more manageable. Some need a process broken down into tiny steps while others will progress in leaps and bounds, but they are all different!

I think it’s quite important to understand some of the theories behind behaviour. A proper understanding of the theories behind ‘classical conditioning’ (Pavlov’s dogs, 1889) and ‘operant conditioning’ (Skinner’s rats, 1938) have had a huge impact on the way I understand horse training. I also think it’s important to understand the horse’s nature because then we can transfer all these theories in a way that will be constructive for him. Understanding how he thinks and his perception of the world generally, helps me understand why he behaves the way he does and so, needless to say, helps me figure out training solutions.

Summary of Previous Experience: I started riding when I was 11 and it wasn’t long before I was helping at local yards so I could spend more time with the horses. When I was 15 I met Pat and Linda Parelli at their 2010 summit and started getting interested in natural horsemanship. When I was 16 I went to study equine management at Reaseheath College. In those same two years I also listened to Andrew McLean at one his demos, took my Stage 1 and 2 BHS exams, attended a 5-day training course with Kelly Marks, undertook work experience on a polo yard (near Cowdray) and an equine-assisted learning facility (Hampshire) and I took on my first ‘loan pony’ as a project. After college I became a full-time volunteer for a charity and spent a lot of time on their equestrian side which they used to help vulnerable and disabled adults. By that time, I had discovered the healing power of horses and decided my goal was to become an equine-assisted learning facilitator as well as a horse trainer. I then went to Spain for 3 weeks, met Clare at Time and Space Horse Riding and experienced horses in a wonderful way there. And then I went for a year without horses and without riding (which was very difficult). BUT August of this year was worth the wait because all at once I attended an intensive 9-day facilitator training course with Tricia Day of EAQ and then took on Alfie and Roux, my two 6-year-old New Forest Ponies.

What I'm doing now: Backing and training my two young ponies (we love learning tricks!) and steadily building my portfolio toward becoming a qualified equine-assisted learning facilitator.

Idols and influences: Emma Massingale, Mark Rashid, Alexander Nevzorov





 Top left: Alfie making me laugh out loud Top right: Roux ready to ride (I currently use a bitless bridle and a bareback pad) Bottom: Alfie practising his bow 

Monday 16 November 2015

Meet the Boys...






...Alfie and Roux. My lifelong dream came true when they arrived on 8th August this year. We've already come a long way in three months and I'm going to start writing about them regularly on here, partly because it makes a nice record for me and hopefully so others can benefit from what I've learned through them.

They are both 6-year-old New Forest Pony geldings who used to roam free on the New Forest, before being taken off by their owner. They were treated quite roughly and Roux is still affected to this day, a particularly sensitive horse by nature. They were rescued from being sold for meat by a lady who then passed them on to me a year a bit later so that I could eventually use them for equine assisted learning, as I am currently training to become a facilitator.

I will keep this post short and sweet, but do expect many more insightful ones to follow. ~