Force-Free Training

❓Do you know the difference between positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement? ❓Do you know of other force-free techniques? ❓Do you know what happens when an aversive training method and a force-free training method are mixed together? ❓Would you recognise which technique/s are being used in training? ❓Do you know why each method works? ❓Do you know the emotional effect each technique has on the animal? Above is a horse being presented with a target to touch with his nose that will eventually lead on to movement or consent training. He knows when he touches the target nice things will happen. He is relaxed because he was previously trained in protective contact; has *counter-conditioned to the human; has forage available; and has a big bag of training food. THIS is what POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT looks like. The horse above has been asked to walk backwards by the human by first pointing their finger; then wriggling the rope – which is connected to the halter, getting firmer and firmer making it feel very uncomfortable for the horse until she steps back. Then they stop and relax. The horse feels relieved as the aversive stimulus stops, but you can see by her face she is still p*s*ed. Next time the human points their finger, the horse will step back as this has become an aversively conditioned cue. THIS is what NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT looks like. 📷 This horse above is being presented with a fly mask, which she was fearful of because of previous forceful training methods. She is in protective contact (behind a barrier), and is relaxed with forage available as well as a big bag of training food. THIS is what *COUNTER CONDITIONING  looks like, which is a DIFFERENT FORCE-FREE TRAINING METHOD to +R because the horse is just starting to make nice associations to the stimulus (mask) and doesn’t actually have to DO anything, so nothing is being reinforced. Her emotions are changing. It is used in conjunction with SYSTEMATIC DESENSITISATION which is ANOTHER FORCE-FREE METHOD that means very small exposures that don’t cause a reaction, which is very important so that the stimulus does not become aversive. Imagine how you may feel if I dropped a spider on your head, then gave you chocolate. Would you be any less scared of the spider? Above is a horse who is standing a distance away from the human, but very cautiously leaning in to get a treat from their hand. He is not relaxed, but wary. He is not obedient, but avoids something aversive that happened before, yet he still wants the food. He has the halter on, but no rope attached – it is not necessary because the halter is already connected to something aversive. You can see the target in the trainer’s hand to target his nose, and now he’s being rewarded for touching it. Imagine how he must feel with the food being held out, yet at any moment he will probably get a push or a poke to warn him not to come too close. THIS is what MIXING can look like Tell me more! POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT (+R) is when you add something that the horse values, e.g. treats or scratches (but not all horses actually like scratches despite the owner wanting them to or thinking they do).  And the addition of this nice thing makes the horse want to repeat what he did last time in order to get it again, which means it is being reinforced.  Positive is not in the emotional sense. It means addition. +R = add something to reinforce a behaviour. Or gain something appetitive to make the behaviour directly before it happen more. NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT (-R) is to take something away that the horse VALUES being removed in order for him to repeat the behaviour next time – so it is still reinforced.  By default it must be something that the horse finds horrible/aversive that is taken away in order for him to value it being removed. For example If someone is pressing on the horse’s nose/chest it is aversive. So he learns that when he backs off he ESCAPES from this horrible thing as it stops. Next time when he feels the lightest of touches there, or hears the ‘back’ word which is now an aversively conditioned cue, he knows what will happen next, so he backs up to AVOID it from happening again. So what? The problem is that the aversive is being applied by the human! Therefore WE are the aversive. If you put a whip on the floor the horse probably won’t be scared of it nor move away. It is only when it is connected to the human that it becomes a problem – if you pick it up, even if you don’t use it, it may make the horse move because the horse has learnt what comes next if he doesn’t.  That same concept applies to ALL aversive or aversively conditioned stimuli that you apply to the horse or use during training.  So emotionally he feels the SAME if you actually apply the aversive; if you just threaten to apply it; or if he thinks you may apply it. THAT’S HOW IT WORKS.  For example Using a word or sound to walk before you squeeze your legs Putting your hand on his side whilst grooming to move over Saying woe before you use your reins Pointing a finger to direct from the floor if it has been trained by following up with a push/drive/flick/poke ‘Using your seat’ when it’s followed by squeezing the reins in order to train halt, slow down, or collection  Even bending over before picking up his hoof to clean it.  They are all predictors of something aversive, so are aversively conditioned cues that he has learnt how to avoid or escape from to seek release (relief), which leads to the behaviour we are looking for. How about if we follow it with something nice? Now imagine if someone threatens YOU with something.

10 Truths about Horse Training  We’ve been working on explaining the things that need to be true for us to have happy horses trained without force. These are our top 10!  1. To feel safe and contented, our horses and ponies need to have continuous access to an appropriate source of forage, be in a healthy body condition, have freedom of movement, consistent company of friends and be living in familiar, calm surroundings.  2. Our horses will thrive when provided with an enriching environment where they have a variety of types and sources of forage and can perform natural foraging and social behaviours with other horses of similar age and temperament. Those would include play, grazing together, mutual grooming and watching out for each other when resting.  3. All the behaviours that are necessary for our horses’ emotional, mental and physical health can be learned without them experiencing any fear, and without the use of pressure, coercion, restraint, confinement, correction or force.  4. Horses need to be unconfined and unrestrained, and free from pain, discomfort, anxiety, irritation and frustration in order to be in a relaxed emotional state for learning.  5. Having a way to express their choice is empowering for the horse, and choice is the foundation stone of trust. Learning how to teach horses to express their preferences and choice without showing avoidance is also immensely empowering for us as horse lovers.A horse or pony who feels she has the option to say “no” is more likely to say “yes” to the essential things we need her to do for her own health and welfare, as well as those things that are for our own pleasure and enjoyment as owners.  6. All animals on the planet learn what behaviour “works” for them when they experience consequences. They will act to get things they like or value and that bring them enjoyment and pleasure, or to escape or avoid things they find painful, frightening, frustration, annoying or uncomfortable. There are only two ways to train repeatable behaviour and get it on cue.The first of these is when the horse learns to associate a stimulus with something unpleasant, and they will in future act to avoid it. Or when they associate a stimulus with something pleasurable, and they will act to gain it. Once a horse realises that your car appearing on the yard means that you will soon be bringing them hay, they may come to the field gate or hay station so as to be ready to receive it. If a horse discovers that the vet means he might get an injection he may move to the back of the stable or pull away. The car is the cue to approach, the vet is the cue to avoid. The second way to train behaviours so that we can reproduce them – get them on cue – is reinforcement. We have two options for using reinforcement. Positive reinforcement – the gain or addition of something attractive and pleasurable, and negative reinforcement – the removal, reduction, escape or avoidance of something unpleasant. If the horse believes her behaviour will result in something pleasurable, she will repeat it. If his behaviour is prompted by the horse experiencing something unpleasant, and his behaviour results in escape from that unpleasant stimulus or situation, he will repeat that behaviour. All animals behave for reinforcement, including us.  7. All animals are quick to form perceptions and opinions. A single significantly frightening or painful experience can create a strong memory and sensitize a horse to a place, procedure, situation, object or person – or people in general – such that they show a strong urge to avoid that in future. Perception can to some extent be changed, but it’s much easier to teach an animal to have good perceptions of people, places, events and things from the start. Traumatic or painful experiences and memories are rarely forgotten and easily triggered. No horse ever does anything for no reason.  8. All behaviour we see from our horses is motivated either by something the horse wants to get, or something she wants get away from or avoid. However, to change behaviour, we should first look at the conditions in which it occurs. What that means is that if we see a behaviour that is indicative of stress, escape or avoidance, or that is unsafe for the horse or for people, then we need to get curious about what is motivating our horse to behave like that. We need to be willing to change something we are doing, so that the horse no longer feels the need to perform the behaviour. To quote Dr Susan Friedman “We can change behaviours by changing the conditions in which it occurs.”  9. In order for our training to truly qualify as force-free, and in particular for it to qualify as positive reinforcement, the behaviour must first be produced without any kind of aversive prompt however mild we believe it to be. During the teaching phase of training behaviours, we do not produce behaviour with our voice, body language gestures, our posture, our energy, intention or expression and we do not use head collars, halters, lead ropes, bitless or bitted bridles, cordeos, reins, arms, hands or legs, sticks, wands, reeds, strings, ropes, flags, to cause the behaviour to happen. We produce the behaviour either with a food lure or a target or we set up the environment so that it’s likely that they will perform a step in the direction of the behaviour we want, of their own accord, and then mark and reinforce it with food or scratching. Once we have the animal reliably performing the behaviour, then we can fade out the method used to create it and introduce a cue. This is the reverse of how cues are trained with negative reinforcement where in the teaching phase, the cue (voice, seat, breath, touch, body language) is given as a signal first and then followed by an aversive to make the behaviour happen.  10. For food or