KBR Horse Training Information Exercising Body AND Mind

Developing Confident Horses
Part Six
Lessons on the Ground

Child's play: Confident movement through the dreaded "Flag Alley" on a loose lead.

This page is a continuation from Part Five. Behavior: the way in which an animal or person acts in response to a particular situation or stimulus. For the most part, horses are pattern forming individuals, depending on motivation and stimulus. Stimulus can be in the form of positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement. An example of positive reinforcement involves horses that are turned out in pasture during the day, but are kept in stalls overnight. When motivated by the consistently repetitive availability of high value food at the end of the day, most horses will run to their correct stalls when the pasture gate is opened. An example of negative reinforcement involves the interplay between a dominant horse and other horses when the dominant horse wants control over a desirable resource such as a patch of high value food. If his body gestures to stay away are not acknowledged by other horses, the dominant horse will often attempt to kick or bite. If the dominant horse is consistent, the other horses learn to yield to the dominant horse's body language. We typically shape the behavior of horses into something useful through a combination of positive and negative reinforcement. Enhanced positive reinforcement could be a food reward during clicker training when teaching a horse to solve a more complex problem. More passive positive reinforcement could be a well timed release of lead line pressure when the horse gives to that pressure as the handler intends. There have been volumes written by numerous competent trainers on the subject of ground schooling horses, using the round pen, using the longe line, moving from a light "ask," getting horses to yield and give to pressure, etc. Since this feature involves confidence building, we will not address the specifics of these methods other than to point out that they should not be applied with mindless repetition, but rather in a dynamic environment where we ask the horse to respond correctly in a variety of situations. If a horse has difficulty with a particular scenario we'll back up to a point where the horse responded confidently, reestablish a consistent response, then return to the more difficult task. Conversely if a horse is responding well we may repeat the movement a couple of times to help cement the horse's confidence, but we're not going to punish the horse for responding correctly by running the exercise into the ground.

We have learned that one of the most significant elements in producing calm horses involves "focus." Much of our original understanding of focus came from the teachings of Linda Tellington-Jones. By getting away from mindless repetition and using a more dynamic approach to shaping behavior by encouraging horses to focus has significantly improved our degrees of success with horses we've been developing. A useful article that discusses focus and related issues has been written by Robyn Hood, entitled A Playground for Higher Learning. The obstacles we have developed pretty closely parallel the ones shown in Robyn's article. Logical Steps. A key point when engaging in these exercises is to be careful with respect to starting simple and advancing to the more complex elements as the horse builds its confidence and understanding. The object is not to see how many elements a horse can "crash" through but rather how well and how confidently the horse can complete each task. After all, the objective here is to develop trust and confidence when the handler or rider makes a "request" rather than generate a response in the horse akin to, "Oh no! I have to suffer through another one of these things." There is evidence that as the horse moves through an exercise with greater ease and coordination the neurological association between a cue and its correct response is becoming more engrained and reliable. Thus it's best to encourage the horse to learn rather than react, to process what's going on, place his feet correctly and respond continuously to the handler's or rider's cues rather than just forge through in an effort to avoid the stress of the element. (See The Effects of Stress.) The starting point: Navigating a labyrinth on a light "ask." As the horse becomes more confident, trusting and willing in the simpler elements, it is time to move into and through various obstacles that are more challenging and involve stimulus located at different elevations. Passing under a wind-flapping "waterfall" obstacle on hand cues, off-lead. After experiencing stepping over, through and under various elements and becoming confident in those various encounters, more practical issues such as reluctance to easily load in trailers are often completely resolved. More practical adaptations: Confident trailer loading and unloading. A horse's trust in its rider or handler, expanded through a variety of experiences, can also help resolve other "confidence" issues such as horses that become anxious having their hooves worked on. Confident handling by strangers. (A horse that didn't want to be trimmed.) The ultimate goal involves reliable and safe communication and a partnership that achieves "more with less." Confident partnership. More complete descriptions of the obstacles used here can be found at Building a Confidence Course.