Yeehaw and an Eductaion

Wild ride:
Took Bodhi out to one of our larger pastures to canter around. My husband came along as well and we turned it into a husband/pony workout with him jogging next to Bodhi.

This makes Bodhi really excited for some reason... I think I may be missing some competitive undertones between the two. Maybe they have been trash talking each other when I go into the tack room for a curry?
Bodhi was very up and a little hard to control in our new bridle. I never felt afraid of losing him completely but there was a lot more pulling going on then I want their to be. I had a huge grin through it all because even if it's naughty an amped up haflinger is pretty much the cutest thing ever.
I remember a similar situation on our first ever trail ride where Bodhi went above the bit and turned me off and that was with a bit of course. So fear not I do not blame the bridle I blame the training. I obviously need to work more on tempo and transitions when he is in an "elevated" state. The problem of course is usually the "elevation" part.

Getting an Education:
I borrowed the DVD "Lesson 6: Shaping on a Point of Contact" By Alexandra Kurland. I have watched part 1 so far. I should probably watch it again. It is packed with information but the audio quality is poor. Here is the synopsis:
Physical balance has many benefits for your horse. He'll stay sounder longer. he'll have smoother, more beautiful gaits. And he'll be more focused and emotionally settled. How do you bring a horse into physical balance? By shaping on a point of contact so your horse becomes internally body aware and learns how to adjust his own balance. find out what that means and learn the skills to help your own horse achieve physical and emotional balance in this two hour DVD lesson.

One thing I have really gotten out of this DVD so far is how to use negative reinforcement correctly. This may be covered more extensively in other DVDs from her but I only have access to this one.
As she describes it all you need for "pressure" is to get to the point of contact with the horse and wait until you get your response. This is demonstrated with a horse on lead being asked to go forwards and backwards. Sliding your hand slowly up the rope lets the horse know you are about to cue then stopping your hand at the point you feel contact with the horse. No escalating the pressure from there. You immediately release as a -reward and if you add the clicker you get a + reward as well. Using a clicker to explain pressure and release during the acquisition phase makes a super soft horse without having to "up your pressure" (which I hate). She also explains body posture to help the handler stay soft but firm.
Started some work with Bodhi and he responded right away! He is a real slow poke on the lead too which is really frustrating. I am glad I have this tool now. Instead of playing the "how serious are you really about this?" game I can just reinforce when he responds to the level of pressure I want him to respond to. Perfect!

Poisoned cues and Natural horsemanship Part 2

Now that I have explained what a poisoned cue is (or at least had a crack at it!) I am going to attempt to explain what in the heck it has to do with the natural horsemanship movement.

Human error leads to habituation, which leads to more force, louder aids and poisoned cues. Right? That gives me a big bout of learned helplessness just thinking about it! Luckily for us though -- horses are very forgiving.

What I mean by forgiving is not that they are consciously forgiving. They do not understand mistakes or good intentions. They are not forgetful either. Horses have been found to still respond to cues learned 10 years prior with little practice with those cues in between. We all know how amazing the equine memory is! What I mean is that horses are highly specific in what they do remember, or associate, so with training mistakes there is usually a way out. Poisoned cues can be replaced with a new one in it's stead! This-I-believe is why Pat Parelli and the rest of the "Natural"gang came to be so popular ( and rich too you guys want what for a halter!)

I know from personal experience as well with by personal observation that a large percentage of people that are drawn to Parelli are people that already have a horse but problems have come up using the "traditional" method and they are looking for a new way to approach riding and training their horse. Sure they have some clients that have had no prior horse experience but they do market themselves as a solution for the "problem horse". Here is a familiar but hypothetical story to better explain what I mean:

Owner/rider has a horse that bucks under saddle and is UN controllable on the ground. Most likely she has tried many of the traditional methods for fixing the issues by changing the bit, escalating the "aides" using a chain over the nose etc etc, but the horse now just bucks almost every time they ride together and is impossible to catch.

I think that this is because by now most of her aides she uses to communicate with her horse are poisoned cues.The rider when using the reins and her leg now is eliciting a fear response at least some of time-- same with the halter and lead.

Rider finds Parelli program and gives it a try. She buys the new rope halter with the savvy string, and the carrot stick, and starts playing the "7 games". Her horse starts to respond to the porcupine game and seems to be learning. Her horse also seems to be more relaxed and happier in her work. She buys a Parelli hackamore and maybe even a Parelli saddle (gee gads!). Horse seems cured!

The Parelli method says that the training issues were solved by " love, language and leadership " They say this is about communicating to the horse in a language they can understand. They say that playing their seven games and using their method builds respect and makes you your horses leader. The Parelli program is brilliant because it works but not for those reasons above. I think the Parelli system works not because you are talking with your horse or your horse now sees you as a dominant heard member but because they take away your poisoned cues and the negative associations of the equipment that you had and give you NEW equipment and NEW cues. It is a fresh start. The horse is highly specific in his bad associations. Actually just changing minor things in the way you ask and how you ask may actually be a completely new experience for your horse. How brilliant Parelli!

What I do not like is the way the sell it though. Natural horsemanship is not natural. No more natural then other ways. Natural horsemanship professionals are not speaking horse. What they are masters of is negative reinforcement. They know when to release. Just like all really amazing horse trainers out their. All the 7 games are is practicing negative reinforcement. It is just a new package for the same old message. I am glad they are getting rid of some of the mentalities and attitudes of older traditional regimes, however I think people would be better off and their would be a lower percentage of horses redeveloping behavioral issues in the "Natural" world if people actually understood the science behind why all of this stuff works. It is not magic guys! It is behavioral theory plain and simple! :)

Poisoned cues and Natural horsemanship Part 1

"Pavlov hits me with more bad news every time I answer the phone so I play and I sing and I just let it ring, all day when I'm at home"
Ani Difranco

While reading Karen Pryor's Latest book I had this amazing ah hah! moment. I am going to attempt to explain what I figured out so bare with me! Let me know if it doesn't make sense. I am really excited about this if you can not tell and I would love to hear what you guys think!

First let me attempt to explain this new concept of a poisoned cue-- a term coined by Karen Pryor to describe an event that we have all had experience with. I will start with an example she gave in the book that really helped me to understand. A great example of a poisoned cue is your name. Your name does not immediately illicit a positive response or reaction from you necessarily. It can be quite ambiguous. Your name is complicated. It depends on how it is said. It can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the context.

I hear---"MOLLY" and I stop and think, is this person wanting to praise or to punish? Should I answer?

This is fine in language but it is bad for getting a consistent result in training. I thought of another great human example of a poisoned cue; the telephone ring. Sometimes answering the telephone can be a positive experience, like talking to a friend, or getting a call about a job offer etc... sometimes it can be an aggravating one, telemarketers, your mother in law nagging you about something, or surveys. It can even be a very negative one, someone calling you to yell, or to inform you of a loved one's sickness, or death. How many people screen their calls or feel a bit of anxiety when answering the phone? That is a poisoned cue!

Now lets look at this in the light of horse training--- We all know that habituation is a common cause of horses becoming "dull" or "lazy" to our aides. Habituation is a consequence of poorly executed negative reinforcement and I have never met a single trained horse that does not exhibit some extent of unintended habituation to cues.


Poisoned cues also is they key to a lot of "resistance" behaviors seen in horses. A rider's aides become ambiguous to a horse over time because of poorly executed negative reinforcement as well as the concept of the aversive stimulus of negative reinforcement must get louder if the aide is "ignored". When riders kick, pull, and tap harder it is not just a negative stimulus it becomes a punishing experience. Soon your horse does not know if a squeeze is going to lead to a release or going to lead to a good thump in the ribs. See what I mean? At the least you get muddy communication, hesitation and dullness, stiffness and mild anxiety. In worse cases you get bucking, rearing, bolting. John Lyons likes to say things like "You gas pedal is broken" Well I think it is more that your gas pedal is poisoned! Horse anxiety in training and avoidance behaviors like bucking are caused by something a bit more sinister than habituation, but a lot more subtle than horses subjected to obvious cruelty. I have met many horses with some extreme behaviors that have led very great lives and I think the poisoned cue is a concept that explains this phenomenon well!

In PART II I am going to tie this in with Natural horsemanship I swear! :)

Further Reading....
http://www.reachingtheanimalmind.com/pdfs/ch_09/ch_09_pdf_04.pdf

http://www.reachingtheanimalmind.com/chapter_09.html

Reinforcement: an Introduction

First what does it mean to reinforce? Reinforcement is a reward for a "right answer" Reinforcement is anything that increases the likelihood of a behavior recurring. What ever behavior is reinforced will then likely repeat. I like to keep this in mind when new behaviors pop up in horse training. "What behavior am I reinforcing and HOW am I reinforcing it"

The How
There are two basic types of reinforcement. Negative and positive reinforcement.
Positive- Is anything added that is rewarding when the appropriate behavior is expressed. Giving a dog a cookie for the command "sit", smiling at your partner and saying "thanks" for doing the dishes, giving a child a gold star on a completed homework assignment- these are all examples of positive reinforcement. Exotic animal trainers(dolphin elephant etc) use positive reinforcement. "Clicker" training is a gaining popularity, and also uses positive reinforcement- a topic for another post!

Negative-(not to be confused with punishment) is taking away an irritating, non rewarding, or uncomfortable stimulus. How we normally train dogs to walk on a leash is using negative reinforcement. A new puppy quickly learns that he can remove the uncomfortable feeling of tightness from the rope by walking forward, the same a horse is conditioned to move "off" a leg. The reward is in the removal of the stimulus or "aide" as we riders like to say.
Most traditional and "natural" horse training is primarily negative reinforcement. Leg and rein aides are of course negative reinforcement. You want your horse to move away from your leg, you want your horse to give to reins. This is all taught by negative reinforcement. Also Parelli's Seven Games uses negative reinforcement, along with Monty Robert's join up games. So you see in the eyes of a behaviorist the new "natural" movement is not so new or different after all!

Both forms of reinforcement have their own unique weaknesses and strengths, and just like disciplines have very passionate followers. I plan on delving into the drawbacks of each in following posts...

Bodhi News
The cold is finally here, in North Central Florida and Bodhi looks like a woolly mammoth. He just loves this weather! I am debating what I am going to do about blanketing this year. He is a Haflinger and I do live in Florida. Does he really need a blanket? Is this just to make me feel better? I am thinking about loaning Bodhi's Blankets to two ederly boarders who do not have any blankets. They are two short coated arabs that need all the help they can get keeping the pounds on this winter.

At what temp do you blanket your horses? What role does their individual winter coats weigh in your decision making process?