76. How Horses Learn...

Before we start working with the horse, it is important for you as the horse's trainer and teacher, to understand how the horse learns. This will allow you to present ideas to the horse in a way that makes it easy for the horse to understand. It will also allow you to problem solve, and come up with your own solutions should the need arise. There are many ways to teach the horse the same thing, this is important to remember, so if you are not having success with one method, find another.
Not all horses are the same so you will need to adjust your training to suit the horse and to allow the horse to progress at a rate that suits them. Don't ever try and rush the horse. Never be in a hurry to get to your goal. Just keep it in your mind and chip away at it a little by little.
You will be surprised how quickly the horse can learn when you allow it to "take the time it takes", to learn something.
As I said before not all horses are the same, the way a horse reacts to pressure and changes in its environment is an individual thing, and previously learned responses and habits may require a slightly different approach for each horse. However the principles of training do not change from horse to horse. This is because all horses learn through the same basic mechanisms, which have been ingrained in the horse for many thousands of years, and have allowed the species to survive.

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Originally horses lived out on the open plains, as herbivores they foraged for food, lived in herds and
traveled many miles each day while grazing. As seasons changed and grass died off, the herd would move to find new grass and other types of shrubbery. The main threat to their survival was predators, that could sneak up on them, if they were not constantly on the lookout.

Unlike predators, horses as prey animals did not need to have reasoning skills to be able to plan ahead, consider or visualize in the minds eye. These skills were only developed by predators and omnivores that needed to know how to find herds of prey animals, work as a pack, and hunt down their prey.
Scientists believe that this can explain why horses brains have not developed a "Prefrontal Cortex" which is believed to be responsible for reasoning abilities in humans and other predators and omnivores.
This indicates that horses have little or no ability to plan ahead, consider events or visualize in the minds eye. Instead their behavior is controlled by responses learned previously by trial and error, the horse has also developed the ability for learned responses to quickly form into habits.
Especially if there is an association with a large amount of fear or flight response.
So it is the actual occurrence of the stimulus that triggers the horse to remember how it solved the problem last time.

Living in herds, meant more sets of eyes and ears on the alert for danger, and staying with the herd could mean the difference between life and death, because at least in the herd there is always the chance that the predator will eat someone else. The horse's long legs, made for a fast getaway, and running away, was their main method of escaping a certain death in the jaws of a predator.
This type of existence has shaped the evolution of the horses brain, as they needed an excellent memory for what types of plants were edible, where they could be found throughout the different seasons.
They also developed a remarkable visual memory, which allowed them to notice subtle changes in their environment. A branch that had fallen, a log that wasn't there last time, a rock that had moved, it was essential for the horse to notice these things because they could indicate the nearby presence of a predator.
They also needed highly tuned sensory systems to allow them to detect sights, sounds, movements or smells that indicate an approaching predator.
Horses became very adept at learning by association, if rustling in the bushes was followed by the sight of a predator, the brain would instantly associate the rustling sound, with the sight of the predator.
This meant that the next time the horse heard the rustling sound, the brain would automatically associate it with the predator it had not yet seen, triggering the flight response (running away) before the predator even appeared, allowing more time to make a getaway and increasing the chances of survival.

So it is the actual occurrence of the stimulus that triggers the horse to remember how it solved the problem last time.
It is important that the trainer is aware of the horses basic natural instincts, the flight response, and the three main ways through which horses learn. At first glance it seems as if there are as many training methods and systems as there are trainers to think them up. However, scientists have revealed that all training methods and systems can be explained by the three main ways through which horses learn, these are:

* Habituation
* Classical Conditioning
* "Trial and Error" learning (Operant Conditioning)

Habituation

As a prey animal the horse needed highly tuned senses, and a hair trigger for the flight response. However, jumping and fleeing at every sound expends a lot of energy. This is not very efficient, especially in times of drought, high temperatures or if food is scarce, when the horse needs to conserve its energy. To combat this the horses brain has developed the capacity to habituate to things, repeatedly occurring in the environment, that did not lead to fear or danger.
This allows the horse to become desensitized to things, and no longer react to them, if they do not result in perceived danger.
So the sound of a falling tree branch may initially cause the flight response (running away).
However if this sound does not result in the appearance of a predator, or any other danger, and is repeated several times, the horse will learn not to react to it.
The more often the event is repeated, the more quickly the horse becomes desensitized to it.
However if in the past the event has been linked to very high levels of fear, adrenaline, or flight response, then it can take much longer for the horse to habituate to it, and the flight reaction can reoccur suddenly again in the future.

Habituation, is what allows the horse to become accustomed to wearing a saddle and rider.
It is also what allows the horse to get used to human beings.
Unusual objects may at first cause the flight response, away from the object, however if the object is non threatening then the horse will eventually take no notice of it.
Habituation is a process, where the flight response is gradually diminished.

Trainers can use two main methods for desensitizing a horse to something.
These are: Approach and retreat, and Flooding.

Approach and retreat, involves the trainer approaching with the scary object, and retreating before the horse reacts to it. The approach gets gradually closer as the horse gets more confident that the scary thing will go away.

We almost want the horse to think that it is in control of the situation and that it can make the scary thing go away by keeping its feet still.
The important part of approach and retreat is to retreat BEFORE the horse reacts.
Progressively getting the horse used to more and more of the scary stimulus.
If the scary thing is too late to retreat and the horse reacts with the flight response
(running away) and the horse managed to get away from the stimulous, then the horse will become more reactive to the scary thing in the future, because it has learned that running away was profitable, i.e it worked!... it made the scary thing go away, or appear farther away.

Flooding involves applying or approaching with the scary stimulus and maintaining it at a level that causes a small flight response, until the horse stops reacting to it.
Then the object is removed, or retreats, to a safe distand
The horse is often desensitized to the saddle by flooding, because once the saddle is on, no amount of bucking or running will remove it, so the horse gives up and no longer reacts to it.

Learned Helplessness

Scientists have discovered that horses and other animals can become habituated even to experiences that are painful.. Experiments have shown that if an animal is not able to rid itself of pain, it will give up trying and will become dull, listless and depressed. An example of this is a dressage horse that may have extreme pressure put on its mouth and sides, in an attempt to achieve collection, however these pressure are not removed the when the horse responds. At first the horse may "resist" or attempt to rid itself of the discomfort, by showing varying degrees of the flight response and may include, head tossing, bucking, rearing running away etc.
If the pressure is not relieved by any attempt to get rid of it, the horse cease reacting to it, and become dull, lethargic and depressed. This can even result in stress colic as the horse internalizes its distress.


Classical Conditioning (Learning by Association)

Classical conditioning is used by trainers mostly to create an association between a stimulus that normally would not have any effect on the animal and a stimulus that would.
This type of learning was made famous by Pavlov's experiments with dogs.
In his experiment Pavlov presented dogs with food, then measured the amount of saliva they produced. He then began ringing a bell just before presenting the food.
At first, the dogs did not begin salivating until the food was presented, but after a while, the dogs began to salivate when they heard the sound of the bell.
They learned to associate the sound of the bell with the presentation of the food.
So to the dogs, the sound of the bell became equivalent to the presentation of the food, which caused an increased production of saliva in the dogs mouths.

An example of learning by classical conditioning:
Voice commands are not something the horse automatically understands, and responds to.
However if they are always followed consequences that cause the horse to canter, the animal can become conditioned to respond to the voice cue "canter".


Primary Reinforcers
A primary reinforcer is something that animals are "hard wired" to like and seek out. Food, water, and the chance to mate are all primary reinforcers because they satisfy biological desires. So any behavior which is followed by a Primary Reinforcer, is likely to be repeated.
The value of the reinforcement will depend on the animals current physiological state. So if the animal has just had a drink, then the chance to drink will not be reinforcing to the animal. Similarly if the animal has just had a big feed, food will lose it's value as a reinforcer.

Conditioned Reinforcers
A conditioned reinforcer is something the animal does not naturally find rewarding and has to learn to like. This can occur through classical conditioning, where a stimulus is repeatedly paired with the presentation of a primary reinforcer.

When the stimulus is paired with a primary reinforcer it acquires the same reinforcement value as the primary reinforcer. In other words the conditioned reinforcer is something Is a stimulus the animal has learned to like because it is repeatedly followed by something the horse wants..

Money is a conditioned reinforcer. The actual paper and coins are not themselves reinforcing. However, they can be used to acquire primary reinforcers such as food, water, and shelter.
Therefore, the paper and coins become reinforcers as a result of pairing them with the acquisition of food, water, shelter and other things we want.

Operant Conditioning

Trial and Error Learning (Operant Conditioning)

The difference between Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning could be described as:

* Classical conditioning forms an association between two previously unrelated stimuli.
* Operant conditioning forms an association between a behavior and a consequence.


When the horse trials a behavior and it has a good consequence, it will be more likely to repeat that behavior again in the future, when the same stimulus is presented..
If the behavior has a bad consequence the horse will be less likely to repeat it again in future.
Trial and error learning is the most permanent form of learning, and successful trials will quickly develop into habits.

An example of learning by trial and error: The horse smells food in a container, it pushes it with its nose, the lid comes off and the horse gets to eat the food.
The next time the horse sees the container it will almost certainly try pushing it with it's nose.

As the trainer you always need to control the consequences of your horses behavior.
So that a behavior is always followed by the same consequences.
Consistency of consequences results in the formation of habits.

The importance of Timing in Trial and Error Learning
Consequences have to be immediate and clearly linked to the behavior.
With humans, we can explain the connection between the consequence and the behavior, even if they are separated in time. For example, you might tell a friend that you'll buy dinner for them because they helped you move some furniture, or a parent might explain that the child can't go and stay at a friends house because they didn't take out the garbage.
With animals, you can't explain the connection between the consequence and the behavior.
So the consequence has to be immediate, otherwise it will not be associated with the behavior.
The way to work around this is to use a bridge signal or marker signal such as a clicker.
This allows you to mark the behavior, but it bridges the time between the behavior and the consequences.

Bridge Signals
It is difficult to supply an animal with one of the things it naturally likes (or dislikes) in time for it to be an important consequence of the behavior. In other words, it's hard to toss a fish to a dolphin while it's in the middle of a jump or give a horse a treat while its in the middle of an extended trot.
This can be overcome by teaching the animal to associate something it wants (e.g food) with something that's easier to "deliver", like the sound of a clicker.
The sound has no meaning to the horse at first, so it is repeatedly paired with a reinforcer,
(like food) until the horse associates the sound of the marker signal with getting the food.
This is done by classical conditioning and repetition.
In other words the trainer clicks then gives the horse some food, after a few repetitions the horse associates the clicker with the food. The clicker can then be used as a bridge signal, to mark a behavior, and bridge the moment in time between the behavior and the reward.
The signal is usually a sound (like the clicker) but it can also be something visual or a touch.
A sound is the easiest to use because it can be used when the animal isn't looking at it, and also when the animal might be too far away to touch it.
The marker signal can be anything as long as it is distinct and the same every time.