How equine behaviour-based training makes for better Olympians

Josepha Guillaume

“The knowledge of the nature of a horse is one of the first foundations of the art of riding, and every horseman must make it his principal study.”(Francois Robichon de La Gueriniere 1688-1751)

Species appropriate equine husbandry and positive reinforcement based training are slowly starting to become mainstream within the horse owners community. Somehow though, professional equestrian sport riders seem to lag behind on this development, while implementing both could be crucial to keeping the social licence to operate. Sport horse trainers react that sport horses need different management than ‘backyard horses’. But do they really? Or can species appropriate husbandry and positive reinforcement-based training yield better results for the sport than professional trainers hold possible?

We want performances from our horses that they normally would not do if we humans did not make them. Therefore, it is our task to understand the way horses learn and communicate and how they physically are able to perform best, in order for us to gain the best possible performance we seek. 

The trainers that have the best results – with which I mean happy and healthy horses that willingly perform their tasks, without the need of much pressure, punishment or equipment – understand the nature of the horse first and foremost. 

Even though we see the nature of the horse and equine behaviour as the basics for equine training throughout all the ancient and classical equine literature, to this day, basic natural equine behaviour and psyche still eludes many equestrian sport trainers. Where this understanding is lacking, the need for more violence and heavy equipment to force horses to comply commonly starts occurring.

As soon as horse trainers start to educate themselves on equine natural behaviour, the use of active punishment, violence and forceful equipment decreases. The more one understands horses and how they communicate and physically thrive, the more one understands how to motivate them to do things willingly, the less one needs to rely on (the threat of) punishment and forceful equipment. At the same time, when one starts to want to learn about the natural behaviour of horses, in order to yield better training and performance outcomes, it becomes crucial to allow horses more opportunity and space to exhibit natural behaviour, and for trainers to observe, learn from and interact with them. 

This explains why we see on the one hand, horses being forced into unnatural positions during training sessions with heavy forceful equipment and being kept in stables 24 hours a day, while on the other hand, horses being trained without any equipment at all and kept 24 hours a day outside in a herd, and all other possible forms of training and husbandry in between. This is not to say that trainers who have knowledge of equine behaviour and communication and who know how to use this to communicate to horses and motivate them, would never use a double bridle or spurs. It is simply that they do not rely on such equipment and even when using it, are able to offer the horse the freedom of natural behaviour and response.

Are sport horses… not horses?

The problem is that when one does not know, one does not know what one misses out on. Competition oriented riders often are only interested in getting a certain performance from their horse and they are not much interested in anything else surrounding horses. However, it is crucial to allow horses a more species appropriate way of life and offer them more equine behaviour-based training, to improve vastly on equine welfare. After all, a so-called ‘happy athlete’ should not need to be forced to perform, should he? 

Many competition riders will tell you that you cannot force a horse to do anything, and anything they do, they do so of their own free will. Let us then test this theory outside on a large open field without any equipment available to the rider. A horse who then lets the rider mount and still performs in the same way as when kept in a stable and tacked up with full equipment, would convince the general public that this is a truly happy athlete, performing  of his own free will. 

To keep our social licence to operate, as is becoming a most pressing matter currently, it would be prudent for all of us riders and horse owners to start there: by creating a  happy athlete who chooses to perform with and for his human. At the present though, competition trainers and riders seem to think that understanding natural equine behaviour and letting horses display it, is of no use to them. Even more so, they seem to think it is either one or the other, and that allowing horses freedom in training and lifestyle interferes with the performance outcomes they seek and the need to keep up their profession and income. 

Keep the social licence to operate while gaining better results

I believe that, if competition riders started to understand how having knowledge about equine behaviour and making the training and lifestyle more species appropriate would greatly benefit their horse’s performance, they would be far more interested to educate themselves on the subject. The way to move forward – I think – is to, on the one hand, make clear to competition organisations and riders that if we carry on as we currently are doing, our social licence to operate will expire in the near future. This is due to the general public’s rapidly increasing awareness of animal welfare concerns and the willingness of lawmakers to produce legislation to expand on it. And on the other hand, the heavy impact current horse keeping and travelling to competitions has on the climate will henceforth also be taken into account. Why keep something going that has a negative impact on the environment and at the same time is in conflict with ever stricter animal welfare laws? 

Thus it is time, for the sake of all of us, to make horse welfare our first priority. When the top of the competition world changes to a more species appropriate one, so will the competition orientated liveries and training facilities, closing the gap between sport facilities and the more species appropriate orientated facilities. This will bring equestrian sports into a new era that will allow it to continue.

Species appropriate husbandry as a way to enhance performance for sport horses

A horse allowed constant free movement is a healthy, powerful and easy to train athlete.

Keeping sport horses in a (small) herd, whether on a track system or not, will not only help to keep our social licence to operate, but it will also work to the advantage of trainers. Horses that are able to move freely on different surfaces are not only much more sound, strong and balanced, they are also much easier to work with. The horse is always warmed up, relaxed and exhibits strong core muscles. Therefore, training time will be much shortened, more effective and safer for both horse and rider. The rider no longer has to deal with the stress that stabled horses exhibit, making them liable to explode, or deal with the many injuries sport horses are prone to have because of being confined for many hours a day. Once having felt the easy manageable superpower of a horse that is allowed free movement 24/7, and how easy movements are achieved now, husbandry such as track systems will become the norm in the sport.

Reward based training for faster results

A relaxed and playful mind is a mind that most successfully absorbs knowledge and is most able to repeat it. Understanding this will enhance performance and speed up achieving the desired performance level. By making training sessions seem like play sessions to the horse, you are using a species appropriate way to motivate your horse in reproducing steps and movements on your request. Finding the correct triggers and timely reward is a technique as old as the hills but rediscovered by science. Let the horse experiment with coming up with the right answer and reward within the second, the answer you were seeking, as it occurs. Register which trigger you used to get the answer, so you can repeat it to trigger the same response next time. Because the horse expects a reward and fears no punishment if he gets it wrong, he will be very eager to repeat the desired movement. This is the species appropriate way of training horses. (Fear of) Punishment, on the other hand, will really stifle the learning process and prolong achieving results.

In short, if you combine physical development from moving freely 24 hours, with applied positive reinforcement-based training, you will have horses trained on a level never seen before! While at the same time, we equestrians will keep our licence to operate. 

I cannot wait to see the next generation of equine Olympians!

Josepha Guillaume 

Dressageinhand.com

Photo 

IMG_2185 By photographer Lorena Marcheggiani

The author with two older rehab horses. Horses love to perform and show off the movements we seek. We only have to create an environment in which they can easily do it. Photo by Lorena Marcheggiani