WHAT IS EQUITATION SCIENCE? PART ll 

TRAINING PRINCIPLES 

By Antonia J.Z. Henderson, Ph.D. Research and Equine Psychologist 

In part 1 of this article (see issue #8 of this magazine), the author described some of the concepts of Equitation Science and Learning Theory and why implementing them in horse training can help avoid bad welfare outcomes for horses. 

The pressure/release formula of negative reinforcement is effective because a perfectly timed release rewards the behaviour that immediately preceded it. Sadly, many riders lack the coordination, timing, or experience to recognize the moment of try and execute this precision-timed release. To avoid potential conflicts with horse welfare during training, ISES researchers have developed a set of principles that guide trainers and riders on how to train their horses based on learning theory, ethology and biology. 

In this part, the author continues by describing which specific steps can be taken to train a horse both effectively and humanely. 

The 10 First Principles 

To further the goal of educating horse professionals and amateurs in ethical equitation, the International Society for Equitation Science (ISES) developed the “10 First Principles” through evidence-based research in equine biology, ethology, and psychology. These principles serve as a set of comprehensive rules for trainers to ensure optimal welfare for horses in their interactions with us.[1]

ISES founding member Andrew McLean, who authored the First Principles together with Paul McGreevy, comments that the Principles “stand as non-negotiable obligations for trainers to maintain optimal welfare and training efficiency in horse training … and can be considered as a lens to assess any practice that involves humans and horses.”[2]

In a podcast I did with Andrew McLean and Jody Hartstone last year [3], Andrew commented that he created the first eight principles for his first book in 2002 about working with horses with problem behaviours. Then in 2005, he teamed up with Paul McGreevy to write a paper entitled “The roles of ethology and learning theory in horse training” where they developed the principles further and presented them at the next ISES conference. Andrew notes that with “Paul’s good brain” they were able to tease the principles out further, including a strong scientific basis for each principle. He remarked that the Principles continue to evolve as science contributes new information that refines our understanding.

Andrew told me that the Principles relate to all horse training, regardless of discipline, type of horse, or style of riding. When I asked him how we could apply the same training principles to a barrel racer and a FEI dressage horse with such disparate requirements he said, “Every single sport requires the horse to stop and go and turn … The backbone of all training is having good brakes and a good accelerator … Dressage, for example, is about combining those basics in much more refined ways.”

Jody Hartstone commented on why she felt the Principles were so crucial to good horse welfare. She gave the example of top FEI trainers, riders themselves, who have what she calls “unconscious competence”. They have exemplary timing and an innate sense of when to release pressure, but will often not know exactly how to convey this to a student. Instead, they may default to a “well done” when the student comes upon that good timing somewhat haphazardly. She notes that this is why being able to talk about training and management in terms of principles is critical.

The Principles acknowledge and address issues such as human safety, where the sheer size and strength of horses alongside the dangers of provoking flight or fight responses are highlighted. Such responses can be learned in just one trial, they may be impossible to completely erase and can resurface unpredictably without seeming provocation. 

Out of respect for the nature of horses, we are urged to consider the horses’ evolutionary needs, such as the imperative for horse-to-horse visual and tactile social interaction, the opportunity for continual foraging, and the need for locomotion. The regard for horses’ mental and sensory abilities causes us to consider the horse’s cognitive and emotional capacity, and neither overestimate it nor underestimate it. 

The principles also focus on the appropriate use of learning science in all training and riding, and on posing fair questions to horses. This requires that each signal is distinct from another, so that each signal has only one meaning to which the horse has a solution.

Training should be broken down into small steps so that correct responses are obvious and easy. To avoid confusion, different signals should never be applied simultaneously, for example, signals such as ‘go’ and ‘stop’ should be applied independently and never at the same time, ultimately promoting correct responses and desirable behaviours. 

 

International Society of Equitation Science Training Principles [1]:

  1. Regard for human and horse safety 
  • Acknowledge that horses’ size, power, and potential flightiness present a significant risk 
  • Avoid provoking aggressive/defensive behaviours (kicking /biting) 
  • Ensure recognition of the horse’s dangerous zones (e.g hindquarters) 
  • Safe use of tools, equipment, and environment 
  • Recognise the dangers of being ineffective, inconsistent or confusing 
  • Ensure horses and humans are appropriately matched 
  • Avoid using methods or equipment that cause pain, distress, or injury to the horse 

“Disregarding safety greatly increases the danger of human-horse interactions” 

  1. Regard for the nature of horses 
  • Ensure welfare needs: lengthy daily foraging, equine company, freedom to move 
  • Avoid aversive management practices (e.g. whisker-trimming, ear-twitching) 
  • Avoid assuming a role for dominance in human/horse interactions 
  • Recognise signs of pain 
  • Respect the social nature of horses (e.g. importance of touch, effects of separation) 
  • Avoid movements horses may perceive as threatening (e.g jerky, rushing movements)

“Isolation, restricted locomotion and limited foraging compromise welfare” 

  1. Regard for horses’ mental and sensory abilities 
  • Avoid overestimating the horse’s mental abilities (e.g. “he knows what he did wrong”) 
  • Avoid underestimating the horse’s mental abilities (e.g. “It’s only a horse…”) 
  • Acknowledge that horses see and hear differently from humans 
  • Avoid long training sessions (keep repetitions to a minimum to avoid overloading) 
  • Avoid assuming that the horse thinks as humans do 
  • Avoid implying mental states when describing and interpreting horse behaviour 

“Over- or underestimating the horse’s mental capabilities can have significant welfare consequences” 

  1. Regard for current emotional states 
  • Ensure trained responses and reinforcements are consistent 
  • Avoid the use of pain/constant discomfort in training 
  • Avoid triggering flight/fight/freeze reactions 
  • Maintain minimum arousal for the task during training 
  • Help the horse to relax with stroking and voice 
  • Encourage the horse to adopt relaxed postures as part of training (e.g. head lowering, free rein) 
  • Avoid high arousal when using tactile or food motivators 
  • Don’t underestimate a horse’s capacity to suffer 
  • Encourage positive emotional states in training 

“High arousal and lack of reinforcement may lead to stress and negative affective states” 

  1. Correct use of habituation/desensitisation/calming methods 
  • Gradually approach objects that the horse is afraid of or, if possible, gradually bring such aversive objects closer to the horse (systematic desensitisation) 
  • Gain control of the horse’s limb movements (e.g. step the horse back) while aversive objects are maintained at a safe distance and gradually brought closer (over-shadowing) 
  • Associate aversive stimuli with pleasant outcomes by giving food treats when the horse perceives the scary object (counter-conditioning) 
  • Ignore undesirable behaviours and reinforce desirable alternative responses (differential reinforcement) 
  • Avoid flooding techniques (forcing the horse to endure aversive stimuli) 

“Desensitization techniques that involve flooding may lead to stress and produce phobias” 

  1. Correct use of Operant Conditioning 
  • Understand how operant conditioning works: i.e. performance of behaviours become more or less likely as a result of their consequences 
  • Tactile pressures (e.g. from the bit, leg, spur or whip) must be removed at the onset of the correct response 
  • Minimise delays in reinforcement because they are ineffective and unethical 
  • Use combined reinforcement (amplify pressure-release rewards with tactile or food rewards where appropriate) 
  • Avoid active punishment 

“The incorrect use of operant conditioning can lead to serious behaviour problems that manifest as aggression, escape, apathy and compromise welfare” 

  1. Correct use of Classical Conditioning: 
  • Train the uptake of light signals by placing them BEFORE a pressure-release sequence 
  • Precede all desirable responses with light signals 
  • Avoid unwanted stimuli overshadowing desired responses (e.g. the horse may associate an undesirable response with an unintended signal from the environment) 

“The absence of benign (light) signals can lead to stress and compromised welfare” 

  1. Correct use of Shaping 
  • Break down training tasks into the smallest achievable steps and progressively reinforce each step toward the desired behaviour 
  • Plan training to make the correct response as obvious and easy as possible 
  • Maintain a consistent environment to train a new task and give the horse the time to learn safely and calmly 
  • Only change one contextual aspect at a time (e.g trainer, place, signal) 

“Poor shaping leads to confusion” 

  1. Correct use of Signals/Cues 
  • Ensure signals are easy for the horse to discriminate from one another 
  • Ensure each signal has only one meaning 
  • Ensure signals for different responses are never applied concurrently 
  • Ensure locomotory signals are applied in timing with limb biomechanics 

“Unclear, ambiguous or simultaneous signals lead to confusion” 

  1. Regard for Self-carriage 
  • Aim for self-carriage in all methods and at all levels of training 
  • Train the horse to maintain: 
  • gait 
  • tempo 
  • stride length 
  • direction 
  • head and neck carriage 
  • body posture 
  • Avoid forcing any posture 
  • Avoid nagging with legs, spurs or reins i.e. avoid trying to maintain responses with relentless signalling.

“Lack of self-carriage can promote hyper-reactive responses and compromise welfare” 

 

Equitation Science And Horse Welfare

Horses are the losers when we substitute a sound understanding of learning science with an assumption of the horse’s innate sense of cooperation and comprehension  When we believe that horses respond positively because they are agreeable, courageous, or working with their riders toward a common goal, we are more likely to incorrectly interpret their undesirable behaviours as laziness, spitefulness, or having a poor work ethic. Of course, horses have a poor work ethic – they have NO work ethic! They were designed to eat grass for 16 to 20 hours a day and hang out with their buddies. They were not designed to jump obstacles that they could easily avoid, race around barrels at break-neck speed, or dance to music in front of giant scoreboards. Such interpretations attribute different kinds of cognitive strategies to horses than they actually possess and create expectations that horses cannot possibly fulfil which usually result in negative outcomes for the horse. 

If, however, we embrace science, we can more accurately assess why horses respond as they do. We can then house and manage them in ways that meet their ethological and welfare needs, training can be more effective, efficient and ethical, whilst safety for riders, handlers and  horses is enhanced. Conflict behaviours need not arise and the need for behaviour related euthanizing is reduced or eliminated whilst equine welfare is upheld. 

As McGreevy comments, “The central point to remember is that equitation science measures only the measurable. The intense and undoubted rapport we share with our horses will continue to complement our understanding of effective approaches to training and will never be threatened by scientific findings.” [4] 

In this way, science, rather than mechanising or diminishing the relationship we have with horses, intensifies it – so that the unique and ethereal bond we share with this phenomenal being can flourish.

 

References

  1. ISES 10 Training Principles: https://www.equitationscience.com/ises-training-principles
  2. McLean, A.N., 2022. Modern Horse Training: Equitation Science Principles and Practice, Volume 1; page 18
  3. How the ISES 10 Training Principles impacts how we interact with horses, episode 2, 2023: https://www.equitationscience.com/podcasts/equitation-science
  4. McGreevy, P. D. (2007). The advent of equitation science. The Veterinary Journal 174(3):492–500. doi: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2006.09.008