The brains of all mammals, horses and humans alike, contain three circuits, the pleasure circuit, the punishment circuit, and the behavioral inhibition circuit. All horse training involves activating one of these circuits.
The pleasure circuit, is set in motion when an animal is rewarded for a certain behavior, this causes the animal to want to repeat the rewarded behavior. One of the unique characteristics of the pleasure circuit is that the prefrontal cortex, the problem-solving part of the brain, is involved as the horse analyzes what is required to earn another reward. Consistent use of a reward system to engage the pleasure circuit causes horses to relax and become interested in learning from and engaging with their human partners. A reward based system builds a horse’s esteem and helps them to learn how to communicate with and understand humans. A reward based system opens the horse up to new intellectual experiences and helps him to reach his physical, intellectual, and emotional potential.
The punishment circuit is set in motion when a horse is frightened or is in pain. The punishment circuit branches into two pathways, the short pathway goes directly to the horse’s legs to cause the flight or fight response. The second pathway is longer and involves modifying the initial reaction by comparing the feared object or experience with memories of similar situations. For example, if a horse hears the crack of a whip for the first time while in a round pen it may fight back or frantically gallop around the pen. If the horse has been round-penned in the past, although the punishment circuit may be activated by the cracking whip, the horse may slow to a canter. A horse whose escaped the discomfort of a pulling rein or kicks to its sides by bolting or bucking may learn to repeat this behavior. However, an activated punishment circuit overrides the pleasure circuit so while the reaction may be modified, the horse never learns to like the round pen.
The behavioral inhibition circuit is triggered if there is no possibility of flight or fight and the animal must submit to a painful or fearful experience. The training technique of laying down horses made famous in the 1860’s by horse-trainer John S. Rarey and brought back into fashion by Nicholas Evans’ book, “The Horse Whisperer,” is an example of the behavioral inhibition circuit in action. The use of draw-reins and Rolkur training are also examples of techniques that use the behavioral inhibition circuit. Unfortunately, if the behavioral inhibition circuit is regularly activated the chronically anxious horse is more prone to emotional and physical problems including aggression, depression, circulatory problems, ulcers, decreased growth, reproductive issues, inhibition of the immune system, colic, and diarrhea.
Our philosophy of using empathy, encouragement and support to help horses relax, focus, develop self-confidence, and confidence in humans causes us to prefer a training method that activates the pleasure circuit. We address the areas where the horse responds inappropriately by creating a reward-based action plan to teach the horse proper behavior and to enjoy spending time with humans.
Mak, a seven-year old, 17-hand, off-the-track thoroughbred, is a perfect example. He was anxious, did not want to be caught; was ear, head, neck, and shoulder shy; feared spray-bottles; disliked being groomed and tacked, and was easily frightened.
Whenever we saw him peeking out the stall door, we said “Mak, nice” and gave him an edible reward. Mak quickly learned to pop his head out. So, we taught him “Mak come” while beckoning him as we approached the stall door.
To teach him to enjoy haltering, as he looked out the stall door, my assistant stood an arm’s length away and slowly counted aloud from one to five. After “Five,” she said “Nice” and rewarded him. Mak relaxed and focused on her words as I touched his neck, head and ears with the halter. I moved away if I saw any tension. By the third day he freely offered his head to be haltered.
Then, we moved the lessons to the grooming and tacking area. I put a bucket of hay in front of him and as he munched I carefully stroked his ears. After about three attempts he lost interest in me and I was able to stroke his ears freely. Now, he loves it when someone strokes in and around his ears.
We began making him comfortable with being touched during grooming. While my assistant counted to ten and said “Nice” and offered Mak a reward, I started grooming. Gradually, I was able to brush his entire body while he relaxed. It took a few more days before Mak relaxed while he was misted with fly-spray (we ground-tie our horses when we groom and tack). We taught him to stand still by saying, “Stay” while we held our hand up and counted to ten and then twenty. Now, Mak finds grooming a reward in itself, so we seldom say “Nice” and offer edible rewards. It took several days of using the reward system to overcome his fears of being tacked-up.
We strengthened his confidence on the ground by walking him through an obstacle course before we attempted it on his back. Under-saddle his five-strides of walk and trot have become fluid and rhythmic. But, probably due to his race-track past, his trot to canter transition is nervous and his canter strides are strung out. We ignore any missteps and reward the good strides. Our first priority is always to help him relax, focus, develop self-confidence, and confidence in us.
Utilizing Mak’s reward circuit has transformed his relationship with us. “Nice” and food rewards have been reduced dramatically. Now we say “Good” and provide lots of caresses. Mak’s demeanor has changed and he has become affectionate, attentive, confident, and eager to engage in horse-human activities.
By Chris Forté
To read more about how a reward-based teaching system works read: