MAY 2019 THE RIDER /37 ^Between The Ears^


based on perceptions of weather, , wind, rain, sun etc. What if your horse could tell you that he wants to be blanketed or that he doesn’t want the blanket? Is it possible for a horse to communi- cate his needs for thermal com- fort aside from shivering or sweating? How would the rela- tionship improve if communica- tion could be two ways vs. you just decide to leave him unblan- keted or blanketed? In Norway, where the vari-


By Ellie Ross One way communication is


the traditional method of training horses. Can you imagine being in school and never being al- lowed to ask questions, make statements or express your own thoughts. What state would your mental health be in especially if you are a strong willed individ- ual. More consideration should be given to horses especially horses that exhibit problems such as anxiety or being uncoopera- tive. Most of the training applied with horses consists of the human giving a verbal or physical cue and the horse responds. How much thought is given to horses preferences for learning? Sadly, little to none. It has been my per- sonal experience that many anxi- ety related behaviours get resolved by making the commu- nication a two way method. When the horse understands that they can communicate with us, this relieves a great deal of anxi- ety and stress from the horse. Of course my typical example is tar- get training but let’s delve deeper into the cognitive ability of the horse. We need to know what is valued by the horse. What re- sources would be a motivator for the horse. Some researchers be- lieve that this can be measured by


how many times the horse is will- ing to repeat the task before re- ceiving its reward. It is similar to how much money would you be willing to pay for something. Would you pay more for steak than a hamburger? If you answer yes, than you value the steak higher. What is the steak in your horse’s mind? You have to know your horse to determine what they value. Studies have shown that in horses that have been pro- vided the opportunity to commu- nicate with humans, most have a distinct preference for a light source at night, they desire social contact and of course their need and strong desire to enjoy their freedom turned out. Consider what your life


would be like if you were kept in total darkness at night and unable to ask for some light as you de- sire or need. Through operant condition-


ing, horses have been able to demonstrate to us that they are far smarter than what they have historically been given credit for. There has been an ongoing


debate about blanketing horses. Many articles written siding with one side or the other. I disagree with most of them because each horse, just as each person, has their own preferences, which can and do change. Changes occur


able climate often leads to horses being blanketed, similar to what we face in Canada, a study was conducted using two way com- munication with horses. There were 22 horses in this study and all the horses had to initially learn target training. This was achieved through the use of positive rein- forcement. They had to touch a board and were rewarded for doing so. Once target training was confirmed, they were then educated in object discrimination and the associations paired with it. Two symbols on the board were initially presented. The horses had to learn the difference between the two symbols and the associated actions taken by the human. One symbol meant that a blanket would be put on and the other symbol meant that a blan- ket would be taken off. Follow- ing this understanding, a third symbol was added that was asso- ciated with ‘no change’ meaning that horse was indicating that he did not desire any change. If the horse had a blanket on and he wanted it left on, then he would indicate ‘no change and vice versa for no blanket on. Training sessions lasted ap-


proximately 5 minutes and there were typically 2-3 sessions per day, 5-7 days a week. Training was adjusted to suit each individ- ual horse. Horses had no difficulty un-


derstanding these tasks and the results of the testing demon- strates that not only do horses have a higher cognitive ability but they also have varying needs about being blanketed. Here are some of the results


that would lead us to believe


that the


choices made were deliberate, understood and relevant. 12 of the 22


horses were not wear- ing a blanket. Weather conditions were warm and all 12 of the ‘naked’


horses


touched the symbol for ‘no change’ indi- cating they did not want a blanket put on but also correctly stat- ing that they were not asking for a blanket to be removed when they had none on. The remaining horses all indicated they wanted the blankets removed. On another occasion when the weather was cold and raining, 10 horses were wearing blankets and 12 were not. Those ten horses wearing blankets, touched the symbol for ‘no change’ while 10 of the 12 that were not wearing blankets requested blankets and 2 indicated they did not want anything changed. These are just two examples of countless ex- changes noted between the horses and their researchers. The horses’ choices about


blanketing varied depending on conditions and their thermal comfort. Their responses were always applicable and intelli- gent and I am sure these horses were much happier having this ability to communicate. —————-


Ellie Ross teaches target training and object discrimination and hosts a Facebook page called Equine Cognitive Learning and


Applied Behavior. This can be found at Facebook.com/teachmy- horse


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