In the last post I mentioned how much better temperament wise Star has been this winter. One of the things I've found a problem in previous winters is her complete dislike of being touched in any way at all. Star isn't a cuddly horse at the best of times, but during the winter I have sometimes had a problem doing even simple things which involve me being quite close to her. I have tried before to do Alex Kurland's game of "Can I touch you please?" where you start briefly placing your hand on various parts of the horse, remove it and reward before they move. Over time you should be able to gradually extend the duration and work up to using various objects to touch the horse and begin the process of desensitisation. I'll be quite honest in that although I've done this, also done work with objects like grooming kit, electric toothbrushes, bags etc., the best I've got to is that Star will tolerate it during training, it doesn't appear to have made much difference elsewhere in that more often than not she'd still back off.
Due to one thing and another this winter our formal training sessions have been practically zero. Basically I have just had a pocketful of treats and been messing about rewarding Star for various things during our regular interactions in the field and corral. One of the things I've been working on is getting her to accept cuddles and stroking. I guess it's really a bit selfish in that it's purely for my benefit as I enjoy the opportunity to touch her, I'm quite a tactile person anyway and to me it's natural to want to touch what you love. The funny thing is though by approaching this exercise in a completely informal way during day to day interactions we've actually made far more progress than we ever have before. I now have a horse who is offering cuddles, which I have to say is something I never thought I would see from Star. To start with she would back up if she even thought I might touch her but I've managed to work up to being able to encircle her neck with my arms. And today she hooked her head around me almost as if she was reciprocating. It's just really nice to see her more comfortable with this sort of interaction and I think integrating it into our daily encounters, rather than concentrating on it in a formal way, has really helped her to feel less anxious about the whole thing.
This is interesting that you write about this now because I just finished reading my Clicker Training for Your Horse book by Alexandra Kurland. One of the things I found interesting was that she said horses are not contact animals. Dogs and cats love contact, but the only physical contact horses have with one another is grooming or playing, which isn't much if you think about it. I had never really thought of it that way!
ReplyDeleteShe also said that it's very important to teach a horse to enjoy physical contact from us (so don't think your being selfish) because it makes them more comfortable with us and more confident. Eventually you can turn it into a good thing in their minds.
Here's an example, verbal praise means nothing to a horse you've never worked with. Over time as verbal praise is paired with things they enjoy like treats and scratches they learn that praise is a good thing. Then they get the pleasurable feelings from the praise even if you leave out the scratches. It's like the bell and dog drooling thing that Pavlov did. He rang the bell before the dog ate and eventually the bell made the dog drool in the absence of food. We verbally praise our horse before giving food/scratches and eventually the verbal praise causes the relaxation/calming in the absence of food/scratches. I hope I'm making sense. Anyway physical contact can be conditioned the same way.
I've also heard of horses who know the difference between training sessions and everyday life so they could tell the difference and would still spook at things outside of the session, so it's very good to do casual work like you're doing. :) Interesting post and you're doing a great job!! Sorry for the novel lol.
Thanks for posting that's really interesting to get someone elses thoughts :) I feel a lot less self indulgent now lol!
ReplyDeleteI agree that conditioning the contact to be rewarding is a very good thing to do, when you think about how much time we actually spend in a horses personal space while we're with them it is probably very much more than their herd pair bond would.
Actually I've just remembered Marthe Kiley Worthington has done some research with her own herd and categorised the different interactions between horses, I must go back and have a look at that as well as Alex Kurland's book.
And totally agree that Star can see a difference between a formal training session and day to day stuff. It's certainly something I need to think about when I'm doing desensitisation work with her.
I'll have to look up Marthe Kiley Worthington. I haven't heard of her. I'd be interested in reading about her research.
ReplyDeleteI was very intrigued by what Alexandra said in her book. I had just never thought about the contact thing between horses. It's true we spend a ton of time inside their personal space and we never even check with them to see if it's okay. :) It's so easy to forget that they are born with the desire to be around us. Good food for thought.