MONDAY
Due to “life” I hadn’t seen Skye for two weeks when we popped down on Monday. And oh, what a change. The past few sessions, when I’d begun core stabilisers with her, she’d been thrilled about it all. Really starting to open up and engage. Moments of mutual grooming, following me to ask for more, coming a few steps when called, lots of chilled and enthusiastic vibes.
But during the gap she seemed to have decided to be suspicious of humans again. I’ve no real idea why! She was wormed by the livery owner and I sadly couldn’t be there. I’m told this went not great but not terribly either, and I trust that the owner will have done a brilliant job. Mind you, “not great” is possibly enough, at this stage of Skye’s fragile trust in humans, to give us a small step backwards. Not a problem though.
The session just became about engagement. Do you want to take part? Can you relax? Can you trust that this is only a normal clicker session?
At first she was mentally stuck, which manifest itself as being physically stuck. She literally would not move those feet or take a step towards me. Lots of turning her head away (calming signals), uncertainty about targeting, lots of stressed facial expressions.
Once she did move her feet (prompted by another horse) it was away from me. And at first I thought she looked lame! But later she was moving fine, so I think it was just the spongy grass pulling at her feet (it certainly always makes my “gait” look even worse than it is!).
So we took things very slow, went in for a bit of clicker, moved away for a bit, back and forth like this to keep the emotional pressure low but to give her opportunities to engage. And by the end she was vastly better. Still not happy, like she had been last time I saw her, but not tense either.
This is okay though. It’s the nature of the beast, as it were. Anyone who has been traumatised will have their moments. Progress isn’t a straight line into the heavens. And gentle, emotional progress with horses can be like watching paint dry. But so it has to be. You can’t force the issue.
TUESDAY
Tax return. Urg. But then I played with some visuals for a project John might be doing (jazz) and some fashion photo editing (from when my friend Marianne and I shot corsetry in my boatyard!). No horses or fresh air today, sadly.
WEDNESDAY
Back to volunteering, which was lovely. Just the morning though, as then I hopped on the train to see Skye.
Lovely velvety fluffy Skye is often very muddy. Which I’m thrilled about actually, it’s natural behaviour and indicates a horse comfortable getting up and down. But I’d never seen her lay down or roll. Until today.
Ploughing my way across the field as I reached their fence I spotted her having a merry old roll. Then she spotted me. Sat looking with ears pricked for a moment, deciding what to do, then hopped up to her feet before I could get my phone out for a sneaky video.
I was carrying a bag-for-life, which obviously I don’t normally have, so she stayed standing and watching me for a bit. After Monday this seemed vigilant but better. Not at all stressed or sore or unhappy, just cautious. I popped my bag down and got out my tripod and zoom recorder as I’d thought, since I had no helper, I would try filming our session this way. And also because it’s another new thing for her to experience (valuable) and I would like to get her comfortable with tripods and cameras and such if I can.
She continued watching as I set it up, then turned around and walked off. That’s new. So I know she’s still feeling a bit wary, for whatever reason. I set the camera recording and walk over to begin. The video clips are so cute, she looks over at the weird tripod again and again. The other ponies do too, but they’re far less shocked than Skye is. Some of them are positively bolshy and I do wonder at one point if my camera is going to be eaten. But no, it survives, it doesn’t even get pushed over onto the wet ground.
I was a bad trainer this day as I had no real plan. Well, I suppose the plan (aside from introducing the tripod/camera) was to just see how she felt. Offer her different activities and see if she would happily engage in any of them.
So we did a bit of targeting, a bit of peek-a-boo, three very short crunches sessions, and some general stroking. All with gaps in-between to give her time to think and lots of options about whether to be involved.
Her trust in me (in humans) is a fragile thing at this stage. It had begun flourishing when we started the crunches a few weeks ago. But it isn’t yet resilient enough to suffer aversive events easily, so perhaps the worming shook her a tiny bit. We need a bigger balance in the “trust account”. Can’t press upon horses’ good natures by only make withdrawals… We have to give them cause to trust us. And no-one more so, it seems, than Skye.
Anyway, observations from today.
The distraction of the tripod meant she wasn’t super-focused. We also had nosey ponies to contend with (nosier than normal). But even so, she did great. Looking back on the video she was actually quite interested. It just felt like a step backwards in comparison to how very enthusiastically engaged she was three weeks back.
With peek-a-boo, I missed a few clickable moments and didn’t give her quite enough time to make the decision herself (to put her head/eyes under the tea-towel). The video makes it seem as though if I’d paused a moment longer and been more still, she’d have been more willing to do the task. I need to give her time to come to me, rather than trying to meet her halfway.
I think crunches are now her favourite thing, instead of targeting! I’d begun to think this before. A couple of times (today and other days), a curious bit of communication has gone like so… We do some crunches. I step to the front and pull back a bit, to give her a breather if she should want. Mostly, at this stage, to be sure that she is still interested in trying them. And on those occasions, she has sometimes paused, nosed me, looked all the way around to the side I was stood on (so that her nose almost touches her own hip), and nodded her head once in that direction before turning around to look at me again. She’s not biting or nudging at her belly, it doesn’t seem to be an indicator of discomfort. So I am finding it very curious. I don’t want to anthropomorphise or otherwise mis-read the behaviour. But it’s almost like a, “hooman, get back there please, more crunches to do.”
Question: has their been any studies done on whether horses (or other non-human animals) will nod at something as a quadruped version of pointing?
I’m sure I’ve read a study where animals will look pointedly between the person and the thing that they’re trying to get the person to pay attention to. And if we saw that with our dogs we’d not be surprised. Even so, I’d like to know or see a little more before I interpret it that way. Except to say, for now, that this little pointed head nod has never occurred in any other circumstance and crunches seem, for now, to be the time when she’s most interested in clicker.
Perhaps because it feels good? Perhaps because it’s an autonomous movement? Perhaps because she is making a small effort right now and it’s easier than targeting? No, that can’t be it. And it can’t be because she prefers me at her side than her head as, before crunches, she really didn’t. Hmm, they’re such interesting beasties.
So, targeting, crunches, peek-a-boo, general chilling, scratching the other ponies… Oh yes, consent cues.
Perhaps unnecessary for the majority of well-socialised un-traumatised animals, consent cues are, even so, being used more and more in the general husbandry of various beasties. And when you do have an upset animal who doesn’t trust what humans might do to her, they definitely seem worth a shot.
You know if you approach a horse for grooming or mounting or whatever, and you give a soft hello and a polite little shoulder rub before you start? It’s kind of just a formalised version of that. You set up a sequence. This thing is always followed by that thing. So for Skye I’ve been slowly trying to add it into the way I talk with her, like this…
I hold out my closed fist. She bumps it with her nose. I touch her for a stroke or a scratch. I then move my hand away and re-present the fist. In short, *she cues you*. After two or three repetitions she understands the sequence. “Touching the human’s fist means she’ll touch me.” And it’s fascinating seeing her figure this out. Because then once she’s got it in her head she will be choosy about whether to touch your fist or not. When she doesn’t I can say, “okey doke, I can see it makes you uncomfortable right now, I’ll move away.” And she’ll then either graze in a relieved way or mull it over before deciding to engage with you again.
Very interesting though. If I think back, we’ve had three notable moments since meeting where she actively/obviously enjoyed being touched by me. I think almost every other moment has been either neutral or mildly aversive. So the counter-conditioning continues.
Another interesting moment from Wednesday was that whilst herd-watching I saw Skye do a poo which Spot immediately decided to “mark”! Oh dear, he is rather obsessed with her, thinks he’s a damn stallion. Marched over very purposefully and did a poo right on top of hers.
As it stands, this unrequited romance may come to a momentary end anyhow, as I’ve asked the livery owner to try Skye in the “skinny” fields with some of her horses. This winter has not been cold enough, they’ve loads of food there (which is great, and the variety is very important, I’d be far more alarmed if she was fat on clover), and she’s just not gotten any slimmer. Huge grass belly. And we’re not doing much exercise right now. So fingers crossed she’ll be welcomed into the other group and will shed a few inches before spring.
THURSDAY
Volunteering again, naturally. A colder day with a biting wind. But merry enough.
Diego was a curious case on this day. I’d not seen him for two weeks and you never know what you’ll get after a gap with horses. He was very conflicted about coming in from the field. Very concerned about having a lead rope clipped on or having your hand go near his face. Flinchy and toothy again. Even worried about having you stand at his left shoulder. Unfortunately he seems to be generalising that people with lead-ropes = bad times. Which is curious. I’ve never had a problem leading this horse so what’s going on?
I didn’t go see Skye afterwards sadly as I ended up with a lot of stuff to carry!
The girls have some rugs (from their own ponies) that I’m going to repair and those things are heavy. I did some sewing whilst on the yard too though. Our saddle-fitter had recently advised front risers for a couple of the ponies who don’t have much in the way of topline behind the shoulder. But money is tight. So she then said, “well if anyone can sew make some pads or something out of gamgee.” So that’s what I’ve done.
Found some damaged old bits of gamgee and a damaged but thick numnah and got to work making a front riser for one of our newest residents, Lady. The way I’ve done it is to add pockets to the front with thick pads that can be inserted. Without the pads, you would have about 5-10mm cushioning once under saddle (slightly more to the front than back). With the pads, you would have about 10-20mm cushioning at the front end, behind the scapula, in that empty space where muscle needs a chance to grow. But muscle can’t grow if it’s compressed firmly by a saddle and a rider. Who knows if this will help, but fingers crossed, and since the saddle-fitter advised it it’s definitely worth a try.
I’ve also brought home the scraps to try to make a second pad-with-pockets (for whoever may need it), and some extra pads. I’m hoping I’ll have enough to make a couple of shapes/sizes, so that the stables can mix-and-match as per the horses’ requirements. Bloody hard work sewing in the cold though, I always hate that. Got through many cups of tea in a bid to keep myself and my hands warm but then of course that just meant that I needed a wee, haha. I was speed-stitching 20mins before closing in an effort to get this first pad finished so that they can use it, whilst crossing my legs and powering through! The glamorous stitching life of a corsetmaker.
So my bags were quite heavy coming home. Nearly pulled my arms out.
FRIDAY
I’ve borrowed a book about how horses learn, it’s over ten years old now. I’ve only flicked through so far and, as with most things, there’s stuff to take and stuff that is outdated or unintentionally misleading. Which isn’t a criticism of the author at all (she’s massively educated and this is a wonderful book written for regular horse-owners), it’s just that time moves on and using older elements of horse-world language can be problematic.
There were some references to “bossy” horses, that a horse following behind is driving you, which puts them higher up the hierarchy. Let’s repeat it kids, normal horse behaviour does not (as a rule) give this sort of bullying behaviour. Happy horses follow each other sweetly. The studies have been updated. Actual feral and wild horses have been monitored. Attention has been paid to their affiliative actions, not just their dominant ones. Happy herds don’t have linear, fixed, clear hierarchies. “Bossy” horses and hierarchies may well exist in domestic horses and so it is worth being aware of… but only, I feel, if taught with the caveat that hierarchies come from the stresses of domestication. Instead of presenting bossiness/dominance/bullying behaviour as a normal part of horse society. And I’m sure the author deals with management-caused behaviour issues all the time, so she’ll know how to minimise these things.
There are also many instances of calling horses “naughty”. I’m not saying animals can’t be naughty or cheeky or whatever. But it’s a problematic label. It doesn’t describe what’s actually happening. It let’s us very easily brush things off as naughtiness. It stops us from looking for other explanations. And if a “naughty” pony suddenly becomes “naughtier”, it’s far too easy for us to consider it nothing more than a new expression of their personality. It’s not that these words are always wrong, it’s that they give us too easy a way to excuse or disregard what animals are trying to tell us with their behaviour.
Very interestingly though, her website refers to “learned misbehaviour, or ‘naughtiness'” (my emphasis). Learned misbehaviour strikes me as a far more useful term. It’s let’s us search for potential contributing factors to poor behaviour (which is no less a courtesy than we would offer troubled people!) rather than attribute the animal with some sort of innate quality of goodness or badness. We’re none of us born evil. People are updating their knowledge and language all the time, which is such a positive thing.
Another blip was in using the word “reward” to mean “reinforcing”. A reward, technically, is something pleasant, something desirable, normally something added to the situation. Behaviour can be reinforced by both relief and reward. Sometimes it might be hard to distinguish which is happening. But we need to be aware that they aren’t the same thing else you get into this old notion of “the release is the reward” which can cover a multitude of sins. +R and -R aren’t the same thing and only one of them can be escalated into inadvertent punishment/violence. If we push an animal with pressure and it isn’t working… then we escalate the pressure… and we alarm or upset or hurt the animal… when they finally get it “right” and we release the pressure what they’re experiencing is not a reward. It is relief. And I’m not saying that’s always the worst thing in the world. We can all learn very effectively through -R (removal-reinforcement). But I do think we need to be aware of this. We can’t call things “rewards” if what the learner is experiencing is relief from unpleasant experiences/feelings.
But I’m looking forward to reading more as it seems an overall good and knowledgable book. I’m only noting these things for my own learning/revision, to continue getting a handle on the topic.
I’m especially enjoying her little anecdotes! So many instances of owners describing a behavioural/training problem which isn’t a problem at all, just a question of management or environment. My current fave was about a shorter gentleman who was towered over by his 17hh horse. He reported the horse being difficult to bridle, lifting its head away from him all the time. What it actually was, was that the man was slow to get the bridle on. So the horse would be dutifully and politely holding its head low down (which requires muscular effort), and eventually get tired and let its head drift back to neutral. Meanwhile, your man hadn’t yet managed to get the bridle on and his horse’s neutral head-carriage was “high” to him. The horse wasn’t being bad at all, the owner just wasn’t practiced at bridling and hadn’t accounted for the height difference making things tough for the horse. Solution? A mounting block.
What a cracking little story. But it seems so common. Horses are so obliging that when they suddenly aren’t we too often blame them for it before looking to the environment (or ourselves) for the true cause. Reading between the lines, the behaviourists I respect seem to be spending most of their time pointing out factors like that rather than training issues. If we could all cultivate just a bit more empathy and imagination I’m sure we’d side-step many issues before they even occurred. Antecedent arrangements, essentially.
She does also state unequivocally (as basically all qualified animal behaviourists do) that punishment is never advised. Too many risks, too much fall-out, too easy to get wrong, not a valid training method. A last-resort, for emergencies only.
It’s curious that horse world is so far behind all the other realms of animal (and human) behaviour and psychology.
Up The Withers 