Learning theory
How do horses learn?
For successful training to occur, it is important to set up an effective learning environment. Horses must be relaxed, happy and healthy to learn. This means that we must consider the horse’s environment at all times, not just whilst training, using enrichment to ensure that our horses have a life worth living. Enhancing the quality of your horse’s life when not training is fundamental to optimising your horse’s capacity to learn and is just as important as creating an effective training environment.
Basic Categories of Training
Training can be divided into 4 categories:
- Positive Reinforcement
- Negative Reinforcement
- Positve Punishment
- Negative Punishment
Reinforcement is when we do something that increases the likelihood of a behaviour happening again. Punishment is when we do something that reduces the likelihood of a behaviour re-occurring. Positive means that we add something to the situation and negative means we take something away.
Positive Reinforcement (R+) is a method of training where we add a reward to increase the chances of that behaviour re-occurring. Clicker training is an example of R+.
Negative Reinforcement (R-) is when we remove an aversive to increase the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated. The traditional horse training method of pressure and release is an example or R-.
Punishment, whether positive or negative, is something that we should try to avoid. As humans, we find punishment quite simple to use, however, there are significant side effects to using punishment including escalation of the punishment and the development of learned helplessness. In addition, punishment doesn't teach the horse what to do instead.
When we are considering the ethical treatment of our horses, we must consider what techniques we are using to train them. Are we creating a pleasant experience for them, or an unpleasant one? In reality, it is virtually impossible to use one method alone. You will invariably use all 4 to some degree. The aim for those who wish to use R+, is to try to stick to that as much as possible, and when R- is used, that the amount of pressure applied is minimal and not escalated.
