Teaching your horse to dance

That heading was underneath a picture of a horse in a clinicians advertisement, the horse in the process of ‘appearing’ to mimic or mirror the actions that the handler was doing

Sounds lovely - right? Wrong!

The horse in the picture was clearly not enjoying the experience.

Ears back, tense cheek muscles, straight tense lip line, tension around eyes.

An unhappy equine expression.

Trainer – smile on face, whip in hand

Just because the behaviour was happening, didn’t make it right.

The contrast between the horses displeasure, and the trainers satisfaction – prompted the comment I received (thankyou Madi Holmes from the Equine sub-committee!!)

“That is like the old western movies, teaching people to ‘dance’ by aiming bullets at their feet”

Does everyone remember seeing that in some old westerns? Recipients were decidedly NOT happy with their dancing lessons!

Just because the behaviour is taught, learned and reproducible, doesn’t make it right. How the horse FEELS while performing the behaviour, AND how he felt while he was being taught, is WAY more important than if it works or not.

I would strongly posit that the horse pictured in that ad was taught the behaviour via negative reinforcement. Meaning that the aid applied to elicit the behaviour was unpleasant, and did not go away until the behaviour was displayed.

That equals force.

Being forced to dance? The steps are there but the joy isn’t. Isn’t dancing a joyous thing?

Compare that unhappy display with the attitude and willingness of a horse taught by positive reinforcement – happy, engaged, keen to do the correct behaviour, because it makes good things happen! Joyous!

The learning process itself is fun for both parties, not just the finished performance.

A learner who wants to be with you, wants to learn with you, wants to spend time with you – that is the goal. And not only is the performance good – it is generally BETTER!

It is learned faster, performed with joy; with more engagement and rapport, and MOST IMPORTANTLY- it is performed by an equine who wants to be there, wants to participate, and wants to get it right.

Dancing for joy?

Pic taken from ad on internet

Written by Vicki Conroy for PPGA Equine sub-committee