by Ruthie Stewart

HOW HORSES LEARN

In an attempt to answer the difficult question of “how long” it takes to train a horse, in the last issue of The Equine Chronicle several professional trainers gave the basics of their programs and training philosophies. While they could each give generalities and, surprisingly, some absolutes about horses and timelines, there’s much more to the training process.
How horses learn from people and from other stimuli are important areas to study when trying to set goals within a time frame. Just how student teachers learn what techniques are practical and preferable for each age and intelligence level of child, horse trainers have similar criteria to assess when they take a horse into their program.
In order to teach a horse, it’s necessary to understand the mind and motivators that drive these special animals. Willis Lamm, President of Least Resistance Training Concepts in Stagecoach, Nevada has trained and started a variety of horses ranging from draft horses to mustangs. He developed the "Wild Horse Workshop" where participants could gentle and train unhandled horses under the supervision of qualified clinicians. He has also written countless articles on horse training and horse safety in print and on the web.
He says horses are instinctively social and curious creatures. “Just a few minutes of thoughtful observation of horse ‘family units’ actively interacting out in a natural range environment can reveal how complex the horse's social behavior can be... at least in situations where we don't suppress that behavior.” Horses are also extremely adaptable by nature. It's how they survive in hostile conditions and it's how people are able to domesticate thousands of feral horses that are brought in off our public lands each year. If a horse recognizes a social order, he will learn from it. It's in the blood, states Lamm.

HORSE IQ

There are definitely categories of horses, but Lamm’s not sure that these categories define intelligence per se, but they certainly help define how a particular horse's intelligence may be more or less conducive to the work that we have planned for him. “We have to remember that horses are prey animals so they have two distinctive internal ‘machines’ that drive their behavior. One that drives social and environmental curiosity and one that drives survival behaviors. We often call these ‘left brain’ and ‘right brain’ behaviors.”

How much a horse is driven by left brain (curiosity, interactive behavior) and right brain (survival-based reactive behavior) is probably a combination of genetic coding and early life experiences. Breeding for good temperament (useful intelligence) is certainly beneficial, however the colt's environment for his first 18 months or so is important to developing his useful intelligence to its potential, states Lamm.

“If you observe range horses for any length of time you will notice that younger horses are often visual learners. They learn their survival skills from their dams and older relatives. They trust their herd mates and are naturally curious as to what the big horses do and how they do it. The range is full of hazards, predators, toxic plants, etc., and young horses who rely solely on trial and error generally don't survive unless we humans intervene.”

Therefore, if we can create a learning environment that develops curiosity, we can connect with the horse's natural learning instincts. A curious horse will learn faster, can be shown (taught) more things without burning out, and will retain what he learns more readily. We just need to get a sense of what drives each particular horse and adapt our approaches to develop respect and curiosity without triggering undesirable emotions and survival behaviors, says Lamm.

In terms of animals in general, how intelligent are horses? Lamm says, “I've been around some horses that are so intelligent that it scares me to think what they could do if they had opposable thumbs. I have a couple of horses smart enough to pick the corral gate latch, let themselves out, close the gate so the other horses don't get out, visit the hay storage for a snack, then sneak back into the corral before they get caught. Never underestimate the potential intellect of a motivated horse. Motivation is the key operator here.”

BABY STEPS

Lamm likes to start working with his horses at birth. In the beginning his goal is to establish the concept that humans are part of the horse's social structure and that we rank at the top of that order. “Horses are programmed to either lead or follow and I want to connect with their following instinct, especially since I'm going to start showing the young horse a variety of things that he needs to understand in order to be successful in the human environment. These are truly baby steps.”

If the dam can be ridden, Lamm thinks it's a good idea to take "mom" out for rides and let the colt follow in those locations where the environment is safe and the colt can do a little exploring without getting hurt or into trouble. Then ponying the youngster in the arena, around the ranch and out on trails helps him process those same environments that someday we are probably going to want to calmly ride. “Why not learn about jackrabbits, flushing birds and prickly tumbleweeds before we're trying this out under saddle? After the colt is weaned he can be ponied off of other steady horses and learn from their calm responses.”

Babies need to be taught in small steps, but they should be comfortable being handled all over, being groomed, loaded into trailers, remain patient while tied, and be able to navigate very simple obstacles. The secret here, says Lamm, is to keep the lessons short and simple and don't push things beyond the horse's "curiosity interval."

“At 18 months, young horses will start to instinctively test the social order. At this point the horse has to learn that there are consequences for disrespect and disorderly behavior. But they still have baby brains and emotions. Correction has to be immediate and appropriate and then the handler needs to back off. Getting angry and overreacting can either feed energy into the colt's undesirable behavior or undermine the colt's confidence, encouraging those less desirable right brain responses.”

FIRST RIDES

While Lamm doesn’t see anything wrong with a two year-old getting used to packing a saddle or similar light weight gear, with the exception of young draft horses, he’s seen too much damage caused by the average saddle horse ridden too much, too young. He’d much rather see, “that two year-old stick to packing a light pack saddle and walking the hills while his growth plates close and he develops some abdominal muscle strength before we plop our heavy butts on his back. A well-developed three or four year-old can do the work with less stress and discomfort and will probably have fewer osteo issues as he gets older than the horse started too young. Plus most older horses’ brains are more fully developed and the saddle starting and training process is often more productive.”

Lamm considers a four or five year-old saddle horse to be the ideal age for starting and doing serious work. The oldest horse he knows of being successfully saddled for the first time was 21-year-old horse brought in from the range. “Now that's an extreme example, but we routinely have good luck with ten year-old range horses. So letting a domestic develop to full maturity before putting him to work shouldn't pose any serious training disadvantages, especially if we are creative with the horse while he's growing up.”

He’s a firm believer in the axiom that it always takes the time it takes, to train a horse. Figuring out how to motivate a particular horse seems to be the key to efficiency, he says. “For example, years ago we took in a supposedly untrainable four year-old mare. Her only real problem was that she wasn't motivated. We figured out that this particular horse responded to clicker training. In 60 days this untrainable horse qualified as a handicapped riding program horse and the disabled kids did vaulting demonstrations off of her at the California State Fair.”

Willis and his team learned a huge amount about motivation from this horse and she significantly impacted their success with the horses that followed. “Why try to break the door down when all you need to do is find the key? Of course you need to use sensible training approaches, know how to apply pressure and release, have relatively decent timing, etc., but motivation makes all of those things work and also, I believe, that motivation makes the horse more tolerant when we humans make mistakes.”

In contrast, another horse trained at the same time as the one just described got emotionally stuck on a problem and took many times longer than "average." Thus Lamm is really wary of setting timelines in this regard.

With respect to horses performing in the show ring, he prefers a horse that shows some life (enthusiasm) but channels that enthusiasm according to the rider's cues. He says that we can all fake it to get a horse to comply and "fix things" when the judge has his back to us. However, he likes the rider who can win the blue ribbon with the horse's bridle hanging from the saddle horn. That person and horse truly demonstrate respect, trust and communication, and what you see isn't "touched up" by clever hands or spurs.

YOUNG VS. OLD

“Once upon a time my first horse was a retired 3-day event thoroughbred named Harmony Dan, aka "Happy." One day we made good on a promise to let a friend's son who couldn't have been more than 12 years-old ride a horse. I sent the boy with Happy down to the arena while I put some things away. Happy was in his mid 20s at that time and a touch arthritic so he hadn't jumped in years. However, I darn near had a heart attack when I went down to the arena. The boy had climbed on Happy and the horse was cantering trough the jump course, taking the jumps in order, the boy clinging onto the saddle with a huge grin on his face. What the horse showed was natural movement and he never bumped a single rail. What is natural? What the horse can do when the rider doesn't interfere.”

Lamm believes that a horse of any age can learn. It took his older leopard Appaloosa saddle horse about 20 minutes to learn to drive the Well's Fargo Wagon for a stage production of the Music Man. (It took the custodian even less time to learn NOT to wax the hallway floor before we brought the horse inside.) On the 5th or 6th night, the horse slipped and fell in the dark wings coming on stage and snagged his bit on the curtain, but he still pulled the wagon to his mark past 33 singers and dancers. He was motivated by all the visual stimulation and positive feedback during rehearsal and the previous shows, and he knew what he needed to do.

Like people, older horses can have different motivators and each horse is an individual. “But for me the biggest difference is often that an older horse may carry some human-induced baggage, those undesirable habits that the horse has to unlearn.”

He likens these habits as freeway entrances to gratification. Gratification may be the horse getting what he wants, or avoiding something he has learned from experience that he doesn't like. When in uncomfortable situations, horses often like to take the freeway to "out of here" either physically, emotionally or mentally. Lamm’s philosophy is to simply take these horses down the winding country road. “By that I mean avoid the escape trigger ‘freeway on-ramp’ situations and take a somewhat leisurely and roundabout approach to establishing new response patterns in the horse.” That doesn't mean Lamm won't hold his ground and get assertive once the horse knows the new pattern and wants to slip back into the old one, but if the horse is presented with the more desirable behavior using somewhat comfortable approaches, he's less likely to flip right-brained and plunge into his old ways when tested.

RENAISSANCE MOVEMENT

What are some misconceptions people have about training horses? Has horse training evolved? Horses are not machines, says Lamm. They are thinking, feeling, and emotional animals. Since they are prey animals their perceptions and motivations are different from ours. “One of the greatest misconceptions I feel still exists is that just because you make a horse do something means that he's learned something. If I need to trim a horse I can force him to pick up his foot and comply. But if I can point to a foot and he lifts it for me when I give a verbal cue, then he's learned something. It may take a few minutes longer to show the horse what we want him to do, but don't we often save time and effort over the long run?”

Another example Lamm cites is trailer loading. He’s never found a horse that won't load into a trailer and has even driven to another state to load a horse that was stranded for two days and wouldn’t load for anyone. All it takes is to figure out the horse's issue and what motivates him, he believes.

“I think horse training has, in some respects, re-evolved. Early horsemen didn't have all sorts of fancy mechanical gadgets so they had to understand the horse and communicate well. Then we went through our shortcut phase when someone designed a device to solve virtually any problem. Now we're swinging back to more natural approaches to everything from hoof care to training approaches and in my opinion a lot of horses have benefited from this renaissance.”

TOP TEN TRAINER CHECKLIST

Things the average owner should know about horse training when they hire a trainer, according to Lamm, are: Anyone can call himself / herself a horse trainer. While experience is definitely quantifiable, there are a few relatively new trainers who are excellent as well as a few folks who have been training for a long time whom Lamm would avoid like the plague and he believes can really mess up a horse. Remember that a trainer can be a significant investment and could impact the future attitude and performance of your horse for a long time.

Here is Lamm’s "top ten" checklist when a horse owner is thinking about hiring a trainer.

1. Don't just rely on hearsay endorsements about any trainer. Observe a minimum of three horses that the trainer has spent time with. What is the general attitude of the horses the trainer is producing? Do they appear relaxed and gregarious or are they sullen, guarded and/or anxious?

2. Do the horses appear to like the trainer? If the trainer truly motivates horses being schooled and they respect him/her, they will instinctively be glad to see him/her.

3. Does the trainer have mentors and seek out those with greater relevant expertise for ideas or is he/she a know-it-all?

4. During discussions does the trainer talk about the horses he/she is working with and show some enthusiasm or does he/she suffer from "I strain" (I did this, I did that, etc.)

5. Does the trainer actually work with the horse's mind or does the trainer rely on mechanical shortcuts?

6. Does the trainer encourage the horse owner to observe, interact, and participate in the training process? Lamm cautions horse owners to avoid at all costs any trainer who won't let them watch and explain what's happening.

7. Does the trainer tend to empower his/her clients to take increasing responsibility for schooling the horse or does he/she have a history of convincing clients that they need to "just ride" and pay him/her to train for as long as the client is willing to shell out money?

8. Does the trainer show a genuine interest in the horse and its history or does he/she have the attitude of, "just leave him here and I'll fix him." The best trainers and clinicians in the world start out taking a brief history of the horse and studying how the horse reacts to its environment, and they recognize that the success of the horse owner is far more important than the success of the horse.

9. Does the trainer really look professional? You don't have to train in a palace to be good, but Lamm recommends avoiding any training situation where the training environment appears chaotic and/or there are numerous barrels of empty beer cans visible.

10. Is the trainer really making prog-ress and is the horse's attitude improving as well as its performance abilities? Can the owner replicate what the trainer can do? If the horse takes an emotional downturn or if the training isn't something that the owner can apply, then it's probably time to go to someone else.

PRODUCT VALUE

“When I was younger I used to like to impress people on how fast I could get a horse to saddle, load into a trailer, go out on trail or a horse show. You get a lot of attention when you ride to the next town on a colt's 4th or 5th ride or beat saddle horses in a show while riding a big old draft horse. But that was an ego feed. If the horse belonged to a client, such showboating gave both the client and me bragging rights but it never really helped the horse or client over the long term.”

As he’s gotten older Lamm has come to appreciate a horse that can go anywhere, not lose his mind over a plastic bag that the wind picks up and that will pause for the rider's cue rather than bolt or swing about when startled. “That's a horse that is more emotionally well-adjusted and can focus and perform better in all sorts of situations whether outdoors, in the ring, in a parade or any other activity.”

Humans are programmed to be competitive. Therefore if we establish some kind of time line for horses to reach certain levels of training, it is too easy to assume that a horse that takes longer than "the standard" is a poorer performer or that the trainer is a poorer trainer, says Lamm.

“In reality, horses are individuals. Some are emotionally more needy. Some tend to want to dominate. Some are reactive. Some are lazy. The effective trainer understands that each of these and other behavioral characteristics requires a slightly different approach and that a particular horse may need to be brought into a better state of emotional balance to be really comfortable, dependable and a consistent performer. So while it may take an average of 90 days to accomplish a certain level of performance, one horse may get it in a week and needs to move on so as not to become bored while another may need an additional 30 days or so to become less sensitive and to develop confidence that would apply to far more activities than the horse was sent to training to learn.”

This brings Lamm full circle back to the trainer who engages the horse and its owner. In his opinion the trainer that takes twice as long, but who develops respect, trust and confidence between the horse and its owner in the process, has provided a great deal more "product value" than the trainer who disappears with a horse for 60 or 90 days and at the end says, "Here you are."

“Besides, if you're really into horses, it's the relationship and the adventure that is ‘the cake.’ The ribbons you may win are just the icing on that cake.”