Behavior Modification Techniques

Lesson Two

THE REINFORCERS

The horse lives in a world where much of his life is shaped by his strong need for food, water, and sex. Horses learn how to eat by mimicking their dams and the behavior is positively rewarded by obtaining food. Horses learn where and how to find water, again being rewarded by drinking the life-giving nectar. Nature's strong urge to procreate is a driving force for mature stallions and mares. Success in the learning of courtship and mating behaviors is rewarded with sexual intimacy between a stallion and mare.

Food, water, and sex are referred to as primary reinforcers. They have the power to shape behavior. Present a primary reinforcer after a specific behavior and you will increase the chance that that behavior will occur again.

The first studies into controlling behavior through the use of reinforcers used food as the reward. To be sure that the animal was hungry, the research animals were put on diets till they reach 80% of their normal weight. When the animal performed the task, he was rewarded by food. It didn't take rats and pigeons long to figure out what to do.

In horse training, we normally do not use the primary reinforcers as part of our reward system. We feed and water our horses as part of their normal care There is some attempt to use feed as a treat for performing a behavior but few horses are starved to 80 percent of their body weight and so the power of the reinforcer is reduced.

This is why the technique of trying to feed a horse in a trailer in order to get it to learn to load is rarely successful. The horse does not want to get into the closed area. It is more rewarding NOT to get into the frightening box than to receive a handful of grain.

Which brings us to the other class of reinforcers - negative reinforcers. We wish that this group of reinforcers were not referred to as "negative" because it makes most folks that negative reinforcers decrease the chance that a behavior will occur. This is not so!

All reinforcers, be they either positive or negative, increase the chance that a behavior will occur. A reinforcer is considered negative because it puts the horse in an uncomfortable position. When the horse performs the correct behavior, the negative reinforcer is removed - thereby increasing the chance that the behavior will occur.

Much of riding involves the use of negative reinforcers especially during the early learning stages. Asking a horse to trot for the first time takes some urging from the rider. Coaxing with this seat, or bumping the horse's side with his legs or heels creates an uncomfortable environment. Continued urging and impulsion from the rider finally drives the youngster into a trot. Immediately the rider quits the urging which reinforces the trot. Couple this with a positive reinforcer like praise and the horse quickly learns to trot from a minor impulsion cue.

Negative reinforcers are commonly used to encourage horses to load into trailer. A horse standing scared at the back of a trailer, oftentimes, needs some sort of negative reinforcement training to learn to load.

Our philosophy in using negative reinforcement is to use the least amount of stress which will create discomfort to the horse. Each horse is an individual so you need to be willing to let the horse tell you how much stress is just right. Making the horse uncomfortable at the back of the trailer can be done by yelling at him, touching him with a lounging whip or flicking the tip of the whip on his lower legs.

As soon as the horse makes a move in the direction of getting in the trailer, the negative reinforcer is removed - We have reinforced moving towards getting in the trailer. Couple patience and timing with this technique and most horses will quickly learn to load into the trailer. Once they are in, we present a positive reinforcement - grain in the manger.

Coupling positive and negative reinforcement "makes the wrong thing hard and the right thing easy".

Reinforcers may be positive or negative. A positive reinforcer reinforces when it is presented; a negative reinforcer reinforces when it is withdrawn. Reinforcers always strengthen behavior; that is what "reinforced" means. “B.F. Skinner”

The opposite of positive reinforcement training is punishment. Punishment does not reward a behavior. It decreases the chance that a behavior will occur again.

Punishment is often used in training horses because it is thought to work so well. Yet, behaviorists will tell you that the main reason it appears to work well is because it is rewarding to the punisher. Although this is true, there are times when punishment is an appropriate. There are behaviors which must be extinguished as quickly as possible.

After all, there are several things a horse can do that are hazardous to human life. Biting, kicking, striking, pawing or otherwise trying to maul humans should initiate immediate, appropriate punishment. Violence should beget violence. It is the law of Nature. But, unfortunately, punishment does not shape or change undesirable behavior. It only stops it for the time being. The trainer (that means you) must use the time created by the punishment to develop positive behaviors.

Popping a stallion in the mouth with the lead shank button will stop his attempt to bite you. But, the odds are ninety-nine to one he will bite again, unless this behavior can be replaced with an acceptable one. For the confirmed orally-fixated older stallion, offering him a piece of the chain shank might be a substitute behavior. For the young male, behaving like a gentleman is the correct solution.

Punishment is used to suppress behavior. It consists of removing a positive reinforcer or presenting a negative one. It often seems to operate by conditioning negative reinforcers...thus the animal performs in order to reduce the threat of punishment.

Punishment also has some serious emotional side effects when used as the major approach to behavioral manipulation. An animal that is constantly under punishment training may become fractious and scared. Not knowing which specific behavior flares the wrath of the trainer, it will not take long for the horse to become afraid to make any move for fear that it will be wrong.

Willingness, eagerness to learn, desire to please, and the desire for human acceptance will disappear. That elusive, highly sought after trait, heart, is destroyed. For us, these attributes are what makes horses unique. They work with you, for you and in spite of you. They are a partner in performing a task - not an animal performing because he is afraid not too!

Our goal as horsemen is to continue to learn how to use positive reinforcement techniques to teach horses. We try and make training as pleasant as possible and reward willingness and cooperation. We have found that when training becomes learning, the horse is an avid student.

The difficulties in using this training technique are all ours. They center around knowing how to reward a horse. It is easy to punish, but to reward demands some insight into the mind of the horse. How do we reward a horse? We give him something he wants; something he will always want. We target a need that can't be satisfied.

As we mentioned, in the laboratory, experimental animals are deprived of an essential need in order to increase their desire for it. Obviously, we are not going to starve a horse to get him to perform for food or water. In the applied situation, the training pen, the reward still must be desired by the horse. Human praise and acceptance can be that reward, and a horse will work his heart out for you if you make the reward worth his effort.

As any good horseman will tell you the key to training horses is to gain the horse's respect and attention. This is also the first step to using praise as a positive reinforcer. If the human doing the praising is not respected by the horse, the praise has no value. Therefore, it cannot reward the behavior.

The second step is to offer praise in a form that the horse understands. One way a horse acknowledges praise is through touch. Suppose you are trotting a 2-year-old. You ask for a stop. His stop may not be perfect, but the colt tried and did a reasonable halt. Instead of immediately going on to the next cue, relax in the saddle and put your hand on the colt's neck immediately in front of the withers. Squeeze the neck between the thumb and fingers. This mimics reciprocal grooming - two horses that accept each other mouthing one another's neck. When reciprocal grooming occurs between two horses they are both at ease and it is a pleasurable experience. The mimic plus your relaxed attitude makes sense to the colt.

Relax in the saddle and put your hand on the horse's neck in front of the withers. This mimics reciprocal grooming.

Two horse buddies engaged in reciprocal grooming. Horses find this very pleasurable.

You now have the raw material of a positive reinforcer. If the horse accepts the praise and understands why the reward was given, oftentimes he will chew like a kid with a wad of bubble gum in his mouth. Chances are that the next time this colt is asked to stop - he will try to stop faster and harder.

This type of training is limited only by the horseman's ability to gain respect and convey to the horse his desires and pleasures. Unfortunately, for most of us, the ability to perform all training as perfectly as if we were in a laboratory situation is not yet within our reach. And it never can be achieved unless we learn to manipulate the behavior of a horse using reinforcers.

The rewards for us are not small either. A horse trained this way will perform to the peak of his ability and understanding of your desires. Perfection will no longer be limited by your concept of how it should be done. When a horse wants to work for you, he will perform up the pinnacle of his abilities. A union of horse and horseman will exist.

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