Behavior Modifying

Each time you work with a horse, it is beneficial to use vocal cues to reward a horse or teach a horse. In How to Think Like a Horse by Cherry Hill, she writes about horses behavioral corrections. Horses are very vocal and action oriented creatures, and learn from that easily. Responses to horse behavior need to be immediate, consistent, appropriate, and concise (Hill 134). Horses minds don't stay set on one thing, you must react within 3 or so seconds of the horses action for your reward or discipline to really matter to the horse. If I were to take Leo and run him in a circle and he were to misbehave, I would yell something or pull on the lead as a punishment. Horses are animals that generally want to please humans, and will learn after a few times of doing something wrong.

Negative and positive reinforcement can be used, not to punish a horse, but to get a desired response. For example, "When a horse does something that you life, if you immediately give him something good or make him feel good, it will encourage him to repeat that behavior in the future...If as soon as a horse does what we want, we remove a negative or unpleasant stimulus, we have used negative reinforcement to strengthen the desired behavior" (Hill 138-139). If you put pressed against the horses face, it is unpleasant, and they will move away from it. The desired reaction was for the horse to move, so you release the pressure against their face. That is good negative reinforcement. Not hurting the horse, or using positive reinforcement are both great ways to teach a horse. With Leo I use both positive and negative reinforcement. Generally I use negative reinforcement, like the picture above. But sometimes I use positive reinforcement. After reading the book I think I will use more positive reinforcement because it is more rewarding.

Hill, Cherry. "Bucking." How to Think like a Horse: The Essential Handbook for Understanding                   Why Horses Do What They Do. North Adams, MA: Storey Pub., 2006. 134+. Print.

Would you use negative or positive reinforcement? What would you do if your horse misbehaved? Do you think this is better than punishing an animal for misbehaving?

Keeping a Horse

Keeping a horse happy can be hard. Horses are domestic animals, but they are adapted to living outdoors. While they require humans to live a longer life, like how humans guarantee them food, or shelter, being overly subject into how a human lives can make them uncomfortable. Natural horse keeping is something Cherry Hill explains in her book How to Think Like a Horse. In one sections Hill writes, "Keeping horses in inherently unnatural, but we can all design our facilities and management routines ro give horses as natural a life as our situation allows. The best way to prevent vices is to house and care for your horse using the principals of natural horse keeping. These include:

• As much turnout as practical in an area where cantering is possible
• Living with companions or near companions
• A large pen with sheltered loading and eating areas
• Free-choice grass hay, or a minimum of three feedings per day of grass hay
• Minimal grain
• Free-choice salt, minerals, and freshly drawn or naturally aerated water" (79).

Gravel turnout- not big enough to run around

All of these are things that can make it much better for a horses life. These are generally things that they find in the wild, where they can run and be with their companions and eat wherever they want. While not all these things are possible, as many of them as you can manage for your horse will make their life a lot happier. If you can't obtain all these, vices can occur in horses. Horses that cannot adapt to the way humans have them live will develop vices, or stereotypies (Hill 80). This means that horses can be negatively affected from incorrect care. Conflict can happen, meaning the horse has two opposing urges to get one thing, but another factor of it scares the horse (Hill 80).

Closed stall

If a horse has two conflicting desires they can possibly get harmed. If they get too panicked and get hurt, they can associate it as bad and will never learn. It's better to leave a horse with as many of their natural instincts as they can. I will be able to learn from this book by leaving Leo more hay. Right now he only gets 2 feedings a day, and he has no hay that he can just go eat. In the summer he will be able to have turn out too, which is recommended by Hill. 

Do you think that horses are too demanding in their care? What would you do if a horse didn't have all of the recommended principles? Which principle do you think is unnecessary? 

Hill, Cherry. "Natural Horsekeeping." How to Think like a Horse: The Essential Handbook for Understanding Why Horses Do What They Do. North Adams, MA: Storey Pub., 2006. 79-80. Print.

 

Equine Communication

Horses can communicate with people in very slight ways. They can detect anything from expressing emotions through body language to a person leaning back while riding. For example, if you lean back in your seat, the horse will take that as a queue to slow down or stop, depending on the field of riding you're in. And in horse sports where you are meant to go fast, you will sit forwards in your seat and lift yourself out of the saddle and over the horses withers, a signal to go. In the book How to Think Like a Horse by Cherry Hill, there are a few written examples of why this happens. Hill writes "Since horses begin reading your body language the instant they see you, be aware of how you move and act around them. Your body language consists of where you are in relation to your horse, your overall stance, and your movements. You posture and movements can indicate, among other states of mind, confidence and strength or insecurity or aggressiveness...Your body stance and movements will tell a horse whether he should be afraid, attentive, or relaxed" (Hill 123). This gives proof that horses will react based on the riders appearance around them. 

While riding, you want to keep your hands soft and not pulling at the bit because the hands direct the horse, and legs should be resting behind the shoulders on the horses' ribs. You should also sit back in your seat to keep the horse at a slower more relaxed pace, and example given in the riding below.

For the rider, Hill says that the body is essential for communication, and during ground work your body position and activity can help give the horse an idea for when to stop, turn, and go faster. It takes a lot to practice proper choreography when working on the ground with a horse (Hill 123). More proof is given by Hill when she says artificial aids are important to extend arms. These include longe lines, whips, crops, halters, chains, and lead ropes. They intensify the movements of our hands and help direct the horse (Hill 124). To try this, I longed Leo on the ground, using a longe line and a flag, which is like a softer version of a crop. 

From the information I learned from the book I am able to use correct body language around a horse, and know how to correctly longe. The video above is from me longing Leo a long time ago, and now I am able to find differences and things I can improve on in both riding and longing. Now I can correctly deal with my horse while riding and doing ground work. 

Hill, Cherry. "How to Communicate with Your Horse." How to Think like a Horse: The Essential Handbook for Understanding Why Horses Do What They Do. North Adams, MA: Storey Pub., 2006. 123+. Print.

How do you think a horse would react if you jumped at it while longing them? Do you know any reasons that a horse would react differently if you distributed your weight farther forwards or backwards? Would a horse react differently if you used a crop for longing instead of a whip or flag?

Addressing Horse Bucking

Horseback riding, training, and dealing with horses is a dangerous sport. On one hand you have all the tack, such as the saddles, bridles, and other inanimate things that factor into your overall safety. But, there is also the horse. The book I chose to read is How to Think Like a Horse by Cherry Hill, which covers many things in the sport of horseback riding. What makes this sport so dangerous is how unpredictable a horse can be. Unlike skiing, basketball, or biking, and most other sports, horseback riding uses the riders skill as well as the horses. If your horse is misbehaving, that puts you at risk. Relying solely on a 1200 pound animal, that has a flight response when in danger, to keep you safe is not a smart move. One of the many dangerous vices, if not one of the most dangerous to the safety of the rider and the animals with it, is bucking. Bucking is when a horse arches it's back, lowers its head, and kicks out with its hind feet (Cherry 86). This is not only one vice, but it can lead to others such as striking and bolting, both of which are very dangerous to try to address.

For this project, I have decided to use my horse, Galileo, since he has a tendency to buck.

Bucking

To try to help the horse stop bucking, Hill says, “Monitor feed and exercise; use proper progressive training; check tack fit”(Cherry 87). It is possible they ate too much or too little, had bad food, or has colic. Horses that are in colic will probably buck because the tack and exercise is hurting their stomach.  If you can image it would be uncomfortable for you, try setting 150 pounds of gear and a person on your back and run around, it wouldn’t be fun.

Rearing

If their feed is fine and they aren’t in colic, check the tack. The tack generally has problems at the withers, which is the top of their shoulders, or the cinch. If the saddle is too narrow it will put pressure against the horses back and shoulder joints, which is painful and can cause stress on the bones. Hold the horse in place to check the tack before you put it on, because to check the cinch you must make sure that it isn’t too tight. It would be like wrapping a belt around your chest and pulling it too tight and then trying to breathe.

Holding Leo- About to Check Tack Fit

Finally, it is also important to determine whether the bucking is due to a legitimate fear response, or if they are being crazy. “A horse bucks because he is afraid, the tack or rider is uncomfortable, because it feels good, or out of habit”(Hill 111). If a horse is bucking out of fear or pain, you should calmly respond by dismounting them or backing up to make sure you are out of danger (while still holding onto the rope so they don’t run off), then proceed to have them relax by petting them or saying whoa. This will get the horse to know it didn’t do anything wrong by being scared, but it needed to be calmer. And if the horse was in pain, once you remove the cause of the pain, such as the rider or a tight cinch, the horse should be fine. However, if a horse is bucking out of spite, anger, or just to be rude, it needs to be reprimanded. It is important to know the difference between a scared or in pain horse and one that intends to hurt the rider, because your safety is the most important. This is why addressing bucking can be a danger, due to determining the cause, and eliminating the problem.

To deal with my own horses bucking, I determined the cause of it first. I believe it to be an issue with his tack. He has high shoulders and a hollow back, so the saddle is an issue. This summer I plan to get him fitted with a saddle so he won't buck out of pain. If it continues, I will conclude that it is out of his personality. According to Hill, I should put him into progressive training. If the tack doesn't solve my solution, I will ask my trainer to focus more on getting him to stop bucking.

Hill, Cherry. "Bucking." How to Think like a Horse: The Essential Handbook for Understanding                   Why Horses Do What They Do. North Adams, MA: Storey Pub., 2006. 86+. Print.

Would you ride a horse knowing how unpredictable it can be? What do you think would be the main cause of bucking of the three given? Do you know any other reasons a horse would buck?