“Horses remember patterns” - this is something I say so often but, just as often, we forget to use this to our advantage. The problem is horses remember all patterns equally well; i.e. the good, the bad and the ugly.
What constitutes a pattern? How many times do you need to repeat something to embed it in your horse’s memory? The answer for these two questions varies from horse to horse but one principle that seems to hold true is that if you hurt the horse, the lesson is learned quickly; becoming established with the minimum of repetition. The following three examples, while illustrating what not to do, are common and can be easily overlooked:
1) If you tie a horse up, he gets a fright and pulls back – this hurts the horse. The next time you tie him up he will remember the pain (whether or not he got free because getting free was not the aim) and may well pull back again to ‘get away from’ the anticipated pain.
2) The same pain pattern often occurs with trailer loading. Many people think that their horse is afraid to get on the trailer but it is sometimes more frightened of getting off. When a horse rushes off backwards and hits his head on the roof – it causes pain. The next time you ask your horse to get on the trailer he knows that he will have to get off again, anticipates the pain (may even start to throw his head a little outside the trailer) and refuses to get on. 3) A horse that gets hit in the face for biting will, quite quickly, skip the bite or attempt to bite and go straight to rearing up. This is another case where the handler fails to see the pattern. The horse never just bites - he will always warn first. If you ignore these warnings he gets more aggressive as a result. When he finally does bite, it is not uncommon to smack him in the nose for it (I didn't say it was a GOOD idea, far from it, just not uncommon). This is another quickly established pattern, primarily because it is fear/pain related. The next thing you know is the horse 'thinks about biting' and rears - he has learned the pattern and quickly skips the middle step, the actual bite.
Next time I will talk about all those positive patterns we can use to establish a solid, willing and reliable equine partner.
In the meantime, give this ‘pattern’ idea some thought and let me know what patterns you use; not necessarily in your training regime as such, but just around the farm/barn to make your, and your horses’, life safe, rewarding and above all fun.
