On Monday the 6th of December 2021 I did a presentation as part of my BSc (Hons) Equine Behavioural Science degree at Writtle University College. The presentation was an assignment for my Applied Training and Behaviour Modification module which focuses on the application of learning theory to our horses and develops our understanding of how horses in different contexts learn. It builds on IAABC principles such as LIMA (least intrusive, minimally aversive) and the Human Hierarchy (see the image below). Our assignment was to discuss an aspect of horse behaviour, training or management in context with our degree. I chose to discuss consent and its use in horse training and management.
Consent is a term that is often defined as confirming, agreeing to, or affirming something however this principle often relies on written or verbal communication which our horses cannot give us. As such the more modern definition of enthusiastic consent (which focuses more on body language and the presence of a calm and receptive attitude than verbal or written assent) is much more easily applied to horses and their consenting ability.
Consent is very important when working with our horses in rehabilitation as respecting their boundaries can build trust and confidence where it has previously been dampened. These horses have also often been abused, and that leads to an increased fear response to us. Using consent in our handling of these horses can help convince them that we aren't going to be doing them any harm. However it doesn't have to just be in previously abused horses, as anything the horse finds scary or difficult, can prompt consent based methods. Some of the easily understandable areas to apply this are trailer loading, clipping or vet procedures. A dissertation by a student at Writtle last year investigated using cooperative care (a form of consent in vet handing) on stress levels in horses and presented it at the ISES virtual conference 2021. If you would like to read her abstract it is page 52 of the proceedings that you can find in this PDF (https://equitationscience.com/file_download/300/Proceedings_of_the_17th_International_Equitation_Science_Conference.pdf)
One of the methods of implementing consent in training is using protected contact however this is a large topic for another post. Some resources for protected contact are:
So now we've established what consent is, and where it can be used, we need to work out what it looks like in a horse. When a horse consents to something it is often shown through a willingness to engage in the task without coersion and a relaxed but attentive posture. Some of the key areas to note are in the head position (around equal to wither height), ears (relaxed and forward) and tail (in line with the body, not held outwards or clamped down). However a 'no' is the opposite, tension, nervousness and aggressive postures. For the same areas, the head position (held high and alert often paired with flared nostrils, or frequently moving side to side or up and down), ears (pinned back, or held stiffly to the side), and tail (held rigidly away from the body, clamped down, or swishing frequently when there are no flies around).
But knowing this, how on earth do we apply it to the training? Because sometimes our horse might say no, but later say yes to the same task. Sometimes this original no is because of residual mistrust of the event and all they need is reasurance and maybe to go back a few steps in the training to restablish what the task is. This video demonstrates this process very well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrIteqKzWOc.
Other than body language we also have other methods of implementating consent into our horse management. Recent research (Mejdell et al., 2016) demonstrates that horses could learn to use symbols to communicate their preference when it came to being rugged or not. A more detailed description of this study is in the Science section of the website. But we also have start cues (sometimes called start buttons) which allow the horse to say "I'm ready". Start cues are happening all the time, do you ever find your horse starting to walk when you just think it? It's probably because the horse is picking up on a start cue from you, that you don't even know you're doing. If you would like to learn more on start cues in horse training, Peggy Hogan has some brilliant resources including this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wD4w-4M80k&t=46s.
Our horses can communicate that they want to engage in a task without us even asking the question. When we set up a clear series of events the horse can chain those (know the series of events leading up to something they like or don't like e.g. hearing the car pull into the drive and their feed bowl arriving). Connection Training have a video demonstrating this too: https://connectiontraining.com/2020/07/using-start-buttons-and-consent-cues-in-horse-training/.
I haven't mentioned how we can apply this to one of the trickiest areas for improving welfare, competition. We all might have seen at the Modern Pentathlon at the Olympics this year when the German athletes assigned horse Saint Boy clearly said no to continuing to compete in the show jumping round (I discussed the event when it happened in a previous blog post: https://www.clickclop-equinebehaviour.com/post/saint-boy-s-behaviour-at-the-modern-pentathlon-2020-shows-pain-not-malice). Ms Schleu (the rider) continued to punish Saint Boy for saying no, and try to finish the round. But she didn't get a clear round after punishing him, and she didn't win any medals for it. So punishing the horse, and ignoring their 'no' didn't change the situation at all. If she had accepted her loss when they knocked down the first fence, she could have turned the experience into a positive one when he continued to say no, even potentially calming him enough to go over one jump and then leaving. Because this experience will have now created a link between show jumping arenas/ competitions and fear/pain.
Consent isn't that difficult to apply to our training and management, we just need to change how we are thinking about our horses. The idea of consent is hard to consider in animals, because we have spent so many years being told to "be the boss" "tell them what to do" "they can't do that so tell them off" that when we consider that the horse was saying they were; scared, nervous, in pain, or mistrustful, it makes us consider what might have happened if we listened. You might think the horse would just choose not to do anything and that's bad, but they should be given that choice. If they always say no, consider what in the activity they are saying no to and try to rebuild the trust in other activities so it isn't just things they don't enjoy.
It's important to make these changes to our interactions because we can all make a huge difference to at least one horse in our lives, so why not make it a positive one.
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