I believe there are no bad horses, just horses with bad training. I am often approached by owners with horses that are presenting an array of behavioral problems. Some buck, others rear, still others, bite, kick, weave, crib and head shake. All of these owners wanted to know what caused their good horse to go bad. When these unwanted and potentially dangerous behaviors are expressed we ask how did it happen? Was it the horse, was it someone else or was it the environment which they live in? They wondered if their conflicted horses could be fixed, changed, and rehabilitated back to the green zone. Each time I answered with a resounding, YES!

No horse is beyond rehabilitation. By utilizing proper training techniques all bad or conflicted behavior can be changed.  If you have read my articles in the past you know I use a method called OEPA to determine what may have caused the horse to develop conflicted behavior and my ‘Five Elements Connective Horsemanship’  show you how to act on what you have Observed.  OEPA is an acronym for Observe, Evaluate, Plan and Act.  I will proceed on the assumption that you understand what I mean by OEPA.       

In animal psychology there is a term commonly used to describe the subtraction of a behavior. This term is called extinction. This does not refer to the eradication of the horse, but to the extinction of an unwanted cue response. The term extinction is most often thought of as a term of death or eradication. While we are causing the complete eradication of an unwanted behavior, I don’t want confuse the issue. So to clarify my point I will not use the term extinction but will call this behavioral modification process the deletion cue.  As trainers, the deletion cue is an important tool we utilize as a way of extinguishing an incorrect cue response. Since the horse cannot determine, by reasoning, if their response to our cue request was correct or incorrect, we are obligated to design our cueing language in a simple clear system. In this language system between the horse and rider there must exist a cue that tells the horse what response you are requesting (ex. go, stop…) and a cue that says that was incorrect.
 
The deletion cue is used to extinguish incorrect behavior so that it is no longer expressed and therefore can not be strengthened in the horses mind. Think of deletion as the backspace key on your keyboard. When you are typing a letter and you make a mistake you can backspace and correct the word you have just misspelled. The same thing applies to the horse. By using deletion you prevent the horse from making a habit of the wrong response. Responses like tension, and aggression can also be changed by using this simple and clear cueing language of request and deletion.

The key to using deletion is the action you take to communicate to the horse they have given you an incorrect response. To delete the behavior you must immediately initiate a downward transition. For example if the horse shows tension at the trot, the rider should initiate an immediate downward transition to the walk or even a stop. Then the rider will cue the horse to go forward again immediately. There can be no lapse between the downward transition and the reattempt of the correct response.  Simple methods such as this are clear, concise and easily understood by both horse and rider.  They do not create more fear and tension and therefore aggression but help clarify in the horses mind what you are requesting.   

In almost all training situations the most effective way to delete behaviors is to prevent them from being expressed. In speaking with the folks who feel their horse has “gone bad” I have discovered that the most prevalent reason is the method of training.  Allowing the horse to practice fear, tension, and aggression will only strengthen these responses in the horse. The most evident and prominent exercise that allows the horse to practice both fear and tension is the round pen lesson. This lesson builds in the horse a fear association to its handler and should not be practiced.

When you allow the horse to practice fear, you are subsequently strengthening the fear response. Animals can entirely forget some behaviors by utilizing deletion. However, this is not the case with fear.  Joseph le Doux (Professor of neuroscience and psychology at New York University and Director of the Center for the Neuroscience of Fear and Anxiety) has demonstrated convincingly that fear behavior is exempt from deletion. This has somehow passed the horse industry by. The use of fear based training has been prolific within the industry for years. Techniques such as lunging and round penning may appear on the surface as harmless but the long term implications of teaching fear and tension are far reaching.

I use deletion on every horse whether young or old. It allows me to tell the horse that they have made an incorrect response. It also doesn’t allow the horse to practice or habituate to this incorrect response. Behavioral modification is nothing more than reconsolidating specific responses to specific cues. In almost all cases behavioral problems are due to confusing communication leading to an incorrect response to go or stop.

Bucking for instance begins as an incorrect response to a go forward cue. It is the confusion over the request that causes this incorrect fear response to be expressed. Riding the bucking horse allows the horse to practice bucking. Each time the horse bucks they are perfecting this behavior. It is not prudent to allow the horse to practice a behavior that will ultimately get your hurt. By implementing a downward transition to the stop and backup cue each time the horse begins to buck, you delete the behavior from the horse. Then by implementing the go cue immediately, you are reconditioning the horse to the correct response.

Allowing the horse to buck itself out only hinders the training process by strengthening the bucking response. Delete those behaviors that you do not want the horse to express and allow those responses you want to become more consolidated. That is horse training, allow the horse to express the correct behavior and don’t allow him to express the wrong behavior.

The integration of modern day psychology and traditional horsemanship has the potential to traverse the language barrier between horse and man. It allows us to further communicate with the horse and breaks down those walls that keep us from truly connecting with each other.  The use of deletion to tell our horses they have made an incorrect response will help to clarify our relationships and our cueing language. It will develop more consistent, long lasting relationships and has the potential to cause far less conflict between horse and rider. The next time your horse is giving you the wrong response, simply delete that response and try again.

I know you will find you don’t have a ‘good horse gone bad’ but a confused horse trying to give you the correct response.  Be safe and have fun.  For more information on Connective Horsemanship and how you can improve the way you communicate with your horse contact Ryan at www.connectivehorsemanship.com.