Three Tricks for Better Behavior at Feeding Time

Horses love food. I can relate! But too often a horse’s behavior becomes annoying or even dangerous when he’s obsessed about eating. Here are three tricks I’ve found that transform a horse’s behavior at feeding time. I call them tricks because they work like magic. By the way, these aren’t all that advanced but they’re not for beginners, either.

Back before eating. Backing isn’t natural for a horse. Psychologically and physiologically, he’s a forward animal. But you’re going to teach him to back away from food upon your command. Teach this with your horse in a rope halter and lead rope so you have some control. Bring him to his feed and make sure he sees it. Now ask him to back up. You’ll need to use the standard natural horsemanship techniques of pressure and release, rewarding the slightest try and progressively raising your expectations. When you get something you can reward, you will not only stop asking but also invite him forward to eat. Yippee. Some horses catch on to this game so quickly they will start anticipating your cue and backing away from the food before you’ve asked. If that happens, do nothing until he stops backing. Then ask him to back some more and reward with feeding. Our Icelandic Horse, Fidla, would start backing when she saw us coming toward the barn. It was like she was saying, “See? See? Can I eat now, already?”

Pretend you don’t want it. This is a little game I’ve taught several horses. But I need to reiterate that this is not for beginners. Hand-feeding treats is a good way to get hurt if you haven’t established boundaries of space and behavior with your horse. So don’t attempt this unless you are absolutely certain you can do it safely. Start with your horse in a halter and lead rope. Stand a few feet in front of him. Make sure he knows you have a treat and is looking directly at you. Then say, “pretend you don’t want it.” At first, he won’t know what you mean, so you may have to say it again, and again. At some point, however, he will move his head slightly to one side or the other. It’s just a random movement. Instantly praise him and give him the treat. Try it again. He may get worse before he gets better, but eventually he will respond by turning completely away from you, just like he’s saying, “Take it away; I’m not interested.” Again, he is showing a willingness to put responding to your request above his primal desire to eat. By the way, don’t repeat this trick too many times. A rookie mistake is to keep repeating something until the horse fails or refuses. Don’t be that guy. Look for a good place to end as soon as he gets the hang of it. When you stop on a good note, your horse will likely be better next time.

Vary feeding time. What happens when a horse gets used to being fed at precisely the same times each day? Right! He freaks out if you’re even a few minutes late. So don’t be so predictable! Vary the time by up to two hours. If you normally feed at 6 am, make it 6:45 or 7:58 some days. He’ll get used to it, I promise. And remember, multiple small feedings throughout the day are healthier than two big feedings. There’s a bonus to this strategy, by the way. You have more flexibility in your own schedule. You can actually finish dessert before leaving the restaurant with that apologetic, “Sorry, I have to feed!”

Final thought. Food is a powerful motivator for horses. Yes, a horse can be taught without the use of food rewards. No, you can’t always get a treat to a horse at the right moment to reinforce his behavior. But food is still useful in training because it is completely unambiguous to the horse. He doesn’t have to wonder if you’re really happy with him. If you give him food, life is good.

Shoeing my Barefoot Horse

Steward clog

When I got my Quarter Horse, Candy, in 2001, she was five years old. I was determined to give her the best care I could. There was a lot of talk at the time about the value of keeping horses barefoot. I bought in. My brain told me that barefoot was the natural state of the horse and my heart told me there was something wrong about nailing a piece of metal to an animal’s foot. The clincher was that slip-on hoof boots could be used in rugged terrain. For some reason, the fact that horses had been shod for centuries did not strike me as important. 

 

Ten years later, Candy started showing signs of lameness. No amount of natural trimming or boot wearing relieved her discomfort and I couldn’t in good conscience ride her in that condition. Seeing her limp around her turnout area tore me up. About this time, I got to know farrier and inventor Gene Ovnicek. We had many conversations about lameness, how it can be analyzed, and how it can be treated. I realized that helping a lame horse is different from maintaining a healthy one. I thought enough of Gene’s approach that I did a TV episode about it, which you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPDOZITaPeU

 

Gene suspected that Candy's soreness came from soft-tissue strain but he couldn't be sure. This is often the case with lameness since the structures involved are buried deeply inside the hoof capsule. Even without a definitive diagnosis, he was able to find a position in which Candy was comfortable and he built an appliance that would allow her to use her foot in that orientation. Sometimes it was a shoe. Other times it was a Steward clog. He told me something I’ve always remembered: “You can’t fix a problem while the conditions that caused the problem are still present.” By unloading the strained tissue, he was not only giving her pain relief, he was creating conditions under which healing could begin. In time, I was able to ride Candy again and she rarely showed signs of discomfort. There was something else I liked about Gene’s method:  he relied on Candy’s body language to tell him when he had a found a comfortable position for the foot. I saw him use this leverage-testing procedure on numerous horses and was always impressed with how he tuned in to what the horse was feeling and how grateful the horse was when relief came. Some went to sleep almost instantly.

I still believe that barefoot is the ideal state for a horse. Gene feels the same way, as do other fine horseman such as veterinarian Bob Miller. But we are all committed first to making the horse comfortable. Sometimes that means using shoes, at least for a while.  

Showing a Tired Horse

Marilyn recently asked my opinion about the following scenario. I later found out that she was talking about her horse and her trainer,

"A Reining horse is hauled 13 hours to a big Reining show.  Once he is unloaded and put in his stall, the rider and trainer ties him in his stall so he can't lay down.  When questioned about his reasons for this, he replies he wants the horse to be tired so he will be more relaxed and listen to him as he runs the reining pattern. This seems to border on the side of cruelty to me.  Wouldn't you think after 13 hours in a trailer you would want the horse to relax before he is scheduled to show?  And isn't it true that horses are more likely to get injured when they are tired?”

Thanks for the question, Marilyn. First, remember that you are not only the customer, but also your horse’s number one advocate and last line of defense in a world where his natural self-preservation tools are largely denied him. You need to be ready to jump in and take charge if you see something happening that doesn’t seem right to you. That could mean changing barns or even pulling him out of a show at the last minute.

Second, let's be fair to the trainer. Trainers aren’t mind readers. When you hire a trainer, you need to be clear about the goal of the training and what is acceptable to you in reaching that goal. Don't assume anything. A frank conversation might still preserve this relationship. If not, pay the trainer’s bill, wish him well, and move on.

Third, horses adapt to unnatural conditions and treatment remarkably well. On the scale of unsavory training practices, showing a horse in a tired state ranks relatively low and your horse will probably be just fine. But again, this is your horse and you need to be comfortable with how he is being treated. Making sure your trainer’s values align with your own will go a long way toward avoiding this problem in the future.

Rick

A Force for Good

Richard Meredith Lamb, Jr. died October 20, 2015 at the age of 89. He went peacefully in his sleep with family at his side and his wife of 67 years holding his hand. I’m convinced that Dad’s final experience on earth was a gift from above for a life well lived. He was a force for good and the world would be a better place if more people were like him. The most I can hope for is that somebody says the same about me some day.

Like so many of his generation, Dad served in two wars. It’s hard to imagine him as a warrior, but less than a year out of high school, he was trudging through Europe fighting the prevailing evil of that time. Two years after returning home, he was called again to serve in Korea. The rest of his life he did battle with evil in more subtle ways through his good works and the example he set in day-to-day life.

The photo shown is one of my favorites. Dad seems optimistic about the future even as he prepares to fight for it. Miss you, Dad. I’m proud to have your name.

The Real Gene Autry

Gene Autry's grave

To wrap up the shooting of our TV episode on the famous singing cowboy, Gene Autry, Diana and I visited his grave at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles. I guess I was expecting something different. The marker is small and lies flat on the side of a grassy hill, not far from the road. On the day we visited, I had to brush away some leaves and dirt to read the words. When I had asked for directions at the visitors’ center, the lady who helped me had not recognized Gene’s name.

Gene Autry 1907-1998

Gene Autry is the only entertainer to have five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, symbols of his achievements in radio, recording, motion pictures, television, and live theatre/performance. He was a 33rd degree Mason, pilot, songwriter, recording artist, broadcaster, baseball team owner, and entertainment industry visionary. He was a generous friend, a courageous patriot, and a role model for kids. At the height of his fame, he may have been the best-known American in the world. It’s hard to imagine a more perfect man.

But Gene Autry was not perfect. As I dug into his story, I learned that he had a drinking problem that led to embarrassing public incidents. His long affair with Gail Davis, star of the Annie Oakley TV series that Autry produced from 1954 to 1957, was well-known around Hollywood.  Like all of us, Gene Autry was a flawed human. That he managed those flaws successfully is suggested by his myriad contributions later in life.  

Our 2008 TV episode, "Gene Autry and the Seven Champions," tells Gene’s story lovingly and honestly using impeccable sources. I’ve prepared a special commercial-free version for your viewing pleasure. I’ve also brought back a two-part radio interview with Gene’s official biographer, Holly George Warren. Enjoy!

Gene Autry and the Seven Champions (TV)

The Gene Autry You Don't Know - Part 1 (Radio)

The Gene Autry You Don't Know - Part 2 (Radio)

Video Shorts

You may have noticed a new link on my home page: Video Shorts. These are two-minute educational videos that have appeared on my TV show. To date, I’ve produced about 200 of these. Eventually, they will all be in this section of the web site. Watch a few and I think you will find they are fast and painless ways to learn.

I developed this format in 2009 and it caught on immediately. Now I know why. These videos are optimized to the way humans learn from multimedia. The goal is to keep the learner “in the zone,” fully engaged and effectively relating new input to prior experience. Key to reaching the goal is the length and pace of the presentation, and how the important takeaways are identified.

If your eyes haven’t glazed over by now, you may enjoy reading up on the cognitive theory of multimedia learning here: http://theelearningcoach.com/learning/learning-theory-and-multimedia/

I can easily geek out on this subject; I recently completed a Ph.D. in educational technology (that’s what I’ve been up to in my absence from this blog) and concentrated my research on multimedia learning. Fortunately, I get to apply what I’ve learned every day in helping folks do better with their horses.

Hope you enjoy the videos!

Rick

Hard to Catch

Annelisa listens to The Horse Show on Rural Radio Channel 80 (Sirius/XM). She wrote to ask for more information on catching the hard-to-catch horse in a round pen. Normally, I would expound a bit on what the guest on that particular program said. Problem is, I can’t figure out which guest Annelisa heard.  So, Annelisa, these are my thoughts on the hard-to-catch horse.

First, a basic principle: If you want your horse to make a change, you have to give him a reason to do so. The hard-to-catch horse is happy being away from you. To change that, you need to convince him that it’s better to be with you.  The round pen is a great place to do this because, in order to stay away from you, the horse has to keep moving, and eventually he looks for an alternative to wasting all of that precious energy.

So here’s the basic technique. With the horse loose in the round pen, bring up your energy and focus it on the horse’s hindquarters. Mentally push on them, move toward them, throw a rope at them, whatever you need to do to be sure the horse feels that energy pushing on his hind end.  One of two things will happen. Either the horse will squirt away from you and exercise his flight response or he will disengage his hindquarters, which is a fancy way of saying he will swing his rear end away from you and face up. If the horse runs away, keep the pressure up until you see that he wants to slow down. Let him stop and begin the session again.

The facing up is what you want from the horse because that is an act of submission, an offering of sorts. What you do when he begins to face you is critical.  You instantly turn off the pressure and start backing away him. Remember, you began this session by pushing energy toward the horse’s hind end; now you’re pulling energy from his front end. Pushing energy has a driving effect and pulling energy has a drawing effect. You want the horse to continue this change he has made in turning toward you by actually taking a step toward you, then another, then another. It’s easy for him to do this as long as you are backing away. When you begin to see other signs of submission such as licking and chewing or lowering the head, you can stop moving backward and let the two of you rest in that position.

So where are we now? The horse has decided that, at least for the moment, it is better to be with you than away from you. The pressure to move his hindquarters is gone and he’s felt this urge to move toward you.  This is an important mental shift and the moment it occurs is called joining up or hooking on. It’s a fragile moment and getting greedy can undo what you’ve accomplished, so go slowly. If you are still getting these offerings of submission, such as lowering the head, licking and chewing, softening the eye, or blinking, it is a good time to give your horse a gentle scratch on the forehead.  Don’t dwell there; just get in, scratch, and get out. Turn and walk slowly away from the horse. Feel the invisible connection between you. The horse should follow. Turn and scratch him while he’s still mentally connected to you . When you’ve both gotten comfortable with this little dance, you are done for the day.

Whaaaa? That’s right. You are not going to do anything further with the horse on that day. This is called ending on a good note and it may be the hardest part of training a horse. Think of it as an investment in the future, a way of patching up the foundation of your relationship. To continue that metaphor, the mortar needs time to set. You are going to leave your horse on a good note in order for things to firm up in his mind. Remember, you’ve rocked his world a bit. You are not the same person he thought you were. He needs time to process that. The idea beginning to form in his mind is that being with you could be his first choice rather than his last resort.

Tomorrow, you can repeat he whole thing again, paying special attention to how you use your energy and how he responds to it. You’ll be better and he will probably respond more readily. But maybe not. Horses always test us and progress isn’t perfectly linear. Don’t let that upset you because that negative energy will also be felt by the horse and will interfere with the other signals he’s picking up from you.  The time will come, maybe on that second day or maybe later, when you can put his halter on him and walk him around a bit. As before, don’t get greedy about this. Surprise him by ending on a good note, when he’s relaxed and willing to do more. In the future, mix it up like that. Some days, you’ll catch him to go do something. Other days, you’ll catch him just to give him a good scratch or a carrot. You will keep your horse engaged and interested in you – and easier to catch – if you are just a little unpredictable in your daily activities with him.

Rick