National Cavalry Competition

Imagine throwing eventing, cowboy mounted shooting, and re-enacting into a big pot and mixing in riders from the military, law enforcement, and the general public. What you'd have is the tenth National Cavalry Competition, held at the Annual Bivouac this September 28-30 at Fort Reno, Oklahoma.

Learn all about it, plus some startling stats on the popularity of re-enacting, in this week's radio interview with Jeff Maahs from the United States Cavalry Association.

Listen to radio show

The Situation

One of my favorite bits of horsemanship advice comes from the late Ray Hunt, who said, “Adjust to fit the situation.” Let’s drill down a bit on this simple prescription.

Every moment with a horse is a “situation” with a unique character to it. The first order of business is recognizing the situation for what it is. Second is having an alternative course of action that you can adjust to. And third is making the adjustment at the right moment.

An example that comes to mind is teaching a foal to lead. Since horses have an “opposition reflex” (a.k.a. positive thigmotaxis), foals tend to pull back when we apply forward pressure on a lead rope. That is a common situation. An alternative when they resist forward pressure is to immediately pull more to one side. Foals have less power to resist lateral pressure and are likely to take a step to the side, which can be rewarded and parlayed into movement on a curve and eventually straight, forward movement.

One of the reasons a good horseman adjusts to fit the situation is that he is always looking for behaviors that can be rewarded, and he is always looking for a good note to end the day on.

For more information on Ray Hunt, visit www.RayHunt.com.

The Vaquero

There is much we can learn from studying horsemen of the past, and the first thing to note is that there is a context for everything. For example, the vaqueros of colonial California lived in a time when getting a job done with a horse was essential. Some of the techniques used were crude and heavy handed by modern standards. Others were sophisticated and light, perfectly in tune with the highest principles of natural horsemanship. This is why the vaquero will get special attention next week at the Light Hands Horsemanship clinic in Santa Ynez, California.

In attendance will be the last of the genuine working vaqueros, artist Ernie Morris. His grandfather and mentor, Jesse Wilkinson, is pictured. Also joining us this year will be Arabian horse icon, Sheila Varian. Returning presenters include Dr. Bob Miller, Eitan Beth-Halachmy, Jon Ensign, Lester Buckley, Jack Brainard, and Richard Winters. I’ll be emceeing as usual and will kick off the event with the TV episode I did years back on the vaquero.

I hope you can join us for a truly unique and intimate event in a breathtakingly beautiful setting, where just a few decades ago, vaqueros perfected their system of cattle-based horsemanship. Special thanks to sponsor Spalding Laboratories and host facility Intrepid Farms.

To learn more about the event: Lighthandshorsemanship.com
To learn more about Ernie Morris: ElVaquero.com

Inspirational Jockeys

Even though horse racing doesn’t exactly float my boat, I find some real inspiration in the history of the sport. For example, Eddie Arcaro lost his first 250 races before going on to become the winningest jockey of all time, with five Kentucky Derby wins. This week on radio, I interview author Rick Maturi about his book on another famous jockey, Triple Crown Winner, Earl Sande (pictured), an American sports icon during the 1920s.

Sande’s stats are impressive but it was his unorthodox way of getting a winning performance from a horse – even one he was riding for the first time – that got my attention. While other jockeys were whipping their horses toward the finish line, Sande sang opera to his, rarely going to the whip. Now get this: Sande was actually a good singer and performed professionally at New York’s Stork Club in later years.

Radio interview with author Rick Maturi

Triple Crown Winner: the Earl Sande Saga

Behavior Replacement

Extinction of behavior takes time to work. Today I’ll share some thoughts on speeding up the process through behavior replacement.

First, a quick review: With operant conditioning, “bad” behavior can be modified through punishment (creating an unpleasant consequence) or extinction (eliminating the reinforcement). Punishment is a perfectly good tool in the hands of a confident and experienced trainer, but many horse owners make matters worse through half-hearted or poorly timed responses to their horse’s naughtiness. Extinction may work better for them if they can figure out how the horse is getting rewarded and eliminate that.

Still, it takes a while for unrewarded behavior to die out completely. To speed the process up, get your horse working on something good, or as John Lyons might say, replace the bad behavior with good behavior.

For example, suppose your horse fidgets and paws the ground when he’s tied. Here are some possible responses from you:

1. Give him food to distract him. Result: behavior is reinforced and continues.
2. Scold him or spank him. Punishment requires perfect timing, consistency, and intensity in order to work. Not possible here. Result: the extra attention works as a reinforcer. If you frighten the horse in the process, you’ve created a new problem.
3. Ignore him completely. This is how to use extinction. When there is no reward of any kind, he will eventually stop the behavior.
4. Ignore the behavior, but immediately put the horse to work doing something else, something useful such as backing or sidepassing or sending. Maybe you just focus on getting the horse to move one body part at a time. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as it is positive and you take every opportunity to praise the horse for doing it.

This last option is a way of supercharging the extinction principle by replacing bad behavior with good. Thanks to John Lyons for teaching me this, and for teaching me to always have a positive job ready for my horse to do, just in case I need it.

Extinction of Behavior - Finding the Reward

I promised last time that I would address the fifth “quadrant” of operant conditioning, extinction, in a future blog. So here we go.

Simply put, the principle of extinction says that, if reinforcement of a behavior ceases, the behavior will eventually die out. This is important to us horse owners because it means that punishing an undesirable equine behavior is not the only way to eliminate it. Just stop rewarding the behavior and eventually it will go away on its own. If a behavior recurs with the same or greater intensity, we know it is being reinforced in some way.

One good strategy for dealing with unwanted equine behavior is thus to find the reward. What is the horse getting out of doing this? Get rid of the reward and, in time, you will get rid of the behavior without using punishment.

Unfortunately, finding the reward isn’t always easy. Many horse owners are blind to what really matters to their horses. Some have never thought about it. Others project their own wants and needs onto this radically different species. Others have an appreciation for the uniqueness of the horse but don’t yet have the skills to accurately assess a given situation and find the reinforcer. In fact, they sometimes reinforce the very behaviors they would like to change.

For example, think about what often happens when a novice handles a horse from the ground. The horse will push and crowd until the novice moves out of the way to avoid being stepped on. This submissive body language – the willingness to be moved by the horse – reinforces the horse’s assertive behavior and causes it to recur. A more experienced horseman handling the same horse would defend his space and not allow that reinforcement to occur. The horse’s desire to dominate in that context, with that human, would die out with time.

My challenge to you is to begin to look for the reinforcers – the rewards – in whatever your horse does repetitively, from the mundane to the marvelous. In the words of Tom Dorrance, “observe, remember, and compare.” You and your horse will be better for it.

Next time, I’ll share how we can “supercharge” the extinction principle.

Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning, formulated by behaviorist B.F. Skinner, is one of those subjects fraught with misunderstanding, and even those of us who understand it sometimes misspeak, due largely to the uncommon use of common words.

The primary principle of operant conditioning is that when behavior is reinforced, it is more likely to be repeated and when behavior is punished, it is less likely to be repeated. The way we reinforce or punish is by adding or taking away stimuli.

1. Positive Reinforcement means that something pleasant is added to encourage the desired behavior. Example: The horse is given a food treat when he responds correctly.

2. Negative Reinforcement means that something unpleasant is subtracted to encourage the desired behavior. Example: Pressure is released when the horse complies with a request.

3. Positive Punishment means that something unpleasant is added to discourage the undesired behavior. Example: A horse is spanked instantly when he kicks out under saddle.

4. Negative Punishment means that something pleasant is subtracted to discourage unwanted behavior. Example: The trainer withholds a food treat that a horse wants.

These are called the four quadrants of operant conditioning. (Extinction is sometimes called the fifth “quadrant.” I’ll address that another time.)

Unfortunately, keeping all of this straight is next to impossible for most people, including me. The reason is simple. All four of the key words have narrower meanings than we usually give them. Positive means added (rather than good). Negative means subtracted (rather than bad). Reinforcing means rewarding (rather than strengthening) and punishing means deterring (rather than paying back).

These may seem like small distinctions but they can result in big misunderstandings. For example, I often hear trainers use the term "negative reinforcement" to mean creating an unpleasant consequence to a behavior. This, of course, is not what it means in the world of operant conditioning.

My advice is pretty straightforward. Use the principles of operant conditioning but be careful of the terms. They confuse more than they clarify. And when you hear someone else using them, remember, chances are very good that they are using them incorrectly. Better to clamp your hands over your ears and hum the theme to "Gilligan's Island," or at least think about something else until the moment passes. Like maybe lunch. More next time.