I find that when I reading around the subject of horsemanship I get sudden flashes of insight as things connect in my mind and a larger picture becomes visible, like starting to see the picture on a jigsaw puzzle.
I am still ploughing through "Equitation Science" and whilst it is all interesting there are certain concepts that just spring off the page and hit me between the eyes. The particular one I am going to discuss today is about spooking and riding with a contact.
To start with the book explains the nature of a spook. The first move is nearly always with the front legs. Often they will suddenly jump in the air and the horse will make off in a new direction with powerful accelerating thrust from the hind legs.
Secondly we are back to our old friend "Negative reinforcement" or Niddle as I termed it in a recent post to get over the unfortunate connections in laymens minds of the word "negative".
Thirdly is the idea of riding a horse with a contact. I have to say the more I read about the nature of horses the less inclined I am to ride with a contact which places continuous pressure on the horses mouth (bit) or nose (hackamore).
The connection between these three concepts suddenly crystallised for me why I feel unhappy about riding with a contact.
Let us take the scenario that we are riding along in a traditional manner with a nice contact on the bit. We are trying to ride with a focus, but suddenly the horse spooks. As a result the horse rears a little to move those front legs around, his head comes up and taken by surprise we are momentarily thrown off balance. With the head coming up closer to our hands there is a momentary slackening of the contact as we fight for our own balance. The horse has now been, however briefly, negatively reinforced to the spook and thus is more likely to spook next time when being ridden with a contact.
Let's look at that last point again. Riding with a contact is riding with a small (to large, depending on the riders ability) amount of pressure on the horses mouth (we'll assume the use of a bit for now). However accustomed the horse becomes to this pressure, no pressure is still preferable, but as we are riding with a contact the horse has to date found no way to evade that pressure and so has entered a state of learned helplessness over it and tries to ignore it. Now the spook occurs and for just a second the mouth pressure disappears. Now negative reinforcement is the removal of an aversive stimulus and this has just happened when the spook happened. The horse has by the principles of negative reinforcement just been rewarded for spooking. Worse is what happens next. In fear of the horse bolting the rider is inclined to gather up the loose reins as soon as possible, probably after the initial spook is over and reapply the contact. Result, the horse has been punished for ending the initial phase of the spook by having the mouth pressure reapplied thus further reinforcing the idea that the state of spook is preferable. (I prefer to use the phrase "mouth pressure" as it reflects what is happening to the horse. A bit is metal and cannot feel discomfort).
So next time it is ridden with a contact guess what it is more inclined to do. Soon we have a "naughty horse" that spooks at the slightest thing for "no reason at all". The truth is of course, we taught it to spook.
Riding on a loose rein however this is unlikely to happen as the spook will not result in a relaxation of pressure. In fact if we inadvertently pull on the reins to regain balance we have added pressure during the spook.
I am not saying that riding with a contact is necessarily a bad thing to do, but if you do it wise to be aware of all the possible consequences. My own feeling is that I am nowhere near a good enough rider to ride with a bit, let alone a contact yet. I hope to achieve that mastery someday, but in the meantime I am content riding "freestyle" on a loose rein.
I am still ploughing through "Equitation Science" and whilst it is all interesting there are certain concepts that just spring off the page and hit me between the eyes. The particular one I am going to discuss today is about spooking and riding with a contact.
To start with the book explains the nature of a spook. The first move is nearly always with the front legs. Often they will suddenly jump in the air and the horse will make off in a new direction with powerful accelerating thrust from the hind legs.
Secondly we are back to our old friend "Negative reinforcement" or Niddle as I termed it in a recent post to get over the unfortunate connections in laymens minds of the word "negative".
Thirdly is the idea of riding a horse with a contact. I have to say the more I read about the nature of horses the less inclined I am to ride with a contact which places continuous pressure on the horses mouth (bit) or nose (hackamore).
The connection between these three concepts suddenly crystallised for me why I feel unhappy about riding with a contact.
Let us take the scenario that we are riding along in a traditional manner with a nice contact on the bit. We are trying to ride with a focus, but suddenly the horse spooks. As a result the horse rears a little to move those front legs around, his head comes up and taken by surprise we are momentarily thrown off balance. With the head coming up closer to our hands there is a momentary slackening of the contact as we fight for our own balance. The horse has now been, however briefly, negatively reinforced to the spook and thus is more likely to spook next time when being ridden with a contact.
Let's look at that last point again. Riding with a contact is riding with a small (to large, depending on the riders ability) amount of pressure on the horses mouth (we'll assume the use of a bit for now). However accustomed the horse becomes to this pressure, no pressure is still preferable, but as we are riding with a contact the horse has to date found no way to evade that pressure and so has entered a state of learned helplessness over it and tries to ignore it. Now the spook occurs and for just a second the mouth pressure disappears. Now negative reinforcement is the removal of an aversive stimulus and this has just happened when the spook happened. The horse has by the principles of negative reinforcement just been rewarded for spooking. Worse is what happens next. In fear of the horse bolting the rider is inclined to gather up the loose reins as soon as possible, probably after the initial spook is over and reapply the contact. Result, the horse has been punished for ending the initial phase of the spook by having the mouth pressure reapplied thus further reinforcing the idea that the state of spook is preferable. (I prefer to use the phrase "mouth pressure" as it reflects what is happening to the horse. A bit is metal and cannot feel discomfort).
So next time it is ridden with a contact guess what it is more inclined to do. Soon we have a "naughty horse" that spooks at the slightest thing for "no reason at all". The truth is of course, we taught it to spook.
Riding on a loose rein however this is unlikely to happen as the spook will not result in a relaxation of pressure. In fact if we inadvertently pull on the reins to regain balance we have added pressure during the spook.
I am not saying that riding with a contact is necessarily a bad thing to do, but if you do it wise to be aware of all the possible consequences. My own feeling is that I am nowhere near a good enough rider to ride with a bit, let alone a contact yet. I hope to achieve that mastery someday, but in the meantime I am content riding "freestyle" on a loose rein.
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