When the need is great, help is close, so they say. And in my case, I am happy that the saying was accurate. Our newly bought filly, a one-year old North Swedish Draught horse had already early in life realized that she is stronger and faster - both in reaction speed and movement forward than us humans.
My limited experience of NH was not enough. Lena, who has a little more experience, managed to hang in there a bit longer but even she found herself outmaneuvered. Our little lady had learned that when she was sent out on the volte, she could, by going in the tangent direction, escape our influence. When Lena managed to stop her a few times, she just a stylishly rose on her hind legs and added a light twist to release herself from us. Thereby she transformed a small victory to a big loss for us.
Now we had do put our heads togheter, this maneuver was so effective that we felt that if we were to continue, it would only result in her developing and refining her escape technique.
Who could help me??! I did not want someone who would "push through" anything, nor was I interested in putting a bit in her mouth to gain some sort of control through pain and discomfort...that kind of control is only an illusion and often leads to other problems later in the training program. There is a risk that the horse's trust in people is effected. It was then remedy materalised itself in the shape of a man from the American plains, Ed Dabney.
Madam Fortuna arranged that Ed was giving a clinic in northern Finland (Kokkola) and that he had the opportunity to dedicate one day to my challenge before he had to move on.
We had a demo at out house, where Ed showed "Six Keys to Harmony" the program he developed to train riders and horses to a better relationship. Before we started the day we had agreed to do all six keys, and then "provoke" a escape-reaktion after lunch, we did not have to wait so long ...
At 11, without warning, Houdini Horse pulled from Ed's daughter Elizabeth and disappeared into the forest. After the escapade Ed took over the rope and even he saw the horse's rear end disappear in between the trees.
The duel had begun. Ed picked his weapons. Lasso. Single pillar.
When Ed chosed the lasso, he removed the rope halter - one aid at the time. He made sure that he never (and I mean n e v e r) was the one who began to pull, our filly had to run out lasso rope before Ed put it to a stop by using a tree pillar. When she after a while realized that there was a stop to run into, Ed changed back to the rope halter.
Now an interesting moment occurred. Ed let her go on a volte, we all saw that she was considering pulling but, at the moment when she could have left, she reconsidered her descision and chose to remain on the volte. At that point two hours had passed and we took a break for lunch.
After lunch, Ed continued the training and showed me how I could break the escapes without ever having to pull on the rope and thus her head. And this is when it struck me how strong the habit is within me (and probably for some of you too) to just "pull on the head" of the horse when it gets hot. I had to be very observant of myself so that I had a good slack in the rope when I asked her to give the hind legs. If I was hanging on to her, albeit tiny, I could feel how she "took my force and leaned into it" and that force, really was something we wanted to avoid provoking...
Ed pointed out that the hand is the primary aid and that, by virtue of being it, should always be light. Especially in my case, it seemed relevant. I want her to be with me but without me needing to hold on like mad, be it reins or rope, and I can achieve that lightness by letting the secondary aid make my will clear. I can let the rope whiz in the air or cause it to land on the horses hip as a reinforcement, and thereby I need not to compromise on the lightness in the rope.
Now it has to be said that Ed possesses a cobra's speed in his work with horses. At one point, he worked my old mare and I saw that she tried to slip away from work by moving forward instead of sidways. He made the necessary correction long before my brain even had taken the decision of a correction. I have a little left to work on...
So the recipe from Dr. Ed reads that I should under no circumstances lose the filly as long as she demonstrates a tendency to go against the rope halter. Believe me, she was smooth as butter with Ed but showed evidence of her old behviour as soon as I took over the rope. They know who runs them. My shift begins at the single pillar before I move out in the paddock. Pure classical training in other words!
The day gave me a lot more insight, such as the horses adapt more quickly to each of us than we do to any of them. They read us better, they outsmart us faster, they establish leadership hierarchy faster than we can imagine.
Ed left a question for you. Out of one hundred horse owners, how many are there who have a functioning leadership in relation to the horse?
Think about it, the answer will be in my next posting.
Tuesday 31 August 2010
Tuesday 24 August 2010
ISES 2010: to objectively measure the welfare of horses
Two weeks ago I wrote about my presentation at ISES 2010 and I promised then to write about other research that was presented at the conference. One subject that was recurring in several presentations was the horse's welfare when being handled and ridden. What the scientists are studying is the possibility of objectively measuring the horse's welfare.
Welfare
Welfare can be seen as either the absence of negative experiences, or as the presence of positive experiences. Whichever way you look at it, how can the horse's welfare be measured?
Physiological parameters
It is common to measure the horse's heart rate and cortisol levels.
Heart rate – a lowered heart rate is usually seen as an indication of positive horse welfare since it is commonly associated with a calm and relaxed horse.
Cortisol levels – cortisol is a hormone that can be found in the horse's saliva. The levels increase with stress.
So far so good, but there is one problem. Studies have shown that exercise and stress have the same effect on physiological parameters: heart rate goes up as do cortisol levels. Thus it doesn't seem to be enough to measure these things. The scientists suggest we also look at the horse's behaviour.
Behaviuor
When looking at the horse's behaviuor, welfare is defined as the absence of conflict behaviour. An example of conflict behaviour may be that the horse puts his ears back, opens his mouth, shies, kicks out. On the other hand, it seems not enough to simply study and interpret the behaviour of the horse because some horses also seem to suffer from so-called learned helplessness. Learned helplessness means that the horse is in a situation that is unpleasant but shows no conflict behaviour.
In the case of animals, the following experiment illustrates what learned helplessness is: A fish swims in an aquarium. A translucent glass wall is placed between the fish and its food. The fish will swim into the wall repeatedly to reach the food, but eventually gives up and stops trying to reach the food. Later, even when the glass wall is removed, the fish will no longer try to reach the food since it "knows" that it can't.
One study suggests that the absence of conflict behaviour in horses riding in the rollkur, hyperflexion or LDP (low-deep-round) is the result of learned helplessness. Although other measurable parameters indicate that the horse does not have a good time (for instance reduced airflow due to blocked airways as well as increased heart rate), these horses show no conflict behaviours.
Eye temperature
Research has also used infrared thermography. What they have done is to measure the heat that is radiated from the horse's eyes using a heat sensitive camera. Exactly what a decrease or increase in the temperature of the eye means seems to be a bit difficult to determine. Different studies have so far come to conflicting conclusions.
Welfare - objective or subjective?
The scientist that gave the final presentation at the conference was Camie Heleski from Michigan State University (you'll find her abstract on page 48). She argues that science alone cannot define what should be considered to be the welfare of horses, because science is never free of values and thus is not objective. I agree with this wholeheartedly. Heliski writes that the values we have affect how we define welfare, both for ourselves and for horses. T. Grandin has said that if a particular approach is not deemed acceptable to the ordinary airplane passenger, in the end it doesn't matter what science has proven. The horse's welfare is not just subjectively assessed by you and me. Those who are not actively involved in horses and that are "looking in" from the outside also have an opinion about what animal welfare is. This is especially true today, when science cannot provide conclusive answers to what welfare is for the horse.
How do you asses your horse's welfare when you ride and handle it?
Welfare
Welfare can be seen as either the absence of negative experiences, or as the presence of positive experiences. Whichever way you look at it, how can the horse's welfare be measured?
Physiological parameters
It is common to measure the horse's heart rate and cortisol levels.
Heart rate – a lowered heart rate is usually seen as an indication of positive horse welfare since it is commonly associated with a calm and relaxed horse.
Cortisol levels – cortisol is a hormone that can be found in the horse's saliva. The levels increase with stress.
So far so good, but there is one problem. Studies have shown that exercise and stress have the same effect on physiological parameters: heart rate goes up as do cortisol levels. Thus it doesn't seem to be enough to measure these things. The scientists suggest we also look at the horse's behaviour.
Behaviuor
When looking at the horse's behaviuor, welfare is defined as the absence of conflict behaviour. An example of conflict behaviour may be that the horse puts his ears back, opens his mouth, shies, kicks out. On the other hand, it seems not enough to simply study and interpret the behaviour of the horse because some horses also seem to suffer from so-called learned helplessness. Learned helplessness means that the horse is in a situation that is unpleasant but shows no conflict behaviour.
In the case of animals, the following experiment illustrates what learned helplessness is: A fish swims in an aquarium. A translucent glass wall is placed between the fish and its food. The fish will swim into the wall repeatedly to reach the food, but eventually gives up and stops trying to reach the food. Later, even when the glass wall is removed, the fish will no longer try to reach the food since it "knows" that it can't.
One study suggests that the absence of conflict behaviour in horses riding in the rollkur, hyperflexion or LDP (low-deep-round) is the result of learned helplessness. Although other measurable parameters indicate that the horse does not have a good time (for instance reduced airflow due to blocked airways as well as increased heart rate), these horses show no conflict behaviours.
Eye temperature
Research has also used infrared thermography. What they have done is to measure the heat that is radiated from the horse's eyes using a heat sensitive camera. Exactly what a decrease or increase in the temperature of the eye means seems to be a bit difficult to determine. Different studies have so far come to conflicting conclusions.
Welfare - objective or subjective?
The scientist that gave the final presentation at the conference was Camie Heleski from Michigan State University (you'll find her abstract on page 48). She argues that science alone cannot define what should be considered to be the welfare of horses, because science is never free of values and thus is not objective. I agree with this wholeheartedly. Heliski writes that the values we have affect how we define welfare, both for ourselves and for horses. T. Grandin has said that if a particular approach is not deemed acceptable to the ordinary airplane passenger, in the end it doesn't matter what science has proven. The horse's welfare is not just subjectively assessed by you and me. Those who are not actively involved in horses and that are "looking in" from the outside also have an opinion about what animal welfare is. This is especially true today, when science cannot provide conclusive answers to what welfare is for the horse.
How do you asses your horse's welfare when you ride and handle it?
Tuesday 17 August 2010
Rein tension, something horses get used to?
During the ISES Conference an danish/ukrainian team had examined how much rein tension a horse was ready to accept in order to obtain food reward. The horses in the study was 2 years old and not experienced to bridles before.
At the test the horses had reins attached by the bit to a girth and the length of the reins created the resistance which the horses experienced when they stretched to reach the food. The researchers assumed that the first time the horses were subjected to tests, they would put a little pressure on the bit, but when they had realized that there were titbits involved they would be willing to increase the pressure of the bit to access the food.
The results showed otherwise. The horses applied the highest rein tension on the first day 10,5N +/- 1,4N (10 Newton or approx 1 kg) but for the following sessions they avoided to put so much pressure into the bit (6,0N and 5,7N). Instead of getting used to the pressure (habituated) the horses learned to avoid the pressure in the mouth. It was concluded that horses ability to avoid tension could be used in horse training by increasing focus on the timing of pressure release.
Of course I make (fully unscientifical) connections to the controversial training method roll kür and LDR varieties. Bone-wise the bars are razor sharp ridges that are covered with a very thin layer for protection. The bit is placed on these ridges. A high pressure on the bit creates such discomfort that the horse just "takes the pressure once" and then make whatever it can to avoid the discomfort in the future.
For me, it may be a way to understand how an animal that is so much stronger than us can keep itself from breaking free from the position that roll kür and LDR puts them in. They "curl themselves up" in a (desperate?) attempt to avoid the discomfort that pressure from the hands, through the reins and bit create on the bars.
During the conference suggestions were made to introduce so-called pressure gauges on the reins during dressage competitions. But I think it's too late to measure the pressure at that point. It must be done during training. Because if the horse seeks to avoid the pressure it will have learned to take the position itself that creates the least discomfort and that without the rider necessarily putting much pressure in the reins.
The focus must shift from what we can see on the competition grounds to what we can not see during training. Ethics will have to range from training to competition and, as another scientist said, "even if it is not illegal, it need not be ethically correct".
At the test the horses had reins attached by the bit to a girth and the length of the reins created the resistance which the horses experienced when they stretched to reach the food. The researchers assumed that the first time the horses were subjected to tests, they would put a little pressure on the bit, but when they had realized that there were titbits involved they would be willing to increase the pressure of the bit to access the food.
The results showed otherwise. The horses applied the highest rein tension on the first day 10,5N +/- 1,4N (10 Newton or approx 1 kg) but for the following sessions they avoided to put so much pressure into the bit (6,0N and 5,7N). Instead of getting used to the pressure (habituated) the horses learned to avoid the pressure in the mouth. It was concluded that horses ability to avoid tension could be used in horse training by increasing focus on the timing of pressure release.
Of course I make (fully unscientifical) connections to the controversial training method roll kür and LDR varieties. Bone-wise the bars are razor sharp ridges that are covered with a very thin layer for protection. The bit is placed on these ridges. A high pressure on the bit creates such discomfort that the horse just "takes the pressure once" and then make whatever it can to avoid the discomfort in the future.
For me, it may be a way to understand how an animal that is so much stronger than us can keep itself from breaking free from the position that roll kür and LDR puts them in. They "curl themselves up" in a (desperate?) attempt to avoid the discomfort that pressure from the hands, through the reins and bit create on the bars.
During the conference suggestions were made to introduce so-called pressure gauges on the reins during dressage competitions. But I think it's too late to measure the pressure at that point. It must be done during training. Because if the horse seeks to avoid the pressure it will have learned to take the position itself that creates the least discomfort and that without the rider necessarily putting much pressure in the reins.
The focus must shift from what we can see on the competition grounds to what we can not see during training. Ethics will have to range from training to competition and, as another scientist said, "even if it is not illegal, it need not be ethically correct".
Tuesday 10 August 2010
ISES 2010: "directed perception"
As Maria wrote last week, we both attended the International Society for Equine Science Conference (ISES) at the beginning of August. Sadly I'll have to agree with Maria about the impressions from the day at Strömsholm.
Some of the research presented was however very interesting. I will share with you the studies I found most interesting, but that will be for later. Now I will do something completely out of character for a Swede and first share with you the result of my study.
In my role as a master student in didactics, I had submitted an abstract and after review and approval from a scientific committee, I was invited to give an 10 min talk. The title of my abstract was “Learning to ride a horse – A study of concepts and thought styles in three textbooks from three centuries”.
I have read three books:
1)”School of Horsemanship” by F. R. De la Guérinière written in French 1733, translated to Swedish in 1828.
2)“Ridskolan eller ridläran” (“The riding school or the principles of riding”) by A. Ehrengranat (1836)
3)“The Principles of Riding (Complete Riding & Driving System)” by Miesner et al. Swedish translation from German in 2003.
In these books I've identified the concepts used for describing how to teach a beginner rider. I've seen these concepts as the result of the common thought style. A thought style can be explained as “directed perception”. What this mean is that we, you and I, don't see things simply by looking. We need a mental readiness to notice objects and processes. What this means in practical terms is that whatever your teacher talks about, this is what you will learn to notice. From that point of view, I've analysed the way that the teaching of the beginner rider was described in these three books.
Teaching a novice rider includes teaching the seat, the aids and equestrian tact. All these areas were included in all three books. No surprise there. What is interesting is how concepts used in these areas where explained.
In the 18th and 19th century literature, the focus for the seat is the position of the upper body. The placement of the rider's legs are said to be the result of correct posture and position of the upper body. In the 20th century literature the starting point is the placement of the rider’s legs.
Regarding the aids, the 18th and 19th century literature emphasises the rider's hand and states that this is the primary aid. The reason for this is that in all gaits the horse's head and shoulder come first. In the 20th century literature it is stressed that all aids should act together. The driving aids, here defined as the legs and the seat, are seen as more important than the hand. One reason for this is, according to the authors, that it is the nature of man to use the hands for all different kinds of purpose. Therefore the rider should focus on using the legs and seat instead
The most hands-on explanation of equestrian tact is presented in the 19th century literature. Here it is stressed that it is the rider's ability to register how the movements of the horse affect the rider's body which is the foundation for equestrian tact. The focus here is on the rider paying attention to what goes on in his or her own body,
In the 20th century textbook equestrian tact is described as “The ability to give aids at the right moment and with the correct interplay between the legs, seat and hands”. Here the focus is on the rider giving aids.
In the 19th century textbook it is said that the rider cannot receive information from the horse and give aids at the same time. I think this is the core difference between these two different thought styles. As a rider, are you foremost concerned with registration of movement (the movements in your body as a result of the movement from the horse), or on giving aids to the horse (using your own body to create impressions on the horse's body)?
My abstract is included in the conference proceedings (page 36), which you'll find it here >>
Some of the research presented was however very interesting. I will share with you the studies I found most interesting, but that will be for later. Now I will do something completely out of character for a Swede and first share with you the result of my study.
In my role as a master student in didactics, I had submitted an abstract and after review and approval from a scientific committee, I was invited to give an 10 min talk. The title of my abstract was “Learning to ride a horse – A study of concepts and thought styles in three textbooks from three centuries”.
I have read three books:
1)”School of Horsemanship” by F. R. De la Guérinière written in French 1733, translated to Swedish in 1828.
2)“Ridskolan eller ridläran” (“The riding school or the principles of riding”) by A. Ehrengranat (1836)
3)“The Principles of Riding (Complete Riding & Driving System)” by Miesner et al. Swedish translation from German in 2003.
In these books I've identified the concepts used for describing how to teach a beginner rider. I've seen these concepts as the result of the common thought style. A thought style can be explained as “directed perception”. What this mean is that we, you and I, don't see things simply by looking. We need a mental readiness to notice objects and processes. What this means in practical terms is that whatever your teacher talks about, this is what you will learn to notice. From that point of view, I've analysed the way that the teaching of the beginner rider was described in these three books.
Teaching a novice rider includes teaching the seat, the aids and equestrian tact. All these areas were included in all three books. No surprise there. What is interesting is how concepts used in these areas where explained.
In the 18th and 19th century literature, the focus for the seat is the position of the upper body. The placement of the rider's legs are said to be the result of correct posture and position of the upper body. In the 20th century literature the starting point is the placement of the rider’s legs.
Regarding the aids, the 18th and 19th century literature emphasises the rider's hand and states that this is the primary aid. The reason for this is that in all gaits the horse's head and shoulder come first. In the 20th century literature it is stressed that all aids should act together. The driving aids, here defined as the legs and the seat, are seen as more important than the hand. One reason for this is, according to the authors, that it is the nature of man to use the hands for all different kinds of purpose. Therefore the rider should focus on using the legs and seat instead
The most hands-on explanation of equestrian tact is presented in the 19th century literature. Here it is stressed that it is the rider's ability to register how the movements of the horse affect the rider's body which is the foundation for equestrian tact. The focus here is on the rider paying attention to what goes on in his or her own body,
In the 20th century textbook equestrian tact is described as “The ability to give aids at the right moment and with the correct interplay between the legs, seat and hands”. Here the focus is on the rider giving aids.
In the 19th century textbook it is said that the rider cannot receive information from the horse and give aids at the same time. I think this is the core difference between these two different thought styles. As a rider, are you foremost concerned with registration of movement (the movements in your body as a result of the movement from the horse), or on giving aids to the horse (using your own body to create impressions on the horse's body)?
My abstract is included in the conference proceedings (page 36), which you'll find it here >>
Wednesday 4 August 2010
A system is alright as long as it is all right...
Sitting in the car on our way home my travel companion and I tried to sum up all we'd experienced during the ISES conference.
The theme for this years conference was safety and horse welfare. It was quite obvious that hyperflexion (including LDR), cranked nosebands, swishing tail and other signs of detrimental riding upset the majority of attendees.
On Sunday we were all exposed to the official system of horse and rider training in Sweden and being swede in the audience that day made me wanna seek asylum in what ever country that had accepted my application. There were sounds of astonished disbelief on more than one occasion.
My intent is not to accuse the teacher/trainer, rider or horse - they were all well educated according to our present system. It is the system that fails.
In our system we seem to have inherited procedures that we upon a straight question really don't know why we do as we do.
Why do lungeing of the young horse require two persons, one holding the horse one the whip. The answer started with - I think it's because we have a tradition if showing our horses with the help of a separate whip carrier. Her answer remindes me of the story of a woman copping off both ends of the christmas steak and at one time her mother saw what she did and asked her why she did it. -Well, you used to do it, the daughter answered. -But that was because my pot often was too small.
One question was regarding the saddle used on the present horse, it was noticeably bad fitting. The answer stated "It's a tradition to use bad saddles". I do think that she ment that we usually use old, cheap saddles not bad in the sence ill fitting - but at that time the audience was prone to take her answer literally.
The education process of the rider showed discrepancies between the wordings and the action on several occasions, and what was said was more in line with good riding than the actual riding.
On a straight question of why the horse seemed to resist the work by opening its mouth and swish its tail it was explained to us that this was how this horse behaved when he was ridden.
Only the day before Andrew McLean urged us not to put any blame on the horse as an individual if it showed signs of conflict behaviour, the behaviour was a result of the training and not its personality...
So, what do I feel is necessary for thing to improve?
Well, first of all I wish them a good horsemanship trainer to teach them how to walk their feet forwards when lunging, so that they stop dragging the horse towards them as they want him to trail outwards. I want them to stop the use of a separate whip carrier. The pair we saw were not syncronised at all, as the whip carrier tried to engage the horse the one in front janked on the horses head.
In riding it is essential to introduce them to the concept of neck extension and to stop the use of draw-reins. Then I'd go for some lessons in non-doing because lightness is not something you get by doing, it is given to you by allowing.
The theme for this years conference was safety and horse welfare. It was quite obvious that hyperflexion (including LDR), cranked nosebands, swishing tail and other signs of detrimental riding upset the majority of attendees.
On Sunday we were all exposed to the official system of horse and rider training in Sweden and being swede in the audience that day made me wanna seek asylum in what ever country that had accepted my application. There were sounds of astonished disbelief on more than one occasion.
My intent is not to accuse the teacher/trainer, rider or horse - they were all well educated according to our present system. It is the system that fails.
In our system we seem to have inherited procedures that we upon a straight question really don't know why we do as we do.
Why do lungeing of the young horse require two persons, one holding the horse one the whip. The answer started with - I think it's because we have a tradition if showing our horses with the help of a separate whip carrier. Her answer remindes me of the story of a woman copping off both ends of the christmas steak and at one time her mother saw what she did and asked her why she did it. -Well, you used to do it, the daughter answered. -But that was because my pot often was too small.
One question was regarding the saddle used on the present horse, it was noticeably bad fitting. The answer stated "It's a tradition to use bad saddles". I do think that she ment that we usually use old, cheap saddles not bad in the sence ill fitting - but at that time the audience was prone to take her answer literally.
The education process of the rider showed discrepancies between the wordings and the action on several occasions, and what was said was more in line with good riding than the actual riding.
On a straight question of why the horse seemed to resist the work by opening its mouth and swish its tail it was explained to us that this was how this horse behaved when he was ridden.
Only the day before Andrew McLean urged us not to put any blame on the horse as an individual if it showed signs of conflict behaviour, the behaviour was a result of the training and not its personality...
So, what do I feel is necessary for thing to improve?
Well, first of all I wish them a good horsemanship trainer to teach them how to walk their feet forwards when lunging, so that they stop dragging the horse towards them as they want him to trail outwards. I want them to stop the use of a separate whip carrier. The pair we saw were not syncronised at all, as the whip carrier tried to engage the horse the one in front janked on the horses head.
In riding it is essential to introduce them to the concept of neck extension and to stop the use of draw-reins. Then I'd go for some lessons in non-doing because lightness is not something you get by doing, it is given to you by allowing.
Monday 2 August 2010
Those who waits for something good
usually waits too long;-) and this goes for this weeks post because
for the first time in my life I've attended an equestrian science conference arranged by ISES.
At the moment I'm having a cup of thea 1100 km from home and I do need the driving hours and all Tuesday both to rest and to digest the input from three days of lectures, dinner talks and practical presentations.
So om Wednesday I will begin to unwind my twirling thoughts.
for the first time in my life I've attended an equestrian science conference arranged by ISES.
At the moment I'm having a cup of thea 1100 km from home and I do need the driving hours and all Tuesday both to rest and to digest the input from three days of lectures, dinner talks and practical presentations.
So om Wednesday I will begin to unwind my twirling thoughts.
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