What is Punishment?

Punishment is a very tough and confusing topic, especially when it comes to prey animals like the horse that are so easily frightened, so let me see if I can get it clarified a bit for you.
In behaviorism (BF Skinner is the founding father of the behaviorist school in Psychology), punishment is anything that reduces a behavior by the application of an adverse stimulus after the event.

So, if I’m a test subject and press a lever and get a shock instead of a M&M, I will stop pressing that lever. This is an example of a so-called positive (just to get everyone thoroughly confused) punishment because the aversive stimulus (i.e. the shock) is added (hence positive in the sense of addition). If, on the other hand, I have a pile of M&Ms and every time I press the lever, a M&M is removed, that is a negative punishment because something is subtracted, taken away. Both of these punishments are different from aversive stimuli, such as the dinging in your car when you forget to put on your seat belt. It’s annoying so you backle up your seat belt to get it to stop. Aversive stimuli are often mistaken for punishment.

So, for example a horse gets struck after balking at a jump, that is positive punishment. Striking a horse on the way towards a jump, i.e. to get him to accelerate into the jump is not so much punishment as it is an aversive stimulus; i.e., by striking the horse, I am encouraging him to flee so he picks up speed, much like you see jockeys do during a race when they are whipping the horse back and forth with their crops to get the maximum push from their mounts and the horses are running at top speed to get away from the swats with the crop (i.e. the horses are fleeing to try to make the aversive stimulus stop; i.e. like making the seatbell warning stop).

I would be apprehensive about striking a horse as he’s getting ready to take a jump because you want to reward the horse for taking the jump,not punish him for going towards it. The way a lot of trainers and riders do it is they “spank” the horse as it heads into the jump and then reward (stroke) the horse after the jump. The theory is that the horse will be anxious to avoid the spank by launching itself into the jump and looking for the reward from his rider after the jump.

I believe it is best to get the horse to thoroughly enjoy jumping and the feeling of suceeding at jumps and the praise and affection that comes from a well-executed jump than to mix the horse up with confusing swats with a crop. Leave the crop out of it. In fact, leave it at home.

Right Brain, Left Brain and What’s In Between

Simply put, the left side of the brain is more analytic and logical, while the right side is more emotive. In fact, when we react instinctively (say, we spot a snake and jump ten feet in the air) that reaction is not governed by one side of the brain or the other but is under the control of a structure called the amygdala, located bilaterally in the temporal lobes of the brain. So some logical, reasoned reactions can stem from the cortex on either side of the brain but true instinctual reactivity comes from more primitive areas of the brain. These structures react long before we think.

Cutting the Apron Strings

Kerry Asks: Dear Dr. Hamilton,
Can you offer any suggestions for working with a wild horse that is still attached to its mother at the age of 18 months? I have one that is very sensitive to touch and is so bonded to her mother that she will dangerously hurt herself if separated. The mother will also try the same. The filly does not know anything about halters, etc.

Thanks!

This a common problem with horses that wean and stay with their moms for a long time. In the wild, this would be their natural pattern to stay with their mothers until they either are of breeding age, if they are mares, or are kicked out by the herd stallion, if they are males. The males go off and join bachelor gangs.
The trick is to take your focus off the mare. Can you bring a couple of other mares in with the dam and the filly? Just let them settle in to bond as a herd for a while. Then put them in a pasture adjoined with a gate or divide their pasture in two. Leave the gate open!! Let the filly wander back and forth at will. Just let it become very natural for her to find herself at times on the opposite side of the fence from her mom.
Then once in a while, close the gate. Start off with just a few minutes. Then open the gate. Just start casually increasing the length of time the gate is closed. Gradually work your way up until they can tolerate being separated by the closed gate for hours at a time. Keep this up. Always reunite the dam and the filly at the end of an interval of separation.
Gradually work your way up separating them until you can put the filly in a pasture where she is willing to be apart from her dam but can still see her. The trick is to always remind the filly that she can be separated from her mother but always reunited. This gradually gets extended.
The trick is to remind the filly that this about being reunited with her mother, not separated. Sounds like it might take a long time. It usually takes only a week or two and then you can keep them out of sight. Also it’s a good idea to let them spend time at night in different stalls; start with 5 minutes, then gradually separate them in different stalls at night for longer periods of time. Initially start with stalls right next to each other, then an intervening stall, etc., etc.
 You get the idea.

The Herd Bound Horse

Here is another great question from the November Webinar.

Gillian Asks:
Dear Dr. Hamilton,
I really enjoyed your excellent webinar presentation, Zen Mind, Zen Horse.  I am only sorry that it couldn’t go on for at least another hour.  I made lots of notes.  Here is my question:
I have a lovely 14-year-old Arab gelding who is my riding horse.  There are two mares and another gelding in his herd.  He is very herd-bound, and will act up when we are away from the others.  He is fine for the first half hour or so, and then begins to call and throw his head around to get back to his girls and his buddy.  He is not paying attention to what I am asking him and it frustrates me.  I realize that frustration is not helpful.  I usually just turn him in the opposite direction from home until he is calmer, at which point I head toward home again.  And then repeat as necessary.  When I get him into the yard, he will do a lovely collected trot and be good as gold.  I sure would appreciate suggestions.

Thanks so much for your wonderful advice.  I plan to buy a copy of your book for me and one for my friend.

Dear Gillian:
Here’s an interesting trick I have used once for a horse that was badly herd bound. It’s sneaky but worked like a charm! You may or may not want to try it but I will share it anyway. I turn the problem upside down, as I said in the webinar.

As I pointed out, it is hard for us to imagine just what a “collective” identity horses have as part of a herd. It is also only natural for a horse to want to “be” with his herd. That’s where he is in his comfort zone and where he feel safest. So we know it’s the herd your horse is yearning for and, in his mind, it is always back at the barn. So he’s dying to get there to get back to them.

But…what if he were wrong? What if he was mistaken and the herd is not back at the barn? You’re probably catching on to my idea. What if the herd were where he never expected it to be? On the trail!

So I had somone trailer two of my horse’s pals way up on the trail. We had pre-planned where we would suddenly–accidentally, on purpose–run into his herd pal on the trail. So he started fussing the farther away from the barn we went.

Just about where I knew he was going to throw a fit, guess what? Wow! There was his herd mate, all saddled up with a rider, just out for a walk on the very same trail we had been on! What a coincidence! My horse did a double-take! Calmed down immediately. My riding mate and I went down the trail…the two horses together. After ten minutes, we split up.

My horse and went down the trail by ourselves for a spell. Wow! Bumped into another member of the family, the herd. Walked for a while with them. Then they peeled off. We did this for a couple of weeks, planting horses along the trail when we went out (mostly weekends). After a while, he got into the habit of figuring he would bump into some he knew on the trail.

Eventually, one day we went for a trail ride and didn’t bump into anyone. Bummer! Then next time we went out, wow, stable mate again. Next trail ride? No one. Just gradually added more trail rides with no buddies, always throwing one in where we could one of his pals. Eventually, he just forgot about figuring out where his buddies might be.

This illustrates precisely what I mean about loving how horses teach us to turn the problem or question upside down: The question is not: What can I do to prevent him from returning to the barn to look for his mates? The real question is: What can I do to convince him to look for what he seeks out on the trail?
Speaking of which, Happy Trails,
Allan Hamilton, MD

The Eyes Are the Window….especially for Horses

Another reader question that came from the Webinar:

Sally Leong asks:
How does the horse use its eyes in relation to the brain’s perception?

Dear Sally,
Great question! The horse can see almost 320 degrees around it; however, it’s mostly monocular viewing (meaning a single eye) as opposed to stereoscopic (like us humans), where there is depth perception. The horse can only see simultaneously with both eyes to about 20 degrees in front. This is why you will observe your horse dip its head a little bit before it goes over an obstacle on the ground. It’s trying to use its stereoscopic vision to see the obstacle better with a full 3-D view. Hope this illustration (from Zen Mind, Zen Horse) helps:

Allan Answers Reader Questions: “Right Brain, Left Brain Differences:

Kathy Pike asks:
Using the well-known right-brain, left-brain paradigm, can you talk about the differences between a horse’s and a human’s brain?

Dear Kathy,
The human brain is highly specialized with respect to right and left halves. For more in-depth discussion, see my Chapter Eight, “Prey, Predator, and the Rules of Learning” in Zen Mind, Zen Horse, which identifies the major differences between the two hemispheres of the human brain. In a nutshell, the left side is set up for speech and logical thinking while the right is nonverbal and devoted to more artistic and creative impulses. Incidentally, horses tend to appeal to or call upon our right-brain capacity to create an emotional connection with them.

With respect to the equine brain, the right and left cerebral hemispheres are not specialized. Both are non-verbal, and there is very little generalization or sharing of information from one side to the other. This makes it fairly easy to see the how horses actually function differently from humans. For example, having a horse is a bit like—as Clinton Anderson points out—having two horses: “Rightie” and “Leftie.” The left side of the horse’s brain can learn to approach a jump, and the horse completes it perfectly. But, now, when you approach the jump from the right side, the horse balks. What’s happening? Well, simply put, the horse’s right side has never “seen” the jump. This is why it’s so-o-o important to train your horse evenly—both sides of the horse’s brain have to get fluent. In the same way, even though we traditionally mount our horses from the left side, it’s wise to train your horse to be just as accepting about having a rider mount from the right side.

Best,
Allan Hamilton, MD

Honesty Is Awareness

Recent research indicates that human beings lie, on average, anywhere from two to twenty times a day! We are hardly even aware that we are even lying. Here’s a teaching exercise an expert on lying recently asked members of the audience to do. “Pull out your cell phones,” he said. “Look up all the calls you made, all the text messages you sent, and all of your emails you fired off over the last twenty-four hours. Run down the list carefully and honestly.  How many times did you lie?”

I was blown away by the number of times I had slipped up and found myself lying because I thought it was easier than telling the truth. One call I said to a friend: “I’m on my way to meet you.” I hadn’t even started the car. Another to an editor was: “I’m just going over the final draft.” Truth was: I hadn’t even started writing the first one. Why did I do that? The question is: how do we make ourselves exhibit more integrity in what we do and say?

This is where having a horse as a close friend comes in very handy. You can tell them all the lies you want. Not one of them works. The only thing your horse is interested in—the only thing that he will respond to—is what you are truly feeling. You may say that you’re there to have a patient and productive training session in the round pen but if you are checking your watch to see when it’s time to get to your next appointment, your horse will know it. You horse will sense that you are not really there for him. You have some agenda that’s clouding your heart. And your horse knows when he can’t see clearly into your heart! For your horse, actions not only speak louder than words, they are the only language your horse hears.

Candidly, it’s a refreshing break for me to be able to spend some time with a creature that would rather accept me for who I am than who I feel I should be. It’s a blessed moment too when I feel that utter relief when I longer need to expend precious energy pretending. My horse helps me to understand how much time and effort I put into sustaining lies that never help me and often hurt me. And, finally, my horse teaches me that if I want to progress in this life, I’d best face up to the truth that the real obstacles holding me back are the ones I put there and most dangerous lies—the ones that hurt me the most–are the ones I tell myself. Not bad therapy for a twenty-minute session in the round pen.