Training Horses With Horse Treats

A word from a positive reinforcement trainer & horse collector

Hello to you! My name is Vin, known to most as Waggy. I'm a horse trainer, horsemanship coach, and bowling enthusiast. Actually, that's not true. I am not a bowling enthusiast. I just wanted to say that to seem cool. I spend most of my days as a diligent butler to my seven horses and two slightly creepy goats, and while it's absolutely consuming my life (I have recently been made aware of the fact that with seven horses I have one for every day of the week) I would very much rather dedicate most of my time to a fairly sizeable herd of sentient lawnmowers with special features than, say, be very rich and able to buy a custom-made bathtub with inbuilt bluetooth speakers because I never had to pay any vet bills. I am typing this through clenched teeth and with tears in my eyes. I so badly want my own tub. Anyhow, I digress.

I have been given this excellent opportunity to share some of my personal and general hows and whys of using treats for horse training on here. I am pleased! C'mon, let's jump right in.

What is positive reinforcement?

I train mostly with positive reinforcement (+R) in the form of clicker training, meaning that I reward desired behaviours with something that the horse likes in order to encourage the behaviour to occur more often. I use a clicker as a bridge signal, essentially to mark a specific movement or behaviour the moment it occurs which is then followed by the reward. Some people use scratches as a reward, some use an ear massage or whatnot, but the key to positive reinforcement is that the horse really does have to like it. Just because Princess doesn't make a run for it when you're vigorously rubbing her forehead doesn't necessarily mean she enjoys it. The horse gets to decide what's rewarding.

However, as a general rule of thumb (or rule of hoof perhaps) every single horse that has ever lived and will live likes food. (Unless they make horses in the future that run on solar power. I hope I'll die before then.)

While there are many taste preferences among the equine kind (one of mine will politely decline apples whilst another, a big orange tank of a horse named Suzie, gleefully inhales one brown banana peel after another like a vacuum cleaner gone rogue), some sort of food is always appreciated and thus makes for an easy, effective, and simple reward for positive reinforcement training that will work for each individual.

How I use treats in horse training

Even among positive reinforcement trainers, the way we utilise food rewards can be quite varied. One extremely important factor however stays the same, and it's something that begins with A and ends with Utonomy. The horse must have autonomy- the ability to say 'no' without any negative consequences. Only then is positive reinforcement really positive reinforcement, and only then is liberty ever liberty. And by using treats in training, it is easy to give the horse this autonomy while still being able to communicate what we would like from him, especially when used with a marker sound such as a clicker or other consistent sound.

For me, the treats are only one of the instruments in the orchestra that is modern equine movement / motivation science. While it's fairly easy to bribe some horses with food or to shape behaviours / movements with treats because the horse is actively seeking the tasty reward, I don't want my horses to do everything just for the treats. And I am very aware that this is also one of the main driving forces behind the doubts and rightful worries of skeptics.

A horse that is doing thing just for the treats is extrinsically motivated (the motivator is external) and you run the risk of movements and behaviours turning mechanical and robot-like instead of the authentic, agile, and robust movement that horses were born to do. Might as well buy a bike. Horses come into this world with more agility in the tips of their tails than I have in my entire body. And I'm a cross-country running champion. Well, was. Back in primary school, anyway. Also now that I think about it I actually came third place. So not quite.

My point is; horses are born to move. As they get older, many horses get injured in one way or another, develop compensations, stiffness, and crookedness, and end up with an array of mental parking brakes as a result. Horses struggle because they're made to perform movements that their brain does not want them to do. And you can't bribe your way out of this with treats alone. But the treats can certainly help. Here's how:

Intrinsic Motivation

With my horses and the horses I work with, I strive to create opportunities for intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is doing something because it feels good (the motivator is internal). I want my horses to move because they like moving and not just because they like treats. But without the treats, setting up those opportunities becomes needlessly difficult. With my clicker and a pocketful of treats (or fannypack on the days I lack dignity) I can create and direct movement activities from which the movement or behaviour we want is a side effect.

For example, one of my favourite exercises for stability and increased range of motion is something called Pantherwalk, which sounds a bit like a dance move from the 70s but is actually an exaggerated, striking walk that has agile, panther-like qualities that increase range of motion, stability, and confidence. So not like 70s dance moves at all. It was originally created by the founders of the Intrinzen horse training philosophy, Kathy Sierra and Steinar Sigurbjornsson (www.intrinzen.horse for more info) as one of the many activities and building blocks to rekindle the horse's love for movement and make intrinsic motivation possible.

In this activity, I reward the horse for striking a pool noodle with his front legs, which eventually turns into a more fluid walk. To the horse, the activity is ''strike the noodle'', and the side effect is Pantherwalk (and its benefits). As the horse gets more competent at this exercise he will begin to enjoy the movement itself, as he is exploring his range of motion and discovering how agile he really is. He eventually won't need the pool noodle anymore and will offer the Pantherwalk on his own accord to show off, explore his movement capability, and to feel good.

The treats were used to direct the activity and communicate what we want him to do, but not how to do it, which is a small but crucial difference.

Why intrinsic motivation?

Apart from helping a horse in rehab regain movement function and unlock mental parking brakes, intrinsic motivation has a superb amount of benefits for any and every horse. Steven Kotler, an American writer, entrepreneur, and Co-founder of the Flow Genome Project describes intrinsic motivation as “A giant cascade of neurochemistry. You get norepinephrine, dopamine, anandamide, serotonin, and endorphins. All five of these are performance enhancing neurochemicals.”

In a nutshell, intrinsic motivation is Mother Nature's very own pharmacy, and you don't even need a prescription! It boosts confidence, performance, learning capability and speed, and is a painkiller, anti-depressant, and muscle builder all in one. That's some kinda drug, I say. I'll have what my horse is having.

But what does intrinsic motivation have to do with treats?

You see, the thing is that intrinsic motivation cannot be forced or coerced. Ever. A horse in fight or flight mode, survival mode, or state of learned helplessness does not have access to good ol' Nature's drugstore.These movements have to come voluntarily, and as I have mentioned before, using positive reinforcement makes it easier for me to give my horses autonomy and get that honest “Yes”. Another question from skeptics will usually come up here now and it's this one

“How can you tell if it's an honest Yes and not just a Yes because the horse wants treats?” Excellent question!

Here you go:

1. I make sure that I know that my horses knows that he can say no.
2. I use low value treats such as hay cubes or bland feed pellets.
3. I make sure that there is an alternative food source available (a hay pile or grass) and/or feed the horse before a training session so that he is not in a hungry frenzy like a dog hearing you open a bag of grated cheese.

With these rules and principles set in place, I can rather confidently expect honest answers from the horse, whether that's a “yes”, or a “no”, or ''you've got to be joking you putrid little man, as I cannot imagine the audacity of such a request being made in earnest”.

Additionally, even when my horse does tune in just for the treats every now and then, I still very much prefer this over him doing something just to avoid pain or discomfort.

What kind of horse treats?

As I have mentioned just then, the best sort of food reward to use is the lowest value treat the horse will eat. That's usually hay cubes, or in my case plain feed pellets that don't taste all that pleasant (but that may just be because I am a human and Dunstan Xtra Cool™ is not marketed towards me).

However, in instances where the horse does an exceptionally superb job on something and I want to let him know without yodelling a song in his praise which he won't appreciate anyway, I sometimes give so-called “jackpot treats”. These can be a piece of carrot, apple, fancy delicious treats such as the ones you can buy here, or a handful of the usual treats instead of just one or two.

In Conclusion

For me, treats (coupled with autonomy) are a brilliant gateway to honest and clear communication between me and my horses.

They're a way to say ''well done'', an edible high-five because the idea of physically high-fiving a horse is terrible, and the small but essential tip of the iceberg that is intrinsic motivation and a joyful, agile horse (and human).

Additionally, pockets filled with disintegrating horse feed and soggy treat crumbs make for a fantastic fashion statement. Much better than a bathtub with bluetooth speakers. So much better. Am I right folks!

Follow Waggy and the horses on Instagram @herdfellow