Building a horse’s superpower
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- Опубліковано 10 кві 2022
- Stress is not always our enemy.
Relaxation is not always our friend.
Context matters.
The difference between Challenge and Threat is EVERYTHING.
Which means autonomy is a requirement.
If my horse is in a context where he is NOT allowed to "refuse" a request, then my goal is the lowest possible stress.
But in movement training, my horses are ALWAYS in an autonomy context. They always have the right to say "no" to any exercise, without any consequences.
My rules are simple.
We must say YES to these three questions, before adding stress as a challenge:
Is the horse allowed to say NO without ANY negative consequences?
Is the horse free from food anxiety?
Is the horse 100% certain of his autonomy?
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If any of those answers are "no", then we’re not ready to add challenge.
In most ways, my entire goal is to get to this point as quickly as possible, which means Step One is always helping the horse recognize he has an autonomy context.
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I'm increadibly thankful that your channel was recommended to me. Very interesting stuff here and I plan to watch everything you've posted up to this point and beyond. I'm an avid reader and love the book recommendations as well!
Im so glad I've found your channel. Thank you for your work. You are saying so many things I had no words for as someone who worked with green and unstarted horses. I just knew I wanted enthused empowered equines that had oportunities to express themselves and make choices. I cannot wait to go further and read the books you've reccomended 🤯 and I'll be checking out more of Pantherflow 💜
So happy to hear this!! Most of my work is on Instagram right now, where I put up stories almost daily, and posts weekly. I’m planning to restart my UA-cam videos in a few weeks, for longer / education videos, but Instagram is where I am active.
So interesting and insightful. Something I think people might not realise but have been proven in studies with clicker trained dogs, is that the click also becomes a reward. The click causes a release of dopamine so even before a treat is offered the animal already has a pleasant experience 😊
Absolutely! Dopamine is involved in both movement and motivation above and beyond just the R+ aspect, and I absolutely love it when the horses start to love “the game” itself, for solving puzzles and problems, rather than simply trying to figure out what the human wants them to do.
This is what I want with my horses! Have just subscribed to your channel. I want my horses to be with me because they want to not always because they have to. I found you through Emotional Horsemanship. Thank you
Lockie is amazing ❤. Thank-you for being here! I’ve taken a long break, but I’m restarting my horse videos here very soon 😁
i have been training my cat, and often he will become frustrated trying to figure out what i want from him in order to get his treat. he is completely free to walk away and not under pressure of punishment, but his excitement, “stress,” causes him to focus and move towards the challenge of figuring out what behavior i want in order to get his treat. these training sessions are often more fruitful because he’s determined to solve the problem and release the stress!
he often walks up to me in the kitchen to begin training sessions, and is very focused on me and my cues. i can see the gears turning in his head because he needs something to do and a problem to solve.
Wonderful video. Thank you for the book recommendation too! It’s so wonderful to know as a R+ practitioner that I can provide that feedback for them expressing themselves 💕💕
Probably my favorite of all your videos so far 💕 Great explanation!
Just found your channel. The high five is the best example/explanation for the treat in clicker training ever! Awesome Video!
Thank you for this video and explanation of stress. I struggle with my Pazo chewing on his tongue the moment he thinks he has "done enough". I don't want to reward that, but I think I see that if I ignore that and keep going, he will eventually not be so aggravated and will have some "skin in the game enough to be self motivated and no longer "stressed". It is well worth a try!!! Thank you!
It is a little tricky to find the boundaries, and I am VERY biased toward “they will be ok”, so my advice is not necessarily GOOD advice 💁♀️. What I personally do when they “think they have done enough” is not to stop (and definitely not reward) but honor how they feel by just going with whatever they do, but keep going like it’s all good 👍🏻. For example, horse does some big movement then drops back to just normal walking, then I don’t try to get them back, I just say, “cool let’s walk and take a break” and then I wait until they make ANY attempt at once again putting more physical effort in (which will often be a more “fierce face”). Then I reward that SECOND moment. This has a powerful effect on most horses, as they realize they can drop back from high effort without any pressure, then pick it up again. And usually they start finding the activity itself more of an interesting challenge instead of the “I’m just doing this for the treat give me the treat now!” As the physical (voluntary) challenge/effort goes up, the frustration of WHY AM I NOT GETTING THE REWARD goes down.
A huge key for me personally was when a horse is feeling that way, I let THEM cue ME. They know it’s about the bigger effort, and they might need time to get ready. I just walk normally with them (or normal trot) however long it takes until THEY offer the bigger movements (often with attitude). Then I immediately cue it - even though it was their cue first. And when they drop back down, I immediately do (but don’t reward) and I act like it’s all great … it’s all part of it.
@@KathySierraVideo Thank you! Definately like the idea of ok, we will just walk. Cant wait to try and see if he gets interested. I never would have thought of that. Makes sense
@@KathySierraVideo Great idea and explanation, I'll try that, too (I think it's a bit hot for her right now, as she's still shedding and thus doesn't want to move as much).
Horses play and exert a lot of energy without being “stressed” to do it. Using rewards is also very powerful on humans. I think people are educated to get addicted to rewards, they are like clicker trained.
I respectfully disagree on the “stressed” part, but that depends on the definition of “stress.” The science on “stress” is complex and fascinating and evolving. Most non-human mammal play (by Panksepp’s definition, and he has the most research/expertise credits on animal emotions) is “rough-and-tumble” highly physical and therefore quite “stressful.” The body is not capable of *effortful* physical play without significant sympathetic nervous system arousal.
Stress itself is both neutral (not inherently bad or good) AND absolutely necessary for well-being. Spikes of adrenaline, not-adrenalin, cortisol, etc. are the same neuroendocrine cocktails required for joyful exuberance OR any exercise challenging enough to be useful.
That said, what determines whether a given stress is useful or potentially damaging is based almost entirely on the individual’s perception.
The phrases that appear throughout the modern science literature on pain and stress are:
Self-efficacy
Challenge without threat.
Once again, I’m walking a very risky line that I don’t think most people should even consider. And certainly not unless they have a compelling reason to.
But I urge anyone who still perceived “stress” as a bad thing to watch Dr. Kelly McGonigals TED talk on stress. It’s about what happens when one who is a leading expert in stress management finds a massive shift in the research…
@@KathySierraVideo The word “stress” is not clear/fuzzy. What I meant is, play comes without any outside stressors, but of course it strains the body, there is an effort, “healthy stress”. I am aware that stress is healthy, unless it is chronic stress.
Actually the brain does improve the body also without physical stress. Studies show people just resting, but imagining movement also get stronger.
In any case, your videos helped me to get some bits of information fall into place. Thank you. I will keep an eye out for more science videos from you. ☺
What does the hair flip mean to you/your horse? I perceived it as something positive?
To me it *is* (if it’s in a voluntary activity) an expression of “attitude”, which is often some frustration and I’m often VERY happy to see it 😁💁♀️
Long ago I had a standardbred that we raced. He was an older campainer and when I would bring him into the paddock before the races I used to say to him, "Can you beat him Happy?" and he would answer the question, if he was feeling especially good, with the beloved hair flip!!!! (And most of those nights, he was a winner!)
@@KathySierraVideo Yup -- I think so, too. My Hastigur does this and he's definitely expressing his 'tude!!!