I headed off to Birmingham to the BSAVA congress in April, to attend the Companion Animal Behaviour Therapy Study Group (CABTSG) day.  CABTSG usually try to cover a variety of species, however when I saw the initial list of speakers for the 2009 conference I was disappointed to see a distinct lack of equine topics!  Cats, dogs, rabbits, lizards and all sorts of other creatures are considered to be companion animals, however it is usually cats and dogs that get all the airtime. 

Technically horses are considered companion animals within the UK too, although they do seem to sit on the periphery of the group.  Perhaps this is partially because in wider Europe they are classified as a food-producing animal (as they are killed for meat in some countries - which will remain nameless!) ...

Although I would have preferred to just moan about the lack of equine content, I decided to be brave and put my hand up to do a short 10 min talk on the current state of equine behaviour modification training, as carried out by riders and mainstream instructors.

On the day there was an audience of around 70 people, mostly veterinarians and professional animal behaviourists.  Fairly daunting!  This is not my usual scene, however my husband is a behaviourist so he recognised a few faces which made integrating a little easier.

As I was researching my topic, I was reminded of how little horse training techniques and equipment have changed over the millenia.  I found photographs of spurs and bits that I had taken while at the Louvre, and other museums, and managed to match them up with their very similar modern-day counterparts. 

I can't help but feel that a change is in the wind though, that advances in our understanding of horses and other animals may allow us to achieve greater results than we previously thought possible.  The equipment and techniques employed in dog training has changed markedly over the past 20 years, and for the better I think.

Hopefully the same is in store for us?

It was with mild disappointment that I realised part way through the two hours of training we watched, that the techniques these riders were using didn't seem amazingly enlightened. The riders wore upturned spurs, and used them as they saw appropriate. Some riders looked as though they were being quite rough with their hands, particularly the younger riders. There were horses napping, bucking, and one was constantly grinding it's teeth. Grinding teeth is thought to be a symptom of a horse being in chronic discomfort (see Dr. Paul McGreevy's book 'Why Does My Horse ...').

One thing that I did find encouraging however, was the use of food rewards. Near the end of the training session, the rider would ask the horse to perform a specific movement, and if the exercise went well the rider finished the session, dismounted, and gave the horse a lump of sugar.

The use of rewards was encouraged by the previous Director of the SRS in Vienna, Colonel Alois Podhajsky in his book 'The Complete Training of Horse and Rider'. In this, he confesses that in most books on riding, punishments are discussed in much more detail than rewards.

He finishes the training section with '... From the manner in which rewards and punishments are administered, interesting conclusions can be drawn as to the character and mind of the rider.'

Discussion: How many of you use rewards (food treats, scratches etc) as an integral part of your training?

Second question: Would you consider it appropriate for the removal of leg or rein pressure to be termed a 'reward' in the context of horse training?

The SRS would be in a great position to lead the way in incorporating reward-based training to mainstream dressage training, as the current system they have is so well thought out, and well structured, with relatively slow training progression and clearly set out incremental training steps. The SRS riders are extremely skilled in their application of aversion-based training techniques, and I have no doubts that they could very easily switch to predominantly reward based training.