Whispering Horse - Clicker Training Equines

14/08/2026

14/08/2026

The click (bridging stimulus) can be a precision tool in your R+ training.

Check out Mercedes, she knows what it means! ❤

13/08/2026

I continue to see inaccurate opinions from horse people, where they claim horses are able to plot, plan and strategise against us.

I saw a paper published at the ISES Conference currently running about language horse people use that describes horses as being “naughty” or “stubborn” and how that can influence the responses people choose, including increasing the likelihood of suggesting sedation or punishment.

People like to share an incorrect interpretation of a study about how horses learn and behave.

I thought I’d re-share my old post, where I addressed these articles.

**I’ve put a red line through the heading, as it’s inaccurate click bait. I took a photo of the article so people would know what I was talking about without having to share the link. Please don’t just read the heading and believe what you read 😉

- - - - -

There’s a couple of articles currently circulating about equine cognition, whether they can "plan ahead and think strategically", based on a recent study about model based learning in horses. I’ve taken a photo as I don’t want to share the link and perpetuate misinformation.

The click bait articles, (not the study), are rather alarming in their interpretations of the research and people are then extrapolating this misinformation further.

Here’s a couple of examples of magical mind reading and I believe also misrepresenting the study and suggesting that they knew what the horses were thinking and scheming:

“That was enough for the horses to go: ‘OK, let’s just play by the rules.’”

“It suggests that, rather than failing to grasp the tenets of the game, the horses had understood the rules the whole time but, astutely, had not seen any need to pay much attention to them in the second stage.”

- - - - - - -

Yikes! That’s a bit of mind reading there! Horses don’t think or plan like this, they didn’t know the “rules” and they weren’t deliberately behaving that way, they did not have enough information to know what to do, that’s all.

- - - - - -

Let me just pop this nice little quote here about Skinner and how good (errorless) training happens:

“In [Skinner’s] system, errors are not necessary for learning to occur. Errors are not a function of learning or vice-versa nor are they blamed on the learner. Errors are a function of poor analysis of behavior, a poorly designed shaping program, moving too fast from step to step in the program, and the lack of the prerequisite behavior necessary for success in the program” (Rosales-Ruiz, 2007).

- - - - - -

What actually happened in the study was that a group of horses firstly were trained to touch their nose to a target, a laminated card and were positively reinforced for that behaviour. They underwent two 1 hour training sessions and were positively reinforced for any kind of touch to the laminated card. That’s a substantial amount of target training and weirdly this was done before conditioning the bridging stimulus. They could have both conditioned the bridging stimulus AND trained the nose target at the same time and it may have made the bridging stimulus more salient by doing it this way.

Then they separately conditioned the meaning of a secondary reinforcer, the bridging stimulus, by pairing the sound of a whistle with food. They undertook two 15 minute sessions involving 3 minute continuous sessions interspersed with 2 minute breaks. Not a lot to condition a bridging stimulus!

The researchers then introduced a stop signal where the horse’s behaviour was marked with the whistle and positively reinforced with food when their nose touched the target only when the stop light was NOT on. Any nose targets during the stop contingency (when the stop light was on) were deemed errors.

What they found was that the horses didn’t discriminate between when they could nose target and when they weren’t supposed to.

This is not surprising as presentation of the laminated target is generally considered the Discriminative Stimulus ie. the cue, and there was already a lot of R+ history built on this behaviour and potentially a lot less on the conditioning of the bridging stimulus.

Generally when we are teaching things like nose targets, in the teaching phase, it’s always a good idea to present the target as the cue to touch it and remove it after the behaviour has been performed. This starts to build some discrimination into the behaviour and if we want a target present at all times, which they did in the study, then we have other strategies to teach stimulus control (put the behaviour on cue). Not only using the bridge as they did in the study, but for example combining the new behaviour with another known behaviour. The aim is that the horse cannot touch the target uncued, if they are performing another behaviour that is incompatible with nose targeting. We can interject the cue for the known behaviour to prevent the other behaviour being offered off cue. We can also use our bridging stimulus in the same way. This is an example of “errorless learning” where we do not need to resort to punishment to train the horse and prevent errors.

The researchers went away and designed an additional step where they introduced negative punishment in the way of a 10 second timeout where the person with the target and the food removed themselves.

I feel this study illustrates a number of processes of operant conditioning that we already know exist. Yes, reinforcement increases behaviour, punishment reduces behaviour and consequences influence future behaviour.

The study focused on model based learning and yes horses are problem solvers, they can learn this way, they can learn and behave in extremely nuanced and subtle ways, they're not just throwing out behaviour randomly in all directions like a water sprinkler.

I’d also question the role of extinction in the process of introducing the stop light and how that influenced behaviour and especially the number of errors. I’d also question the brief training time for “charging” the whistle and why the behaviour was taught before the bridge was conditioned and done separately.

Whilst I understand that this research needs to be done for people to even consider how equines learn, from my perspective as an equine R+ trainer, I would consider this one of the most basic training sessions. BUT they did not set the learner up for success, which is always my aim. R+ training has become very nuanced in how we can avoid errors and I love the errorless mindset.

Finally, to quote B.F. Skinner, the father of Operant Conditioning, “the implication that learning occurs only when errors are made is false”.

Link to the original study in the comments.

13/08/2026

Touching, pushing or pressing is not automatically "pressure" that they need release from.

Smacking is not necessarily unpleasant, do they move away or towards the stimulus. What about other body language and behaviour?!

I think he wants to be smacked more, look at that dreamy expression! 😃

12/08/2026

Do you remember when you wore a bra for the first time?

Have you ever had to wear braces?

Did you have to wear a mouthguard for sports or when you sleep?

Do you remember the first time you wore a life jacket?

Remember how uncomfortable a helmet, riding vest or body protector was?

Do you wear ear plugs when swimming?

Having to wear those things was super weird, uncomfortable, itchy and sometimes painful.

But you agreed to it because you understood the pros and cons and agreed that it was for your best interests.

Imagine wearing those things for just an hour or two out of your day or week because someone else decided?

Imagine having no control or say over when you had to wear those things or when you could take them off?

Imagine they were strapped in and even if you wanted to have a break or adjust them, you couldn’t, it wasn’t within your control.

Imagine every time you had to wear it, you had to go through that whole process of discomfort and trying hard to ignore it and finally you start to notice it a bit less, start to habituate to it and how uncomfortable it is.

Habituation is when a response to a stimulus reduces over time, as the brain starts to filter out stimuli that we are continuously exposed to. But depending on the amount of time of each exposure and if the space of time between each exposure is long enough, recurrence of the full response to the stimulus can occur each time.

That means that next time you wear them, you have to overcome that discomfort all over again.

Then imagine a horse, having to do that every time with a bit.

Notice how they mouth the bit, roll it around in their mouth, fiddle with their tongue, chew and chomp on it, try to make it comfortable when it's not. Notice how many horses do that with their bits. Notice how many people have flashes and nosebands to quieten the sounds of discomfort.

Worse of all, it’s not for their benefit.

If you can remember having to wear any of those things, you might have an idea what it’s like for a horse to have a bit in their mouth.

11/08/2026

Sometimes behaviour can seem inexplicable or even magical. But understanding things like the power of reinforcement history and how that influences behaviour, can give us answers.

I love this example with my horses and donkeys and I took some photos of entering and leaving their Paddock Paradise/ track system with my vehicle and trailer.

It makes life so much easier when I can enter and leave without worrying about anyone escaping!

I have set up a situation (context) where there is no positive reinforcement history for them escaping, by careful prevention.

I have developed a very strong positive emotional association with me entering and also a strong positive emotional association with the vehicle and trailer (lots of food or enrichment arrives or lots of good smells from other equines).

I've also put lots of positive reinforcement history in stationing in a particular spot in formal training sessions. I haven't had to scare them or chase them away from the gate or cause any kind of worry about going near it ever.

This means I can open the gate, leave it open, drive through and leave plenty of clearance to get my trailer through as well, then get off my vehicle and go and close the gate. Everyone stays nicely and politely where they’re supposed to be and don’t rush the gate or try to escape.

Escaping through the gate is extremely low on their list of things they've been positively reinforced for, if ever, therefore they don't do it. Not because they wouldn't like doing it, I'm sure they would have LOADS of fun out there with all the grass, plants and roses to nibble! But they don’t, because there is no positive reinforcement history behind this behaviour. This is something I have been careful to cultivate with my horses and donkeys.

To explain the pictures, top left is Seymour coming to say hello after I've come through the gate and am about to get off and shut the wide open gate. You can see Dorothy happily eating her low sugar hay in the background.

Top right is when I am leaving, with Seymour watching me leave, with the gate wide open again. He is standing nicely and not trying to escape, even though I've paused to take a photo and tell him what a gorgeous clever donkey he is.

Bottom left is me entering again and Dorothy leaving her hay net, not to escape, but to come say hello with the gate wide open and bottom right is her sniffing the remnants of the horse poo.

Lots of enriching positive reinforcement for her there! Basically the gate is wide open many times and they ignore it!

This is basically the same scenario with my horses.

Clicker trained equines are so much easier and safer to be around. No chasing them away from gates or waving whips or flags at feed times! Just well trained equines standing where they are supposed to be. ❤

11/08/2026

Cooperative care for elephants, taking x-rays, all done with Positive Reinforcement training (food!) - it works for all species and improves welfare outcomes!

Check out the X-ray too, notice the multiple toes!

11/08/2026

I have a really excellent explanation of what an LRS (Least Reinforcing Scenario/Stimulus) is and when it can happen in training and/or how to use it effectively without causing extinction or punishment through withholding.

I really enjoyed the video, it was very comprehensive!

I found that I was using one without realising, until I read about it one day. It's something you might do if for example you give a cue and the horse doesn't respond at all, or does a different behaviour than the one being cued or appears that they have not noticed or heard the cue or if there is some confusion and you are not sure the cue has been fully associated with the behaviour.

Most of my exposure of the LRS is from Ken Ramirez, I really like his approach in keeping the animal feeling successful and keeping that behavioural momentum happening.

I think Ken described it as a "micro pause" and I remember being pulled up on that description by Susan Friedman. I think precision is important, for example 2-3 second pause is a good idea, BUT at the same time I feel that it depends on the species. Some animals are fast and some are slow and some are somewhere in the middle. So I think the duration of the LRS would depend on the animal you are training. A dog would find 2-3 seconds too long, but my donkeys would find it perfectly acceptable.

Enjoy and please ask questions if you are unsure 🙂

Video in the comments from Jose at Train Me Please.

10/08/2026

An interesting study that illustrates individual choice for horses during turnout is important.

The study found that during brief paddock turnout on a hot summer’s day, horses don’t necessarily seek shady areas. Some enjoyed the shade, others the sun or enjoyed a mist ing station.

This study highlights that horses should have choices because there was no overall preference, each individual horse had different preferences from the rest of the group.

The horses stayed in the sun as much as in the shade, but individually they showed clear inclinations for one or the other. Only a few of the horses enjoyed the misting station, but they used it quite frequently.

Interestingly, none of the horses had increased body temperature during their brief turnout, regardless of their preferences for sun, shade, or water and behavioral measures and heart rate monitoring suggested they were relaxed, even in the hot sun.

From the study:

“The free choice of one of the areas, each offering different environmental conditions, may be a crucial factor in maintaining body temperature as well as emotional arousal (manifested by cardiac variables and expressed by locomotor activity) with the rates of various behaviours at similar levels. Thus, the provision of a shade and mist curtain in paddocks seems to be reasonable. The response of horses to spending longer periods in IS, SH, and MC requires further investigation.”

Link to the study in the comments.

(Photo of my horses misting station)