What Do Chickens and Cats Teach Us About Training Horses?
From Feral to Friendly
A feral kitty showed up at the farm a month or so ago. Somehow the local cats know if they hang out at my place, they'll get 2 square meals a day. I think they put up flyers.
He was nearly invisible at first, keeping his distance and fleeing before I could barely catch a glimpse of his gray and white-pawed cuteness. Time brings familiarity and he started to become more relaxed and willing to show himself.
When I felt the time was right, I started to interact with him on a one-on-one basis. My goal was to create a positive association with my presence.
I'm AWESOME!
How do I win the heart of a cat who's terrified of people? Through his stomach of course!! When I show up, pieces of salmon fly through the air and appear near kitty. His name is Mowee, now. He's very chatty.
Forget sitting for hours until one day curiosity brings a cute little pink nose close enough for the first sniff. That's lovely but none of us are getting any younger, right? Let's speed this up AND take away all that angst and anxiety the cat is experiencing about approaching overwhelming lumbering primates.
It's So Simple
Flinging food in his general direction works great, but I felt he was ready to get a little closer but lacked the confidence to do so. So, I introduced a new concept to him. You get food when you look at me. He looks up, I fling. After a few days that random head lifting triggered me to deliver the food, Mowee now very deliberately lifts his head and stares into my eyes...and here comes the food. He's clearly made the connection.
As a result of being able to control the situation, his confidence has quadrupled. He's able to eat with my hand an inch away and he's touched my finger twice. He also doesn't bolt when he sees me and shows lots of happy body language.
Don't Be a Chicken...Oh Wait! DO Be a Chicken!
Okay, so you're a chicken in a cage. There's no food available but there's a thingy poking into the cage. As you wander around, you accidentally bump the thingy. WOWZA! Food appears in a dish, also known as a thingy if you're a chicken.
We'll that was weird and wonderful, right? So, you wander a bit more and accidentally touch the lever thing and SHAZZAM!! There's another piece of food!! Let's say you're particularly brilliant for poultry and you march right up to that lever and give it a shove. Oh yeah!!
Now you've got it! Lever pressing means food!!
Cause and effect. Association. Pairing a behavior with a positive experiece.
Are You Making the Connection?
The topic of this blog came to me while I was feeding Mowee the other night. The image of a chicken pushing a lever popped into my head. He looked up at me, "pushed the lever," and food drops into the "dish."
Your horse is no different than a cat, chicken, muskrat, or human when it comes to creating associations to situations and adapting behaviors to satisfy needs.
It's Really IS That Simple
It's so easy to complicate things when we're training our horses. We are human after all. Big brains and lots of thinking. We get swept up in all the different approaches and want to try all the varieties of techniques, because this one is going to get me the results and relationship I really want.
Okay. Sure. That sounds good, but above all it has to make sense for your horse. The BEST way to make whatever method you use work is to simplify it. Make it doable, fun, and rewarding. That's going to get you where you want to go quicker and easier, every single time.
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