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One of the most frustrating
scenarios for horse owners and their veterinarians is the horse that
is difficult to treat. We all have known such a horse, one which
might start out fighting the annual Coggins blood sample and
vaccinations. Or the one that dangerously refuses placement of the
rectal thermometer. Or the one that successfully avoids the eye
ointment or oral deworming. All too often, one thing leads to
another, and you can't even get in the stall safely with the vet on
the property. You have tried everything from the twitch to the
blindfold. The more restraint, the more the horse fights. You start
weighing the risks and benefits of "messin' with him" for routine
preventive care. When you really do have to treat the animal, it
becomes an explosive wreck. When he has a problem serious enough to
require a trip to the hospital, signs are plastered on the stall
door, "Caution: horse has an attitude!" Great, now everyone hates
the horse that hates the vet. What can you do?
My usual first recommendation is to
stop fighting with such a horse, and instead turn the effort toward
teaching the horse to enjoy veterinary procedures. Yes, a realistic
goal. Even the most difficult horse can learn to comply willingly
with veterinary procedures for a reward.
Behavior modification to overcome
procedure shyness costs almost nothing if you can do it yourself,
except some time with your horse. Most people who have been battling
with a non-compliant horse typically are amazed at how little time
it does take to turn a horse around. What it will require is
patient, calm, and consistent application of some straightforward
behavior modification principles and techniques.
Most people find behavior
modification a lot of fun. Some even feel a little silly at first.
But the results are almost always immediately positive. If you are
successful, there are many benefits. The horse will be a joy to
treat, and so will have a better life and greater general trust in
you. And all the people involved will have learned some powerful
tools that are widely applicable to all sorts of human-animal
interactions.
The general principles of learning
that can be applied to teach a horse to comply willingly with
injections, nasogastric tubing, genital manipulation, or any other
mildly annoying procedure are the same learning principles that
animal behaviorists and psychologists have studied for decades. The
background research, terminology, and details are described in most
introductory animal behavior or psychology textbooks. The same
principles work with a circus elephant, our pet dogs, our kids, us
as adults, and our horses for other types of training.
In addition to the general
principles, for any species there are some specific techniques that
take advantage of that animal's innate behavioral characteristics,
size, or strength. These general principles of learning and
equine-specific techniques can be effectively applied by just about
anyone competent to care for a horse. Actually, much of the magic of
a good horse owner or of many of the horse training experts is
consistent application of the laws of learning. The specific
techniques might vary, but in the end much of what successful horse
owners or animal trainers do all comes down to the same simple
principles.
What Causes The
Aversion?
Before we begin, there are a couple
of important points to consider. First of all, horses--like any
other animal--are born naive to the domestic world around them.
Newborn foals might have an innate fear of humans in general. That
usually is overcome readily with repeated exposure that has a
neutral or positive experience for the foal. When it comes
specifically to needles, tubes, or veterinarians, a foal's first
response typically is neutral or even curious. Depending on the
experience, positive or negative, the foal will either become more
leery or more compliant.
So, it's useful to appreciate that
for a procedure-shy horse, the resistance most likely is based on
negative experience. In other words, the horse learned to
dislike veterinary procedures. Its experience so far in life has
summed up to negative when it comes to certain procedures.
This is not all bad news. First, if
a reaction or association has been learned, then it can be unlearned
or re-learned. The animal's response easily can be reversed from
negative to positive. His recent experience relative to the
procedure just has to sum up to a positive.
Second, it's likely that your horse
is fairly smart. Although there is no scientific data to back up the
contention, many clinical animal behaviorists agree that
procedure-resistant individuals often appear to be among the most
intelligent in terms of associative learning ability. These often
are the animals that take very few repetitions to learn or re-learn
just about anything we normally expect horses to learn.
In my experience, horses which have
started to "know the minute the vet drives in," or which appear to
be able to see the tube of dewormer behind your back, have exactly
the learning ability that will enable them to overcome procedure
shyness quickly with organized behavior modification.
It also is important to realize that
appropriately conducted veterinary examinations and treatments
should not be painful. Injections, jugular stick, insertion
of a rectal thermometer, or other ordinary veterinary examination
might be mildly aversive or slightly uncomfortable for a moment, but
not painful enough to evoke escape or serious resistance from an
otherwise well-handled horse.
So, when a horse starts to be
seriously non-compliant, it is time to step back and evaluate the
whole picture, looking for what has become aversive to the horse.
Improvements very often can be made in the method of restraint or
the manner in which the procedure is done to reduce the
aversiveness.
One simple example we see frequently
comes from our work in reproduction. It is common practice to wash a
stallion's penis with warm, clear water before breeding or semen
collection. Most stallions tolerate this procedure, and actually
come to associate it as a positive step leading up to breeding. For
horses which resist the procedure, a common problem is rough
handling of the penis during washing or drying that leaves the
surface of the penis abraded. Another common problem is for a
handler of the horse to be worried and anxious that the procedure
will hurt the horse. Their anxiety seems to elicit concern from the
horse.
I certainly have worked with people
with genuine extreme concern, particularly for young horses, that
had to be addressed before progress could be made with the horse's
compliance. One very nice young boy I know who was holding his pony
for eye treatments would let out a shrill yelp each time the
veterinarian was just about to squeeze the ointment along the
eyelid. Of course, this affected everyone negatively.
General Procedures
For gaining compliance with any
procedure or manipulation, it is useful to consider that the job
requires sending three basic messages to the horse:
1) The procedure doesn't really
hurt (that much).
2) Ordinary resistance or
reasonable reaction will not stop the procedure.
3) Tolerance of the manipulation
can lead to a reward.
For this to work, you need to ensure
that the procedure is in fact as painless as possible, at least at
first. For restraint, I like to use the minimum necessary for
everyone's safety. It's good if you can avoid restraint that itself
invokes discomfort or fear. For many procedures and horses, I like
to work in a large, quiet enclosure with good, quiet footing and
plenty of head room. This allows for some safe wiggle room without a
crash and goes a long way toward keeping everyone calm. I like to
use a simple halter and cotton lead shank. If the horse has been
charging, rearing, or striking, I like to use whatever safety gear
gives me the confidence to remain calm--safety shoes, helmet, and
sometimes a safety vest.
Consideration should be given to
making the most aversive part of the procedure, say the needle stick
or the nasogastric tubing, as painless as possible. This is
particularly important during the re-training. (It also goes a long
way in preventing procedure shyness in naive horses.) When
re-training needle-shy horses, for example, I try to use a very tiny
needle--22 or 26 gauge--for the re-training. Once they get through
the procedure and get a reward, the larger needle usually is
tolerated.
The behavior modification procedure
itself is simple. All you need is the horse, the usual equipment for
the procedure, and a reward. For most things I use a palatable food
reward, in which case I do it before mealtime, and often in lieu of
the meal. First, for whatever procedure the horse has been
resisting, you just make a list of the preliminary procedures,
identifying several distinct individual steps that lead up to the
actual procedure. Then each step is repeated and rewarded
individually several times.
In the case of jugular stick, your
list might include: 1) approaching the stall with the syringe in
hand; 2) entering the stall; 3) opening the wrapper of the syringe;
4) uncapping the needle; 5) holding off the vein; and 6) touching
the vein, or whatever the preliminary steps used by your
veterinarian.
If the horse is one which has
started to anticipate even the very early steps, be sure to include
those in your list of increments. Each one of these steps should be
performed several times independently of the others. They don't
necessarily have to be in the logical order. At that point, each
element has to become a positive for the horse. For most situations,
I like to use a small food treat paired with a simple verbal
response, such as "Good," spoken with a consistent tone. By
association with the food reward, "Good" will become a conditioned
reinforcer that will carry positive value alone. The conditioned
verbal reinforcement is very handy for times when you cannot deliver
the primary reinforcer--the food treat. Unlike a pat on the
shoulder, the verbal reinforcer is hands free and is usually always
available. Once it is well established, it can and should be used
intermittently as the only reward for the procedure.
The goal is to repeat and reward
each preliminary step until the horse indicates behaviorally that he
perceives that element as positive. How do you know that the step
has become a positive event for the horse? When he begins to
approach you or reach for his treat, you know that he now associates
that step with a positive outcome. You can move on to another step.
Once all of the preliminary steps have switched from negative to
positive, you can start putting them together in the logical
sequence.
Remember the procedure-shy horse is
likely to be smart enough to distinguish the particular sequence
that leads to the needle stick. He will likely need a reward for the
actual linked sequence, in-cluding the actual procedure
itself.
You should reasonably expect that
the horse might have some setbacks. It is important to calmly expect
them, and try not to become frustrated or punish the horse. I like
to think of animals in this situation as little calculators adding
up the positive and negative experiences associated with various
events, then behav-ing according to the sum total. Strong voice
tones, over-restraint, or explosive wrecks can represent inadvertent
punishment, sending the message that this really is a nasty
procedure and that the person doing it is to be avoided and feared.
When there is some relapse, just back up to a step that the horse
still views as positive, and go again.
A common observation is that this
all works well until you get to the point of the aversive part of
the procedure. Then the horse starts to pull back or resist, so he
never gets the reward for the entire procedure. Much of the
skill--perhaps art--of doing this type of behavior modification is
being able to ride out some minor resistance safely, and so get to
the point of completing the procedure and the reward at the
end.
In an open area, the horse can move
around a bit and you can calmly stay with the horse and the
procedure to get the job done and get to the reward. If it is
successful, the horse can continue to learn that the procedure was
not all that bad this time (smaller needle, gentler approach). It
also will teach the horse that simple movement doesn't avoid the
procedure.
One repeatable phenomenon that can
get you sidetracked involves your reactions to minor
resistance of the horse. If you flinch or jump back each time the
horse flinches, some horses appear to read your reaction as
confirmation that this is a scary procedure. Others seem to learn a
game of directing your behavior. They flinch, you jump; they flinch,
you jump. Beyond avoiding the veterinary procedure, they have a fun
new game of "make my handler jump!"
For horses which have proceeded
eagerly through compliance with all the preliminary steps, then
resist the actual procedure, it is effective to offer the treat as a
distractor during the procedure. In the case of injections, this can
work very well. Many horses seem not even to notice the actual stick
when they are rooting around for a few grains of sweet feed in the
bottom of a deep bucket. In the case of a jugular stick, the bucket
can be used to draw the horse's neck out for good exposure of the
vein. Once you are successful with the distractor bucket, it is good
to continue with the step until the horse accepts treatment without
the distractor. In other words, the horse will need to learn to wait
for the procedure to be completed before the reward is given.
Once compliance is gained, it is
good to continue with the same gentle, non-threatening, and as
painless as possible approach. Intermittent reinforcement with as
little as a one-in-10 ratio of primary reinforcement will maintain
compliance. In the worst cases of procedure shyness, the re-trained
horse sometimes is described as "short-fused" or "leery" of new
handlers for a long time, maybe for the rest of its life.
Frequently Asked
Questions
How long will it take? For
most horses, it will take less than a couple of hours of interaction
with the horse over a few sessions. This procedure seems to work
well when it is undertaken as an exercise outside the context of
actual treatment. Like everything, when you're not in a hurry, it
never seems to take much time. When there is urgency for complete
success, it sometimes seems to take longer. It is not easy to
predict how much time it will take for any given horse and handler
pair. Some of the toughest horses and most inexperienced handlers
have achieved rapid success. There are a lot of factors at play,
including the basic temperament of all involved.
It is also hard to say how best to
pace the training. At the extremes, I have seen success in one
15-minute session. Sometimes multiple sessions are required per
step, meaning weeks of diligent work.
There are guidelines. During any
session, it's probably good to end before the horse loses interest
and before he has earned his full ration of treats. When there is
plenty of time, my usual goal is to get through at least two or
three preliminary steps per session. Of course, the longer you spend
reinforcing compliance with each element, the more positive
experience the horse is acquiring. So if there is no need to rush,
just relax and enjoy. It rarely takes many sessions, and all that
matters is that each session has some progress. The session should
end on a positive note. It is useful to begin a new session by
repeating the last successful step in compliance a few times before
starting a new one.
Following are some of the questions
that are asked frequently when we are dealing with the general
principles of learning when applied to horses.
Does the food reward create a
"mouthy," nippy horse?
Sometimes it can. If that seems to
be happening, you can switch to giving the reward from a special
container used only for that purpose. Most horses will distinguish
the source, and will not nudge for treats unless the container is
present. That way you can put up with the eagerness for treats
during the re-training, then eliminate the treat container and the
associated mouthiness once you have achieved compliance. You also
can teach the horse to wait for the offer.
What about relapse?
I have known horses which have
relapsed, then using the same training procedures, compliance has
been regained. While it is sad to watch a horse gain and lose trust
in people over and over, most can keep at it indefinitely, getting
wiser with every round.
Is it true that horses which have
gone through a bout of critical care with lots of injections and
other poking and prodding--perhaps at an early age--are doomed to
hate veterinary procedures?
No, just as the laws of learning
would predict, it all depends on the quality of the experience.
Actually, some people whose horses have had a round of intensive
care comment that the horse's experience taught the horse to comply
with just about any procedure. We know from working with hundreds of
horses in research settings, where there is variable opportunity for
organized positive experience with veterinary procedures, that the
more experience, the better the willing compliance.
Is it ever too late to turn a
horse around on veterinary procedures?
Depending on the resources
available, I generally would say no. That is, not for a horse which
is otherwise normally interactive with people and other horses, and
is just resisting specific procedures.
When treating a horse, is it
better to hurry up or to take your time with the ouchy
part?
Almost always it is better to
proceed very calmly and smoothly, but without hesitating or being
jerky with the uncomfortable part. This is the one reason why I
sometimes recommend getting help from a professional for the initial
re-training of a severe case. Enlist the aid of someone who is
especially talented and confident with the uncomfortable part of the
procedure. Skill and confidence helps with the smooth, committed
approach that horses seem to like.
Should I use a twitch?
A twitch applies pressure to the
sensitive nerve endings in the nose. This inflicts pain, which
initially distracts the horse from either noticing or responding to
an unpleasant procedure. It usually particularly inhibits movement
and kicking. That's why it is often used to restrain mares for
breeding. The pain causes a release of natural analgesic chemicals
in the brain--known as endogenous opiates or endorphins--which then
likely mask both the pain at the nose and any discomfort elsewhere.
You will see that after a few minutes, the horse might get a droopy
lip and drowsy, glazed-looking eyes. This drowsiness corresponds to
high levels of endorphins in the blood. After about 10-15 minutes on
the twitch, most horses become agitated. Some seem to explode or
"blow the twitch." This behavior corresponds to lowering blood
levels of endorphins, perhaps because the brain has temporarily
depleted its supply.
Some horses seem to grow in their
dislike of the twitch, while others don't. This might be related to
how the twitch is applied and whether or not the twitch was removed
during the relaxed drowsy (positive) state or whether they reached
the obviously unpleasant point of "blowing the twitch."
So for mildly painful, brief
procedures, a twitch will give some added security. For most
ordinary examinations and treatments, I recommend teaching the horse
to comply as we have described, rather than twitching. If a twitch
is used, it is useful to accustom the horse to the twitch in
practice sessions. These sessions will allow the operators to more
effectively learn how to apply the twitch smoothly to the individual
horse, as well as to learn the horse's typical behavioral response
and the duration of twitch tolerance. Practice sessions will allow a
calm and unhurried approach, which will maximize the possibility
that it becomes a tolerable emergency
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