Recent research on operant conditioning in horses.
2015
McGreevy, P. D. | Hawson, L.
This paper introduces the key challenges encountered when investigating the human-horse interface. With a focus in recent research on the application of learning theory in horses, it reviews the progress made in the emergent discipline of equitation science over the past decade. An appreciation of the role of learning theory in horse training is still in its infancy and is still refuted by traditionalists who believe that the horse can be trained as a willing participant that knows what is being asked of it. Despite this predictable resistance, the growing body of peer-reviewed evidence shows how equitation science reveals equestrian techniques that are difficult to justify within an ethical framework. Regardless of what some traditional critics claim, equitation science does nothing to undermine the emotional bonds that humans share with horses. On the contrary, it forces those who use horses to adopt a horse-centric approach to their training; an approach that ensures the cognitive powers of their trainees is not overestimated. The strength of this approach lies in acknowledging that training deficits are the main cause of poor performance, and that rider safety and horse welfare can be compromised by sloppy application of learning theory. The present paper describes the tools being used to study rider-horse interactions and concludes with a summary of the abiding challenges in applying learning theory to equitation.
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