RCMP Musical Ride, "the Spoke," 2001

The horse is a sensory-motor animal. Its sensitivity outweighs its motor skills. Scientists are still testing the limits of the "sensory" part of the system. The horse has a unique way of thinking and learning. It doesn't think like you, me, or other humans. It learns by doing. Learning involves both the SNS and the PNS, either individually or simultaneously.

Training the horse is neuroscience, and you are the trainer. Any person who interacts with the horse in any way is a trainer. If you are a horse owner, rider, caretaker, veterinarian, or passerby who stands at the fence to admire the beauty of the horse, you are a trainer. All knowledgeable trainers want their horses to learn by being aware of, but not overly aroused by, their surroundings. Timing and feel play a huge role in training. Under-stimulating, as in desensitization, is as detrimental as over-stimulating. It often leads to learned helplessness, a condition in which the horse's immune system is nonfunctional. If a horse's eyes emulate two lumps of anthracite coal .  .  .  hard, vacant, and immobile, it has been under-stimulated, perhaps to the degree of having learned helplessness.

The horse on the left appears to be watching something in the adjoining field. It seems calm and relaxed. But does it feel "safe?" "Calm and relaxed" is not necessarily "safe," even though a "safe" horse is "calm and relaxed." Take a moment or two to digest that comment.

The horse's motor templates are pre-set. Its responses are automatic. But when it comes to learning, the horse must feel safe. That requires time and space. A horse that feels safe willingly parks its feet when surprised by an unfamiliar sound, sight, or touch. 

Make learning pleasurable for your horse. Remember that your horse needs dwell time after teaching a new skill. Avoid repetitions. When your horse has successfully performed a new skill, stop. Pause. Let the horse replay what it did in its mind. Reward it with a soft stroke. No slapping! Slapping triggers the SNS. Let your horse lick and chew. Allow it to enjoy the calm and curious emotional balance that comes with the serotonin wash that follows. Your horse will feel safe .  .  .  and ready to do whatever comes next. 

The three dopamine drop videos on the "Chasing the Dopamine Drop" page demonstrate a highly effective method of getting the horse to feel safe. 

                          If what you are doing with your horse isn't working, change it!

Make time to take time with your horse. If things aren't going the way you want, take a breather. Relax. Calm down. Give your horse a "pause" to reset its nervous system. A pause is a lengthy time in the most spacious area available. It is the best health booster your horse can have. Don't even think about intruding on your horse during its pause. As long as you leave it alone, it will reset its nervous system. Resetting enables learning.  

The horse on the left had looked dreadful when it arrived at its new home in Vancouver, B.C. The trip from Texas had been grueling. Its life, before the trip, had been taxing. It was "ridden hard" and "put away wet." Its head was a billboard of pain:  ears pinned,  hollows in its forehead above its squinted eyes, and knotted muscle cords in its cheeks. All the horse needed to do was pause to reset its nervous system. The pause was regular long sessions of uninterrupted turnout on a king-sized paddock. The green grass was a bonus. By lowering its head to nibble on the grass, the horse reset its PNS. With its revitalized nervous system, the horse was relaxed and ready to go to work. 

The photo on the top left portrays the horse after the "pause" that reset its nervous system. The horse is calm and relaxed. Its almond-shaped eyes are soft and wide open. Its ears are perked up. The muscles in its cheeks are smooth and relaxed. Its facial expression bears no resemblance to the frantic horse that had arrived from Texas a couple of months earlier.

                                                                 The "Dopamine Drop"

This exercise is a great jump-start companion to the pause.                                                    

Dopamine is a"feel-good" neurotransmitter that makes the horse feel safe. When it feels safe, it can learn. Its calming and relaxing effect is the foundation of reinforced learning. It causes the horse to lick, chew, blink its eyes, and lower its head. It also improves memory, behavior, attention, sleep, and mood. 

I coined the "dopamine drop" term for the exercises that hook the horse on dopamine. With dopamine on board, the horse is in learning mode. The horse I owned in 1994 showed me how to trigger a dopamine release. I described this episode in "The Lightbulb Moment!" An alder tree had snapped and crashed to the ground. The startled horse ran about 20 feet, then stopped. A minute or so later, it was relaxed, licking and chewing. I replicated the science that supported the incident, and "Wham-O!" I had a method of relaxing the horse with dopamine! The three videos at the bottom of this page demonstrate how I use this information to calm and relax the horse.

If you want to refresh your memory of this incident, re-read "The Lightbulb Moment!" entered second down from the top of this page.

                                                     Steps in the " Dopamine Drop"

A.  Arousal:  stimulating the SNS

The dopamine drop begins by stimulating the SNS with only one of three stressors: 

•       The SOUND stressor is a rustling plastic flag. 
•       The SIGHT stressor is the sudden appearance of a flag in front of the    

                        horse's head.

•       The TOUCH stressor is the flag lightly touching the horse's head,

                        neck, and shoulders.

Only one of the stressors is applied each day.

The arousal level for each stimulus must be strong enough to arouse the horse but not strong enough to put it into a "fight-flight" mode. Overdoing the arousal level invites fear. The horse's lips tighten, its nostrils flare, and the whites of its eye appear. Underdoing is as ineffective as overdoing. 

After the SNS is triggered, cortisol is released. It stimulates the SNS. The horse's ears perk up, its eyes focus, and its head is raised. The PNS then slides into action. Dopamine is released. 

B. "Wait Time"

Wait time is the key to successful training. I know that in the presence of a horse, either I train the horse or the horse trains me. With that in mind, I've learned to invest considerable "hurry-up-and-wait" time in the training process. 

After additional wait time, the "happy" neurotransmitter, serotonin, is released. Its primary role is to change the horse's state of fear to safety when the PNS takes over from the SNS. Serotonin also stimulates the formation of dendrites, the branch-like nerve endings that connect the nerves. These nerve endings form a dense forest-like mass. The thicker the forest, the stronger the nerve connections and the faster the nerve impulses travel. Serotonin connects past experiences to new ones for decisions making processes in the horse's brain.  

Wait time is the most crucial element of "Dopamine Drop." This step is usually the longest. It requires considerable tact and patience. "Wait time" for dopamine release varies considerably from time to time and horse to horse. Immediately after the dopamine is released, the horse licks and chews. Licking and chewing have nothing to do with learning. It's the beginning of waiting for another lick and chew, and another . . . until the horse quits licking and chewing. Licking and chewing announce the horse's transition from the SNS to the PNS, where most of the horse's learning occurs. (The videos below show only the first lick and chew.)

Wait time is, without a doubt, the best tool a trainer has. It resets the horse's nervous system. The alternating releases and wait times make the horse feels safe. Sometimes the wait time is very short. Other times it is exceptionally long. Never deny the horse time and space for wait time. If you do, your horse will become hyperaroused. 

The most effective training program takes the horse out of its comfort zone for a short time, then allows it to down-regulate by giving it time to reset its nervous system. When the horse is given a choice, it feels safe. When it is left alone, it calms itself. It can learn that the safe spot is internal. It goes wherever the horse goes.

After the series of dopamine releases from the stimulus wane, the horse is turned out to eat grass. Turnout on grass  COULD NOT BE MORE FITTING! When the horse lowers its head to graze, its PNS is reset.

                                             Take-home message: NEVER RUSH YOUR HORSE!

Dear reader,

I am very disappointed in the quality of this first video. I debated whether or not to post it. This was the first time I used a pivio camera. That camera had a mind of its own, jumping back and forth and up and down. I didn't notice the problem until I saw the replay. Seemed like one thing after proved to be a challenge that day. When I began making the video, the sun was bright, and the sky was blue. Initially, the only fly in the ointment was the wind. Oh, my, was the wind whistling! Then a plane soared so close to the ground that I was sure it would clip my hand if I raised it. Unfortunately, the sound was so loud it almost totally overrode the sound of the rustling flag.

This was the first time my horse had done this exercise. I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought the video would be a stellar example for you, the reader, to watch a horse's first-time response to the procedure. I experienced quite the rodeo when I did this exercise for the first time with other horses. I'm well aware that first times happen only once. So.  .  .  hope you can bear the distraction of the jerky camera movements to get the benefits of seeing the procedure. 

At the end of the video, the horse turns to touch/itch its right hind leg. Never disturb the horse while it rubs or gnaws at its foot. It is trying to down-regulate. I made the mistake of running out of lead rope. Unfortunately, the horse was not able to nuzzle its hind foot. The tape ended at that point. The horse licked and chewed seven more times without added stimuli. 

For your viewing convenience, I deleted the seven licks and chews that followed the first. The horse remained calm and relaxed in its"safe spot." It was primed for learning.

           Keep your eyes on your horse's feet. Moving a foot for any reason other than

                       rebalancing its weight is a sign that the horse does not feel safe.                 

2:  SIGHT 

I have made a few changes since this video was made. I now keep my flag above my head instead of bringing it close to the horse's face. "Near" vision is challenging for the horse. I also let the middle of the lead rope lay on the ground to reduce or eliminate movements that may influence the result.

3:  TOUCH +

This last video illustrates several signs of the horse's PNS dominating the SNS. Identify as many of these signs as you can as the process continues. 

Note that the horse's halter has been removed. 

               Initially, the horse turns its head and neck to the left a couple of times 

               when being stimulated with the flag. That's OK. Its feet remain still. 

               Did you notice that after the flag was removed, the horse was blinking? Blinking

               is a sign of PNS in action. The horse then re-adjusts its left front foot. That's OK, too. 

               It's only a re-adjustment.

               The blinking continues. The head and neck lower --another sign of the 

               PNS in action.