Training and Welfare

By Karen Britton (BSc, horse trainer and full member of the International Society for Equitation Science) reports from the recent conference in Dublin, NZ Horse & Pony, December 2008, p65-66

New Zealand was well represented in Dublin in early August 2008 when Ireland hosted the annual International Society for Equitation Science (ISES) conference.  The ISES is a not-for-profit organisation for facilitating and disseminating research on the training and welfare of horses. Conference delegates were predominantly from across Europe, but a strong southern hemisphere contingent attended.  Auckland Unitec’s Professor Natalie Waran, (past and present ISES senior vice-president) chaired a session and presented her paper What is ethical horse training?, as well as collaborating on others.  Raglan former national dressage champion, Jody Hartstone rode in a practical session demonstrating use of negative reinforcement (‘negative’ meaning removal of stimulus following a correct response and which may be familiar to you as the concept of ‘pressure-release’).

The stately Royal Dublin Society buildings provided the perfect conference venue; the grounds are also home to the famous Dublin Horse Show – which followed 2 days after the conference (what great timing!)

This year’s conference theme was the age-old question of the horse-human bond (entitled The horse-human dyad: how can we improve our understanding of equine training, performance and welfare simultaneously?)  An action-packed three days comprised presentations by world-renowned speakers from a range of scientific institutions and included practical demonstrations by Mary Wanless (position and use of the seat).  One of Mary Bromily’s students presented Bromily’s work on the movement and reflex responses of the horse’s neck, withers and back, and Horse Sport Ireland Coaching introduced aspects of their programme with several horses and military riders.  A panel-led discussion followed a natural horsemanship demonstration by a young Russian horsewoman using borrowed horses.

The use of training gadgets such as side reins, chambon and the Pessoa lunging system were demonstrated and briefly discussed, with as much disagreement among the academics regarding gadgets’ ‘value’ or otherwise as there is in the wider community – there appeared to be a good deal of concern from the scientists (some who are veterinarians or specialists in physiology, training or biomechanics), and few seemed keen to own up to knowing how the gadgets were proposed to work, let alone having ever used such things!

Eric Smiley’s opening speech set the scene with a well-considered and frank address on the state of equestrian sport.  Smiley represented Ireland at 4 Olympic Games, 2 European Championships, has produced many top event horses and is a Fellow of the British Horse Society (the highest British qualification in equestrian coaching), so was well-qualified to proffer his opinion.   In particular Smiley noted a major shift from intrinsic knowledge of horses and equitation due people now living and working in urban environments, moving away from rural backgrounds (the Irish are typically now 2 generations removed from the country, and the English 5 generations removed).  With the urban-rural disassociation, he notes expectations of riders and owners are frequently maligned from horses’ abilities – horses’ cognitive, physical and learning abilities have remained relatively unchanged despite years of selective breeding.  Many people assume ‘intelligence’ beyond the horse’s capabilities and blame him when he fails to meet their training expectations and competitive aspirations.

From a coaching point of view, Smiley notes that while there is more teaching available, there is currently an increased reliance on a coach and less propensity for a rider to learn and work things out for himself; he says that people’s theoretical explanations extend beyond their riding abilities due to the proliferation of information accessible on the internet.

Smiley noted that admission of professionals into the Seoul Olympics for the first time in 1988 acted as a catalyst for the wealthy to assume an enhanced role in breeding and owning competition horses.  With increased earning capacity and market, the horse became a commodity and the number of young horse classes increased.   Other examples include the US 3yo reining and cutting classes, where horses produced for ‘Futurity’ events has led to a surge in joint problems, and the racing industries’ racing of two year olds.  He proposes that one way to improve matters is to ‘move the money’ to classes for older horses, making entry into young horse classes less attractive.

Practical findings from the conference papers included an investigation into of use of bitted versus bitless bridles, optimal times to perform stretching exercises on the horse’s muscles (3 stretching routines performed a week were effective, whereas daily was not, the likely explanation being time required for damaged/stretched muscle tissue to recover), the effects of changes in time-zone on the horse – the researcher met with resistance to publication as her peers didn’t believe her due to the finding that horses differed substantively from all other species studied to date.  Barbara Murphy’s chronobiology study showed that horses suffer a shorter period to recovery from ‘jet-lag’ – approximately 3 days following international flights.  By comparison humans take 11 days to full recovery and other species take much longer than 3 days.

An investigation into expectations on sport horses for sale by vendors versus expectations of purchasers showed that competition experience, performance and placings achieved were not highly valued by purchasers – even if buying for competitive use.   Instead, purchasers considered temperament and trainability to be highly important.  These findings have implications that the perceived value of early competition experience may in fact proffer fewer benefits to the vendor, and may harm the horse due to the physical and mental pressures of competition undertaken at a young age.

The horse’s ability to detect and react to nervousness in the rider – as measured by heart-rate changes, showed that the horses can detect and react to increased human heart-rate with accelerated heart rate.   In this study, the riders/handlers were told an umbrella would be opened as they went past, however the umbrella was not opened.  Of course there are other factors not measured that may have affected the horse, such as muscle tone changes.

Other studies included behavioural problems in ridden horses in the United Kingdom, and behavioural parameters of outcome differences between horses trained by ‘traditional’ means compared to the Swedish ‘sympathetic’ method.  The ‘sympathetic method’ horses showed lower head carriage, less tooth grinding and lip movements in a dressage test, as well as showing less tension during training.

Two attendees that will be familiar to us in New Zealand are the German author of Tug of war: classical versus “modern” dressage, Dr Gerd Heushmann and Dr Andrew McLean, author of The truth about horses who holds regular clinics in New Zealand.  McLean had collaborated on several papers presented and was training discussion panel.

Participants in next year’s conference will have a mere hop across the Tasman, as it will be held in Sydney from 12-14 July.  Sydney’s conference should attract a high number of New Zealand riders and trainers, in addition to scientists, as attendees do not have to be ISES members.  The society welcomes interest and attendance from all parties interested in the training and welfare of the horse.

For more information see: www.equitationscience.com

Educate yourself with proceedings from past conferences, available online: http://www.equitationscience.com/conferences.html