The problem with errorless learning

As force free positive reinforcement trainers, we all want to train under threshold and avoid setbacks. But I think there’s value in the occasional spook and bolt. Hear me out on this. Sometimes we work so hard to get a horse to a certain point that we desperately grasp to the idea that one wrong move will set us back once. We end up walking on eggshells and crawling along. Being able to have the occasional moment of “whoops! I pushed a bit too far” is valuable. It shows us where the threshold *is*. It shows us that our horses are much more resilient than we think they are. It shows us the power of the relationship and trust that we’ve built.

Knowing when to push and when to be conservative

So when is it okay to push the boundary and have a horse spook and run or walk off? Well first of all, I hate the idea of throwing things at the horse when they’re scared just to say “see? You didn’t die!” That whole vibe feels very dismissive and steamrolly, and I hate that. But when pushed a bit further than you think the horse can handle, you might surprise yourself and find that they were totally fine. Or you might find out they bounced right back and jumped back into the training without hesitation. The deciding factor, in my opinion: does your horse feel like “oh shit, I survived, oof” or do they feel like “woah! That was scary but I did great, let’s keep going!” The prior is an example of feeling overwhelmed and the latter is an example of feelings of competence. That’s the “challenge accepted!” version. That’s learning to act in a state of “hmm, this might be scary but I think I can do it!” and then feeling like a million bucks when you can bounce right back and try it again. The first state of mind erodes resilience, and the second builds it up like a muscle. And this is a muscle that horses need.

The other factor

Sometimes we forget that if the horse never leaves our side, never opts out, never walks away, they might forget that’s an option. They might start pushing themselves too hard and experiencing conflict. The moment you have an “oops!” moment and they run off, they can shake it off and remember that it’s okay to walk away and take a moment. It’s valuable sometimes.

When I teach horses to tie, I use a magnet on the end of the lead rope. Inevitably at some point they spook and bolt. This is an important part of the process. Otherwise they might think they’re hard tied and stand there uncomfortable, but because they trust me, they seem fine. But I need them to feel comfortable testing the thresholds of the behavior, just as much as I need to test their thresholds from time to time. The horse learns to question: how gently can I pull away from this magnet? Is it a smaller yank each time? How long is the rope? Where do I have to stand to make sure I don’t pop the magnet loose?

Sometimes they have a couple of dramatic spooks and pop the magnet loose. But they learned something important… that they can pull away and it doesn’t have to escalate to a giant spook. It can be a slow walk away. They don’t have to panic when they hit the end of the lead rope. Then when we upgrade to a blocker tie ring (this allows them to slowly pull the length of the rope through so they have the autonomy to move away from what scares them), it’s not a big deal.

Besides, there’s really no thin slicing being tied. At a certain point, they’re either attached to a rope or they’re not. Sometimes the nature of the behavior you’re training dictates how slowly you can train it and you may need to work through some oops moments - but there’s a lot of value in that. And, really, what’s the point of being a force free trainer if they never get the opportunity to say “no!” in a loud and clear way and leave? That’s empowering. That’s what autonomy and choice is all about.

Now don’t go scaring your horse on purpose. We don’t want the emotion of “oh shit!” to be classically conditioned into these behaviors. But walking on eggshells and being terrified to have setbacks is just as harmful to the training process as never knowing your horse’s true threshold (which is constantly changing). Never developing that resilience of bouncing right back from an oops moment and the feelings of competence for doing something hard is a huge disservice to r+ horses.