Systematic Desensitization

Friesian /Percheron cross mare sniffs a ghost Halloween decoration before getting a reward.

Desensitization can be a daunting task for some horses. There are many ways to get a horse used to a new stimulus, but what is the best way? The most popular methods are flooding, habituation, systematic desensitization, or my favorite: counter-conditioning.

Flooding is a repeated representation of a fear-provoking stimulus in a context where the individual cannot escape. For example, chasing a horse with a plastic bag while they are stuck in a round pen or at the end of a lead rope. This rarely actually works. It presents a lot of mental pressure which leads to fatigue. This gives us a horse who first becomes more sensitized to the stimulus before shutting down and entering a state of learned helplessness. Therefore, the use of flooding is not only unethical, but it actually does the opposite of what we want.

Red roan Quarter Horse mare walks on a tarp for the first time! She gets plenty of snacks between pics.

Habituation is a form of learning in which the individual’s original response to a stimulus decreases slowly over time after repeated presentation. For example, a plastic bag blows into a field where a horse is grazing. The horse is able to run away and watch the stimulus at a distance before deciding on his own terms whether he would like to investigate it or not. 

Systematic desensitization is when you expose an individual to a weaker version of an unpleasant stimulus in order to increase their tolerance of it. For example, balling up a plastic bag in your hand and letting the horse sniff your hand first before loosening up the ball slowly, allowing the horse to sniff it and get comfortable each time the "size" of the stimulus changes, until eventually the horse can see the entire full-sized bag.

"You can never rely on a horse that is educated by fear. There will always be something that he fears more than you. But, when he trusts you, he will ask you what to do when he is afraid."  - Antoine de Pluvinel

Counter-conditioning is when a horse is in a situation where there is a fear-provoking stimulus present but you can create a distraction to get him focusing on something else that he already has a positive association with. The goal here is to transfer that positive association to the new stimulus all while keeping the horse under their fear threshold. An example here would be having the horse target a traffic cone while you turn the hose on ever so slightly and repeat until you can increase the amount of water coming out of the hose and eventually allow the water to contact the horse. A horse who already knows he gets a reward every time he touches his nose to the cone will be more focused on getting food than how scary the sound of the hose is. Targeting a cone can be swapped out for any behavior your horse already knows how to do with +R; as long as this horse is already familiar with this cue and knows that this task yields a reward, he will be able to calm himself by focusing on what you are asking. 

If you would like to watch a short video on a few different methods, click here, or if you would like to read a much more in depth article, click here.