by Mary Knetter

Created on: July 24, 2008   Last Updated: June 25, 2009

The worth of a good mount today depends on the training it has. The amount of training it has is directly related to how good their memory is. For domestic animals, memory helps in recognizing cues, identifying friends or allies and where to find food. In the wild, memory helps identify herd members, find food and water, and when to migrate throughout the seasons. In other words, memory is the key to the equine mind and psychology.

HOW LEARNING HAPPENS

Memory is directly related to learning and using the five senses to function in the world. So to understand the equine mind and memory, one must first understand how they learn. There are four primary ways a horse can learn.

Association-Foals learn to associate the smell and feel of its surroundings from birth and associate them with their mother. Mares will often foal in solitude so their foals will learn to bond with them alone, reinforcing in the foal's mind where to look for food, safety and reassurance.

Example-From early on, foals watch how others act and mimic what they do and learn the result of that action. This way of learning can be beneficial and harmful. Many horses pick up bad habits, such as cribbing, windsucking or stall weaving by watching other animals.

Habit-With repeated exposure, the animal learns to ignore an object. For example, when teaching a young horse to become traffic safe, they are often ridden home on a busy road so their attention is focused on the comforts of the barn and companions. The horse eventually becomes accustomed to passing vehicles.

Trial and error-The animal goes through life experimenting and learning how to act in specific situations. Memory tells them to avoid electric fences, poisonous plants or pasture bullies because of past experiences. This method of learning depends on the individual, their mind and the experiences they have.

PSYCHOLOGY

What the horse learns depends on the reinforcements put into place when being taught or experiencing something new. Positive reinforcements, or rewards, encourage the act to be done again and get the same result. Negative reinforcement, or punishment, is discouraging and makes them think twice about doing it again.

The process of training a horse depends on the use of the four methods of learning and providing positive or negative reinforcements. Through the use of the hands, seat, voice and equipment, a rider is able to teach and communicate with the animal and commit to memory any command.

When working with a horse, notice that when they have grasped a concept, they will often lower their head and lick their lips, as if to chew on the idea. At that point, providing a reward, either positive or negative, reinforces what they have learned.

USING MEMORY TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

By understanding memory and psychology and asking consistently and repeatedly, horses can be taught to do nearly anything. Once rapport and trust is established, it only takes a little creativity to teach any desirable act. From there, a memory can be established in the mind.

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