Equiosity

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Episode 122: Enriching Your Reinforcement Choices Nov 20, 2020

Show notes

This week Dominique launched us into an interesting conversation about reinforcers. If you don’t want to use food, or you want to use food creatively, what are some of your options with horses. With dogs there can be so many fun ways to reinforce behavior besides using a food reward. You can toss a ball, play tug, give a belly scratch. With horses because feeding treats is such an easy reinforcer to use, we seem to get into more of a rut in our thinking. So this week we explore different options. We begin by talking about how grazing can be used as a reinforcer. It’s still using food, but often people fight against grass instead of using it. Just like any treat delivery process, if you want to use the opportunity to graze, you have to go through a teaching process with your horse. Many people close their pastures at this time of the year to keep their horses from churning them into mud. Especially if you board your horse, you may be doing a lot of hand grazing. That means his is a great time of the year to work on this lesson. You’ll be turning grass into a powerful reinforcer you can use in your training. And your horse will be learning a lot about polite manners and emotional control. We talk about non-food reinforcers, as well. It all helps to make the training more interesting for your horse.

Episode 121: Find A Look Oct 28, 2020

Show notes

The rest of this sentence is find a look that pleases your eye. When you look at a horse what do you like? If you’re looking at ten pictures of your beloved horse, what characteristics make you choose this photo over that one? This is the question we explore in this week’s podcast. What pleases your eye, and why is this important to think about when you train, and especially when you feed your horse?

Episode 120: There's So Much More To Stimulus Control Oct 23, 2020

Show notes

This week’s episode explores the stimulus control quadrants developed by Dr. Jesús Rosales Ruiz. When I say stimulus control many of you are probably thinking about the four criteria that are used to judge if a cue is under full stimulus control. This is not what Jesús is talking about. He’s looking instead at the conditions under which learning occurs. It’s a fascinating discussion. Don’t fight extinction is an important part of the stimulus control quadrants. You can find out what this means in this week’s episode.

Episode 119: Change The Environment! Oct 13, 2020

Show notes

This week's podcast was prompted by a question a listener sent in. She had a terrifying escape with her two horses from one of the California fires. Her experience prompted a question about choice. Her question led us to a discussion of the work of Dr. Jesús Rosales Ruiz on stimulus control. This is a short episode. We decided to introduce the topic this week and then to dive in more deeply in our next podcast.

Episode 118: A Twist On Extinction Oct 02, 2020

Show notes

You’ve been reinforcing your horse for the good behavior you want, and now suddenly that process stops. You’ve just thrown your horse into an extinction process. You’re about to experience the emotional fallout that creates. Stopping positive reinforcement is how we normally describe the extinction process, but what happens when someone stops punishing a behavior? This is another way in which a horse can experience extinction. What does this process create? And does this help us to understand some of the extreme behavior horses sometimes show early on in their introduction to clicker training? That’s the twist on extinction that this podcast explores.

Episode 117: What Does Choice Look Like? Sep 17, 2020

Show notes

A wrap up of the recent Science Camp sparked a lively conversation centered around choice. We end the podcast with a story that illustrates what choice looks like. We get there by talking about zoo programs, trailering, keystone behaviors, and errorless learning.

Episode 116 The 85% Rule, Errorless Learning And Horse Hugs Aug 28, 2020

Show notes

Dominique loves to learn. She is forever finding interesting articles and scientific studies for us to discuss. This week we consider one that looks at machine learning and the 85% rule. This doesn’t sound as though it could possibly be related to equine hugs, but it is.

Episode 115: Dr Susan Friedman: Procedural Hierarchies Pt 3 - Learning How To Learn Aug 19, 2020

Show notes

You can learn anything from the internet. Google any subject and you will get a long list of links. But having access doesn’t always help you to know where to start or how to proceed. In this week’s podcast Dr. Susan Friedman lays out a road map to help you in your exploration of any question you want to explore in depth.

Episode 114: Susan Friedman - Procedural Hierarchy Part 2: The Twin Sisters of Science And Ethics Aug 14, 2020

Show notes

Dr Susan Friedman is our guest for this conversation about her recent article: “Why Animals Need Trainers Who Adhere to the Least Intrusive Principle: Improving Animal Welfare and Honing Trainers’ Skills” This is an update of her 2004 article: “What’s Wrong With This Picture? Effectiveness Is Not Enough”. When Susan began consulting at zoos and other animal care facilities, effectiveness was often the first and only consideration. Does the procedure get the job done? Does it get the animal moved from one enclosure to another? The answer might be yes, but at what cost? If you use a water hose, what is the fallout? What opportunities for improved welfare have you given up? Effectiveness is not enough. The hierarchy of strategies for humane intervention puts the individual’s welfare front and center. We explore the role that ethics plays in our training choices. How do you balance ethical considerations with scientific inquiry? Susan is revisiting this subject in her new article. We’re asking her what has changed? What are the updates or the elements that she wants to highlight as she revisits the hierarchy of procedural interventions.

Episode 113: Susan Friedman: Procedural Hierarchy Pt 1 Aug 05, 2020

Show notes

Dr. Susan Friedman joins us for a discussion of the hierarchy of least intrusive, most affective (LIMA) intervention strategies. She has just written an update of her 2004 article: “What’s wrong with this picture? Effectiveness is not enough.” In Part 1 of this conversation we begin where just about every conversation begins these days - with the corona virus. The wearing of masks - whether it should be voluntary or mandated led us into a discussion of control which gave us the perfect segue into a discussion of Susan’s two articles and why she felt it was important to revisit this subject by writing a new article.

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