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A paper published in the Journal of Applied Behaviour Analysis by Ferguson and Rosales-Ruiz describes the thesis research done by Ferguson. Her paper is titled
"Loading the problem loader: the effects of target training and shaping on trailer loading behaviour of horses."
Loading a frightened and unwilling horse into a trailer can be quite a scene. To quote the authors, "The combination of a horse that fights loading and an owner who uses physical force can produce a very dangerous situation. Injuries to the trainer can include rope burns, lost fingers, broken bones, bruises and bleeding. Injuries to the animal can include lacerations to the head from banging into the trailer, scrapes and cuts on the legs, broken legs from falling, or even a broken back if the animal falls backwards while rearing."
Ferguson selected a group of five pedigreed quarter horse broodmares, from 5 to 18 years old, who were all "bad loaders" taking up to three hours to get into a trailer. Two people were involved, one to handle the horse and clicker and the other to take data, deliver reinforcers, and write observations. They also recorded every session on video, and compared the video to the paper records to establish reliability.
The ultimate goal was to be able to walk each mare up to the trailer, throw the lead rope over her back, tell her to get in, and stand back while she loaded herself.
They started by demonstrating that before training none of the horses would go in the trailer when cued. (The authors tersely comment that fighting the lead rope and rearing were ignored.) Working with one horse at a time they clicker conditioned them and trained them to go to a target (a red potholder on a string.) Then they used the target, and the cue "Touch," to teach each horse, in progressive increments, to get into the trailer (a narrow, dark, step-up trailer, the worst kind).
Working for many weeks, recording every click and every cue and response, they reached their goal with every mare. Most of them got into the trailer in about 20 sessions, but training to confirm and extend the behaviour went on for more than 70 sessions in at least one case. The authors wrote: "Target training and shaping were effective in training the five horses to load into a trailer without the use of punishment or negative reinforcement. The horses' loading generalized to other trailers and to other trainers, including the owner. Although no procedures were implemented to decrease the undesired behaviours that occurred during baseline, they disappeared soon after trailer training began."
Furthermore undesirable behaviours also decreased outside of the training situation. The mares who once fled to the far side of the field when they saw a person with a halter, now came up to the gate and put their heads in the halters voluntarily.
The authors end the paper by calling for more research on "these important side effects of training with positive reinforcement."
from an article by Karen Pryor
www.clickertraining.com/karen/letters
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