Byron bay Lectures

Anatomy and Physiology

For this month we are only looking at the whole without visiting much terminology. Pics to the right.

 External parts of the horse

The skeletal structure: 205 bones, 80 of which are in the leg.

The muscle structure: Superficial layer, Middle layer and deep layer.

Psychology

How the horse thinks.

Prey vs predator...How much of a predator are we really?

We can certainly act in predatory ways, but the underlying reaction of most animals including horses is curiousity...distrust is only shown when a reason is given. EG Galopogas Island...where the animals all met and greeted the scientists until they began trapping and tagging.

How we affect him by being around him: No wild horses left that are not interefered with by man, so not opportunity much to see the true reaction to our presence in that way. However, if we are able to meet the horse in truth (our truth) then he will come to us. Getting to our truth is the hardest part of learning to connect with a horse...it requires RE-connecting to ourselves first.

Looking 'In the box' at Psychological terms and their meanings...common jargon being thrown about and constantly misunderstood...this will be talked about in relation to horses, but applies generally as learning theory.

Negative and positive reinforcement:

Reinforcement

A reinforcer is anything that when paired with a behaviour tends to increase the chances that the behaviour will occur again. There are two main types of reinforcers: positive and negative.

A positive reinforcer is something that the horse wants- such as food- that will increase the probability that the behaviour will occur again once added.

 A negative reinforcer is something that the horse wants to avoid- a swinging rope for example- that will cause the behaviour once removed.

Primary and Secondary reinforcers

There are two sub-types of reinforcers: primary (unconditioned) and secondary (conditioned).

A primary reinforcer is something that the horse doesn't have to learn to like or dislike and usually includes food (and scratching the itches).

A secondary reinforcer is something the horse has to learn to like or dislike- basically  clicker for horses- and is sometimes called a bridge.

Secondary reinforcers are a form of operant conditioning, (next lecture) in which the subject creates an association between two stimuli. For example, dolphin trainers use a police whistle (and also emply clicker) as the conditioned reinforcer because it is easily heard and it leaves the trainer's hands free for signaling and fish throwing. In this case, the whistle is the secondary reinforcer, and the fish is the primary reinforcer.

It works beautifully for dolphins as the trainer cannot possibly be right there in the water to reward the dolphin immediately!

Once a secondary reinforcer is established, one must not used continuously/meaninglessly  because its usefulness will be lessened.(this will bring us to fixed/variable ratios in learning schedules...a couple of lectures away!)

Positive Reinforcement

A positive reinforcer is something that the horse wants- food or being scratched. With positive reinforcement, something is added or started that the horse likes and perceives as good. Because the horse wants to receive the positive reinforcer, it repeats the behaviour that caused it to gain the 'reward'

EG ; You appear at the gate, the horse comes, you give him a carrot and maybe a pat and leave. The horse will come to the gate when you appear, for the reward. (and you feel pleased because the horse comes when you appear at the gate...its always a two way thing lol!)

Positive reinforcement is the most basic and effective part of training but the reinforcer must be appropriately chosen... For example, water may be a positive reinforcer for ducks, but a negative reinforcer for cats!

Timing is crucial…positive reinforcement can occur with any behaviour…think about this..when you reward an animal acting out of fear by coddling and babying or giving a tidbit to a horse when he is afraid of something. What are you actually doing? Thats right, in actual fact you reward the fear response. ...Pays to think hard about this particular thing when beginning trailer loading...

Positive Vs. Negative

Summing up>>>

Behavior + Treat = Positive reinforcement

Behavior – swinging lead rope at a horse = Negative reinforcement

Try to move away from our natural tendency to think 'positive = good' and 'negative = bad'.

Negative Reinforcement VS Punishment

negative reinforcement is not the same as punishment. With punishment, the aversive stimulus occurs after the behavior it was meant to modify, having no affect on the behavior, itself. EG; A horse bites the owner, and the owner responds a couple of seconds later (after yelling OW....or something else not repeatable!) and smacks or yells at the horse.

Punishment does not result in predictable changes. (the horse may or may not continue to bite)

Negative reinforcement can be effectively used to cause or train a specific behavior.

 Negative reinforcers should be used with caution because overuse of aversive stimuli can lead to the "fallout" effects of punishment: fear, passivity, resistance, and reduced enthusiasm.

Timing

A reinforcer must occur  with the behavior it is meant to encourage. The timing of a reinforcement tells the horse exactly what is wanted.

Timing Is everything...even more important that what you do. The biggest problem of a beginner  is not seeing the behaviour he or she wants to shape. For example, if the has just come into collection, but you reward after the horse goes back onto the forehand. The reward reinforces the behaviour of working on the forehand. Reinforcing too early is also a problem and is just as ineffective…but with a horse it is pretty hard for us to be early! Ray Hunt had a saying 'you need to see what happens before it happens' ...Feel allows us to have timing, and feel is the hardest thing to set up so a student can learn what it is!

Of course when training with negative reinforcers, timing is just as important as when training with positive reinforcers. In traditional training the horse learns to turn left when the rider pulls the left rein, but the horse learns only if the pulling stops when he turns; the end of the pulling is the reinforcer. If the pulling stops too early or too late, the horse will not be sure what caused the pull to stop, therefore he will be forced to make ‘educated' guesses ie he will be unreliable, sometimes turning, sometimes not…or…he will learn to ignore the cue altogether.

Paddocking requirements

The basics: Shelter…Hedgerows, trees, natural lees, purpose  built

Water…town, dam or creek?

Fencing…types and advantages/disadvantages

Size…in this climate we need to allocate 2 – 3acres per horse to allow rotation and rest of the paddock. In drier areas of Australia you may need 5-10, maybe even more…in NZ you can survive on 1 ½ acres! This is without perhaps having to supplement feed.

Terrain, climate, and soil type will affect how much actual size is needed. Bear in mind the wild horse will move around 40km + per day…so you see a small paddock would need to be walked around many times to accomplish that! The point is, the motivation is not there to ensure the horse moves…all that lush grass at his feet, water 50m away…why go anywhere?! We will be looking at the paddock paradise model for those people who have small paddocks, and talking about the model and the creation of it next lecture.

RESEARCH NOTE: a wild foal monitered via a microchipped mother was found to have moved 85km on his very first day of life!

European research …paddock Paradise model; motivation is crucial to the success of the paddock Paradise model. Microchipped horses were monitored in the model were found to move less...this was a shock as the model was developed  to create more movement to improve health and particularly the feet and has been viewed as successful. To recreate the movement a feed station was developed that fed the horses about 16 times over the day. It took the horses 58 minutes to learn to go to the station on time! The microchip relayed information as to what the horse was to recieve in his feed and fed the approriate amount. repeat attempts to gain feed were ignored. The result was the horses began to move as the motivation was there to search for feed, return to the watering hole and so forth. The downside was that once the horses were returned to their usual habitat (stabling or 'normal' paddocks) they all suffered quite severe depression and emotional disturbances...they had rediscovered movement in their bodies and were once again deprived of it.

      Common poisonous weed Number one:

                       Crofton Weed.

The result is coughing, exercise intolerance, depression, loss of condition, laboured breathing and respiratory failure leading to death. How the plant actually works in the body is unknown. The damage caused by Crofton is basically permanent as fibrotic scars are formed in the lung tissue.

Both types will cause this (greater and lesser crofton...'mistweed')

The pollen is dangerous, probably why the myth occurs that it is only during flowering that the plant is a problem. Not so...ingesting the plant is dangerous and so is breathing the pollen.

(Great comment too, from Ingrid...not to canter through stands of crofton where you are riding, esp when it is in flower!)

     Grass type one:Seteria

   and management of bighead

Oxylates bind calcium, parathyroid gland releases parathyroid to pull calcium our of the bones to restore the blood to its correct level, the bones then show the ‘swelling’ characteristic of bighead.

calcium phosphorus ratio of 2:1

Calcium is of one the most important minerals required in the horses diet to maintain strong, healthy bones and teeth and to aid muscle and nerve function. It is essential that a horse’s diet is balanced to maintain good health and nutrition. However there are times in which this vital mineral is prevented from being absorbed adequately within the horses’ body therefore creating serious physiological problems.

The major nutritional problem facing horse owners is ‘Big Head” disease or nutritional hyperparathyroidism.

Clinical signs of big head may include lameness, ill thrift; lose of body condition and swollen jaw bones. The disease can develop within two months of placing horses onto affected feeds but more often it can take six to eight months. This is a serious condition and if left untreated can result in death.

Big head occurs when there is a calcium imbalance within the horses’ diet. This is often the result of horses being kept on tropical and sub- tropical grass pastures such as buffel grass, pangola grass, para grass, and kikuyu and seteria grass.

These grasses are high in a naturally occurring compound called oxalic acid which prevents adequate absorption of calcium. Once calcium becomes bound by oxalic acid it forms oxalates which do not allow the absorption of calcium in the small intestine. Calcium bound by oxalate then travels to the large intestine where the fermentation process releases limited amounts of calcium. This limited calcium absorption results in a lowering of blood calcium levels. In response the horses’ body activates the parathyroid gland to release parathyroid hormone. The function of this hormone is to reabsorb calcium from within the body and to restore adequate blood calcium levels. Calcium is reabsorbed primarily from the facial and pelvic bones and eventually from long bones. The reabsorption of calcium from these areas often results in chronic demineralisation of facial bones which causes the "big head" appearance.

Horses can also develop big head if their diets contain wheat bran and pollard products. (These ar ethe mainstay of most hi-fibre 'cool' feeds and the cheap 'pony pellets'...).

These diet components are high in calcium phytate which act in a similar manner to oxalate and not only bind calcium but also bind phosphorus in the process. Restoring the correct balance of calcium and phosphorous within the horses blood stream is imperative in the treatment and prevention of big head disease.

All cultivars of setaria contain oxalate:

• Kazungula has the highest levels;
• Narok and Solander have intermediate levels;
• Nandi has the lowest levels.

First Aid and Health

Vital signs and statistics of the horse

34 Litres of blood in a 450 kg horse roughly about 8% bodyweight

average blood pressure for a standing horse is 120/70

heart rate 40-44bpm higher in the smaller horse and can reach 250bpm under exertion… a 2-4 week old foal normally has a pulse between 70-90 bpm.

Above 80 in the resting horse, or below 20 is a sign of major problems (ie above =shock,dehydration or infection….below  = circulatory collapse or even pressure on the brain or heart)

Heart rate may be determined with a stethoscope, placed just behind the leftelbow of the animal. The pulse may also be felt when taken on an artery close to the skin, most commonly the external maxillary artery located on the lower jaw just behind the cheek. The radial pulse may be taken right behind the back of the knee. The digital pulse is taken on the inside of the pastern, right below the fetlock. It is usually very faint and difficult to find, although certain problems, such as laminitis, will make it quite strong.

respiration rate 8-12bpm watch the flankfall…count only the in or out breath.

temperature 37.5 -38.5. Some variation as with us. A fever spiking 42 for a horse is fatal as a rule.

gum colour

• Pale pink: the healthy color of gums, indicates good circulation. May brighten slightly after stenuous work due to an increase in circulation.
• Very pale pink: due to contracted capillaries. May indicate anemia, fever, or blood loss.
• Pale blue, gray, or whitish: indicates very poor circulation, especially if this is present in the area just above the tooth. May indicate severe shock or illness. A serious sign, often the best option is to call the veterinarian.
• Yellow with a tinge of brown: indicates jaundice and liver failure. Very serious and the veterinarian should see the animal immediately.
• Yellowish: a bright yellow tinge may occur if the horse has high levels of beta-carotene in his diet, such as horses that eat a good deal of Lucerne hay. Does not indicate any serious problem.
• Dark red: indicates enlarged capillaries, due to poisoning or severe dehydration. The veterinarian should be contacted immediately.

The capillary refill time is determined by pressing a finger against the horse's gums for about 2 seconds, so that a white "thumbprint" is left. After releasing, it should take no longer than 2 seconds for the gum color to return to normal.