Activating SEEK and Turning Off FEAR in Horses

In her book Animals Make Us Human, Dr. Temple Grandin discusses the emotions that many species of animals can have.  Animals and people have the same core emotions in the brain.   Dr. Panksepp, a neuroscientist, discovered that localized electrode stimulation of the brain caused  the same well-organized behavior for certain core emotions, which he calls “blue ribbon emotions.”  These emotions are rage, fear, panic, seek, lust, care, and play. (pp. 7-8)  Seeking is defined as “the positive emotions of wanting, looking forward to, or being curious about something…..SEEKING feels good” (p. 7)

In the chapter on horses, Dr. Grandin discusses the research on how horses react in relation to these emotions.  With horses, she posits that you can use positive reinforcement to activate the Seek emotion while turning off FEAR.  Fear and seek are the opposite ends of the emotional spectrum.   And with horses, fear can be easily converted to anger or rage.  For this reason, she highly recommends positive reinforcement to shape behavior whenever possible (although positive and negative reinforcement can be used together).  (p. 123) 

One week afterthe equine social intelligence test,
Blessi overturned and did "seeking" for carrots under
the racing barrels--even though I have never put
carrots under racing barrels

As Grandin states, “…when your horse becomes really accustomed to clicker training or other positive reinforcement to keep the SEEKING system turned on, you inhibit the FEAR system overall because the SEEKING system and the FEAR system are opposed inside the brain.  If you’re in the middle of a clicker-training session and a piece of plastic blows into your horse’s face, he’s going to be less likely to panic than he would be if his FEAR system were already mildly ‘turned on’ through negative reinforcement.
It’s easier for a horse to be brave
                                                              when he’s feeling happy than when
                                                              he’s feeling nervous or
                                                              afraid” (p.130). 

In many ways, using positive reinforcement is teaching the horse to train us—they learn how to learn.  “With positive reinforcement, the animal suddenly ‘gets it’ –realizes that it can do something to make a good thing happen.  That’s called learning to learn.  When the animal learns to learn, it starts to offer behavior.  That’s what behaviorists call it.  It’ll intentionally run through all kinds of different behaviors looking for one that will work” (Grandin, 2009, p. 131).

Blessi "volunteering" a smile to see if he can
earn a reward

Blessi and I do some training with treats.  I have found that Blessi often “volunteers” behavior such as bowing or smiling.  He is more likely to explore a novel item in his environment than panic over it.  People ask if Blessi is just a calm natured horse or if he has been trained to be accepting of new stimuli.  I have to say that it is probably a combination of both.

Source:
Grandin, T. (2009). Animals Make Us Human, First Mariner Book, NY.

Blessi has a Coat of Arms and a Motto

About a year ago, Blessi and I moved to a new boarding stable that has never had an Icelandic before.  Blessi is doing well there and the owners and other boarders really like Blessi.  In fact, 24 hours after I moved him to the new stable, I went back to check on him and Rena,the owner,  told me that if I ever leave, Blessi has to stay--they are going to adopt him.

Well Icelandics are smart and they are opportunistic.  Not long after moving in to the new stable, Rena told me that she and her husband were having lunch in the kitchen.  They looked out their French doors and saw Blessi grazing right by their deck--note that is not his pasture.  The electricity for the pastures went out  and Blessi noticed the golden opportunity.

It turns out that there is a lower gate that consists of two wires attached to the "bicycle" handles.  I didn't even notice the gate but Blessi did.  He undid the lower wire and then ducked under the upper wire.  What
is impressive about this is that he associated the "bicycle" handles with "gate."  Blessi has never been taken in or out of the pasture at this area.  When Rena went to fetch him with a halter and lead rope, he led her on a merry chase around the yard until she thought to get some grain.  Luckily there were no other horses in the pasture.

The stable owner analyzed Blessi's personality.  She said that his personality is described by the expression "I can so I will" and that he should have a sign on his door with that phrase.  I thought that would be cooler in Latin, which per the online translator is:

"Possum sic ego."

This could be the motto of many an Icelandic horse.  So Blessi now has his own coat of arms complete with motto.  Rena has a sense of humor and they still want to adopt Blessi--I think.

Note:  The horse artwork in the center is not a very good representation of an Icelandic but the image was in the public domain.

Of Horses and Men

The Icelandic Film and TV Academy selected  Hross í oss (Of Horses and Men) as Iceland's entry as Best Foreign Language film category for the 2014 Oscars.  Directed by Benedikt Erlingsson, the movie is about the importance of the horse in the life of Icelandic country side in 1970s with themes of romance, daily living, friendships, and rivalries. 

Source:  http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=29314&ew_0_a_id=403102

Due to a stallion acting like a stallion in the official trailer below, this clip is not recommended for children.  So parents, please preview!

Alana Odegard of Icelandic Review On-Line reviewed the film.  Highlights from her review include:
"...the movie was about what has always been close to Icelanders: horses and nature. However, Hross í oss is no ordinary horse and nature film, but rather a keyhole peep into Iceland’s past...

Hross í oss masterfully weaves together parables; negative passion, such as breach of peace, drunkenness or vengefulness are punished, the positive passion finds reward. The film also describes the experiences of two foreigners, deeply touching as acts of initiation, although they could hardly be more different from each other..

Horses are everywhere in this movie. Strong and fast, life-giving, overwhelmingly wild and yet tender, and always at people’s side, up to the last breath. In the static nature shots horses are the moving elements. They move people. They move the soul. At the same time they are the stationary element, as if to indicate, “why are you going mad?” They represent beauty, power, and eternity in this loving story that does not condemn ugliness and weakness. "

Alana Odegard notes that although both actors and horses face danger in the film no horses were harmed during the filming due to the training of great work of the eight men led by Benedikt Líndal.


You can read the entire review at:
http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/reviews/film/

I look forward to seeing how "Of Horses and Men" fares at the Academies this year.