electric shock head collar
- Thread starter silver zaanif
- Start date
fburton
Well-Known Member
They are both potentially painful and unpleasant, that's true. However, a horse knows who did the hitting and where it came from so has the possibility of escape which is the natural reaction to being attacked. The same applies to electric fencing. Because it's always in the same place and the pain occurs when the horse is there and doing the same thing (i.e. touching the wire!), it is easy for him to learn to avoid in the future. Electric fences are 100% consistent punishers.
The same cannot be said for electric shock collars. The horse may not be able to escape by shying or running away, so the natural response is thwarted. If this happens often enough, the horse may lapse into a state of learned helplessness (as happened to rats in electric shock experiments) when they discover that physical escape from the shock is impossible.
In my view, people cannot be relied on to administer a shock punishment with the utmost consistency and effectiveness, unlike an electric fence. Some people have superb timing and judgement, but many do not. One frequently sees woefully poor timing in administering 'ordinary' physical reprimands, so why would it be any better for shock collar use?
If someone has timing good enough to deliver an electric shock in a way that is totally effective, fair and doesn't create more fear, then they would, in my opinion, be better to apply that skill using positive methods instead. At least, with those, the risk of inadvertently causing unwanted anxiety or fear or aggression if rewards are delivered inappropriately or with bad timing is much, much less - besides which, punishment can only teach a horse what not to do and is utterly useless for telling them what you want them to do!