fburton
Well-Known Member
For Naturally...
"The rate at which horses habituate to stimuli varies widely from individual to individual, and from breed to breed. In some cases it can be increased by "flooding", or exposing the animal to extreme doses of the stimulus. Flooding is also used to tackle certain phobias in humans - people with a fear of snakes are sometimes helped when forced to confront them in the hands of a trainer - but our complex psyche and imagination confounds the success of this technique. In horses, however, it works well, and is especially effective if applied while the horse is immobile, as in the example of the wheat-box experiments (page 29)."
That quote confirms your recollection exactly.
Since then he (with Paul McGreevy) has written: "In a sensible training program, it is important not to flood the horse with aversive stimuli but to progressively habituate at the lowest thresholds of aversive pressure."
Perhaps the second quote indicates a distinction is drawn between how effective a method is and how desirable it is.
I guess one would have to ask Andrew whether he feels flooding should be used in training (and how much is acceptable), not simply whether it's effective.
Tying up Catwalk to make escape harder may have allowed flooding to be performed. Whether that is humane or represents the best of horsemanship is a different matter entirely and open to debate.
In The Truth About Horses, Andrew McLean writes:
"The rate at which horses habituate to stimuli varies widely from individual to individual, and from breed to breed. In some cases it can be increased by "flooding", or exposing the animal to extreme doses of the stimulus. Flooding is also used to tackle certain phobias in humans - people with a fear of snakes are sometimes helped when forced to confront them in the hands of a trainer - but our complex psyche and imagination confounds the success of this technique. In horses, however, it works well, and is especially effective if applied while the horse is immobile, as in the example of the wheat-box experiments (page 29)."
That quote confirms your recollection exactly.
Since then he (with Paul McGreevy) has written: "In a sensible training program, it is important not to flood the horse with aversive stimuli but to progressively habituate at the lowest thresholds of aversive pressure."
Perhaps the second quote indicates a distinction is drawn between how effective a method is and how desirable it is.
I guess one would have to ask Andrew whether he feels flooding should be used in training (and how much is acceptable), not simply whether it's effective.
Tying up Catwalk to make escape harder may have allowed flooding to be performed. Whether that is humane or represents the best of horsemanship is a different matter entirely and open to debate.
