What We Learned
As I mentioned earlier, this amazing recall capability is of great interest to the scientific community, but how do these results help you? Now you know definitively that horses remember things they've learned for weeks, months, even years after the last training session or learning episode. They're not merely conditioned-response animals. (A conditioned-response is an automatic response made by an animal once it associates an experience with a neutral stimulus.)
You now know that horses learn quickly given the right motivation. Long, mundane training sessions aren't necessary or effective; in fact, horses learn better in short sessions. In training, horses will often show sudden improvement in learning when they're given a break and allowed to settle on a problem.
Events that happened in the past greatly influence your horse's behavior. When these events were positive, these memories enhance later learning and interaction. Likewise, negative experiences become fixed in memory so strongly that your horse will display fear or anxiety whenever the same or comparable situations arise.
What they learn early in life remains part of your horses' memory in adulthood, so thoroughly understand desensitization training whenever you work with your very young horse.
Poor horse handling early on may cause a fear reaction toward later events that otherwise would've been benign. Additionally, if you treat your horse as a pet rather than staying in harmony with his nature, don't be surprised if he learns early on to manipulate you, which can lead to dangerous behaviors.
During general handling and riding at the ERF, our horses are encouraged not only to participate, but also to make decisions. We find that-in connection with memory recall-the more the horses are stimulated, the faster new experiences are learned and the better they learn to learn.
Creating Positive Memories
With the help of positive memories, our horses easily adapt to new experiences, whether they're being exposed to unusual objects during training or navigating rough surf on a beach.
Jack Daniels probably has some horrifying memories from his distant past. This is something I'll need to remember. We'll take as much time as he needs to give him pleasant new memories that will help form a trusting relationship.
Because horses are so adaptable, with time, patience, and training know-how we can help them overcome most negative experiences, retrain just about any undesirable behavior, and replace bad memories with good ones. Equine memory is extraordinary. It's up to us to treat it wisely
