Determine why a horse is head shy, and use learning theory principles to reverse the behavior

One horse flipped over backward in cross-ties—twice—when his owner approached his face with a towel to wipe away dirt. Another needed five oral syringes of medication daily for weeks, but he threw his head out of reach every time his owner approached. Horses like these that are extremely head or ear shy can be dangerous and difficult to handle and treat.

However, both horses not only overcame the scenarios above but became willing participants, says positive reinforcement trainer Shawna Karrasch, who is based in Pennsylvania.

Horses can be head or ear shy for many reasons. “Two common causes are preexisting pain or fear,” explains Lauren Fraser, MSc, CHBC, an equine behaviorist in British Columbia, Canada. Preexisting pain or fear might be exacerbated when you touch that part of the body. Or the horse might learn when people touch that part of the body, it will induce fear or pain.

Before you can help a horse become more comfortable having his head and ears touched, you must sort out which scenario is causing the defensive action. Then you can use learning principles to systematically teach your horse to tolerate—and even ­enjoy—having these parts of his body touched.

Rule Out Physical Problems

Whether your horse has had a long-­standing aversion to being touched on the face and head or you’ve just noticed this behavior change recently, always rule out a physical problem before attempting to eliminate the behavior, Karrasch says. Call your veterinarian to conduct an exam.

“There are so many things that can cause pain and discomfort. Even cervical pain can make a horse reluctant to touch on the head or near the ear,” Fraser says.

These are just a few medical conditions that might be to blame:

• Dental disease.
• Osteoarthritis of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) on both sides of the horse’s head in front of the ears.
• Aural plaques in the horse’s ears.
• Vision problems.
• Growing pains from incoming teeth.

“Sometimes, even after the physical issue is resolved, the horse can be defensive about being touched on the head or ears,” Karrasch says.

Evaluate Prior Learning

After your vet rules out physical issues or treats the source of pain, consider the horse’s prior experiences. Many young ­horses (and unhandled older ones) have never been taught to tolerate contact in those areas.

It’s also possible a person taught the horse that having those spots touched is unpleasant. Fraser uses the outdated practice of ear twitching as an example. A horse might have tolerated interaction until a person reached up, used the twitch, and introduced pain.

Other times people have inadvertently brought on the issue. For example, if the horse is experiencing underlying pain in the head or neck region, touching him there can intensify the discomfort.

“Horses can be taught that things or events are to be feared in as little as one bad experience,” says Fraser. “These learned fears can take a considerable amount of time and effort to resolve, and the horse will always be at risk of relapse. The fear may come back if the horse is once again traumatized when exposed to that thing or event. It takes much, much less time to train in a way that teaches the horse that these sorts of things aren’t scary and can even be enjoyable.”

Fear can come from misguided attempts to desensitize a horse. True systematic desensitization involves gradual exposure to something an animal fears, in a way that doesn’t trigger fear. However, many popular versions of “desensitization” involve levels of exposure that deliberately trigger fear and escape responses, says Karrasch. For example, a trainer might wave a plastic bag near the horse, triggering a fear response. The trainer then keeps waving the bag until the horse stops trying to escape. While the trainer might think this is desensitization, it is actually flooding—a technique animal behavior professionals do not recommend.

Understanding How Horses Learn

Horses are highly sensitive animals, and every interaction they have with their environment, handlers, and trainers shapes their behavior. Learning theory refers to the principles and mechanisms that underlie how animals learn and respond to training. Two ways in which horses can learn are operant and classical conditioning. Operant conditioning is essentially trial and error. The horse connects his voluntary behavior with consequences that are either desirable or undesirable. On the other hand, classical conditioning is when horses make involuntary associations about two stimuli.

Operant conditioning This approach results in horses being more—or less—likely to perform a behavior again in the future. Reinforcement and punishment are part of operant conditioning, and behaviors can be positively or negatively reinforced or positively and negatively punished.

“These are not judgment statements,” says Fraser. “Positive does not mean good, and negative does not mean bad. Positive reinforcement means that something is added, and negative reinforcement means that something is taken away in order to make the behavior more likely to happen in the future.”

For Karrasch, positive reinforcement is the most effective method for teaching horses to learn and unlearn behaviors. The method adds a stimulus that rewards the horse. For example, when a head-shy horse relaxes when you touch his face, you give a treat to emphasize that was the response you wanted.

Negative reinforcement is the opposite. The reward is having the stimulus removed. One example is releasing pressure on the halter when the horse lowers his head.

While positive and negative reinforcement both work to increase future behavior because the horse experiences desirable consequences, positive and negative punishment decrease future behavior because the horse experiences unpleasant consequences.

“Using positive and negative punishment is not recommended,” Karrasch says. “It often does not work and sometimes it may actually be reinforcing for the learner. It may also increase reactivity and decrease trust. This is obviously a very important factor with a head-shy horse.”

Classical conditioning Also known as Pavlovian conditioning, classical conditioning occurs when horses make involuntary associations between stimuli. Fraser uses the example of a horse that had not been ear shy previously becoming reactive after an ear twitch was used on him. The horse’s brain has now formed a connection between a hand reaching for his ear and pain. So, the next time someone repeats the motion (even without a twitch) he protects his ears from contact. This is the instinctive part of the brain that keeps him safe, says Fraser.

“When we’re training a horse, whether we are aware of it or not, we are using these principles of operant and classical conditioning and teaching them that their voluntary behavior results in consequences that are desirable or undesirable and that certain situations or things are going to predict them feeling a certain way,” Fraser says. “When we understand operant and classical conditioning, it can help us more sympathetically train our horses and understand why or why we are not getting results.”

Real-Life Scenarios

In the case of the head-shy horse that flipped in the cross-ties at the beginning of the article, Karrasch started reconditioning him untied, out of the cross-ties and in an area where he felt safe. First, she touched his cheek with the back of her hand. As he accepted this, she gave a treat, used a clicker to mark the positive response, and moved further up his face and to his ears.

Next, she balled up a dry washcloth and repeated the exercise in each location. Only when the horse was comfortable with the previous work did she reintroduce a full towel, approaching his face in a quick motion. Finally, she placed him back in the cross-ties, where he stood without fear.

“It wasn’t 45 minutes of flooding him,” she says. “We did three five-minute sessions a day, and it took him about a week. He went from hating it to tolerating it. But we don’t want to leave at tolerating. I worked with him until I could massage his ear with my finger, and he would hold his head in a way that says ‘touch my ear.’ ”

Teaching a horse to accept—even ­appreciate—an ear massage is one thing. If you have a horse that detests deworming, the thought of having him stand voluntarily for five tubes of oral medication is another challenge entirely. But it is not impossible.

Through classical conditioning and positive reinforcement, Karrasch medicated her sick horse (the one described) easily. He didn’t love it, but he would turn and meet her halfway without a halter or lead rope.

How was this possible?

Long before he became ill, she taught him a syringe (without a needle) in the mouth was not painful or something to fear through a process she teaches before ever deworming or medicating a horse. First, she places her hand over the horse’s nose and softly touches his cheek until he remains relaxed. Then she slides a finger in the corner of his mouth and reinforces with a treat until she can manipulate the entire mouth and moves on to inserting a syringe. She also prepares horses for the taste by filling syringes with applesauce or carrot baby food (i.e., puree).

It’s essential to monitor the horse’s emotional state, says Karrasch. Changes in his eye expressions, pointed lips, or wrinkles around the nose can signal tension.

“They have a fear threshold, and we have to watch carefully,” she says.

Treating the Head-Shy Horse

In emergency situations or instances when you don’t have adequate time to train to a point where the horse isn’t fearful about the treatment or other event, you might consider using anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) situational medications prescribed by a veterinarian, Fraser says.

“Such medications can help minimize the distress the horse would feel, can prevent fear from worsening, and decrease the likelihood that new behavior problems also develop,” she says. “Additionally, some horses with strong fear reactions may also benefit from daily anti-anxiety medications during retraining. These can make it easier for the horse to overcome their fear while counterconditioning (teaching an alternate response to triggering stimuli) and desensitization occur.”

Safety is always the priority in situations where the horse needs care but is protective or defensive. Sometimes it might be necessary to do whatever it takes, including restraint, to treat the horse, says Karrasch.

“Once you’re through the catastrophe, you need to go back and train with positive reinforcement to create sense of safety and comfort and work toward cooperative care,” she says. “Cooperative care is so much safer in the long run, and you’re doing yourself a favor to think ahead to things that may be a struggle if your horse got injured.”