I was looking for an old email with a job quote for work on the house when I came across an even older email from somebody that asked a question that I thought might be a good topic for discussion,

It was from a professional clicker trainer who said they were a big fan and an avid follower of my posts. This surprised me a bit because I have previously argued the problems with clicker training and I never get a Christmas card from people who are into clicker training.

In any case, the trainer asked an interesting question.

They asked if a horse must always experience emotional stress when learning a new task. They said that one of the first things that attracted them to clicker training was the idea of low or no-stress training. At first, this seemed to be the case. However, as they became more aware of the little things they noticed signs of stress in all the horses when first teaching new things.

At first, they thought it was just a sign that they needed to become a better trainer, but they have become aware that the problem exists in all forms of horse training whether using positive or negative reinforcement training. These observations left them wondering whether or not you can ever eradicate the stress in the training process. Is stress a part of all learning?

It’s a good question, but I don’t think it is too hard to answer.

I believe the answer is simple. I feel you can never eliminate every ounce of stress in the early stages of teaching a new idea. There will always be some degree of internal struggle for a horse in the beginning.

Why?

It is because we always have to say “NO” to a horse before we ever say “YES”. Telling a horse “NO” inevitably creates anxiety and we can’t say “YES” until we have first said “NO”.

Let me explain.

To teach a horse a new task we have to give them a new idea. The role of training is to make the idea they presently possess less attractive than the new idea we want them to have. We have to make the one they are holding onto less appealing. It’s my version of the old adage, “make the right thing easy and the wrong thing less easy”.

So we say “NO” to the old idea before we can say “YES” to the new idea. “NO” is designed to encourage a horse to search for a new idea. “NO” always comes before “YES”, even in clicker training. When we say “NO” we instill some concern in our horse to make the old idea less appealing. When we say “Yes” we are nurturing good feelings in the new idea. It’s unavoidable. But “NO” always comes before “YES” because a new idea is not available to a horse until it lets go of the old idea.

Sometimes we can change a horse’s thought with a soft, quiet “NO” and other times it requires more. But irrespective of how loudly we say “NO”, if it is enough to change a horse’s thought it will always create some initial anxiety.

I hope that is clear.

I should add that the anxiety a horse feels that comes from saying “NO” is on a scale between being very small and only noticeable to the horse to all-out panic. Usually, it is somewhere in between those two ends of the scale.

Now I want to say something that the clicker trainer had not considered which led to some discussion between us.

There is a threshold of anxiety that must be created to encourage a horse to search for a new idea. If the anxiety is not enough, the horse will not be motivated to let go of the old idea. If the anxiety is too much, we cross into the realm of punishment and create too much anxiety that switches off a horse’s ability to problem-solve and results in reactions instead of responses.

The exact right amount of “NO” we should apply is the amount that creates a threshold level of anxiety between not enough to motivate a search and too much leading to punishment. Some people believe that the anxiety a horse experiences is dependent on how big or loud or forceful the “NO” is, but this is not true. Different horses will require different “loudness” of “NO” to create the same level of anxiety to motivate a horse to change its thought. One horse may need a huge “NO” and another may require a whisper of a “NO” to achieve the same result. But the threshold level of anxiety each horse experiences will be identical. The amplitude of the “NO” is irrelevant.

So if we do just enough to achieve the threshold level of anxiety to inspire a horse to change its idea, it does not matter if that amount comes from a loud “NO” or a quiet “NO”. The stress the horse experiences is the same. It is the same if the “NO” is applied through positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement. The anxiety is always the same if we do the minimum for a horse to consider the old idea is no longer the better idea.

So what does determine how much anxiety a “NO” creates? What dictates the threshold of anxiety that is just barely enough to get a horse to search for a different idea?

The determining factor of how stressed a horse gets when we apply the threshold amount of “NO” is how strongly a horse feels it needs to hold onto the old idea we are trying to change. If a horse believes the old idea is linked to its survival, then when we try to change that idea the stress levels will go through the roof. If the horse believes the old idea is the one that is keeping it alive and safe, changing that idea is a challenge. But the less committed a horse is to an idea, the less stress it experiences when we say “NO”. The degree of anxiety is dependent on the strength of the old idea - not the method or the way we apply the “NO”.

If we try to change a horse’s idea there will always be some degree of anxiety in the early stages. The method of training won’t change that. But the method of training and the way it is applied can have a huge influence on whether or not the anxiety is maintained and carried through life. That’s where the real debate begins about which is the better method.