Reitenhof Equestrian Simulator Belgium

10/06/2026

One of the consequences of the horse’s outstanding recognition memory is they remember precise events and do not generalise immediately.

This is known as ‘context-specific learning’.

For example, when you are training a new response, it can be advantageous to ask for it in the same place.

Think of asking for your first canter transitions in the corner of an arena, your horse soon learns to anticipate your cue in this place, and possibly only in one particular corner or context initially.

Competent trainers who train complex movements such as piaffe, know full well the power of context-specific learning.

We want to help our horses to generalise, which means they respond in the same way with similar stimuli.

Because of their extraordinary recognition memory horses are slow to generalise and certainly they do not immediately do so.

Horse people commonly know that if a horse has never seen a white pony or even a donkey, they don’t immediately generalise that its a horse, or non-predator. To that horse, this is not the look of a predator BUT it also doesn’t quite look like a horse!

It makes good sense from an evolutionary point of view to be suspicious of any new stimuli that is different to what they have mentally stored.

In terms of horse training, on average the horse needs to be trained to go through/over at least five different types of the same style of obstacles before he or she generalises (e.g., five horse trailers/trucks, or five water jumps etc.) and shows no hesitation with altered forms and shapes.

We can call this ‘the rule of five’.

This is an excerpt from Modern Horse Training: Equitation Science Principles & Practice, Volume 1 by Andrew McLean.

This book is available for purchase on our webshop and we have a small stock of this edition available for fast shipping in Europe (get in fast though as there are only a few books left).

30/05/2026

Dit! 👇

29/05/2026

Imagine having someone simultaneously pushing you forward and pulling you back, only to label you difficult for not knowing whether to move or stay still.

This is the reality for many horses when riders apply leg and rein pressure at the same time.

Over time, horses exposed to consistent conflicting signals don't just get confused, they may develop learned helplessness, a state in which the horse stops trying to find the right response altogether because no response has ever reliably worked.

This is not stubbornness. It is a predictable outcome of unpredictable training. The horse has simply learned that trying doesn't change anything.

This is also one of the reasons escalating pressure rarely solves the problem. If the foundation of the signal was never clear to begin with, riding stronger only adds more noise to an already confusing picture.

Horses learn best when one signal means one thing, every time, with an immediate release the moment they respond correctly.

If your horse seems resistant, confused or shut down, before assuming it is 'horse' problem, ask whether the signals you are giving can be reasonably interpreted.

🔗 Equitation Science, 2nd Edition by Andrew McLean, Paul McGreevy, Janne Whinther Christensen & Uta König von Borstel is available for purchase on our website.

29/05/2026

Dressage Rider Training 👇👇👇

28/05/2026

Dit!

Self-carriage is essential for the general health of the ridden horse.

Many horse sports already ride horses in self-carriage regarding the rein aids.

However, those sports that demand contact should pay more than just token notice of this principle.

Deficits in self-carriage can lead to poor health and longevity in the horse as well as chronic stress and negative welfare states.

Moreover, self carriage is the main key to the future of horse sports: if horse-riding codes adopted this at all levels, much of the stress seen in horse sports would completely disappear, and it is more than likely that people’s lives will be saved because stressed horses are dangerous horses.

This text is an excerpt from Modern Horse Training: Equitation Science Principles & Practice, Volume 1 by Andrew McLean

25/05/2026

The horse’s reaction to pain typically manifests as acute stress in terms of hyperreactive, flight response behaviours.

Importantly however, prolonged exposure to unavoidable pain and stress may eventually result in the reduced display of flight response behaviours shown in chronic stress.

In this situation we may see a more apathetic response (i.e. indifference to the pain or stress) culminating in learned helplessness.

The detection of pain via the animal’s face is known as ‘facial action coding’ (FAC) and it requires meticulous training of observers.

The problem with this manual approach to FAC’s is that animals’ faces, including horses are variable, and therefore the trained observers need a lot of practice to get it right.

On the other hand, the recent emergence of machine learning to detect pain, coupled with the rapid emergence of AI provides our best hope for diagnosing pain.

While human observers rely on a dozen or so features on the horse’s face, machine learning has the potential to pinpoint thousands of markers, and thus the future holds some promise that machine learning and AI will be able to account for the various shapes and contours of horses’ faces and provide accurate diagnoses.

Modern Horse Training: Equitation Science Principles & Practice, Volume 2 - Andrew McLean