Does your horse have a 'tell'?
A 'tell' is often referred to in human behaviour, as an unconscious signal that a person many give when they are keeping a cognitive process, thought or information from those around them or at least trying to! Movies and stories have depicted it in poker scenes, or during some for of deception or manipulation, usually it indicates to the bad guy what is going on for the good guy to escape. Our real life example may be that person who can never keep a secret because everyone can 'tell' when they are keeping one..... However, when it comes to horse training, over the years it has been used to describe the visual indicators of a horse having 'learnt' something, or having experienced a mental shift to relaxation etc. Personally, the way that I train horses, I took for the physical response as the key primary indicator of their understanding, and secondarily I observe the small physical changes that give me insight into their base line cognitive state, and level of stress - indicating either good or bad, stress can be either. This behavioural observation, called the Yerkes-Dodson Law is present in humans, and horses.
This is Rosie's, (my 5 year old thoroughbred mare) most distinct 'Tell'. I call it her 'perturbation' tell.
Perturbation has two meanings that I apply here, 1. Anxiety; mental uneasiness. 2. A deviation of a system, moving object, or process from its regular or normal state or path, caused by an outside influence.
Rosie can have the tendency to continue to have varying degree's of the "sunny side up lip' where her jaw tension pulls in her lips flat to her bottom jaw (mandible) creating a protrusion of the middle 'chin', and a protrusion of the bottom lip past her upper lip. This can be present when she is verging on the flight response, when she is expecting something she wants (food), if she is waiting, if she is watching something that has aroused her, or if she is very focused when there is a lot of external stimuli going on. This can also be present throughout a big and successful learning experience for her. At times it can be less severe compared to other times, and it can be present along with entire body signs of relaxation. This is usually related to hormonal cycle changes. Some may even see this facial expression as a sign of relaxation, but with consistent and close observation it is very clearly associated with behaviourally induced jaw / neck / shoulder tension in Rosies case.
This facial expression is different to the equine grimace face, or equine pain face. So, I consider it as her perturbation tell. I use it as a measure of her capacity to be positively or negatively engaged with the situation she is in. I observe it, along with other behaviours as just another of the many important pieces of visual information the horse gives us, to help us to provide them with the best opportunity to succeed at what we are asking of then.
Being masters of, and life long students at the visual information the horse provides us will always lead to better training, welfare, management and health outcomes for our horses.
#equinescience #equinebehaviour #equinewelfare #resetequinesem #horseridersofinstagram #horsesofinstagram #horsetraining
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