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Unpublished Paper
AnS 490-A: The Use of Positive Reinforcement Training for a Filly to Accept Husbandry Practices
Animal Industry Report
  • McKenzie Shaffer, Iowa State University
  • Meredith Puls, Iowa State University
  • Nikki Ferwerda, Iowa State University
  • Anna Johnson, Iowa State University
Extension Number
ASL R3124
Publication Date
2016
Topic
Teaching
Summary and Implications

Training and or retraining have an impact on the horses’ physical and psychological well-being. Training can either use positive- (PRT) or negative (NRT) reinforcement. The objective of this experiment was to determine the efficacy of using a clicker with positive reinforcement training on a filly to accept basic husbandry tasks over a 5 week period. One thoroughbred filly was used. One treatment, a PRT schedule, was used. A total of five consecutive weeks, with two 20-minute sessions were conducted. A training session included 10 tasks, with three attempts per task. Positive reinforcement training was defined as the horse successfully completing the task, getting a click and peppermint flavored horse treat. Tasks were completed in the same order during each training session; (1) touch ears (2) touch nose (3) inspect mouth (4) lift legs (5) halter on (6) saddling and (7) bridling. Each task received a scale from 1 (easy) to 4 (refusal). An average for each task by training session by week was then determined. The data will be presented descriptively. Saddling and bridle were dropped as the filly was ranked 4 (refusal). Overall baseline session one for all tasks was a 2.7 (somewhat difficult). There was not a consistent improvement over the weekly sessions for husbandry tasks; however, although scores were higher than baseline, the filly was ranked as either “easy” for two- and “some difficulty” for three other tasks. In conclusion, the filly was accepting of the PRT methodology and this in turn may improve worker safety and filly well-being.

Copyright Holder
Iowa State University
DOI
https://doi.org/10.31274/ans_air-180814-254
Language
en
Citation Information
McKenzie Shaffer, Meredith Puls, Nikki Ferwerda and Anna Johnson. "AnS 490-A: The Use of Positive Reinforcement Training for a Filly to Accept Husbandry Practices" (2016)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/anna_butters-johnson/87/