Classical conditioning is inherent in your many routine interactions with your horse. The rattling sound of grain buckets at dinner time eliciting excited nickers up and down the barn aisle? Thats classical conditioning. A stallion that knows whether hes heading to his paddock or to the breeding shed based on the halter hes wearing? Also classical conditioning. The seasoned school horse that pins his ears at the sight of the saddle and girth? You guessed it, classical conditioning.Also known as associative learning, classical conditioning is one of the oldest, simplest, and most widely used methods of training horses. For this article weve teamed up with two trainers to bring you the latest research and share practical applications for this powerful cognitive tool. Alex Travis, MSc, owner of Indigenous Equine, in Snowflake, Arizona, has a masters degree in animal comparative biomedical science. She teaches holistic horsemanship practices based on the Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive (LIMA) method, prioritizing positive reinforcement and liberty work. Shelby Dennis, owner of Milestone Equestrian, in British Columbia, Canada, is a certified equine behavior consultant through the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABB) and holds a certificate of equine science from the University of Guelph, in Ontario. Dennis specializes in training horses with behavioral problems and is passionate about improving both equine welfare and scientific literacy in the horse industry. Our two sources have helped us answer five common questions about classical conditioning. Lets start with the basics.1. What Is Classical Conditioning?The horse-human relationship has been developing since the horse was first domesticated about 6,000 years ago. Associative learning has been used since the very beginning as one of the most basic forms of communication between the two species, but Ivan Pavlov coined the term classical conditioning in 1897. A Russian-Soviet scientist, Pavlov incidentally realized dogs that had learned to link the sound of a bell with being fed would eventually salivate at the sound of the bell alone, even in the absence of food. He called this a conditioned reflex. In essence, classical conditioning is the involuntary act of associating a neutral stimulus with a positive or negative one. The learned behavior (salivating, in the case of Pavlovs dogs) is a conditioned, involuntary response to the previously neutral stimulus of the sound of a bell. Going back to the first example in our introduction, the rattling sound of the grain buckets is the equine equivalent of the dogs bell signaling the arrival of food.2. Classical Conditioning vs. Operant Conditioning: Whats the Difference?Equestrians who look into classical conditioning usually also learn about operant conditioning. Classical and operant conditioning work hand in hand, serving complementary yet distinct purposes. Making a learned association (classical conditioning) is one of the most powerful means of teaching horses because it is involuntary, says Travis. It just happens automatically. That is a big difference from operant conditioning, where the learning is voluntary.She further explains the difference between the two learning methods:Classical conditioning: involuntary associations made with previously neutral stimuli.Operant conditioning: voluntary actions maintained or dissuaded through consequences.Operant conditioning is divided into four quadrants:Positive Reinforcement/RewardNegative Reinforcement/RewardPositive PunishmentNegative PunishmentIn operant conditioning, the goal of reinforcement (or reward) is to make a behavior more likely to happen again, and the goal of punishment is to make a behavior less likely to happen again. In this context, positive and negative dont mean good or bad, says Travis. Instead, positive means adding and negative means removing a stimulus.She gives us a real-world example: You are longeing your horse in the round pen with a longe whip and tapping him on the butt if he breaks from the trot into a walk. That is positive punishment (operant conditioning)as well as negative reinforcement, because youre removing the stimulus when the horse does the desired taskand you are also creating a negative learned association to the whip in the process (classical conditioning). As this scenario demonstrates, the two types of conditioning are often intertwined during the learning process.Through target training, Shelby Dennis uses classical and operant conditioning to teach the horse to associate touching a particular object with a reward. | Courtesy Carleen Geisler3. Is Clicker Training a Form of Classical Conditioning?The short answer is yes. Clicker training uses classical conditioning to teach the horse to associate a reward with a specific sound, oftentimes a clicker or another auditory signal such as Yes or Good, explains Dennis. Specifically, trainers use classical conditioning in the bridging phase of clicker training, where the horse learns to associate the click noise (or the verbal praise) with a positive outcome: Click means I did good, and a reward is coming. Generally, this reward is food.Once youve established this chain reaction in the horses brain, you can then use operant conditioning to produce the desired behaviors. Each time the horse offers the correct answer, you produce the click noise, letting him know he did the right thing. In this instance, youre using classical conditioning to offer positive reinforcement during operant conditioning.Our sources describe clicker training as an effective, stress-free, and force-free method of training your horse. This being said, criticism of the technique lies in the fact that horses can become frustrated if the food reward is withheld and develop nipping or biting behaviors as a result.Conditioned reflexes become just that: reflexes. Anyone whos tried to get rid of a bad habit knows how difficult it can be to break those involuntary, repeated actions. As a behaviorist and trainer, I can confidently say that undoing negative learned associations is the hardest part of my job, says Travis. Sometimes it isnt even possible, in part because an animal has absolutely no control over involuntary responses.As prey animals, horses are naturally equipped with a strong survival instinct. It sometimes takes a single negative experience to create a permanent aversion. Take, for example, a jumper crashing through a liverpool (an obstacle built with water) and being terrified of blue tarps and water jumps for life. Thats why you must perform associative learning carefully and intentionally.Final Thoughts Classical conditioning can be both exciting and empowering as an equine training tool. You can use it to create conditioned reflexes that become second nature to your horse, allowing you to rewire his brain and shape his actions. Our sources say that by prioritizing rewards, associative learning is a welfare-friendly tool that improves the learning experience for both horse and human. Not to mention, it can be a great way to bond with your horse and teach him fun tricks.