We’ve also talked a little about engaging the horse’s volitional brain. Why is this so important? Because if the volitional brain is not engaged, learning does not take place. That is why with operant conditioning techniques, it often takes 500 passes to make the horse learn what it needs to know until the behavior is ingrained as an automatic reaction. It is still, however a reaction even after all that practicing, not a response. This is the beauty of ESCT. It teaches the horse how to respond instead of to react from instinct. The horse actually wants to engage its learning brain and experience life in this new setting. You can see it at work as the therapy progresses and it is a delight to watch, much like a child opening a holiday present.
If the horse has checked out from boredom or trauma, he is not learning. During ESCT, we monitor the horse’s progress according to his engagement in the process and his entrainment with the stressor or situation. Continued improvement and relaxation between presentation of the stressor signals he is engaged and entrained. If he shows the slightest regression, we respect his fear and bring him back to the 5th floor, where learning lives. If he is in the basement, he’s checked out and if he’s in the penthouse, he’s sky high on adrenaline. The ESCT therapist also needs to stay on the 5th floor emotionally and bodily, not buying into the horse’s fear.
This is not something that can be taught outright, but comes with practice and trust in one’s intuition and horse sense. Throughout the therapy, the horse gives signals and those that include a wide eye with the whites showing, a high head, moving back a couple of steps, pulling on the lead rope, not looking at the stressor, pawing, outright bolting and head tossing and snorting are all signs of increased tension and fear. Relaxed horses exhibit a contra posta stance in the hind legs (where one leg is bent in a relaxed position), a relaxed neck, facing the stressor without tugs on the lead rope, moving toward the stressor, sniffing it with the muzzle, touching it, allowing it to touch him, soft eyes, relaxed jaw, and deep sighing. In this mode, the horse is learning and integrating at high speed.
One of the techniques used in ESCT is called mirroring, where the therapist does what the horse does when the stressor is presented. If the horse moves his head away, the therapist moves the stressor away. If the horse steps back, the therapist steps back. This differs greatly from some training techniques in which the horse is forced to do what the human wants because not doing it would mean learning a bad habit. The logic of this has always escaped me because the horse is not a recalcitrant child but a prey animal attempting to protect his life.
If the horse should check out or bolt, bring him back gently and carefully and do some ESCT to engage and entrain him again. Then proceed in little steps. This rarely happens and when it does it is not a tragic mistake, only part of the healing process.
