We sometimes think our animals are super clever when they get the ‘new thang’ in one. It feels good to believe that one short session has taught something new. Sadly, that is rarely the case. Real learning takes time, lots of repetition and a predictable outcome that allows the brain to form new and reliable pathways.
We rarely see single event learning situations unless, frustratingly, it’s a bad experience. That makes sense. No animal wants to repeat behaviour that had catastrophic consequences.
I’ve been reminded of this need to rinse and repeat with my dog during our recent training sessions. I was teaching her to step up on a small platform and pivot to face the opposite direction. It’s part of a behaviour chain, and I thought we were really getting there. Then I changed my position slightly, and everything fell apart. She missed the platform, tried the pivot and looked confused as she slipped off.
I had changed the pattern before she had built a solid mental map. I judged that she had repeated it sufficiently, her behaviour told me otherwise. So I’ve gone back, I’m working on the pivot being a strong anchor until it is fluent, and then I will very slowly begin to fade my position.
It reminded me how fragile early learning can be. But more importantly, how we assume things are on cue way before they are! Horses are no different. We spend months reinforcing a position, then we shift something small, and suddenly the horse ‘doesn’t get it’.
They are not being awkward.
Their brain is simply following the pattern we built. When we change it, they must form a new pathway, which takes practice. Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to reorganise itself through repetition. Each correct experience strengthens the relevant connections. Each inaccurate or inconsistent one weakens them. A study by Henshall and colleagues on habit formation and stress in horses found that when animals worked under pressure, they relied more on old habits and were slower to adapt to change. In other words, stress and inconsistency can make learning rigid, while calm repetition builds flexibility. This is why good training often looks slow from the outside. It is not that the horse or dog is lacking intelligence, but that we are literally helping their brain rewire.
Repetition builds reliability.
Predictability builds confidence.
And both together create the kind of learning that lasts.
Nobody is stupid or lazy. We’re doing our best to understand behaviour. It is intriguing and frustrating but it’s what we love.
Henshall, C., Randle, H., Francis, N. & Freire, R. (2022) Habit Formation and the Effect of Repeated Stress Exposures on Cognitive Flexibility Learning in Horses. Animals, 12(20), 2818. doi: 10.3390/ani12202818
