Using Dominance-Based Techniques to Train Horses is Not Acceptable Practice

Equine behaviour consultant Alice Campbell has written a great article looking at the ethics of using dominance-based techniques to train horses. You can find the article here.

Unfortunately I regularly see the result of these techniques in the cases I am asked to see. Horses have been chased, bullied and punished by trainers trying to assert their ‘dominance’ or become the horse’s ‘herd leader’ and as a result the horses become frightened of the trainer and their training process. That fear can also generalise and become associated with other people, equipment and even training environments.

There is a huge amount of misinformation about horse behaviour and how horses learn in so-called ‘natural horsemanship’ techniques (‘natural’ in terms of horse training is definitely a poisoned term for me!). Horses have complex social systems rather than a linear hierarchy or pecking order where one horse is a ‘leader’ dominant over all the others. So ‘dominance’ in that context makes no sense to them.

Horses are innately very social and friendly animals, peacekeeping in a herd is vital, we actually see aggressive behaviour very rarely in wild horse populations. When we do see aggressive or dominant behaviour in domestic horse herds it is actually as a result of horses being fearful and undersocialised, or resource guarding – for example trying to defend their space, food sources, friends etc. So using fear or pain via pressure halters as a basis for training is totally unacceptable.

As stated in the article International Society for Equitation Science says “Dominance hierarchies, alpha positions or leadership in social groups of horses are man-made concepts that should not form the basis of human-horse interactions … there is currently no evidence of leadership being unique to specific individuals within the social group … Basing human to horse interactions on a dominance concept may be detrimental to horse welfare … Trainers, riders and handlers must aim to establish a clear and consistent relationship with their horses in order to safeguard their welfare. They should be aware of the possible repercussions of describing their interaction with the horse and their training processes in the context of social organisation.”

“Evidence-based animal organisations and trainers strongly oppose dominance-based methods. Instead they seek to advance training practices by incorporating the latest scientific research in training programs. For instance, the IAABC (2022) states their “mission is to inspire, develop, and provide quality, evidence-based education, research, and other charitable activities in animal training and behaviour.” These views are shared amongst evidence-based horse trainers who aim to reduce harmful practices and promote sustainable change throughout the equine industry. To do this, these trainers seek to develop highly effective training methods by treating each horse as an individual, recognising the horse’s needs, adapting management and training practices to prevent unwanted behaviours, and working with owners and handlers to harmonise human-horse relations.”

Well done Alice and International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants, it is fantastic to finally see this information reaching a wider audience!