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SOUND EFFECTS
How sound can affect the horse and some of the resulting behaviour issues. (Edited September 2010)
It is a long time since the horse ruled the highways, flight was considered a fantastical notion by the eccentric few and fireworks were for royal occasions only.
When you stop to think about these things, how our world has changed and how these changes have dramatically increased the noise levels, the need to help the horse to accept sound becomes more logical.
The more a horse experiences in his life, experiences introduced with care and patience, the more confident he will be. We can never do too much to help the horse stay calm because in so doing, we greatly increase our own safety.
The horse’s hearing is very sensitive. He has evolved this way because his predators
did their best to avoid being seen and developed skills to avoid this, most with
the added benefit of good camouflage. Only humans have become so reliant upon sight;
animals still rely equally, if not more, upon hearing and scent. To all animals,
especially prey animals, sound is an ‘early warning system’, they will not stand
and look if they should hear an unknown sound, their instinct tells them to run -
‘Sound training’ for the horse is not a new idea – it has been practiced by the Army for hundreds of years. The horse was not born to accept cannon fire, the noise of a charging army or a brass band. Police horses go through a lengthy training regime in preparation not only for the sights they will see but also for the cacophony of sound they will hear every day of their working lives. Traffic, jeering crowds, brass bands, low flying aircraft, fireworks, even cannon fire; the modern police horse has to be ready to cope.
If a horse has a known issue with a specific sound, it is most probable that he is, for whatever reason, ‘sound sensitive’. To try to desensitise him to just the known (or presumed) fear is like treating a symptom rather than dealing with the cause. The approach to desensitising the horse to sound should be a more general one. The aim should be to get the horse to feel at ease with any noise/ sound he may encounter and this is done by subjecting him to as many sounds as possible, as often as possible.
The horse does not understand sound in the same way that we do, anymore than he understands the actual words we use. His understanding is far more simplistic; the sound is either recognised and remembered as safe, or it is not. For example, a firework, a car backfiring or a gun shot, all of these sounds are similar. To the horse, it is only the sudden bang which is relevant and he is either used to this and knows not to be frightened, or he is not.
From a very early age, we can understand sound and from where it originates. A sudden
noise may startle us but nothing more. The horse however, can only learn from experience
that the sound is either safe, or something to fear. We understand the need to desensitise
him to objects, to introduce him carefully to new situations -
A sound that frightened a horse is registered in the same way as any other bad experience. The more the horse is forced to confront the fear, the more frightened and reactive he will become. Once the horse has memorised a fear, if force is then applied in an attempt to get acceptance, the more his survival instinct will take over. When instinct takes over, training and our control over the movement of the horse is at best, greatly diminished, if not completely lost.
The horse can be desensitised to just about anything if the process is carried out with sufficient patience and care: he is very capable of adapting and if he were not, we would do considerably less with him. He should never be forced to accept a situation but given time, in his naturally cautious way, to make his own assessment. If this is done, the horse will retain confidence in relation to that experience and we can build on this confidence with continued, careful desensitisation.
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My own horses have a constant background of sound. Someone once said to me “isn’t
it like a sort of torture-
People who have a radio constantly playing in the background are more aware of the
silence when the radio is turned off, than constant awareness of what is being played
when it is on. This same principle is applied when desensitising the horse to sound.
My horses are definitely more relaxed when there is a background noise, it is as
though they find comfort and security from the sound. Also, with a background noise
there is less awareness of other, particularly sudden, noises. The background sound
is not loud, loudness is not the main issue. We are surrounded by many different
sounds all day, every day and we are unaware of most of them. Our lack or awareness
comes from being constantly subjected to them -
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Travelling Issues
The noise level to which a horse is subjected during transit can be substantial and a very likely cause of stress during transit, or a refusal to box. The horse is not able to follow his instinct to take flight and is bombarded with sound. We all appreciate the need to get the horse used to a horsebox, to an enclosed space: the need to desensitise him to the sounds he will hear whilst travelling, is seldom considered. Imagine how terrifying this must be for some horses, especially those who already have an issue with traffic. Surely, to a sound sensitive, prey animal it is a logical necessity to carefully introduce the sounds he will hear as soon as the horse accepts being in an enclosed space?
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Napping
There are many reasons why a horse starts ‘napping’ but sound is seldom considered
as a possibility. The horse may have heard something while he was out and because
he was prevented from running back to safety and probably forced to move further
from it towards the sound, he becomes reluctant to go out. The sound may have become
irrelevant, in the sense that it can no longer be heard but to the horse, the association
between the fear and the situation is a retained memory. We have become so oblivious
to noise that unless it was something obvious, like a helicopter skimming over the
tops of the trees, we would not notice. The horse can hear a sound far away in the
distance, possibly inaudible to us but enough to make him wary. From a very early
age, I was taught to “watch his ears” a piece of advise more relevant today than
it was then. If you pay attention to a horse’s ears, you will often find they indicate
a problem well in advance -
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Applause
Award ceremonies are a problem for some horses because they cannot cope with the applause. This is a very good example of a fear, having been established, being reinforced every time the horse is subjected to the stimulus of that fear. Eventually the instinct of the horse is to take flight and no amount of pacifying will settle him. Far better to get the horse used to the sound in advance rather than assume or expect him to deal with it, along with all the other stress elements of a show or event. Most horses do not have a problem: you can take the risk that yours is one of them, or save a lot of trouble and plan in advance.
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If the horse has developed a fear even a hint of anything associated with the cause of that fear will effect a reaction: if sound is the stimulus, the location is irrelevant. It is easy to assume that when a horse plays up he is just being disobedient and generally difficult. These characteristics are human, not equine. The horse always has a reason for his behaviour and this can only be based upon one or more of the following: Instinct (survival), training (habit), fear and pain.
We have come to accept our noisy world. We have the capacity to understand sound and at least in our immediate environment, we have some control: this is not so for the horse. He needs to be accustomed to and taught that our noise will not hurt him. We should not expect a horse to do anything for which he is not properly prepared. Sound really is an ‘early warning system’ for the horse and as our world becomes increasingly noisy and we expect more from our horses, we need to do as much as possible to help them adapt and accept noise. The horse is required to work and compete in a noisy environment: his preparation for this should begin at home where he is in familiar surroundings and feels most secure.
To those who think that it is impossible to teach a horse not to react to aircraft / fireworks / guns / traffic etc. then look at the police as an example: if you put in the time, the results can be amazing. No horse will ever be 100% reliable but what is possible is the change from uncontrolled panic, to a manageable reaction. Everyone who rides or works with a horse should aim to achieve this, for their safety, those around them and the horse. The world will only become more noisy.