Xenophon (430 – 354 BCE) wrote a book called The Art of Horsemanship. This guy lived in ancient Greece, before people had last names! I am sharing a few quotes from the book because, even though they were written over 2000 years ago, they are consistent with the documented behavior science we know today.
Xenophon and his fellows could not rely on scientific data. There was none! The information in the book is based on his own observations about horses. He developed a system for choosing, raising, and training the steeds that were ridden and driven to support commerce, international relations (wars) and daily life in ancient Greece.
Leading, Leads, and Leashes
Anyone who has read my blog or trained with me knows that leashes should be loose. Loose leashes improve the dog’s stress level, safety, and the human’s experience. In spite of this, you’ll see dogs walking out in front of humans, pulling on tight leashes, pretty much every day. Similarly, if you pay attention, you’ll commonly see humans pulling horses along, walking way ahead of the horse, holding the very end of a rein. Several feet behind the handler, you’ll see the rein pulling on a bit in the horse’s mouth, with the horse’s head and neck stretched out in front of him. The horse is trying to figure out how to reduce the pressure on his mouth as he is dragged, to no avail.
Leading Horses
Horses don’t look very comfortable and they are certainly not voluntarily participating when handlers are dragging them by their heads. We won’t even get into why a handler would do this. There’s an entire treatise to be entered regarding common perspectives on who horses are and how they should be treated. Read on to see what Xenophon had to say about leading horses, 2000 years ago.
“When a horse is to be led, I certainly do not approve of leading him behind you; for then you have the least chance to look out for yourself, and the horse has the best chance to do whatever he likes. Then again I object to teaching the horse to go on ahead with a long leading-rein. The reason is that the horse can then do mischief on either side he pleases, and can even whirl around and face his leader. Why, only think of several horses led together in this fashion, – how in the world could they be kept away from one another? But a horse that is accustomed to be led by the side can do the least mischief to other horses and to men, and would be most convenient and ready for the rider, especially if he should ever have to mount in a hurry.”
Safety and Partnership
Safety of animal and handler is key, no matter what species we’re talking about. Physical safety should be a high priority in choosing handling techniques, equaled in value by behavioral safety. Simply being kind and not hurting the animal is the first step. This is because animals are learning all the time which behaviors to repeat, and thus creating their future behavior through their current experiences. A handler walking in partnership with a horse or dog is the safest condition.
Xenophon didn’t mention a loose leash or lead rope, but he did talk about a horse “accustomed to be led by the side.” I interpret that to mean that the horse has been trained to walk next to the handler. This describes partnership rather than a handler dragging or following a horse. The visual is of the two walking together with a loose lead rope.
Cooperative Care and Putting Equipment On
Cooperative care is a major focus of training for me, meaning helping dogs and all species to volunteer to take part in grooming, examinations, and accepting medications. It’s important for large animals who live in confinement in zoos, stables, and elsewhere simply because they are big and it is difficult to forcibly hold them down, not to mention that it’s stressful and disrespectful to force care on any individual.
This second reason is why we should teach cooperative care to our dogs and cats. The concept extends to having collars, harnesses, and in the case of horses, bridles and bits applied. It is quicker, easier, and safer to work together with an animal to put equipment on than to forcibly apply it. It also leads to an open-minded animal who is ready to learn new things. Xenophon had the same idea.
“Willingness to receive the bit is such an important point that a horse which refuses it is utterly useless. Now, if the bridle is put on not only when he is going to be worked, but also when he is led to his food and home after exercise, it would not be at all strange if he should seize the bit of his own accord when you hold it out to him.”
Ancient Associations
Xenophon is talking about learning through association here. The trainer sets up possible associations between wearing the bridle and things the horse likes to do. When the horse makes the associations in his brain, he starts to eagerly grab the bit when it’s offered. This behavior becomes routine, and horse and handler are cooperating in putting on a bridle. Xenophon goes on to say:
“For instance, he would receive the bit the more readily if some good should come of it every time he received it; and he will leap and jump up and obey in all the rest if he looks forward to a season of rest on finishing what he has been directed to do.”
Yes, he will! Reinforcement comes in many forms. Providing rest and a comforting, pleasant environment after doing a job can reinforce the work the horse did. Treats help, too. Remember that reinforcement is an item or opportunity given after a behavior that makes the behavior occur more frequently in the future.
Compelled vs. Volunteered Behavior
I’ll close with a more general training philosophy communicated by Xenophon:
“For what the horse does under compulsion, as Simon also observes, is done without understanding; and there is no beauty in it either, any more than if one should whip and spur a dancer. There would be a great deal more ungracefulness than beauty in either a horse or a man that was so treated. No, he should show off all his finest and more brilliant performances willingly and at a mere sign.” (Simon is another ancient guy who worked with horses that Xenophon was referring to in this quote.)
It seems like Pavlov’s work was SO long ago, but just over 100 years have passed since Pavlov taught us about classical conditioning. Xenophon preceded Pavlov by 2000 years and he understood just how connected the physical performance of a behavior is with the emotional state of the performer. Xenophon didn’t know why and hadn’t shown it in a controlled environment, but he observed the differences between compelled and volunteered behavior in horses in ancient Greece.
Animal Training is Ancient
Lest you think that animal behavior and training are new and modern, think again! People have been training animals since they learned that animals could help them with the work of daily life, career advancement, and survival. Training requires knowledge about the natural behavior of animals and how to change it.
The main advantage we have today is scientific documentation about how, why, and how well specific training techniques work. Most importantly, broad communication systems allow us to access almost immediately the information from current work as well as the work of those who lived 2000 years ago that can help us learn to be more effective, efficient, and humane in our training.
Positive Reinforcement Training is Not New
The idea that “traditional” training, with force and compulsion, often to the extreme of physical pain for the animal in training, preceded positive reinforcement training is popular on social media. There continues to be quite a big rift between trainers like me, who espouse science-based training using positive reinforcement coupled with classical conditioning and trainers who punish animals to teach new behaviors. Some believe this second group is hanging onto the past, refusing to advance with the times to rely on positive reinforcement for training. Rarely are things so black and white. It is usually best to study and understand the available information. It’s not about “traditional” or “modern,” but the experiences of the animal learner as training progresses. Xenophon knew this, we know it today, and science has documented it.
Although Xenophon also talks about punishment in his writing, there is no support of harsh pain being used as a training technique. He provides an astounding amount of information about classical conditioning and positive reinforcement. The ancient Greeks were smart. They used their powers of observation to learn to adjust their own behavior, helping them get the behaviors they wanted from the horses they relied on for their own welfare. “Hanging onto the past” could mean embracing the power of positive reinforcement and association techniques now fully documented by scientific studies but already in use over 2000 years ago.
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