Learning and Memory in Horses

Introduction

Learning and memory are closely linked. Learning is the acquisition of skills and knowledge, whereas memory is the ability of the horse to store information and recall it.  Understanding how horse learn and remember is valuable in how we train and manage our horses. The strong links between learning and memory are of significance in training and management of horses.

Learning in horses

Learning can be defined as “a change in behaviour in the light of experience”, which occurs throughout the lifetime of an animal.  Learning means that the horse can adapt its response to a changing environment, which in the wild means increasing its chance of survival especially given that the horse is a prey species.  Training horses works best when we take the horse’s natural behaviour into account. 

There are various ways by which horses can learn and an understanding of these types of learning is important so that we can apply this knowledge to training our horses as well as it helps us to understand why and/or how unwanted behaviours may arise, and also to help prevent unwanted behaviours developing. 

Types of learning

There are two major categories of learning: non-associative and associative. 

In non-associative learning the horses is exposed to a single stimulus to which it can become habituated or sensitised.  Habituation is when a stimulus is presented so many times that the instinctive response begins to disappear.  Horses are what we call neophobic, which means a dislike of anything new or unfamiliar, and therefore new things/situations must be introduced in a gradual and non-aversive manner. 

An example of this would be putting a rug on a horse for the first time.  If you just throw the rug on without gradually introducing the horse to it then this will be very stressful for the horse and is more likely to result in the horse remembering this as a fearful experience. If done gradually, then the horse become habituated to the rug and not fearful of it.  

The opposite of habituation is sensitisation, this is when there is an increase in a response after repeated presentations of the stimulus.  An example of this is once we have backed a young horse, we can use sensitisation to increase the response to the rider’s leg as we are aiming for the horse to increase its response to this stimulus. 

In associative learning, the horse makes links between two stimuli, which is a process also known as conditioning.  There are two forms of conditioning: classical and operant. 

In classical conditioning the horse gains a response to a new stimulus by association with an old stimulus.  Some of you may have heard of the Russian physiologist Pavlov who famously showed that ringing a bell when feeding a dog leads to the dog salivating when they hear a bell ringing, even in the absence of food. The dog is exhibiting the same response to the bell as they would to the food. In horses, an example of this is when racing grooms whistle when they see their horse urinating. Once the association between whistling and urinating is made, the horse then urinates when the groom whistles, which is helpful for post-race urine tests.  Another example of this is when some horses associate travelling boots being put on them with going into the lorry or trailer. 

Operant conditioning is where an association is made between a given stimuli and the response.  Operant conditioning is widely used in horse training and involves the horse making an association between its actions and the consequences of these actions.  When the outcome of its actions is desirable for the horse them the behaviour is repeated, whereas if the outcome is undesirable the behaviour is reduced.  Thus, the horse is learning to obtain something or avoid something.  This relies on what’s called positive or negative reinforcement.  For example, a food reward for a horse entering a trailer is a positive reward and so this is positive reinforcement and the horse is more likely to want to go into the trailer again because of this.  However, most horse training regimes use negative reinforcement, i.e. horse learns to perform a certain response to avoid or escape a negative stimulus; for example, if the rider applies their leg to the horse’s sides, the horse move from the leg and the rider then removes that pressure, the horse then is more likely to move off the riders leg because it has learned that if it does this, the rider will remove the pressure of the leg.  It is very important to note that negative reinforcement is not punishment. The word negative in this context does also not mean that the stimuli is harsh, another example is taking tension on the lead rope to ask the horse to walk and then releasing that tension when the horse steps forwards.

Timing of reinforcement is a very important part of training because this ensures that the horse associates the reinforcement with the actions you intended to reinforce.  If you are too late to reward the desired response, then you may inadvertently be reinforcing a different behaviour than you intended to.  Reinforcement should occur within 3 seconds of the desired behaviour. 

Memory in horses

Horses have a remarkable memory, both in terms of short-term and long-term recall. Research has shown that horses can remember human faces and their emotional expressions, even when they’ve only seen a photograph of the person. They are also capable of recognizing and remembering the whinnies of familiar herd members. From an evolutionary perspective, it’s beneficial for horses to have a strong memory. For example, they need to remember where to find food and water sources, and they must quickly learn from bad experiences to avoid danger. Studies have shown that horses can recall learned concepts and apply them to new situations up to a decade later.  Horses are known to be able to recognise and remember the relationships within their herd as well as the ability to remember humans after long periods of separation.  They can also recall complex problem-solving strategies for ten years or more.

Understanding how horses form and retain memories can be incredibly useful for training and caring for them, as it helps us appreciate their cognitive abilities and the experiences that shape their behaviour. 

Supporting memory in horses

Tyrosine, an amino acid that is naturally produced in the body from phenylalanine, plays a significant role in cognitive functions, particularly in relation to memory. It helps produce several important brain chemicals, including dopamine, which is crucial for memory and motor skills. Tyrosine is considered beneficial for memory and performance in stressful situations.  Supplementing with tyrosine is thought to increase levels of neurotransmitters like dopamine, adrenaline, and norepinephrine. By boosting these neurotransmitters, tyrosine may help improve memory and performance, especially in stressful situations. For instance, studies have shown that tyrosine can reverse a decline in neurotransmitters caused by stress in other species, restoring their memory.

Tyrosine has been found to improve mental performance by improving working memory during mentally demanding tasks. This suggests that tyrosine supplementation could be beneficial for tasks that require extended mental effort in horses. Supplementing with tyrosine may therefore be beneficial for supporting learning and memory in horses, potentially when learning new tasks or adapting to new environments. 

Supplements containing tyrosine can be administered in powder form by adding to a bucket feed and/or fed by hand as a cookie/treat that contains tyrosine.  Administering by hand as a cookie can work well in terms of adding additional tyrosine into the diet without the need for a bucket feed, which can be particularly useful at competitions and when travelling.  However, if the treat is predominantly fed prior to a period of change, e.g. travelling, competing etc it is possible that the horse begins to associate the cookie with the activity itself.  Anecdotally, some horses can refuse to eat the cookie due to this association.

Conclusion

Taking the time to understand how horses learn and remember can really help us to improve their training and management.  Supplements can help support learning and memory, but this is always in addition to appropriate management and training.  How we administer supplements can also impact on behaviour and therefore knowledge of behaviour can help us manage this.

Article written for Premier Performance by Professor Jo-Anne Murray.