11/10/2025
Let’s talk about: Science and Horsemanship
A majority of experienced equine professionals are unable to accurately explain the scientific reasoning as to why and how their training methods work, which can make the dismissal of science’s role in horsemanship easy.
Here are some sobering statistics from a questionnaire conducted by the National Coaches Accreditation:
79.5% of respondents considered Positive Reinforcement to be “very useful,”
…yet only 2.8% correctly explained its use in horse training.
19.3% considered Negative Reinforcement (the foundation of most traditional horse training methods) to be “very useful,”
…with 11.9% correctly explaining its use in horse training.
These statistics highlight a larger issue in our industry. A lot of information in the horse world gets passed from one trainer to another, which can lead to outdated or inaccurate ideas being shared.
When that happens, the nuance and the why behind each method often get lost along the way.
It is possible for a trainer to have incredible feel, timing, and skill, yet miscommunicates how or why what they are doing works.
That lack of explanation does not make them unskilled, but it does make it harder for students to learn beyond just imitation. Without understanding the underlying principles, important details get lost with every retelling.
This is one reason terms like Positive Reinforcement and Negative Reinforcement remain widely misunderstood, and why newer research in equine science often gets overlooked.
So why is science important, and how does it help with training?
⸻
👉 Learning Theory includes concepts like Positive and Negative Reinforcement.
It helps us understand how learning happens and what motivates behaviour.
It bridges the gap between what we feel when we train and the science of how horses actually process information.
Understanding motivation is at the heart of all effective training.
It allows us to create clearer communication, reduce confusion, and support learning through consistency rather than pressure.
⸻
👉 Equine Behaviour helps us understand why horses act the way they do and what their behaviour is communicating.
It gives us context for what we see, helping us recognize when a horse is learning, coping, or struggling.
Many professionals can identify the obvious signals, but the more subtle signs of tension or stress often go unnoticed.
Learning to observe and interpret these details deepens our empathy and allows us to respond before a horse feels the need to shout.
⸻
👉 Equine Ethology is the study of horse behaviour in natural or semi-natural environments.
It helps us understand how horses communicate, form relationships, learn from one another, and meet their behavioural and social needs.
The principles of ethology form the foundation of modern behaviour and welfare science.
By observing horses as they are, researchers have identified patterns that help guide more ethical training and management.
From this research, we have developed ethograms: structured lists of observable behaviours used to identify and categorize what we see.
Today, ethograms are used in both research and domestic settings to assess things like discomfort, pain, stress, and social interaction.
I have included several ethograms in the comments, including the Equine Discomfort Ethogram, the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram, a Facial Behaviour Ethogram, and others used in current welfare research.
⸻
👉 Equine Welfare Science helps us recognize and encourage management practices that support species-appropriate lifestyles for domestic horses.
Frameworks like the Five Freedoms and Five Domains guide how we assess wellbeing, taking into account both physical and emotional needs.
Welfare science reminds us that training outcomes are always linked to the horse’s overall environment, health, and ability to meet their natural needs.
⸻
👉 Applied Behaviour Science brings all of this together.
It is where learning theory, behaviour, ethology, and welfare meet in practice.
It guides how we apply scientific principles to real-world training, ensuring that what we do is effective, ethical, and centered on the horse’s wellbeing.
⸻
Science has a vital role in horsemanship, even when it is overlooked or dismissed.
It gives us the language to explain what we feel and the knowledge to do better for our horses.
When we combine education and evidence with lived experience and hands on skills we create trainers who are informed, adaptable, and empathetic.
Science does not replace feel, it gives it meaning.
