Debunking Myths: \’The Whip is only an Extension of my Arm\’

There are so many myths in the horse world it is hard to choose where to start debunking them. Since I see many advertisements on Facebook with videos of horses at liberty and instructors talking about ‘freedom’, ‘connection’, ‘positive training’ or ‘friendship’ while carrying a whip and directing it to a horse with a swishing tail and a lot of tension in its body, I will start with the whip (\’It\’s-an-extension-of-my-arm\’) myth.

‘The Whip is only an Extension of My Arm’

Equestrians say this, and often add ‘… but I don’t use it.’ Or they add ‘… I don’t use it to hit my horse‘ or ‘I only use it to get his attention‘ or ‘It is a useful tool in the right hands‘. We have all heard this and maybe even said it! I know I have said it many times, and believed it too.

Motivation

That was before I understood the Principles of Learning & Motivation, now my Key Lesson 1 for Trainers.

There are only two ways all living beings are being motivated.

1) Motivated to avoid pain/discomfort/unpleasant things (these are called ‘aversives’) and

2) Motivated to get pleasure/wonderful things/things that make us feel good (these are called ‘appetitives’).

Click here>> to join my free R+ course.

Your horses’ point of view

Unfortunately the horse just sees a whip. Or the stick.

Your horse has made an association with this tool based, on his experience.

That\’s his motivation. I think I it\’s safe to generalize here and say the majority of horses still have aversive associations with whips and training sticks.

In other words: they have learned that whips and training sticks (and for some horses even all sticks) can cause pain. They pay attention to the stick/whip because they want to avoid pain, and will anticipating with their behaviour. That is the real reason horses often \’behave better\’ when there is a whip nearby. They have learned how to avoid it\’s consequences.

I\’ve been a riding instructor and many of my clients rode with a whip \’that they never used\’. Some horses that participated in dressage competitions even learned that this was true, but only within the white dressage fences of the competition ring. That was exactly where they learned to ignore the whip, because it wouldn\’t be used in those 7 minutes (riders get minus points for using a whip in dressage!).

Your point of view

You can call it ‘carrot’ stick, but to the horse who knows perfectly what a carrot looks like, tastes like and smells like, your carrot stick is just a stick. With a string.

And it is (or has been!) used to touch the horse, not only in a good, friendly ways (to give scratches) but also often in aversive ways. That last part is the part we tend to forget when we say ‘It’s only an extension of my arm.’ That\’s the part that makes us feel uncomfortable as horse lovers: that we do use aversives to get our way.

Negative reinforcement

That is what negative reinforcement training is: taking away an aversive in order to strengthen a behaviour. The whip or stick is meant to and used (!) to apply aversives with.

Aversive: something an animal actively wants to avoid or escape from

The Magic of Work at Liberty

Who hasn’t seen wonderful clinicians that work at liberty with one or more horses. Their horses seem to do everything s/he wants. They have that magical bond and offer to teach this to you too!

If you look closely you see they are carrying a whip or a some kind of stick. Sometimes it is really thin or white. It is designed to be almost invisible to human eyes. Not to horses!

They learned to watch those tools very closely and pay attention to those ‘extensions of arms’. Why? Because in training sessions they were applied to give aversives with, and horse remember this!

If you watch the body language of those horses closely, you can see that it is that tool that gives the commands (‘Do this, or else…’) instead of giving cues with (‘Would you like to do this, so you might earn an appetitive’).

Whips are made to use as aversive

Most horses have the experience that a whip is (has been) used (in the past) to apply aversives with. Yes, I mean inflicting pain or discomfort. No, I really mean pain. Whip yourself and you know what I am talking about. Even \’just tapping lightly\’ on the same place of your skin will irritate you pretty quickly.

Read this article based on a study about the horses\’ skin and pain.

By waving your whip or ‘just carrying’ it, your horse will anticipate this behaviour because of his learning curve. His association with the whip is based on his experience in the past: Whips can hurt. This is why riders can’t and won’t ride without it: they simply wouldn\’t get the same results unless they retrain the horse.

Sorry to burst your bubble

Now you know why… I am so sorry to burst your bubble. When my bubble finally burst I felt really, really guilty. The upside is: when you know better you can do better.

This is exactly why most clinicians who work at liberty, carry one or two whips in their hands while working at liberty with their horses. It is not magic and it is certainly not positive reinforcement (not even when they feed a treat!): the horse can tell what is coming next if he does not obey the commands. There is no magic in at liberty work in natural horsemanship! It is science and it is based on negative reinforcement training.

Don’t let your other senses fool you

You are being fooled by the beautiful, emotional music in the videos/performances, your eyes are distracted by what your ears hear.

The music is purposely chosen to trigger wonderful emotions in you and is meant to distract your eyes from what they see: a horse that displays tension in the muscles, swishing its tail, stressed expression in their eyes. or horses that vent their tension on the horse next to them.

Tip

Watch your favorite video without sound and pay attention 
to the horses. What do you see? Does the horse look happy or tense? 
If you mimic his body language how does that make you feel?

Then there is often a voice-over or words to read in the video (also meant to distract your eyes from what the horses’ body language is telling). They use beautiful words like ‘connection’ or ‘harmony’, ‘partnership’, ‘friendship’, ‘love’ and so on. Words that play with our emotions and make us long for what we want: be accepted by our horse.

Magical bond

We all want that magical connection with our horses so badly that we want to see ‘the magic’, we want to believe what they are saying. We all want to hear that we too, can achieve this. We believe the ‘leadership’ and ‘friendship’ myths that they are selling us.

Then, after we bought the program, we refuse to see what it really is: negative reinforcement training, based on aversives. No place for the horse to have a say in their training whatsoever. If they do, they get more aversives. Really sad actually, because if you use positive reinforcement you can get all this. And more! The more is the real relationship!

Negative reinforcement for the horse is positive reinforcement for the trainer

We humans are heavily positively reinforced by the Oh’s and Ah’s and admiration from our friends at the barn or our instructor, so we carry on with it. It also gives us a powerful feeling that a horse -an animal 8-10 times our own size- obeys us.

On top of that, who wants to admit that they are forcing their horse to work at ‘liberty’?

Learn more about motivating your horse with positive things (appetitives)

This is what I used to say

‘No, no. It is An Extension Of My Arm’, I explained to every one when I changed my whip for a training stick. ‘I am just being a good leader’ and ‘I am mimicking the behaviour of the alpha horse or lead mare’ and so on. I believed it myself!

The more someone asked critical questions, the more I repeated the marketing nonsense and defended myself. That is called cognitive dissonance. 

Listen to your Inner Wisdom

My heart…. my heart couldn’t be fooled by the smart marketing one-liners. It was that little voice in my heart that kept telling me ‘This is not friendship, this looks more like a dictatorship to me. It is not magic when the horse walks without tack, he really knows that if he runs away from you and your whip/stick that you will react with, more pressure, more running around than ever.’

The horse just chooses the smart choice: self-preservation. Staying near the human, simply means getting rid of the pressure when you work at liberty.

The myth debunked

Sorry, I was distracted and getting carried away, let’s get back to the whip myth.

I am not saying you are using it to apply aversives with, but in our world I don’t know any horse that has seen a whip but never has had an aversive encounter with it. None. Not even my own horse.

This what I am referring to: every horse in this world will encounter a whip as an aversive tool sooner or later in his life. Unless we all turn to 100% positive reinforcement! 

A whip is simply designed to be used as an aversive tool! It is designed to inflict a lot of pain without causing a visible injury. Every equestrian who ever accidentally (or on purpose) has been whipped by herself or someone else knows what I am talking about: it hurts! Badly!

What equestrian has never been so frustrated that they used their whip to motivate their horse into the desired behaviour?

In other words: when you get desperate you use your whip to hit! What equestrian has never used a whip to flick the horse with in case of emergency or to get out of a very dangerous situation? Yes, that is totally understandable.

Horses remember those things, even years later! Even when you felt guilty or felt very sorry about it, the horse simply learned a lesson and will remember.

Lose the extension!

When you know better, you do better. Loose the ‘extension’ because it doesn’t benefit your relationship with your horse.

What happens

When you don’t carry a whip around you feel suddenly less powerful and maybe even very vulnerable. I know this is how I felt, when I decided to work without a whip or a training stick.

I\’ve have developed a training system that helps people change from R- to R+ smoothly, so they don\’t feel lost! Learn more.

Have you tried it?

It makes you think about other ways, more creative and hopefully more friendly ways to ask your requests to your horse, your friend.

Join my free course!

The reason that a horse responds to a whip ‘as extension of your arm’ is because it has been used as an aversive in the past. And it is still carrying this value. If it hasn’t, your horse wouldn’t respond as well to it.

To riders who claim to ‘only hold it-but don’t use it’, why are you carrying it?

People who claim they ‘don’t use the whip’ are still signalling a threat to the horse ‘behave or else…’ Why else would they carry a useless training tool…?

Isn’t that distracting and interfering with the hand-rein-connection?

Secret

If you need a tool to act only as an extension of your arm why not use something that is not designed to dispense aversives? Something that makes it even impossible to inflict pain, something long and soft like a peacock or ostrich feather?

I tell you why: the feather does not have the same power as a whip or stick. As soon as your horse finds out that it is useless to dispense aversives with it will lose ‘its purpose as an extension of your arm’.

It\’s the same with some dressage horses who will quickly learn that their rider won’t use their whip as soon as they are riding within the small white dressage ring fences.

They become instantly dull to the leg aids because they know there will not be a ‘follow up’ with the whip. The rider is negatively punished by the use of the whip because it can cost points.

The horse has learned that he is ‘safe from the whip’ in the dressage ring. Until that one day the rider gets so frustrated and decides to use the whip ‘really good’ to show the horse who’s boss in the ring….

Most people complain if they have to start carrying a whip or training stick during riding or training. Why not get rid of it if you don’t use it…

Or, admit the advantage of your whip. Not to me, to yourself. And to your horse (although your horse already knows why you really carry it). Be honest!

Visit Ní Dhuinn Imagery on Facebook, she made the beautiful drawing of the ridden horse above.

Related post:

[Riding lessons] Why do kids start with a whip?

Did this blog post stirred something in you? Was it good or bad? I hope you’re just like me and want to give horse people clarity and help debunk the myths that still affecting our horses in not such a great way.  How can I help you further?

Join a free Clicker Course (it\’s free)!

Click with Your Horse, an Introduction in Positive Reinforcement