Jaak panksepp neuroscientist equine emotions ❤️

𝙀𝙡𝙚𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙡𝙚𝙩’𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙋𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙨𝙚𝙥𝙥’𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨... 𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨!

Tonight I have spent hours studying and researching this study, so I can relay this to all my clients and input this into my training with blue.

Jaak panksepp is a neuroscientist who studied the emotions of mammals! So let us getting chatting on how this can help us when it comes to training and most importantly bonding with our horses...

Jaak figured all mammals (including us) have 7 primal emotions, 𝙎𝙚𝙚𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚, 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮, 𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙘, 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙧, 𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙪𝙨𝙩. Science shows that all mammals have the same brain structure and chemistries which leads us to have such a true connection with our equines.

First let’s go through each emotion and understand what feeling it gives:

Seeking = Enthusiasm

Rage = “Pissed off” (like my term 😂)

Fear = Anxious

Lust = I’m sure you can think of many words

Care = Tender & Loving

Panic = Lonely & Sad

Play = Joy

Let’s run through the systems in a bit more detail and try understand how it can refer back to our bond and training with our horses.

These systems fall under “𝙋𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜” or “𝙍𝙚𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜”

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𝙎𝙚𝙚𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙎𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢:

This system is lead by the nose, horses forage for 18 hours a day searching for food and rewards. It’s forward moving and feels good. Horses do the seeking system when searching the area they are in, mapping out their territory. Typical behaviours with the seeking emotion is sniffing, smelling, chewing and moving around in a forward direction. 𝙍𝙚𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 stimulates this feel good emotion helping the horse to be happy and “feel good” whilst in our company.

Horses who are shut down are depressed and deprived of the seeking emotion. These horses are often the modern horses that are stabled for longer hours with food placed directly in front of the in haynets not allowing them to go and “seek” food.

𝘾𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢:

This emotion/system is extremely important to our horses because they are social animals. The behaviour of the care system is, grooming, licking, chewing, grazing close to their friends, leading and following and mimicking behaviours. This system is highly active in our horses brains, to them it is life or death. If our horses are not expected in the herd they feel threatened and completely unsafe. Because this is implemented into their brains, creating a bond with our horse is practically easy if that horse hasn’t had any previous trauma.

How does the 𝘾𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢 create bonding? It is stimulated by touch, this actives Endogenous opioid systems which makes our horses feel good!

We have a heard the phrase “Aw give him a pat to make him feel better” and yes Jaak Panksepp and proven it does just that! Well maybe not petting, but giving them a nice scratch in their favourite spot 🥰

𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙮 𝙨𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢:

This system facilitates the social bond between horses and humans, the play system and the care system lay closely together because we only play with those who we love and care about.

For the horses within a herd play helps them understand which horse is the strongest and fastest helping them respect the ones that are stronger and faster.

Play usually happens quickly after restriction, so when we turn our horses out in the morning you’ll often see them cantering around together having a play.

More often than not I hear “Stop fighting, don’t do that” being shouted at their horses when the matter of the fact is their just playing.

But how can we know for sure? If a horse is fighting and becoming serious you can tell this by the little things. So they will be tensed, muscles will be extremely tensed and body language will change. They often become a lot more rougher too.

So when they are just playing, leave them be. As they are feeling good!

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These systems fall under “𝙉𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜” 𝙤𝙧 “𝘼𝙜𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜”

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𝙁𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙨𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢:

1. Flight

2. Freeze

3. Fight

These are the survival strategies implemented at birth, as you can see I have listed them 1st-3rd fight being the last one and I will come back to that.

The main fear response a horse will autopilot back to is flight as we all know too well, with the correct positive reinforcement training this response can be corrected to something less abrupt. Some horses freeze standing like a rock, staring at the thing that has worried them. Freeze is the fear system that’s confused a lot with their horse standing still or being in a calm state when in fact they are now in their flight, freeze or fight mode.

Now fight, horses are not naturally aggressive in the slightest which new study tells us in fact they will do anything not to get into a fight. However if there are no exits for the horse to escape from then this is where you will start to see the “Rage system”.

Sadly the 𝙁𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙨𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢 is one employed in majority of horse training systems. Whether the horse is being chased around a lunge pen, being encouraged to move away from your whip, being put into harsh bits. This sort of training activates the fear response specifically the flight response in the horse, so yes the horse may seem “obedient” to your aids but ultimately each time you do this your putting them back into the 𝙁𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙨𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢. Which is why many people have “problematic horses”. Horses can not learn, bond, trust or take in information when they are in their fear state.

So these are a few of the positive and negative systems which is incredibly interesting to read. Jaak panksepp has proven that our animals do have emotions and has effectively elevated our training with our horses...

Times have changed, research has been done. So let’s change with it and start training in a more positive way ❤️