Last year all Danish Equestrian Federation officials received a memo telling them that any use of the whip or spurs to punish a horse constitutes abuse. Now the federation has has made it official in its 2010 rule revision.
Using the aids as punishers is no longer allowed at Danish events, since the Equestrian Federation stated in its rule book that bits, spurs and whips may only be used for negative reinforcement during competition - never for punishment. The rule includes a definition of punishment as an aversive applied after the horse has displayed an inappropriate behaviour, whereas reinforcement occurs when the aversive is applied prior to the behaviour, and subsides as a reward for the correct response.
Aversive stimuli intended to motivate behaviour during negative reinforcement training may be nudging with the heels, rein pressure or tapping with a whip, but under Danish Federation rules, the whip is to be used a maximum of three times "per incident".
Recently, the US Equestrian Federation has received criticism for allowing rider Michael Morrissey to issue a beating to his German bred showjumper, Crelido during the US selection trials for the World Equestrian Games.
Internationally, the FEI continues to endorse the use of the whip and spurs for discouraging, as opposed to encouraging behaviour. In 2009, EPONA.tv asked the FEI to make a statement of the use of the whip and spurs for punishment of horses for inappropriate behaviour, but chairman of the FEI's veterinary committee, John McEwen, refused to comment beyond reference to the federation's code of conduct, which states that the welfare of the horse must take precedence over all other demands. The FEI did not wish to comment on whether whipping a horse for refusing to jump is in accordance with its rules.
The 2009 Danish NF memo also sparked a debate in Great Britain about whether to continue allowing the use of the whip and spurs as punishers. In Scotland's new Code of Practice for the Welfare of Equidae, punishing a horse using a whip is described as a form of cruelty. But the British Horse Society refused to denounce the punishing of horses for inappropriate behaviour or non-performance, citing safety reasons.
Meanwhile, the new FEI guidelines to define "aggressive force" are due any moment, according to the FEI.
To learn more about the technical difference between using aversive stimuli as punishers and motivating behaviour for reinforcement or to get better acquainted with the principles of animal learning, visit the Articles page of the Australian Equine Behaviour Centre.
