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Mary Hunter and her horse Apollo


On this site I share stories of my animal training adventures, information about the science of animal training and behavior, and tips and advice to help you improve your training.

Join me as we explore the best training strategies for creating fast learning, effective communication, and enthusiastic, willing animals.

If you’re new to Stale Cheerios, I recommend that you start by visiting this page to learn more about Stale Cheerios and that you visit my Top Posts page.

~Mary Hunter

Recent posts from the StaleCheerios blog

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Chewie’s Diary Week 2: Always training

By on February 19, 2025 in Chewie’s Diary

Chewie is now in a pasture with a white donkey named Blanca, and an older appaloosa mare, Allie. After the move, Chewie decided quickly that Allie was most definitely her long-lost best friend.  We’ve been having some bitterly cold weather here in north Texas. I’ve been checking on Chewie a couple of times a day, […]

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Shaping challenges: Skinner & the leaping dog

By on February 14, 2025 in Dog Training

On Tuesday, I lectured about animal training to an undergraduate introductory behavior analysis course. We had great fun discussing how positive reinforcement and an understanding of behavior analysis can help make training more efficient and more enjoyable for both the animal and trainer. Most of the students were not familiar with ideas such as clicker […]

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Chewie’s Diary Week 1: Arrival

By on February 12, 2025 in Chewie’s Diary

I have a new horse! Chewie and I have just wrapped up our first week together. In this post, I want to introduce you to Chewie and tell you what we’ve been doing so far.  Where did Chewie come from? I adopted Chewie from Habitat for Horses, a rescue group in Alvin, Texas. Baby Chewie […]

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Remembering Karen Pryor

By on January 15, 2025 in Training Stories and Tips

Karen Pryor passed away earlier this month. I encourage you to read this obituary that the New York Times wrote about Pryor; it is a well-written overview of her life and accomplishments. Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz hugs Karen Pryor at the 2017 ASAT Conference. I met Karen several times at conferences, and I had the great […]

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Goodbye Apollo

By on January 5, 2025 in Horse Training

As some of you may already know from social media, I lost my Arabian gelding, Apollo, in mid-November. He was 20 years old. Horses are tough, resilient creatures. But, they can be quite fragile, too. Medical issues can escalate rapidly, even with the support of a great team of vets.  Apollo’s passing was unexpected. I am […]

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