Here are some photos from last weekend of Beau and Gracie, two of our sanctuary residents at the horse rescue. I’ve written about both Beau and Gracie before, both of them were horribly abused and were completely untouchable for the first several years that they were at the rescue. They were terrified of people and [...]
Slow and Right beats Fast and Wrong
Here’s a video I found recently that I really like. The video is of a gal named Lindsey and her mustang Breezy. The horse is a mustang yearling who was captured in Nevada. The video is titled “first 90 days of horse training.” Usually, when I find videos titled “the first x days of training,” [...]
Bicycling with horses, newsletters & a great quote
It’s Friday! And what a busy week it has been. The end of the semester is fast approaching, so I’ve been pretty busy at school. However, even though it’s been a busy week, I’ve been having a lot of fun posting things on my blog and chatting with friends online. I’ve finally finished posting my [...]
Target, lure, or free-shape? Which is best?
These are my notes from the 2012 Art and Science of Animal Training Conference. Click here for more notes from this conference. If you’ve been around enough clicker trainers and positive animal trainers, you’ll find that everyone has an opinion about shaping, luring and targeting. And, trainers often don’t agree about which of these methods [...]
Give Me a Break!
These are my notes from the 2012 Art and Science of Animal Training Conference. Click here for more notes from this conference. Training can be a lot of fun. However, it can also be physically and mentally challenging for both the animal and the human. Although breaks are needed, they can really disrupt a training [...]
How does a horse see color?
Have you ever wondered what a horse can see? Does he see the world in color, like you and me, or in black and white? I recently came across an article from the Journal of Vision that examined this very question. Researchers from the Medical College of Wisconsin and from the University of Wisconsin-Madison teamed [...]
Clicker Training Clinic Notes: Happy Horses
This post is the final part of my notes about a horse clicker training clinic that I audited with Alexandra Kurland in Texas in February. Click here for parts one and two, which discuss balance and cues. “Are you having fun yet?” This third, and final post of my clinic notes is a bit of [...]
What’s the best way to train an animal?
Stale Cheerios will help you learn new knowledge and techniques to take your training skills to the next level. So stick around, your animals will be grateful!
I'm a graduate student studying the science of behavior and training. On this blog I share stories of my animal training adventures, as well as tips, techniques and tricks to help you improve your training. Although most of this blog centers around training rescue horses, the ideas discussed apply equally to all species. The other animals I work with, including dogs and rats, also appear occasionally on the blog.
Mary Hunter
cheeriotrainer@gmail.com
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