I’ve known Luna for awhile now. She’s an adorable little fuzzy pony, almost entirely black, except for a small star (which is usually completely covered by her bushy forelock). She’s what people picture when they call the rescue, looking for a horse for their kids or grandkids. However, while she’s as cute as a button, [...]
It’s Never Too Late For Training!
Have you ever heard the phrase “You can’t teach an old dog a new trick?” Many people assume that once an animal gets to a certain age or practices an unwanted behavior a certain number of times, that it will be hopeless to try to train the animal a new behavior pattern. However, nothing could [...]
More Progress with Apollo’s Feet (video)
As I wrote about last week, Apollo is doing a great job learning to pick up his feet. This can be a challenging skill for some horses to learn–clicker training really helps! In just a handful of sessions, Apollo has gotten very comfortable about me handling his feet. I started by just running my hand [...]
Boomer and Apollo pick up their feet
It’s really starting to cool off here–it’s actually fun to be outside in the afternoon with the horses! The ponies and I had a great weekend. Boomer and Apollo (the two paint horses in the picture to the left) are doing AWESOME learning how to pick up their front feet for handling and cleaning. I [...]
Hoof Handling and Forgetful Training
I have been working on picking up Sebastian’s feet. Teaching a horse to let you pick up their feet is an important skill so that you can pick out their hooves and so that the farrier can trim their feet. When teaching this, I like to start with one front foot, then once that is [...]
Teaching Hoof Handling Using Shaping
Teaching a horse to pick up it’s feet can be a frustrating job. The horse gets frustrated because he doesn’t know what the trainer is asking and the trainer often goes too fast, too soon. This can get dangerous when working with back feet because an irriated, frustrated horse is more likely to take a [...]
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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