I rode Cricket, one of our little paint ponies, yesterday morning. It was a short, fun bareback ride. It’s really too hot to do any really intensive riding. When I went to get on him, he lined up perfectly for the mounting block. However, as I sat down on him, he took off walking. Oops!!! [...]
Mount Your Horse Bareback (using clicker training!)
Rosie recently got adopted from the rescue. Her new family absolutely loves her! I just found this video clip of Rosie from earlier this summer that I never got around to posting on the blog. This is of our second day working on mounting from the fence. If you do a lot of trail riding [...]
Rosie Learns Mounting from the Fence
Rosie and I have been doing a lot of bareback riding recently. One handy trick when riding bareback is to be able to climb up on a fence or bench and then have your horse line herself up perfectly so you can slide right on. This can be hard to teach some horses because if [...]
Riding Rosie for the first time
I rode Rosie for the first time on Saturday, and she did excellently! Rosie is a mare who I did quite a bit of groundwork with last year, such as desensitization to bareback pads and a big green ball. She’s a smart mare and a quick learner. Rosie was in a foster home for a [...]
Dr. Robert Epstein: Engineering Complex and Novel Behavior in Animals
Robert Epstein was the keynote speaker for the Art and Science of Animal Training conference this year. (Be sure to read the rest of my notes from the conference as well.) Epstein, who was the last student of B.F. Skinner, researches the creativity process and how novel behavior develops. All behavior, in some sense, is [...]
Should You Use A Mounting Block to Get On Your Horse?
Here are four good reasons why you might want to use a mounting block the next time you get on your horse: 1) Using a mounting block is better for your horse’s back. Jumping up into the saddle is quick and easy for you, but you could be putting a lot of strain on your [...]
Strange and Wonderful Equine Hybrids
Many equine species are able to breed with each other. Although the offspring are usually not fertile, some of them can be quite interesting too see! Most people know that a mule is the cross between a horse and a donkey. (The above mule is a little fellow named Scooby. We used him for riding [...]
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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