Gracie is an older grey mare who lives at the rescue. No one knows her exact age, but she’s probably around 18. Gracie was rescued in 2007 from a feed lot in Nevada where she was on her way to the slaughter house. When Gracie was rescued, she was absolutely terrified of people. She was [...]

Sheriff the donkey was recently rescued and already has a new home! However, he is staying at the rescue for a short while until he can go to his new home. He is curious and interested in people, but can still be a bit shy and skeptical, especially when being approached. Once you get close, [...]

Boomer is one of the few horses left at the rescue who isn’t halter trained. I started working with him yesterday and he’s doing great so far! Boomer was pretty hesitant and skeptical about people, so I started with him using the CAT procedure. Prior to yesterday he would sometimes let us touch him on [...]

I’ve started volunteering at the Heard Museum with ORCA (a lab in UNT’s behavior analysis department that focuses on animal training).  One of the species we worked with on my first trip to the Heard was the Patagonian cavy, a 35 pound  South American rodent. I’ll admit, before going out there, I really had no [...]

I’ve been discussing Carolyn Resnick’s 7 waterhole Rituals. (Read more about Carolyn here.) The second ritual, Saying Hello, deals with how we approach and greet our horses, especially at the beginning of the relationship. Many people are incredibly unobservant of their horse’s body language. They barge in with halter and lead, get the horse, and then [...]