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 idea [...]

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 [...]

Sharing Territory: When we sit in one spot, we become a curiosity.
I’ve recently watched Carolyn Resnick’s DVD, “An Introduction to the Waterhole Rituals,” which discusses the 7 rituals she uses to develop a relationship and begin training a horse. The first two rituals focus on establishing a bond with the horse and are invaluable tools [...]

Shiloh is a young dun QH gelding who I’ve been playing with at the rescue where I volunteer. He spent 90 days at the beginning of this year with a local trainer who mainly uses the Parelli program. He is curious, but shy, and prior to training, he was incredibly skeptical of people. The [...]

Many miniature horses are sassy, spunky little things. I think they know they’re adorable, and know that since they’re small and cute they can get away with things that people would never put up with from big horses.
The camp where I’ll be working this summer has 2 miniature horses, Blossom and Midnight. The minis [...]