This picture may not look like much, but it’s a bit of progress! Chewie drinks from the water trough Chewie and I worked a lot last summer on sponge baths. However, Chewie still doesn’t like to be hosed off. She thinks the hose is pretty scary. So, for now, I don’t give her baths with […]
One of my favorite foundation behaviors is teaching a horse to touch their nose to an object. Animal trainers call this behavior “targeting.” Targeting is a practical and fun behavior that can be used later on to teach many other behaviors. For example, a horse could follow a target onto a trailer, stand at a […]
I watched a video awhile back of someone working with an animal who did not like having his ears touched. The trainer started by touching the animal’s neck, then touching close to the ear, touching near the base of the ear, touching the ear briefly, and eventually touching the ear for a little longer. The […]
This summer I’ve been working quite a bit with a young horse at the rescue named Blossom. We went slowly last summer when we started Blossom with her training for riding, giving her time to learn to be relaxed and confident while being ridden. Too many trainers rush at the beginning when riding young horses […]
I worked some with Beau over the weekend. Beau is a big black and white horse who was very badly abused at some point. He has made a ton of progress in the past year and is now a pretty friendly guy. Beau enjoys interacting with people and will approach you in the pasture, follow […]
These are some pictures from last summer that I just ran across. I know they are old, but I’m still posting them because I LOVE them! Most horses are naturally VERY curious. Especially if they are given the time and space to explore something new. Horses get scared when we force them to interact with […]
