Last weekend, I spent a lovely three days in northwest Arkansas at a horse clicker training clinic with Alexandra Kurland. We had a great group of people and a great group of horses, including two grey Andalusians, a Friesian gelding, a big bay Percheron cross mare, and a cute little black pony. Unfortunately, my camera battery died on Sunday afternoon and I left midafternoon on Monday, and I wasn’t able to get any photos of Puffin the pony! But, as you scroll through this post, you’ll get to meet the other four horses that joined us for the clinic.
The clinic was full of lots of learning. I’m currently processing everything we discussed and will post some of my notes from the clinic on my blog this month. We had some great discussions at the clinic about how to practice something well, different types of shaping, neuroscience and emotions, and much, much more. In addition to the hands on horse training, we also improved our horse training and clicker training skills through rope handling practice, tai chi exercises, and rein mechanics demonstrations. In the evenings each night after dinner, we stayed up talking about training and playing PORTL, a tabletop game that can be used to practice teaching behaviors. (Check out this article for more info about PORTL.)
Here are some of my snapshots from the weekend. Make sure you scroll down to the very end — the last set of photos is probably my favorite!
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I hope you enjoyed these photos!
I will be posting notes from the clinic on my blog over the next few weeks, so please check back. When the notes are posted, you’ll be able to find them on my Conference and Clinics Notes page.
If you’re new to clicker training and intrigued by these photos, I encourage you to check out my article What is Clicker Training?