Did you know that horses could be trained with clicker training? In this section you’ll find lots of information about how positive reinforcement training methods can be used to create horses that are smart, brave, athletic and enthusiastic about training. If you’re skeptical, I recommend starting with this blog post, which summarizes a research study that examined whether clicker training causes horses to bite.
My friend Dawn took a great series of photos the other day of Paden smelling his tail. This is something we’ve been working on to teach him how to stretch his neck and begin working on lateral flexion. I took a break from riding, hopped into the pasture, and easily got him to stretch both […]
I spend a lot of time on the ground these days. Not because I’m getting bucked off, but because I choose to. As I’ve explored different natural horsemanship methods over the past couple of years, I’ve learned about all sorts of new ways to play with a horse without climbing into the saddle– from obstacle […]
Some horses are afraid of everything and every horse seems to be afraid of at least something! Plastic bags on the ground, a rain jacket or poncho, leaves blowing in the wind, water bottles, tarps, umbrellas, bridges, a new jump in the arena, his own shadow….the list could go on forever! This can be extremely […]
I’ve just started reading Temple Grandin’s lastest book, Animals Make Us Human. I’ve read other books by Temple Grandin, and enjoy her writing style and insight. In the first chapter, she talks about what an animal needs for a good life. This is an incredibly complex question, which has enormous implications for how we manage […]
Targeting is a great way to teach a horse or a dog (or a goldfish!) new skills or tricks. The animal learns to follow a hand, a stick, or any other sort of object where ever the object might lead. (For the horses, I usually use an empty plastic water bottle duct taped on the […]
Rosie and I have had some grooming sessions and some hang-out time, but I’ve just recently started doing some ground work with her. This is a video of our second time working on figure-eights. (This is also her third session with the clicker.) She’s doing great, and catching on quickly. In later sessions, I’ll start […]
