Recently, Chewie and I have been playing with a rainbow exercise mat. I like to set up sessions in which Chewie can investigate and explore new objects on her own terms. I call these exploration sessions. My goal is to create an environment in which Chewie will want to interact with the objects we use […]
Selecting the right training location can make training so much easier! In a not-so-good training location, progress is much slower and the horse may spend considerable time engaging in unwanted behaviors. With Chewie, I’ve been paying a lot of attention to where we do our training sessions. Recently, we have been doing a lot of […]
Chewie and I are starting to work on foundational behaviors that will help Chewie for riding, horse agility, hiking, and lots of other activities that we might do in the future. One behavior we have started working on is a “go forward” cue. I would like for Chewie to walk forward independently, even if I […]
Horses generally don’t like fly spray. Fly spray has a strong smell. It can be strange and scary when it squirts out of the bottle and touches the horse, unexpectedly. And, a horse may not like the way it feels on their body. Earlier this spring, I tried using a rag to put fly spray […]
Chewie has a new toy! This past week, I introduced her to a blue puzzle ball toy. The ball is an enrichment toy that is really made for dogs, but it can work for horses, too. Session 1 with the puzzle ball When I first introduced Chewie to the ball, I put it in a […]
I’m sharing some of my notes and thoughts related to the 2025 ABAI convention, which was held at the end of May in Washington, D.C. One talk I enjoyed was an invited talk given by Dr. Tom Cariveau. Dr. Cariveau conducts research about skill acquisition and stimulus control. A lot of the research he discussed […]
