Something To Trot About

Episode 12: Itchy Face Rubbing? Egos? Building Confidence?

Egos in animal training? Or is it anxiety? How can we build confidence in people and in animals? What will I do about that itchy colt who wants to rub his face on me?

Episode 11: Halters, Puddles, and the Tools in front of you

What kind of halter am I using and why? Are rope halters bad? How can you train your horse to confidently walk through puddles? When you have a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail. 

Episode 10: Help, Arousal, and Resource Guarding

I found a fantastic person to help me with Zephyr! I also talk about optimal levels of arousal for learning and resource guarding aka food aggression.  

Episode 9: Setting Zephyr up for Success

Zephyr is having trouble transitioning from walking in-hand to being ponied. I talk about lumping vs splitting, the language we use to justify punishment, and how fear affects how we train our horses. 

Episode 8: What are my actual goals?

Zephyr is learning about grooming, and I am learning about taking my time. 

Episode 7: Nipping Colts, Suppression, and Extreme Viewpoints

What happened with Zephyr nipped me? What is suppression? Why is promoting extreme views so damaging?
 

Episode 6: Euthanasia and Quality of Life Considerations

What aspects of an animal's life do I evaluate when considering euthanasia of an older pet? We just euthanized our pony Hercules and I thought I'd share our decision making process. 

Episode 5: Enrichment to Build Resilient, Thinking Horses

Enrichment means different things to different people. I talk about building resiliency and problem solving skills using enrichment, and discuss when to step in and make the problem easier.