Equiosity

We’ve been talking about my new Stay-at-Home, Learn-from-Home clinics, but as always that’s taken us down some great rabbit holes. This week Dominique starts us off with some questions about Spanish Walk. That takes us to a discussion of puzzle solving. When is it okay to “Let the horse figure it out”? It’s a common phrase in the training world. When is that a good strategy, and when are you erodi...

We are talking about my new Stay-at-Home, Learn-from-Home clinics, That’s taking us down some fun rabbit holes. Last week we stopped just as we were getting to constructional training and Goldiamond’s four questions. That’s where we begin in this episode. We’ll be talking about pigeons as well as horses.

At long last, I have opened my 2022 Stay at Home - Learn at Home Clinics for enrollment. I have been getting daily inquiries about the clinics and now I am delighted to say you can now register in Course #1. In this episode don't just talk about the clinics. Most of the conversation centers around the value of video taping your session. This episode will give you lots of great reasons to get out y...

Dominique was intrigued by several of the panel discussions at the recent Clicker Expo. It sent her off into an exploration of the much debated nature versus nurture question. She wasn’t trying to solve the puzzle. Her question was how does the interplay between genes and the environment influence the training choices we make? Dominique is a good researcher. She did her homework and that’s what sh...

In part 3 of our conversation with Dr. Claire St Peter we cover a lot of ground, including what fills the space between the larger steps we typically focus on. Claire shares some research studies beginning with Skinner that look at how superstitious behaviors develop and what you can do to change those patterns. What happens when new people begin positive reinforcement training and there are many...

This week we continue our conversation with Dr. Claire St Peter. Claire received her PhD in Psychology with an emphasis in Behavior Analysis from the University of Florida in 2006. She is currently a Professor of Psychology, the Director of Graduate Training, and the Coordinator of the Behavior Analysis program area at West Virginia University. She is also a horse enthusiast so in this conversatio...

This week we continue to explore the connection between teaching programs that have been developed for classrooms and the work we do with our horses. We are joined by Dr. Claire St Peter. Claire received her PhD in Psychology with an emphasis in Behavior Analysis from the University of Florida in 2006. She is currently a Professor of Psychology, the Director of Graduate Training, and the Coordinat...

Lucy is a horse owner and a clicker trainer, and as you know by now she is also a special ed teacher. At the start of this school year she was assigned all the repeaters for freshman year, that is all the students who had failed ninth grade. Through her horse Lucy connected first with me and then through Science Camp with Dr Claire St Peter. Claire has been helping her develop a mastery-based syst...

Lucy Butler is a horse owner and a clicker trainer. Lucy is also a special ed teacher at a high school. At the start of this school year she was assigned all the repeaters for freshman year, that is all the students who had failed ninth grade. Lucy is going to take us into her classroom to see how her students are learning how to celebrate success. Some of you may be thinking - what has this got t...

We are literally off to school in this conversation with Lucy Butler. Lucy is also a horse owner and a clicker trainer. She is also a special ed teacher in a high school. At the start of this year she was assigned all the repeaters for freshman year, that is all the students who had failed ninth grade. I met her last summer via my virtual clinics. In the clinic and then in Science Camp Lucy was in...

Dominique has been intrigued by the incredibly subtle discriminations animals are able to make. That took us to a discussion of cues, rules, teaching processes, procedures and principles. What is the distinction and how does this help you get past a sticky point in your training? A discussion of core principles brought us to the importance of teaching wait. Wait is a behavior. Animals can’t “do no...

Dominique has been intrigued by the incredibly subtle discriminations animals are able to make. In this episode she wanted to talk about cues and the rules that trainers create around them to bring some consistency to their training. I wasn’t sure of the context in which she was using the term so her starting point for the conversation raised some questions for me. The rabbit hole we plunged into...

This week we are shifting gears completely. Michaela is going to tell us about the stallion project that she and Anja Beran are working on. The stallion project refers to work that Anja and Michaela are spearheading to bring about changes in Germany in the stallion testing process. In this episode Michaela describes the stallion tests and the damage that results to the horses that go through them....

This is part 2 of our conversation with Dr Michaela Hempen. I began this series by saying that this is our Holiday present to all of you. In Part 1 Michaela shared the details of the research project she’s been conducting on cribbing. The subject of that study is a quarter horse mare named Blondie. Just when Michaela was reaching a critical stage in the study, Blondie’s owner decided he wanted to...

This episode is the first of several Holiday presents we have created for you. Our guest is Dr Michaela Hempen. She will be sharing the work she’s been doing with her quarter horse mare, Blondie. Blondie is a cribber. If you aren’t familiar with that term, cribbing, or crib biting as it is also called, refers to a stereotypic behavior in which the horse closes its teeth around a surface such a fen...

I started out calling this episode “Come on in the water’s fine”. But I think ‘Creating Our Own Mainstream” is really more to the point. You’ll understand why as you listen to this episode. This is part 3 of our conversation with Dr Sarah Memmi. Sarah is a behavioral scientist. She teaches at the University of Louisville in Kentucky where she’s an Assistant Professor of Marketing in the College of...

This is Part 2 of our conversation with Dr Sarah Memmi. Sarah is a behavioral scientist. She teaches at the University of Louisville in Kentucky where she’s an Assistant Professor of Marketing in the College of Business. Her main area of research is how people pursue goals; how they handle conflicts between multiple goals, and how they manage their personal resources (time, money). She also teache...

Dr Sarah Memmi is a behavioral scientist. She teaches at the University of Louisville in Kentucky where she’s an Assistant Professor of Marketing in the College of Business. Her main area of research is how people pursue goals; how they handle conflicts between multiple goals, and how they manage their personal resources (time, money). She also teaches in the University of Louisville’s unique equi...

This is part 3 of our conversation with Dr. Susan Friedman. We began in part 1 with a discussion of crucial conversations - what do you do when the stakes are high and emotions are becoming heated? How do you keep the dialog going and maintain a relationship? And what is a relationship? That’s what we explored in Part 2. We often think emotions get in the way, but Susan reminded us that emotions a...

This is part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Susan Friedman. When Susan presents at the Clicker Expo, I always make a point of sitting in on her presentations. But more than that, I like spending time with Susan in between talks. I learn a lot watching how generously and kindly she handles every situation. I have developed a mantra as a result - what would Susan do? I’m in a restaurant with slow se...

What a treat we have for you. Once again we are in conversation with Dr. Susan Friedman. Dr. Friedman is a professor emeritus in the Department of Psychology at Utah State University. She has pioneered the application of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to captive and companion animals. ABA, with its roots in human learning, offers a scientifically sound teaching technology and ethical standard tha...

This week we’re talking about changes we have both made in how we care for our horses. The important message here is our ideas can evolve and change. Whether we are talking about training strategies or questions about turnout our horses are our teachers. We need to stay open to the possibility that what we have learned from others, what we have always done, doesn’t need to be set in stone.

This week we’re joined by Dr. Steve Naile. Dr Naile was my vet for over thirty years. He retired in 2020 just as the lockdowns began for the corona virus. When he was at the barn, Steve would often take time to talk about training, and about new updates in veterinary medicine. We’ve both missed those conversations so this podcast gave us a great excuse for a visit. In parts 1 and 2 we talked about...

This week we’re joined by Dr. Steve Naile. Dr Naile was my vet for over thirty years. He retired in 2020 just as the lockdowns began for the corona virus. When Steve came to the barn, he would make extra time to talk about training, and about new updates in veterinary medicine. I’ve missed those conversations so I thought this podcast gave us the perfect opportunity for a visit. It was fun to swap...

This week we’re joined by Dr. Steve Naile. Dr Naile was my vet for over thirty years. He retired in 2020 just as the lockdowns began for the corona virus. Whenever he was at the barn for our horses, Steve always made extra time to talk about training, and about new updates in veterinary medicine. I’ve missed those conversations. This podcast created an opportunity for an especially interesting con...