Hear Ye, Hear Ye

As the song says, “Men hear what they want to hear and disregard the rest.” Why is that? Why do people only take in, if they take in anything at all, what they already know and want to hear? What … Continue reading →

Eighty Percent Rule

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According to Bob Bailey, an icon in the training world (look him up), eighty percent of training problems lie with these three things: * Rate of Reinforcement (RoR) too low* Criterion too high (see above)* TimingThe RoR should be around 10-12/minute, or every 5-6 seconds. … Continue reading →

‘Fraidy Cats, Part Three, 7-29-20

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Leo is a feral cat that I’ve seen in my barn a few times over the years, mostly in winter.  I haven’t entertained his residence until this past winter because he and Ebony seemed to tolerate each other and because … Continue reading →

‘Fraidy Cats, Part Two, 7-29-20

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Lena came from a feral colony and was re-homed to me as a barn cat about four years ago, before I got Ebony.  She’s a calico who has a limp in her left hind. I got Lena when she was … Continue reading →

‘Fraidy Cats, Part One, 7-28-20

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Ebony is a barn cat that I got three or four years ago from a church friend.  Ebony was nine at the time and had spent all his life as an indoor-outdoor house cat.  He is now a full-time barn … Continue reading →

Random Thoughts: Horse, Cat, Dog, 8-1-2019

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A collection of random thoughts about training: Diamond With Diamond the pony, most of my issues have to do with chaining extraneous behaviors in with the behavior I want. For example, I want to clean out her feet.  There is … Continue reading →

Pieces to the Puzzle, 4-2-19

This post is an essay on thinking through the basic pieces of what I want later and figuring out not only what those parts are, but how to train them. Atticus tends to walk in a downhill way – head … Continue reading →

Atticus and Trailer Loading Skills, 5-1-2018

It’s been a long time since I updated anyone on Atty’s progress with the trailer.  In fact, it’s been a long time since we even worked on it.  But I’ve had a few days to do so since I’ve also … Continue reading →

Diamond and the Trailer, 5-1-2018

As we continue to train for loading onto the trailer and, of course, to train getting OFF the trailer, Diamond and I did a couple more sessions today. I really like how she leads me by a good 20 feet … Continue reading →

Diamond and the Trailer II, 4-30-2018

This morning I had a narrow window of time in which to train, which is probably a good thing for me as I then can’t get stuck, greedy, or drill the horse to death!  It’s like making a good pie … Continue reading →