‘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 →

Reasonable Expectations – 4-27-2017

There is a quote that I like:  Expectation is premeditated disappointment.  (I would love to give credit to whomever said it first in that way, but I can’t find that source.) This quote reminds me often that I must have … Continue reading →

Working with Fearful Horses

This is my contribution to #Train4Rewards challenge. Ollie is a fearful horse.  I’ve said for years that he’s afraid of air or that he’s neurotic, although the word “neurotic” can’t really be applied to horses and that word is also … Continue reading →

Ollie, Splitting the Environment, Body Awareness, and Impulsion, 5-10-16

Many of my blog posts have been updates on the boys’ training.  This is one of those.  But it is also related to the “Lumping and the Environment” series because Ollie and trailering skills is what got us to look … Continue reading →

Ollie and Trailer Loading and Teetering

On the trailer loading skills front, I’ve been working more with Ollie than with Atty lately.  Atty seems to be pretty solid on the loading part.  What I need to work on with him is having the trailer move and … Continue reading →

It’s All About Balance, 4-21-15

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Balance.  Balance in life.  Balance the workload.  Work-life balance.  Balance here.  Balance there.  Balance, balance, balance.  It’s about the balance. In clicker training our animals, balance is key.  We need to balance rate of reinforcement (RoR) with criteria.  Raise the … Continue reading →

The Matching Law. It’s Not Exactly Like Matching Socks.

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There are a couple of things I’ve recently been trying to train Sophie to do.  One is scratching sand paper to trim her nails (here) and another one that’s newer is getting her to stand with each front foot on … Continue reading →

Trailering Skills, Sessions 165-168, 9-19-2014

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For the past four sessions, I’ve been concentrating on walking Atticus around our parking area and yard. Why would this be part of trailering skills? In my opinion, I’ll need behaviors in place for offloading in strange places.  There’s no … Continue reading →

Making Strides – Sophie and Loose-Leash Walking, 5-27-14

Sophie and I are continuing on our program of loose-leash walking and she’s really doing very, very well. The last few days that we’ve been out, the weather not only has cooperated, but so have the distractions.  Either there weren’t … Continue reading →

Different Horses, Different Strategies, 1-2-14

I currently have two horses to work with, Atty and Ollie, and I decided to play with a stability ball that I bought just for them. It’s been hiding in my closet waiting for the “right” moment to finally blow … Continue reading →