Latest Articles
Reducing Fear – and the Importance of Choice
Counterconditioning is one of the most important techniques in animal training (arguably top five). Simply put, ‘conditioning’ means ‘learning’ and ‘counter’ means ‘opposite.’ Relearning might be another way of putting it. Practically speaking, it’s about changing someone’s learned ...
Dominance: The Horse’s Perspective
In reality, dominant behavior in the world of the horse is a way of gaining and maintaining access to valuable resources without breaking the elastic connection between herd members. It is a way of reducing the risk of injury and lowering the stress — and, according to Linklater et al. ...
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What’s in It for the Horse?
By Max Easey
The first thing to be aware of when considering how horses learn is that all animals – without exception – will choose to repeat any behavior that “works” for them. When we own an animal like a ...
Equine Social Structure
By Kathie Gregory
In studies that have not been subject to manipulation, I have yet to find reports of dominance hierarchy. Disagreements are low key, with horses being tolerant of each other...When there are ...
Performance Anxiety
By Kathie Gregory
People such as the vet and the farrier need to get the job done in a timely manner. They do not have a lot of time, and waiting for as long as it takes for a horse to respond is not always ...
The Equine Play System
By Kathie Gregory
Play enables an animal to practice and project emotional states in safety, without intent. We have all seen play get out of hand, and that would seem to be the result of play turning into ...
From the Horse’s Perspective
By Kathie Gregory
There is a general perception that using food in teaching will cause the horse to be rude, mug you, be “pushy,” or start nipping. People often dismiss the possibility of using food for these ...
Teaching Trailer Loading
By Kathie Gregory
Not all horses automatically enjoy the process of going into a trailer, yet in an emergency it may be essential for them to do so...Think of fun ways to teach these things. You may be ...
A Safe Escape
By Dr. Lisel O’Dwyer
Entering and standing in a small, often dark, enclosed space is completely against the average horse’s instincts which is why we need to actually spend time training them to load. Much ...