Lead a Horse to Water – Details, episodes & analysis

Videos showing behaviour professionals sitting out bucks and rears gain thousands of likes, why? Above all other areas of equestrianism shouldn't behaviour be seen for what it really is and not used as a social media magnet? Or maybe I'm old and jaundiced!

We owe every animal in our care the ability to know how to interact with our world and us. That requires some basic training. I rarely see the basics done well or even at all.

My courses at www.understandhorses.com and www.iaabcfoundation.org

In this episode I had a fabulous chat with Heather. We had aimed to look at what draws people to more 'glamorous' 'from different world' trainers but it turned into a wonderful introspective (well certainly for me, I hope Heather enjoyed it too). We ask how to be credible. What are our insecurities How to collaborate and build connections. If you are a trainer, a coach, a consultant, a business woman, a horse lover...this one is for you. Heather helps horses and people learn to be comfortable with healthcare procedures using positive reinforcement training. She also help horses and riders with getting started under saddle, as well as ways to help develop confidence with riding. In her own words she's a failed traditional horsewoman. She understands traditional skills and methodologies, and how and why they work, but after thirty years working with horses she did not have the kind of success she has now with positive reinforcement training. She have had Fibromyalgia for nearly 40 years. This has given her deep insight into how chronic pain and fatigue affects all aspects of life, for people and animals. It's because of this that she's been drawn to study neuroscience, behavior, biomechanics, and so forth. Her life experiences with neurodivergence (because, she says, she has a weird brain) and chronic illness have given her some really strong opinions on the one-size-fits-all approach in American culture, and in the equestrian industry in general, particularly with respect to learning. Heather is on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/equusintegratus and her website: https://equusintegratus.com

In this final (for now) episode on cues I look at transferring cues which is great if you want to tidy up your complex cues or change your original cue for something more appropriate.

Please share these short episodes and let me know if you've tried any of my suggestions for improving your cues!

What to choose as a cue? Physical, verbal, tactile? What is clear, easy to use, easy to replicate?

Rebeccah Baylis is one of my fave students, we talk in this episode about a session that felt quite sticky at the start but ended well. Do you know when it might be acceptable to push on a little further? Should we always stop at the first sign of resistance? It's definitely a training conundrum. Find Becky and our shared events in 2024 at https://littlegreenstables.com/

Discrimination

Knowing what to do to get reinforced- the best friend of stimulus control (part 3) and discriminative stimulus (part 2).

How can you help your horse know what a cue means?

Please enjoy and share, Trudi

Stimulus Control

In this third short on my continuing theme of cues I'm looking at how 'clean' our cues are. Stimulus control is an essential part of developing cues, it helps us create a clear language that reduces the chances of frustration.

I share the 4 criteria of stimulus control and what we need to consider right from the get go in terms of cues.

What to do when? Does your horse know? Do you think you know what your cues are? Does your horse agree?

This short episode builds on the previous and looks at the idea of a discriminative stimulus- do you know what your SD is and does your horse agree?

I've done cues before but have we ever 'done' cues...this is the first part of a deep dive into cues. Send me questions and thoughts to trudi@equine.training and share this episode with your friends.

More soon, Trudi