Interesting article in the December edition of The Horse magazine. It’s by Animal Behaviourist Sue McDonnell, and discusses “licking and chewing”. This is a behaviour that natural horsemanship trainers often refer to as a sign that the horse is learning or thinking about something, or possibly a sign that the horse accepts your leadership. […]

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about training philosophies. And I guess I keep coming around to the fact that it’s all about the trainer, not the horse. I think I can afford to say that, since I have had King to deal with, so no one can suggest that I had an “easy” horse.
King […]

I just love winter. Ugh. The water trough froze. I was planning on getting a float de-icer for it anyway, but Jen didn’t realize that I needed the trough right next to the barn so I could run the extension cord out to the de-icer. So the last time she was here, she moved it […]

I’m reading the new clicker training book from Alexandra Kurland. The Click That Teaches: Riding With the Clicker.
The further I get into this, the more I love this training method. I’ve read her previous two books. But I seem to be getting more out of this book than I did with them. Perhaps because […]

Yesterday I had a lovely session with King (my reactive, young hooligan Arabian). It was one of those days when you suddenly realize that your horse has taken some kind of giant leap forward for absolutely NO specific reason.
I’ve been working on getting him to come to the mounting block and line himself up. […]