Dangerous at Both Ends, Tricky in the Middle

“I feel like I am rushing through steps with my training, do you have any advice for me on how I can set my animals up for success?”

And honestly? If you’re asking yourself that question… you’re probably already doing better than you think.

Because the people worrying about going too fast are usually the people trying hardest to listen to the animal in front of them.

In this episode, we get into:

•  Why trainers need to set themselves up for success too 
•  Why reducing your training days can sometimes improve progress 
•  Why training the environment matters just as much as training the task 
•  Person, Environment, Task (PET) 
•  How to know when to stop before excitement turns into greed 
•  The “Drop, Stick and Go” framework 
•  The 3 D’s (or 5 D’s depending on who you ask) 
•  And what to do when progress slips during shaping plans, without just endlessly repeating old ground 

Because good training isn’t about cramming more in.

It’s about knowing when to pause. When to simplify. When to support.  And when to stop chasing progress for the sake of feeling productive.

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Got a question or training situation you want us to unpack? Send us a voice note.

Your animal. Your question. Your chaos. And we’ll work through it in a future episode. 

Real cases. Real answers. Real madness.

Meet Your Hosts

Barbara Hardman (Bright Horse Equiation)
www.brighthorse.ie

📧[email protected] ☎️+353 85 143 8688

 Jen Nash (The Equine Method)
www.theequinemethod.co.uk

📧 [email protected] ☎️+44 7902920923

Hi All,

We’ve lots of B-roll and outtakes… mainly because me and Jen will talk for about three hours... The podcasts go up and somehow become an hour long through editing magic, somewhere in the middle!

But this is our downtime too. We’ll sit and talk absolute nonsense to each other for 45 minutes before & after recording, and sometimes there are little snippets left at the end of the timeline that I never quite know whether to include or not.

So here is how the sausage is made, why Jen insists she isn’t competitive (we don’t believe her), why we both enjoy playing golf despite being terrible at it, and how Barbara accidentally killed a rabbit while playing golf.

Enjoy this little bit of madness and behind-the-scenes chaos from our inner workings. We genuinely love doing these podcasts. It’s time we get to spend together, chat nonsense, argue about things, laugh at ourselves… and hopefully you enjoy some of the madness that comes with it too.

Got a question you are burning to asking us, nothing is off limitis, or do you have a behaviour issues you’re trying to figure out? Send us a voice note. Your voice, your question, your community is here.

Real cases. Real answers. All madness (guaranteed, the madness bit anyway).

Voice note your questions on WhatsApp to +353 85 143 8688 to have your questions answered on the Podcast.

Meet Your Hosts

Barbara Hardman (Bright Horse Equiation)
www.brighthorse.ie

📧[email protected] ☎️+353 85 143 8688

 Jen Nash (The Equine Method)
www.theequinemethod.co.uk

📧 [email protected] ☎️+44 7902920923

This episode starts with sneezing. Naturally. "I expect nothing less  from you lot ..." 

 #JellyfishDontSneeze which somehow becomes important enough to deserve its own hashtag.

Then one of our listeners from Canada asked us: “What is your biggest hot take on anything equine or animal related?”

Which immediately exposed the fact that Barbara didn’t actually know what a “hot take” was.  Or for us Irish/UK folks… “an unpopular opinion“.

So Jen had to explain it to Barbara... And from there… honestly, things escalated.

We got into:

•  why travelling horses alone in single trailers might be far worse than we admit 
•  why cribbing collars should probably be set on fire 
•  why “moving the feet” is often punishment dressed up as training 
•  why emotional regulation cannot be created through pressure and movement 
•  why allostatic load is massively oversimplified in horse training 
•  why behaviour is diagnostic information, not inconvenience 
•  why cutting things out of bodies rarely “fixes” the actual problem 
•  why separating the brain from the body makes absolutely no sense 
•  why confidence and competence are very, very different things 

Also: Barbara says Beyoncé isn’t very good.   #YouAreCanceled

This episode goes everywhere, horse welfare, behaviour, medicine, Beyoncé, training culture, critical thinking, a dead rabbit (see bonus Ep.) and the very human habit of accepting the first answer we’re given because it sounds confident.

Some of these opinions might annoy people. Good. Sure why not. 
The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off. 

Got a question you are burning to asking us, nothing is off limitis, or do you have a behaviour issues you’re trying to figure out? Send us a voice note. Your voice, your question, your community is here.

Real cases. Real answers. All madness (guaranteed, the madness bit anyway).

Voice note your questions on WhatsApp to +353 85 143 8688 to have your questions answered on the Podcast.

Meet Your Hosts

Barbara Hardman (Bright Horse Equiation)
www.brighthorse.ie

📧[email protected] ☎️+353 85 143 8688

 Jen Nash (The Equine Method)
www.theequinemethod.co.uk

📧 [email protected] ☎️+44 7902920923

What does good actually look like for horses?

Not the version we’ve inherited. Not the version that’s easiest to manage. The version that actually meets their needs. It's tricky,

In this episode, Jen and Barbara dig into enrichment for horses.

We’re talking ethology. What horses are built for. What they’re missing. Why that matters more than any system label, plus how you can find the gaps and fill them Because this isn’t just “track vs traditional livery.” It’s about whether the life we’re offering lines up with the animal in front of us. The individual needs of your animal.

We pull in lessons from other industries, zoological collections/gardens (also caled zoos), cattle systems, places where thinking around individual needs and population-level welfare has moved on.

And then we bring it back to real life. Our horses.  Our setups. Very different environments, where we all struggle to find that balance. And how we each tweak, adapt, and work with what we’ve got, by understanding what needs are being met… and what still needs filling.

Because there’s no perfect system. But there is better thinking for us as humans.

Got a situation you’re trying to figure out? Send us a voice note. Your horse. Your question. And we’ll work through it in a future episode.

Real cases. Real answers.

Voice note your questions on WhatsApp to +353 85 143 8688 to have your questions answered on the Podcast.

Meet Your Hosts

Barbara Hardman (Bright Horse Equiation)
www.brighthorse.ie

📧[email protected] ☎️+353 85 143 8688

 Jen Nash (The Equine Method)
www.theequinemethod.co.uk

📧 [email protected] ☎️+44 7902920923

In this episode, Jen and Barbara revisit a conversation that’s come back into the spotlight, one that clearly still needs to be had. We’ve reimagined our original pilot episode and asked the big question again: does positive reinforcement lead to biting in horses?

While the original pilot is still available, this episode takes the discussion further. We dive much deeper into what actually causes biting in horses, unpacking the difference between correlation and causation, and clarifying why positive reinforcement itself isn’t the culprit it’s often made out to be.

This reimagined pilot is packed with new insights, updated perspectives, and fresh examples. You can absolutely listen to the original pilot and this episode together, they complement each other beautifully and offer plenty of new and interesting takeaways.

Enjoy the conversation.

Voice note your questions on WhatsApp to +353 85 143 8688 to have your questions answered on the Podcast.

Meet Your Hosts

Barbara Hardman (Bright Horse Equiation)
www.brighthorse.ie

📧[email protected] ☎️+353 85 143 8688

 Jen Nash (The Equine Method)
www.theequinemethod.co.uk

📧 [email protected] ☎️+44 7902920923

This was our very first episode back in September 2023, and I’m reposting it here because it’s super relevant to our newest episode!

In this podcast, we try something a little different: a debate! If you’re familiar with debate club rules, one person must defend the topic and one must oppose it. We did this using the current research in the field and went head-to-head to hash it out.

There are points involved, plus some hidden secret words we have to sneak in to earn bonus points!

Debating topics in horse care and equitation is valuable. Jen and I do this for fun and learning, and we still love each other afterwards. Good learning comes from respectful debate and from exploring different ideas and research within the field.

Voice note your questions on WhatsApp to +353 85 143 8688 to have your questions answered on the Podcast.

Meet Your Hosts

Barbara Hardman (Bright Horse Equiation)
www.brighthorse.ie

📧[email protected] ☎️+353 85 143 8688

 Jen Nash (The Equine Method)
www.theequinemethod.co.uk

📧 [email protected] ☎️+44 7902920923

We’re back! Jen had the audacity to go and get married, and now I’m here editing this and complaining about her selfish behaviour… prioritising love over the podcast (how dare she!) 🤣

It took us two hours to talk about this because it’s been way too long since we’ve recorded, so the chaos here is high and I refuse to edit more then I need to.

Will these episodes get shorter? Maybe, Hopefully?

Will they actually? Probably not. We just can’t stop.

Enjoy the madness. References below. I definitely recommend “Tea and Consent”.

Voice note your questions on WhatsApp to +353 85 143 8688 to have your questions answered on the Podcast.

References:

“But my horse is well cared for”

Can’t jump, won’t jump

Tea and Consent

Meet Your Hosts

Barbara Hardman (Bright Horse Equiation)
www.brighthorse.ie

📧[email protected] ☎️+353 85 143 8688

 Jen Nash (The Equine Method)
www.theequinemethod.co.uk

📧 [email protected] ☎️+44 7902920923

 In this episode, we take a closer look at the role of foraging in equine wellbeing. Horses are hard-wired to graze for many hours a day, so what happens when we limit or disrupt this natural behaviour? 

Barbara and Jen discuss their research, practical ways to support natural foraging, and how it links to emotional regulation, behavioural health, and performance. A must-listen for anyone wanting to support their horse’s welfare from the ground up. 

Voice note your questions on WhatsApp to +353 85 143 8688 to have your questions answered on the Podcast.

Meet Your Hosts

Barbara Hardman (Bright Horse Equiation)
www.brighthorse.ie

📧[email protected] ☎️+353 85 143 8688

 Jen Nash (The Equine Method)
www.theequinemethod.co.uk

📧 [email protected] ☎️+44 7902920923

Send Us Your Questions

In this episode, we delve into the fascinating technique of shaping in animal behaviour and training. Shaping, also known as successive approximation, is a method where small, incremental steps are reinforced to guide an animal toward a desired behaviour. We break down how shaping works, from rewarding initial attempts to refining a behaviour until it meets the training goal.

Throughout the episode, we explore real-world examples of shaping across various species, from dogs learning to sit on command to horses mastering complex tasks. We also discuss the importance of timing, consistency, and patience, along with the common challenges trainers may face when using this technique.

Whether you’re an experienced trainer or just starting out, this episode is packed with practical tips and insights to help you incorporate shaping into your training toolkit.

Subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share your thoughts with us on social media. Your feedback helps us continue to bring you valuable content. Join the conversation and let’s shape the future of animal training together!

Meet Your Hosts

Barbara Hardman (Bright Horse Equiation)
www.brighthorse.ie

📧[email protected] ☎️+353 85 143 8688

Jen Nash (The Equine Method)
www.theequinemethod.co.uk

📧 [email protected] ☎️+44 7902920923

Send Us Your Questions

In this episode, we unravel the concept of extinction in behaviour modification, exploring how the strategic removal of reinforcement can effectively reduce and eliminate unwanted behaviors in animals. We start by defining extinction in a training context and discuss its application across various scenarios, from curbing a dog’s excessive barking to managing more complex behavioural issues in horses.

Along the way, we dive into the challenges of using extinction, including the notorious “extinction burst” and the importance of consistency and patience. We also compare extinction with other behavior modification techniques, offering a well-rounded perspective on when and how to use this powerful method.

Whether you’re a pet owner, an animal trainer, or simply fascinated by behaviour science, this episode offers practical insights and strategies to help you tackle even the most stubborn behaviours.

Subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share your thoughts with us on social media. Your feedback fuels our passion for delivering valuable content. Join the conversation, and let’s refine the art of animal training together!

Meet Your Hosts

Barbara Hardman (Bright Horse Equiation)
www.brighthorse.ie

📧[email protected] ☎️+353 85 143 8688

Jen Nash (The Equine Method)
www.theequinemethod.co.uk

📧 [email protected] ☎️+44 7902920923