This is Part 1 of a conversation with Muna Clough. I’ve wanted to have Muna on the podcast for quite a while. She’s a participant in my on-line clinics. She has an Irish draft cross named, Frank. One of the first videos Muna sent me showed Frank rearing up at her and then moments later snaking his head around to bite at her legs.

In the more recent videos Muna has been teaching Frank lateral work. The change in their relationship has been an absolute pleasure to watch. All of the coaching has been through emails and the monthly coaching sessions. I can make suggestions, but we have an ocean separating us. It has been Muna who has done all the training. She’s created the change that we’re seeing. I wanted Muna to share with us the process she’s gone through to create this transformation.

It’s all well and good for me to say clicker training works. When you’re struggling with a horse, you can feel really trapped. When you hear from someone like Muna whose horse started out with very similar behavior, her experiences can become the light that gets you to the end of the tunnel.

In this episode I begin by talking about the SABA Award that I was recently given at this year’s ABAI conference. This is a very roundabout way to introduce Muna and Frank. The connection between the two is loopy training. Muna’s other horse Sandro was featured in the presentation I gave during the Awards ceremony. So this seemed like the perfect time to invite Muna to join us.

She began by introducing Frank, a horse she bought as a two year old and then quickly discovered that she was in way over her head. We’ll be focusing on the work Muna did to transform Frank from a fire-breathing dragon into delightful equine company.