This is Part 3 of a 4 part conversation. In November Dominique and I spent a delightful afternoon going through a list of topics Dominique had been accumulating. We talked the afternoon away, so I’ve split our conversation into four episodes.

In Part 1 we talked about trailer loading, the Microshaping Strategy, and what criteria we use to decide when to end a training session.

In part 2 I described a procedure for teaching a horse to lift his feet that uses body part targeting. This lesson helps develop skills in the handler that are needed for teaching lateral work.

I also described a fun lesson where instead of round penning horses, we round pen people. The lesson teaches handlers the choreography of ground work.

Now in part 3 we consider another critical handler skill and that’s fast decision making. Often we look at training progressions with the focus on what the horse is learning. Of course, the question that interests people is: What am I going to be teaching my horse?

In order to teach well, there are skills the handler needs to learn. Many of these are obvious physical skills such as learning good rope handling techniques. What is less obvious are some of the “invisible” skills such as fast decision making. These invisible skills are the “grease” that makes all the physical skills work smoothly.

So in this episode we focus on flexible thinking and fast decision making. We review the progression of lessons that develops this skill for the handler and we consider why this is such an important skill.

We also look at shaping on either side of the click and more details about teaching foot care, especially related to handling the hind feet of potential kickers.

This is a fun episode. We begin with foot care and the connection to lateral work. The lesson I describe is especially useful if you have a horse who struggles to pick up his feet for you. Instead of trying to fix a broken behavior, I share with you a different way of teaching your horse to pick up his feet, one that uses body part targeting.

I’ll let you listen to the episode to find out what the connection to teaching lateral work is.

The discussion of lateral work connects us to something I don’t think we’ve talked about before in this podcast and that’s round penning people. Again, I’ll send you to this week’s episode to find out what that’s about.

In November Dominique and I spent an afternoon catching up and talking about a wide range of topics. We talked together for over four hours so obviously that conversation is going to be divided up over several episodes.

In Part 1 Dominique gets us started with a question about breaks. We talk about trailer loading, familiarizing horses to new environments, the Microshaping strategy and the criteria we us for knowing when to end a training session.

This is Part 3 of a three part conversation with Michaela Hempen and Carmen Heritier. In the spring of 2024 Carmen sent her three year old quarter horse mare, Malu, to Michaela for three months of training.

Malu was like a sponge. She soaked up all the lessons. In this episode we contrast what it was like to work with a well prepared young horse who likes people with that of restarting Michaela’s mare Blondie. In Parts 1 and 2 we reviewed Blondie’s training background. In this episode Michaela shares more of the details of her training. She describes the long-term impact of the physical and emotional compression that Blondie endured in her early training before coming to Michaela. Blondie’s training background is a common one. The contrast between the two horses highlights what a gift it is to give a horse a good start to their training.

This is part 2 of a three part conversation with Michaela Hempen and Carmen Heritier. In the spring of 2024 Carmen sent her three year old quarter horse mare, Malu, to Michaela for three months of training.

In Part 1 we introduced Carmen and Malu, and then Michaela talked about the early steps in her training. Malu was a well-prepared horse, so the training flowed along. Part 1 ended with a question about adding leg speed and that’s where we begin in this episode. How do you get transitions into trot and canter?

We also talk about the squashed road kill lesson, but you will have to listen to the episode top find out what that is.

Michaela Hempen has been a guest many times on this podcast. We began in Episode 27 with single-subject design and then Michaela introduced us to Blondie, the mare who was the subject of the research project she did on cribbing.

We’re returning to Blondie again in this conversation. Michaela will be contrasting her experience restarting Blondie under saddle with that of Malu, a three year old quarter horse mare. Malu belongs to Carmen, a dog trainer and now horse owner. She sent Malu to Michaela to get her started under saddle.

In this episode Carmen describes her own training background which includes an interest in canine fitness and balance. She introduces us to Malu and shares her reasons for choosing Michaela to help her get Malu started under saddle.

We talk about shaping with both positive and negative reinforcement, and the beginning lessons Michaela covered with Malu.

In this episode Christa shares effective strategies for bringing horses and children together. She reminds us, among other things, to play.

So many riding programs normalize brutality by teaching children you have to “make your pony mind”. They are told to hit their pony to make him go.

In this episode we describe alternatives. We imagine what children growing up with clicker training represents will do as adults. They can be world changers because they will see the world in a new way. They will have the skills to show that there are alternatives.

Everything is connected - children’s books, clicker training, teaching children and horses, training well, wanting the best for our horses. It’s part of every one of our 301 episodes.

Train well and join us in celebrating Modern Horse Training and all that that means.

This episode is filled with Celebrations. We’re celebrating our 300th Episode. That’s quite a milestone. And we’re celebrating the publication of “Kenyon Bear’s Christmas”, Book 4 of the Kenyon Bear children’s books.

What better way to celebrate than to talk with Christa Culbert. Christa created the illustrations for Kenyon Bear’s Christmas. She is also a horse person and a creative teacher.

So many riding programs are centered around riding. On the surface that makes sense. Christa has developed a very different kind of program that is centered around the horse. Five and six year old children set up preference tests to discover what kinds of treats their horses really like. They learn about so much more than how to make their pony go. They are learning how to help their pony WANT to go WITH them.

Everything is connected - children’s books, clicker training, teaching children and horses, training well, wanting the best for our horses. It’s part of every one of our 300 episodes.

I’ve just published the newest book in the Kenyon Bear series of children’s book, Kenyon Bear’s Christmas. This week we’re talking with the illustrator, Christa Culbert. In case you’re wondering what this has to do with horses, the answer is everything!

In this week’s podcast we talk with Christa about art, animals, imagination, clicker training, and teaching children about horses.

Christa starts us off by saying art is about perceiving the world in a new way. Isn’t that what we are doing with clicker training? We are perceiving training and our relationships with horses in new ways.

Christa talks about the programs she has developed to bring horses and children together. It is about so much more than simply teaching them to ride.

So join us in the celebration of the new book, Kenyon Bear’s Christmas, and enjoy a wide ranging conversation about horses, imagination, working with children, entitlement, boundaries, and the convergence between what we’re discovering through science and what we knew as children about our animal friends.

We’re talking about advanced training. What makes something an advanced behavior, or an advanced topic or concept? When people say they want to attend an advanced seminar, what do they mean? What are they looking for?

In part 1 we looked at this question from the perspective of the lessons we are teaching our horses. I made a case for advanced training is just the basics done very, very well.

We agreed that identifying advanced skills is very much in the eye of the beholder. If you don’t have the needed underlying components, the task you’re trying to take on will seem like a very advanced skill. So what is an advanced skill for one individual will be just the next doable step for another.

In part 2 we then considered if there is a difference in how we view advanced skills when we’re thinking about teaching our horses versus what we ourselves need to master in order to be effective teachers.

Teaching well requires many skills. In Part 2 we began our list of what we would consider to be advanced skills. In Part three we added to this list beginning with a discussion of agency.

One of the reasons I wanted to talk about what advanced means is I hope this helps all of us to be clearer about what we are looking for when we ask for advanced topics. If I want to advance my horse’s training, I need to be patient and recognize that moving on may mean reviewing previous steps in the training first. You’ll begin by polishing and refining the underlying components. That’s what produces the readiness for the next steps in the training.

If my focus is on advancing my training skills, I’ll be looking over a wider range of topics. What do I need to develop? Is it my handling skills? Is it my own body awareness? Is it my understanding of biomechanics, or behavior analysis? What is keeping me from progressing? Our growing list of skills that we would look for in a skilled trainer may help you to identify some areas that are worth exploring.