Equiosity

This is Part 3 of a 4 part conversation with Svenja Sawinski. Svenja’s horse, Daryan, has been giving her a master class in teaching stillness and relaxation.

In Part 1, Svenja introduced us to Daryan her Arab barb cross. She described the early steps she used to teach Daryan to stand still.

That was just the beginning. Daryan was a challenging horse to work with. He needed more than foundation level standing still. In Part 2 Svenja shared how she taught Daryan how to settle and relax into stillness. We ended with stillness becoming a default behavior.

In part 3 Svenja expands this to show you how you can use default behaviors to clarify your cues and further reduce frustration in your learners.

We’ll begin with a question Dominique asked at the end of part 2 about how does a horse know if he’s supposed to default into stillness or try to offer behaviors in an attempt to get you to click?

This is Part 2 of a 4 part conversation with Svenja Sawinski. If you are a regular listener to the podcast, you know Dominique and I talk frequently about topics that come from the coaching sessions that are part of my on-line clinics. That’s very much what led to this series with Svenja.

Svenja is one of the regular attendees at these coaching sessions. Last fall we were looking at some video Svenja had sent in in which she was doing some body work with her horse Daryan. Dominique was fascinated by how long Daryan could go between clicks while remaining seemingly very settled and relaxed. He wasn’t anxiously searching for "what is it that you want me to do?". This sparked a long discussion over whether or not to use a marker signal during body work sessions.

In this four part series Svenja is describing the process she used to very systematically teach Daryan how to do more than stand still. She taught him to stand in deep relaxation.

Last week I had Svenja introduce Daryan. I wanted you to understand that he did not start out as a straight forward, easy-going horse. Daryan is very much the kind of horse that can so easily frustrate and overwhelm a handler. In other words, he’s a very good teacher. And Svenja has been a very good student, so together they have a lot to share. When you’re working with an animal that is as large and powerful as a horse being able to ask for calm and get it reliably is a huge piece of the training puzzle.

Last week we ended with how Svenja began to expand the duration of standing in stillness to "Grand Prix level" waiting. We all know you can be waiting but not be relaxed. Think about how anxious you can get when you’re late for work and you’re stuck in traffic. You're sitting behind the steering wheel, but you're looking at your watch every few seconds. You’re anything but relaxed.

That’s not Daryan's form of stillness. He knows how to settle and deeply relax. In this episode Svenja describes the systematic teaching process that taught him how to settle and relax.

We all know there are many forms of standing still. There’s standing at full attention like a soldier on parade. There’s standing at ease watching the world drift by. There’s standing still ready to spring into action like a sprinter at the starting line.

Often people get to four on the floor with their animals and stop at that point. As long as the feet are still, they consider they have taught stillness. But what happens if that horse or that dog is quivering with expectation, trying to figure out what to do to get you to click? You may have four on the floor, but you’re a long way from a relaxed learner.

We’re starting a four part series in which we explore standing not just with four on the floor, but standing in stillness so your learner is truly relaxed. This doesn’t happen by chance. It is the result of a systematic training process. Svenja Sawinski is our guide in this series as she shares what her Arab/barb cross has been teaching her about stillness.

In this episode Svenja introduces us to Daryan and explains why getting to this “Grand Prix” level of relaxation was so important for this horse. She shares her early attempts at teaching stillness, and the lesson that finally made a difference for Daryan.

This is Part 3 of a conversation that was sparked by the on-line coaching session that I host once a month for people in my on-line clinics.

In Part 1 we talked about resets - what they are and how they can be used to help horses rebalance so they are more in sync with their handlers.

In Part 2 this led to a discussion of shaping on a point of contact, the WWYLM lesson and visualizing your horse as a marching band.

In part 3 explore some useful metaphors that help in understanding lateral work. We’ll begin with Merry-Go-Rounds and then move on to railroad tracks. Dominique has been discovering how useful these images to help her understand lateral work.

At the very end of the podcast I talk about the connection between the horse training and my children’s books. Everything is connected to everything else. I hope you listen all the way to the end to understand the connections. Clicker training really is Modern Horse Training. It represents a shift in attitude towards horses.

When I’m thinking about Modern Horse training I’m thinking about the contrast between today and that time when horses were beasts of burden.

Our relationship with horses is different today. The reason why we have horses has changed. Our horses are our companions and our friends. They aren’t pit ponies down in the coal mines forced to haul coal out of the mines. They aren’t the London cab horses that were written about in Black Beauty. Thankfully, those days are behind us. We have the luxury to really examine our training and to update it to make sure that it really does work in the best interest of our horses.

When I’m sharing clicker training, I want to touch more than the lead rope you hold in your hands. I want to touch your heart because that’s how we truly, deeply connect to one another and change forever how people train horses.

The children’s books for me are part of that. So thank you for indulging me as I continue to talk about the Kenyon Bear Books. I encourage you to order them to see what they are about. Everything is connected to everything else.

Train well and have fun with clicker training.

This is Part 2 of a three part conversation that was sparked by the on-line coaching sessions that I host once a month for people in my on-line clinics. We were talking about balance, which is no surprise. We’re always talking about balance. Embedded in that conversation was a discussion of resets. In part 1 we defined resets, discussed their importance, described how they are taught and used.

In this episode we begin with the “Why Would You Leave Me?” Lesson. I describe what this lesson is, how it is taught and the relation to resets. We discuss how to help horses that tend to overflex and horses that are very crooked. I use the metaphor of a marching band to help visualize the process of teaching horses how to become better balanced.

This is Part 1 of a three part conversation that was inspired by the coaching sessions that are part of my on-line clinics. We are talking about resets and lateral work. Resets give you do-overs so they are a key element of teaching good balance. If your horse starts to step forward out of balance, instead of letting him continue on so the balance issue just continues and becomes more and more of a mess, you reset him back to the beginning so he can try again.

Resets can become corrections. If the only time you ask for a reset is when things are going wrong, the focus will be on behavior you want to stop. A better way to think of resets is they are part of the dance. You cha cha forward and then you cha cha back. You teach resets so your horse is familiar with the dance steps and has been reinforced well for all the elements of the dance. When resets become dance steps, they become a useful tool for building great balance.

This is part 2 of a conversation Dominique and I recorded on December 28 2023. We were in a year end mood which meant we began our conversation by looking back over a year of podcasts.

We had just finished up several head spinning topics with conversations with Anita Schnee about Feldenkrais work, with Joe Layng on public and private events, and then with Michaela Hempen on assessing animal welfare.

We were both feeling the need for a topic about more practical training applications. Dominique chose the trick training chapter from my book “Modern Horse Training” as a good focus for a lively conversation.

In part 1 we began with a discussion of the many benefits of trick training. We talked about why even “serious” trainers should consider trick training. I would say I fall into this category. I don’t teach tricks to amuse other people. I teach them to amuse my horses, so I tend to think of trick training as part of an overall enrichment program.

In this episode we talk about a sneaky way to introduce a wide variety of tricks that easily morph into very practical husbandry training.

We’ve just finished a series of head spinning topics, so we’re changing gears to talk about trick training. Our discussion is based on the trick training chapter from my book, “Modern Horse Training”.

We begin by talking about the many benefits of trick training. If you’re a “serious” trainer and you don’t think tricks are for you, change the name to enrichment and you may see many uses for teaching tricks.

What makes one behavior a trick and another serious training? When you teach your horse to paint is that trick training, enrichment, a useful step towards teaching a horse to accept a dose syringe or all of the above?

Horses learn a lot from trick training and so do handlers. Tricks are easy to teach. What isn’t so easy is bringing the trick into balance so it doesn’t turn into a nuisance behavior. Learning about stimulus control is one of the many benefits of good trick training.

This is Part 3 of a conversation with Dr Michaela Hempen in which we consider the question: What is consciousness? What is the mind? Each person’s answer will very much effect their level of concern over animal welfare.

Positive animal welfare assessments seek to provide animals not only with the conditions that they need to survive, but also with what they need to thrive and to enjoy their lives.

The more you move towards positive animal welfare the more complicated the assessment becomes. How do you measure such abstract qualities contained in the phrase: enjoy a good life? How do you assess this?

In Part 3 Michaela reviews the current welfare assessments and asks what are they actually measuring? It’s often not what is intended.

We begin with the question: how do you assess emotions? In the five freedoms model how do you assess if animals are free from fear and stress? In the positive welfare model how do you assess if an animal is happy?

This is Part 2 of a conversation with Dr Michaela Hempen in which we consider the question: What is consciousness? What is the mind? And how do our answers effect how we assess animal welfare, or even should we bother to consider welfare issues for the animals under human care?

In this episode Michaela continues a discussion of different ways in which to categorize or define consciousness. “Phenomenal consciousness” along with sentience is defined. This form of consciousness is most relevant to a discussion of the ethics of animal care.

Self consciousness, while interesting, is less so. We discuss various tests which appeared to demonstrate self awareness or insight, but experiments done by behavior analysts showed that there were other explanations.

That brings us again to the great divide between the cognitive ethologists and the behaviorists. The question again is: “What is the mind?”. These two schools of thought bring us to very different answers.

Michaela argues that the discussions about animal consciousness are not relevant in the assessment of animal welfare. What you need to ask is: can they suffer? Can they enjoy? You only need to establish that which is contained in the term “sentience” to have a moral obligation of treating animals well.

So included in this episode is a discussion of the five freedoms model. But it is freedom from: freedom from hunger, etc. so this is all about avoiding unpleasant consequences. Welfare assessments are moving towards a more positive model.

We want to provide animals not only with the conditions that they need to survive, but we also want them to thrive and enjoy their lives. Which is, of course, why all this discussion of “what is the mind?” is relevant because what does that mean and how do you assess it?

This is the very complex topic that Michaela is helping us to understand better.

In this episode we begin with a discussion of sentience and animal welfare assessments.

For a list of the references discussed visit equiosity.com for the full show notes for this episode.