Equiosity

This is part 3 of a conversation that began with a question about picking your starting criteria. Once your training session is underway, how do you change criteria? What happens to the rhythm of your training during the transition? Is it a smooth flow, or is it more stop and go? Always the conversation prompts us to see new details in the training.

Our conversation finishes with a discussion of core training beliefs. In the new on-line clinics I ask people to introduce themselves and their horses. One of the discussion threads asks about training goals. What do people want for their horses. The answers very much reflect a change in emphasis as people shift into cue-based training. Dominique reflects on her own journey through the horse world.

We begin this week’s conversation with degrees of freedom. What does that mean and how does that help us to choose our starting criteria? In the course of our conversation, Dominique and I discover that we have very different ways of thinking about the start of a training session.

How do you choose your starting criterion? That’s the question that launches this week’s podcast. It takes us to the image of a funnel. Do you start at the broad end of the funnel and narrow down or do you flip the funnel and begin at the narrow end?

We’ve been talking about my new Stay-at-Home, Learn-from-Home clinics, but as always that’s taken us down some great rabbit holes. This week Dominique starts us off with some questions about Spanish Walk. That takes us to a discussion of puzzle solving. When is it okay to “Let the horse figure it out”? It’s a common phrase in the training world. When is that a good strategy, and when are you eroding the confidence of your learner that he can figure out the puzzles you set for him?

Puzzles take us to observation skills and balance - central topics that are part of all of the Stay-at-Home, Learn-from-Home clinics. The clinics are now open. You can learn more about them and register for them at my web site: theclickercenter.com. There you’ll find detailed descriptions of all eight clinics and the overall concept behind these on-line clinics.

Geography doesn’t matter. Wherever you live, you can join in. You don’t need to put your horse on a trailer. Save the gas and join us on line instead.

My goal for these clinics is a simple one. I want use the advantages that teaching on line creates to develop skilled positive reinforcement trainers. I want you to become balance obsessed the way I am, and I want to help you develop a deep connection with your horse through kind, thoughtful constructive training. Again visit theclickercenter.com to learn more.

We are talking about my new Stay-at-Home, Learn-from-Home clinics, That’s taking us down some fun rabbit holes. Last week we stopped just as we were getting to constructional training and Goldiamond’s four questions. That’s where we begin in this episode. We’ll be talking about pigeons as well as horses.

At long last, I have opened my 2022 Stay at Home - Learn at Home Clinics for enrollment. I have been getting daily inquiries about the clinics and now I am delighted to say you can now register in Course #1.

In this episode don't just talk about the clinics. Most of the conversation centers around the value of video taping your session. This episode will give you lots of great reasons to get out your camera and begin the habit of recording your training.

Dominique was intrigued by several of the panel discussions at the recent Clicker Expo. It sent her off into an exploration of the much debated nature versus nurture question. She wasn’t trying to solve the puzzle. Her question was how does the interplay between genes and the environment influence the training choices we make?

Dominique is a good researcher. She did her homework and that’s what she is sharing in this episode.

In part 3 of our conversation with Dr. Claire St Peter we cover a lot of ground, including what fills the space between the larger steps we typically focus on. Claire shares some research studies beginning with Skinner that look at how superstitious behaviors develop and what you can do to change those patterns. What happens when new people begin positive reinforcement training and there are many inconsistencies in their training? What does inconsistency do to training outcomes? And how do you set up ethical studies when you think the effect may be negative.

When you use reinforcement inconsistently, Claire shares some studies that indicate that you do indeed get behavior going, but in ways you might not expect. The superstitious patterns that emerged were very hard to change. It shows the importance of training in clean loops. Claire shows us how these patterns emerge - and also how to change them.

In addition to this we also talk about some creative ideas for training multiple animals.

This week we continue our conversation with Dr. Claire St Peter. Claire received her PhD in Psychology with an emphasis in Behavior Analysis from the University of Florida in 2006. She is currently a Professor of Psychology, the Director of Graduate Training, and the Coordinator of the Behavior Analysis program area at West Virginia University. She is also a horse enthusiast so in this conversation we get to explore all her interests.

In Part 1 we began with mastery-based learning and then Claire introduced us to the concept of super resurgence. In Part 2 we begin with the reasons why behavior relapses. That will take us to quadratic equations, philosophical answers contrasted with ethical ones, loopy training and the constructional approach, variable and continuous reinforcement schedules, and collaborations between trainers and researchers. It’s a fun, wide-ranging conversation that takes us down some unexpected but fun rabbit holes.

This week we continue to explore the connection between teaching programs that have been developed for classrooms and the work we do with our horses. We are joined by Dr. Claire St Peter. Claire received her PhD in Psychology with an emphasis in Behavior Analysis from the University of Florida in 2006. She is currently a Professor of Psychology, the Director of Graduate Training, and the Coordinator of the Behavior Analysis program area at West Virginia University.

She serves as the current Editor-in-Chief for the journal Education and Treatment of Children. Her research focuses on improving outcomes for children who struggle in school,

identifying generative effects of extinction, determining how well reinforcement-based teaching procedures work in application by novice implementers, and teaching others to use behavioral approaches.

That’s the academic bio. Claire is also a horse person. In 2021 she saw my Clicker Expo presentations and decided to take a deeper look at my work. She attended my virtual clinics and Science Camp. One of the things Claire enjoys are collaborations that let her blend her research interests with her passion for horses.

I enjoy collaborations as well, so I was delighted when Claire started attending my virtual clinics. That’s given us many opportunities to have some fascinating conversations. And now it’s clearly time to share some of those conversations in this podcast. In this episode we begin with mastery based learning - what is it and why is it relevant to our horses? Claire ends by introducing us to super resurgence. You’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out what that means and what it has to do with horses.