Equiosity

Sarah Memmi is a behavioral scientist. She teaches at the University of Louisville in Kentucky where she’s an Assistant Professor of Marketing in the College of Business. Her main area of research is how people pursue goals; how they handle conflicts between multiple goals, and how they manage their personal resources (time, money). She also teaches in the University of Louisville’s unique equine business program.

There are so many rabbit holes we could go down relating to Sarah’s professional work, but I am beginning with Sarah’s lifelong love of horses. I met Sarah twenty years ago when she was feeling in over her head with her young trakehner/TB homebred. We began there. Sarah’s situation at that time was one many people share. She kept her horses at home. She didn’t have a trailer so she couldn’t take her horse to a trainer for help. She had to figure out how to work with him on her own. We began with that part of her horse journey because it’s a situation many people find themselves in.

Her young horse became a super riding partner, but sadly Sarah lost him to colic when he was just eleven. So this opened another chapter in her life. She was in graduate school. She didn’t have the time or the resources to take on a new horse, but she wanted to stay connected to the horse world. I know from clinics that many people struggle to find situations where they feel that they fit in. Sarah has been wonderfully successful finding trainers she enjoys learning from. And she has had lots of opportunities not just to ride other people’s horses, but also to clicker train them. So clearly she’s doing a lot right and this is what I wanted to explore.

So many people get the door slammed in their faces when they try to talk about clicker training. Instead Sarah has been in invited to clicker train the horses she’s riding. Before we dive into questions centered around her research on goals, I wanted to begin here: what is she doing right that has brought her so many riding and training opportunities? This question is a great way to introduce you to Sarah and her work. The title of this episode refers to our discussion of three principles Sarah has come up with that will help you to be a good guest in someone else’s barn.

In part 4 of our conversation with Susan Friedman we begin by looking at transactional training. “I have what you want. If you do what I want, I’ll give you what I have.” How has this very blunt way of looking at training changed as we bring in more of an emphasis on good antecedent arrangements? This takes us to an important discussion of core values and control.

We are celebrating the milestone of our 150th episode with our good friend Dr. Susan Friedman. Our conversation lasted the better part of an afternoon so our celebration is continuing on over several weeks.

Last week Susan shared with us three simple questions that help her clients solve their animal training puzzles. This week we’re going to have a change of topic. We’re going to take a very deep dive into the ABCs of training. We discuss some head spinning topics including nonlinear analysis and this quote from Dr. Hank Schlinger: Reinforcers don’t strengthen behavior, they strengthen cues. You can find out what that’s about in this week’s podcast.

Enjoy!

We are celebrating the milestone of our 150th episode with our good friend Dr. Susan Friedman. Our conversation lasted the better part of an afternoon so our celebration will be spilling out over several weeks.

We ended last week with the question: if you got a new animal, what would you do differently? Susan starts us off by talking about her parrots. She looks back at the way in which she was originally taught to handle her African grey. She compares his behavior with her other birds who don't share his early training history. You could easily substitute horses for parrots. The training approach sounds very similar.

The conversation then shifted to a question about expectations and Susan shares with us three simple questions that help her clients solve their animal training puzzles.

Enjoy!

We made it! Or really I should say we made them. This is our 150th episode.

That’s a milestone that is worth celebrating so we invited Dr. Susan Friedman to join us. She suggested that she turn the tables on us meaning she would interview us. Susan began with a look back. What were our initial goals for the podcast? That question launched many others and we talked away the afternoon.

Three hours is too long for any podcast, especially one that contains so many gems, so I have divided our conversation up. This episode is Part 1 of a four part series. A whole month with Susan! Fun!

Enjoy!

In Part 3 of our conversation about riding we examine the connection between the release of the rein and the “yes answer” of the click. They work together to create incredible clarity for the horse. Clarity leads to confidence for both horse and rider. It also helps to create beautiful balance.

We also talk about the effect that desperation clicks, missed clicks, and unintended clicks have on your horse’s response.

This is Part 2 of a three part conversation about riding with the clicker. We began in Part 1 with a description of single-rein riding.

In Part 2 we explore the connection between the “yes answer” information the rein provides and the “yes” of the click. Understand that and he doors to performance excellence are wide open. Putting these two systems together lets you communicate great nuance. The horses really own the changes you’re asking for. They know how to organize their own bodies. This truly is self carriage. You benefit from it under saddle and you will see it when they are moving at liberty.

This is the start of a three part conversation about riding with the clicker. In Part 1 we jump straight in with a description of single-rein riding. We’ll take you back to what it was like to be a youngster again going out to get your pony. It was a lot more fun to hop onto your pony bareback and ride to the barn rather than walk all the way back.

You had only a halter and lead rope for control, but you learned that was all you needed. And then you took lessons and you forgot those early learning-to-ride experiences. Or maybe you never had the opportunity growing up to experience that kind of freedom. All you’ve known is conventional riding so single-rein riding seems very mysterious.

I want to take the mystery out of it. In this three part conversation I’ll be describing that it really isn’t something other, different from what you already know, but part of a teaching continuum that creates beautiful balance and a great connection between horse and rider.

We begin this week’s episode by talking about an up-coming Getting Started clinic that is scheduled for July 2021. This takes us down many fun rabbit holes - expectation, conditioned reinforcers, learning from stories, trailering nightmares, the leggo blocks of training, giraffe preferences, and finally to riding.

In Part One of our conversation with Anita Schnee we promised you an Awareness Through Movement session. That’s how we begin this week’s episode. There’s no better way to learn about the Feldenkrais Method® than to experience it directly.

So this week instead of listening to the podcast while you are driving, instead find a quiet time when you can lie down on your back. Relax, listen and enjoy an ATM lesson. Then join us for a further discussion of the Feldenkrais Method® as it relates to working with horses.