Equiosity

In our previous podcast we talked about Ken Ramirez’s suggestion to do it differently. He was referring to the training of husbandry procedures, especially as they relate to medical care. In this podcast we’re going to see how that phrase applies to performance work.

We interrupted the conversation just as Dominique was about to talk about patterns. She had been talking one trial quitters. Dr. Jesús Rosales Ruiz introduced that phrase to us in the July webinar. He went on to talk about the ABCs of training, but in a way Dominique hadn’t thought about before. So we’ll pick up again where we left off. Our conversation is going to take us to patterns and the microshaping strategy, to techniques for building duration, and to a discussion that’s centered around what to do when your animal says “no I don’t want to.”

We’ll jump back in at the point where Dominique is talking about several wow moments from the webinar with Jesús.

We all know clicker training works great for horses, but what about cows? In Episode 21, A Postcard from Germany, we shared the story of Snickers, the cow. Dominique saw a video of Snickers and wanted to share how amazed she was. She had never seen such a joyful cow. Snickers' enthusiasm was a delight to watch, but her size can certainly be intimidating, especially if you aren’t familiar with cows. This led to a discussion of the importance of building a calm solid foundation into your training. That took us straight to husbandry behaviors.

Everyone hopes their horse lives a long and healthy life. We don’t want to think about the potential accidents and health crises that we may have to deal with. But life has a way of throwing us curve balls, especially where horses are concerned. So how do you prepare your horse so any future medical care is not only doable, but relatively stress free? How do you train for something when you don’t know exactly what you are preparing your horses for? That was one of the discussion points in the recent webinar we had with Ken Ramirez. In this podcast we revisit the topic and discuss Ken’s approach as it relates to our own horses.

We also talk about desperation clicks and one-trial quitters. For fun I throw in a goat update and Dominique talks about a great training day she had with her horses.

In the library section of the Equiosity.com web site we’ve added some photos and a great video of Snickers, the cow. It’s an inspiring video. Snickers clearly not only loves clicker training, she loves her person.

Nancy Kelly and Spybird Productions are doing a documentary on operant conditioning. She recently spent four days at the barn filming the horses. When she was done interviewing me, Dominique and I interviewed her for this podcast.

Spybird productions is a small company. It’s Nancy, her videographer, and Bob Bailey. Nancy has known Bob since 2003 so this was a perfect opportunity to learn about the history of operant conditioning - who were the giants whose shoulders we are all now standing on?

Nancy had just spent several days in Boston interviewing B.F. Skinner’s daughter, Julie Vargas, so she had some intriguing stories to share. Our questions about Skinner led us to the Brelands and then on to Bob Bailey.

This is a history lesson, but don’t let that put you off. There are no dates to memorize or tests to pass. We’re talking about animal training and the work that was begun by B.F. Skinner and then carried forward by the Brelands, Bob Bailey, and many others to create modern, positive reinforcement animal training.

Episode 22: A Postcard From Italy

Alexandra Kurland’s European adventure continues. In this podcast she is joined by two of her traveling companions, Michaela Hempen and Rebekka Schulze. Together in this "audio postcard” they describe the second half of Anja Beran’s International Workshop. On the drive south to Italy, they take you through the Austrian Alps, share a tour of Verona with archaeologist and tag teacher Luce Canever, and then arrive in Parma for the second half of the adventure - a clicker training workshop.

That workshop was filled with many treats, including a session each day with a Feldenkrais instructor. You’ll learn about the Feldenkrais work and why it is so linked to clicker training. Through the podcast the direct links between clicker training and classical dressage are made much clearer. We may be taking you on a journey through Germany and Italy, but this podcast is really a "connect the dots" tour of clicker training and classical dressage.

Alexandra Kurland recently traveled to Germany to attend Anja Beran’s annual International Workshop. She is joined in this podcast by Michaela Hempen, one of her Click That Teaches coaches. Together they are sending back an audio postcard describing the workshop and their other adventures in Germany.

Our conversation with Hannah continues with a discussion of reinforcement variety and what do you do when your training goes off the rails?

We then head off in a new direction. The focus on good balance seems to help our horses and dogs remain healthy and active into their senior years. What can we learn from this training that we could make use of for ourselves? Hannah’s answer provides clarity for teaching good movement whether you are working with horses, dogs or people. This loops us back to task analysis, the concept we were discussing in Part 1 of our conversation.

Last week in our Equiosity podcast we greeted our first guest, Hannah Brannigan. Our conversation with Hannah continues. In the previous episode we stopped just as Hannah made the very intriguing statement that in the past many of the things that we would have thought were fixed, such as an animal's structure, can be changed through good training. We pick up with a discussion of what that means and why should we bother? What are the benefits that we have observed in our own animals?

As always, it is good to begin at the beginning, which in Hannah’s case means talking about her new puppy. Where do you start? That was the question that was posed. Hannah is teaching her puppy reinforcement strategies. So that’s where the conversation took us. What does that look like? How do you teach a variety of reinforcement strategies? Hannah wants to be able to switch back and forth between activities in which the animal is very calm and still, and activities in which there is more movement and arousal.

Hannah’s new puppy was very play motivated, but not that interested in food. So Hannah described the process for teaching a dog that isn’t interested in the type of reinforcer you are offering (food or toy) to become more interested in that reinforcer. The same procedure could be used for horses who aren’t that interested in taking treats.

We end with a question about reinforcement variety. With dogs there are lots of ways you can reinforce them. With horses it seems we use mostly food treats. What are some of the ways we can expand our reinforcement variety?

This week we welcome our first guest to our equiosity podcast. We’re joined by Hannah Brannigan. Many of you will already be familiar with Hannah’s work. She’s a member of the Clicker Expo faculty, and she also has her own, very popular podcast - Drinking from the toilet.

Hannah is both a professional dog trainer and a horse owner so it’s easy to make the connections back and forth between training dogs and training horses. We both enjoy her podcast, so it was easy to get carried away in our conversation. We ended up talking for about two hours. We covered so many different topics we decided it was too much for one podcast so we split it into three much more digestible units.

This week in Part One we talk about balance as it relates to both horses and dogs. We begin by asking Hannah why she became balance obsessed? Why does this attention to the minute details of how her dogs move matter. Hannah defines task analysis for us as we explore the question: how do you know what to look for to improve your animal’s balance?

Hannah talks about her terrier Rugby and the huge change in his movement that good training has helped to create. In the podcast Hannah talks about a video that shows Rugby moving in a big, floating trot (big that is for a little terrier). We have put the links to that video, plus some still shots of his movement up in the members library.

If you don’t yet have the password for the library, just fill out the subscription form in the member’s section. We’ll send you the password. If you don’t see it in your in-box, remember to check your junk mail. It may end up there.

Once you have the password, you can access all the bonus articles we’ve posted in the Members Library.

This week’s podcast begins with an update on the goats. They lead us to an understanding of why we train - and that takes us to a discussion of the "Art of Training". Dominique questions what is meant by that expression. What does it mean? Should we be drawn into the lyricism of this phrase or is it better to look at the science of training?

Heads are spinning in the best way possible after the June 30th webinar with Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz. We taped this podcast the following day so naturally we couldn’t help but begin with a review of some of the key concepts Jesús covered. He gave us a packed webinar which gave us a great launching point for a discussion that began with the use of jargon when describing different training techniques and led on to loopy training, the difference between emotions and emotional responses, and macro versus micro training.