Equiosity

We want to start small. That’s an important part of loopy training and constructional training in general. You begin with a small, simple, easily achieved response which means you are starting with a high success rate resulting in a high rate of reinforcement.

This is great from your horse’s point of view. Very little effort yields consistent goodies.

From our point of view we want to start small but we don’t want to stay small. Staying small means you are staying stuck in the narrow end of the funnel. Instead of the behavior expanding through gentle nudges, you are stuck in a tight cylinder.

In this episode we look at different strategies for breaking free of the narrow cylinder so your training can expand into ever more complex behavior.

Dominique and I spent a very hot June afternoon recording this three part conversation. In the previous episode we talked about the weather because when it’s over a hundred degrees, it’s hard to think about anything else. We shared what we do to keep our horses comfortable in this extreme heat.

We also talked about neck ropes. I described what you can use them for and how you introduce neck ropes to your horse. We ended with the neck rope evolving into a trailer loading lesson and then into ground driving.

At the start of this lesson Dominique is asking about the difference between handlers who are absent versus handlers who are light. This leads to a discussion of riding on a release versus riding on contact. We talk about the difference between describing what an experienced riding is doing to influence her horse versus describing the process that got her to the result you’re admiring.

We also talk about mounting blocks and how to teach your horse to line himself up next to the mounting block.

It’s hot. The day we recorded this conversation it was 105 degrees (Fahrenheit) where Dominique lives. My area was positively balmy by comparison. It was only 94 degrees.

So the weather is what we both wanted to talk about and more specifically how do we manage our horses when the temperatures are so extreme? We aren’t authorities on horse care. We’re just two horse owners who worry a lot about our horses’ well being. In the first half of this podcast we exchange ideas about how to deal with extreme temperatures. Hot weather leads to talking about something else that’s very current for me and that’s ticks.

The first half of our conversation is about management. The second half is all training. I describe how to introduce a the use of a neck rope. Working in a neck rope is a great stepping stone towards riding. It also evolves into a lesson that helps prep a horse for riding in a trailer, and for ground driving.

This is Part 3 of a conversation with Muna Clough. I’ve wanted to have Muna on the podcast for quite a while. She’s a participant in my on-line clinics along with her Irish Draft cross, Frank. One of the first videos she sent me showed Frank rearing up at her and then snaking his head around and biting at her legs.

In the more recent videos Muna has been teaching a calm Frank lateral work. The change in their relationship has been an absolute pleasure to watch. I wanted Muna to share with us the process she’s gone through to create this transformation. I can make suggestions, but we have an ocean separating us. It has been Muna who has done all the training. She’s created the changes that we’re seeing.

In this episode we talk about the principles Muna has used to guide her choices with Frank. These principles let you weave a strong safety net under a horse. I’m always so appreciative when people share their training stories. It’s very much a pay it forward system. There’s always someone listening who is where they used to be with a horse. Sharing what worked, what they learned, the process they went through to get where they are today - all of that helps the next person who’s new to this way of training.

It is always go to people for opinions and horses for answers. We can’t invite Frank onto the podcast but we can very much ask Muna to join us so she can share his story.

We ended last time with a discussion of principles and that’s where we pick up as we rejoin the conversation in Part 3.

This is Part 2 of a conversation with Muna Clough. I’ve wanted to have Muna on the podcast for quite a while. She’s a participant in my on-line clinics along with her Irish Draft cross, Frank. One of the first videos she sent me showed Frank rearing up at her and then snaking his head around and biting at her legs.

In the more recent videos Muna has been teaching Frank lateral work. The change in their relationship has been an absolute pleasure to watch. I wanted Muna to share with us the process she’s gone through to create this transformation. I can make suggestions, but we have an ocean separating us. It has been Muna who has done all the training. She’s created the changes that we’re seeing.

I’m always so appreciative when people share their training stories. It’s very much a pay it forward system. There’s always someone listening who is where they used to be with a horse. Sharing what worked, what they learned, the process they went through to get where they are today - all of that helps the next person who’s new to this way of training.

In this episode we talk about “hot potato” horses. These are horses with issues somebody else didn’t want to deal with so they passed the horse on to some unsuspecting person who now has to figure out what to do with the “hot potato”. I share stories of other “hot potato” horses and Muna talks about how she worked with Frank to transform their relationship.

This is Part 1 of a conversation with Muna Clough. I’ve wanted to have Muna on the podcast for quite a while. She’s a participant in my on-line clinics. She has an Irish draft cross named, Frank. One of the first videos Muna sent me showed Frank rearing up at her and then moments later snaking his head around to bite at her legs.

In the more recent videos Muna has been teaching Frank lateral work. The change in their relationship has been an absolute pleasure to watch. All of the coaching has been through emails and the monthly coaching sessions. I can make suggestions, but we have an ocean separating us. It has been Muna who has done all the training. She’s created the change that we’re seeing. I wanted Muna to share with us the process she’s gone through to create this transformation.

It’s all well and good for me to say clicker training works. When you’re struggling with a horse, you can feel really trapped. When you hear from someone like Muna whose horse started out with very similar behavior, her experiences can become the light that gets you to the end of the tunnel.

In this episode I begin by talking about the SABA Award that I was recently given at this year’s ABAI conference. This is a very roundabout way to introduce Muna and Frank. The connection between the two is loopy training. Muna’s other horse Sandro was featured in the presentation I gave during the Awards ceremony. So this seemed like the perfect time to invite Muna to join us.

She began by introducing Frank, a horse she bought as a two year old and then quickly discovered that she was in way over her head. We’ll be focusing on the work Muna did to transform Frank from a fire-breathing dragon into delightful equine company.

This is part 2 of our conversation with Ken Ramirez. For over thirty years Ken was the executive Vice President overseeing animal care and training at the Shedd Aquarium. He is now the Executive Vice President and chief training officer of Karen Pryor Clicker Training. Those are impressive sounding titles, but they don’t come close to describing Ken’s talent as a trainer and teacher.

Dominique and I were delighted to be able to spend an afternoon with Ken shortly after this year’s Clicker Expo. Dominique had a long list of questions for Ken relating to a talk he gave at the Expo.

In this episode the discussion centers around treatless clicks, keep going signals, clickless treats, and end of session signals.

You know you’re in for a great conversation when the guest for this week’s episode is Ken Ramirez. For over thirty years Ken was the Executive Vice President Overseeing Animal Care and Training at the Shedd Aquarium. He is now the Executive Vice President and Chief Training Officer of Karen Pryor Clicker Training.

Those are impressive sounding titles, but they don’t come close to describing Ken’s talent as a trainer and teacher. Dominique and I were delighted to be able to spend an afternoon with Ken shortly after this year’s Clicker Expo. Dominique had a list of questions about keep going signals, treatless clicks and end-of-session strategies. We begin with why Ken describes advanced training as the basics done really well. Ken shares some great stories and then we jump into a discussion of keep going signals.

This is Part 5 of a five part series with Dr. Susan Friedman. Susan is a professor emeritus in the Department of Psychology at Utah State University. She is well known around the world for her very popular on-line course: How Behavior Works: Living & Learning With Animals). She has co-authored chapters on behavior change in five veterinary texts, and her popular articles have been translated into 17 languages. She shares many of those articles on her web site: behavior works.org It’s a great resource for all of us who want to learn more about the natural science of behavior.

Susan is a member of the clicker expo faculty. Her presentations at the March Clicker Expo prompted this conversation on schedules of reinforcement.

In Part 1 Susan reviewed with us the basics of fixed and variable schedules. She ended with a question about how you get behavior to vary when you are using a continuous reinforcement schedule. We carried that question over into Part 2.

In Part 2 we took a deeper dive into continuous reinforcement schedules. We considered how you get behavior to vary without using a variable reinforcement schedule. Susan talked about a moving away from transactional training to training with assent.

Part 3 Susan helped us to understand schedules of co-variation. She defined conjugate and synchronous schedules and gave some very practical examples, especially as it relates to husbandry procedures that may involve some discomfort. Again, she discussed what assent looks like and what it means when an animal says no. What conditions must be present for a conjugate schedule to begin and what conditions mean that the training should stop?

Part 4 was very much about working in teams. Especially when you are working on husbandry procedures that the animal may not be comfortable with, you need to notice and respond appropriately to the subtle “no answers” an animal presents. When one person is in charge of feeding and the other is handling the procedure, effective communication needs to be there.

At the Cheyenne Mountain zoo where Susan does a great deal of consulting work, the goal of each training session is not getting the procedure done. It is having a willing animal for the next session.

She talked about the difference between empathy and compassion, and somehow that took us to parenting styles and what to do when a baby cries.

Now in Part 5 of this conversation we’ll be talking about non-linear analysis. Susan talks about the shift in focus from proximal to distant antecedents. She defines what this means and shares several stories that really help us to understand these concepts. When you’re faced with unwanted behavior an empowering question is to ask: if he did what was wanted, what would this individual be giving up? In other words what other contingencies are reinforcing (or perhaps not reinforcing) the behavior such that, from the handler’s perspective, an unwanted behavior emerges. If we could make a change in these other contingencies, we might not have to deal with this unwanted behavior. Susan’s stories make it very clear what this means and how to go about designing behavior change plans that take the distant antecedents into account. My favorite example involves the penguins at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

This is the fourth in a five part series with Dr Susan Friedman. The general topic is schedules of reinforcement. Susan is a professor emeritus in the Department of Psychology at Utah State University. She is well known around the world for her very popular on-line course: How Behavior Works: Living & Learning With Animals). She has co-authored chapters on behavior change in five veterinary texts, and her popular articles have been translated into 17 languages. She shares many of those articles on her web site: behavior works.org It’s a great resource for all of us who want to learn more about the natural science of behavior.

Susan is a member of the clicker expo faculty. Her presentations at the March Clicker Expo prompted this conversation on schedules of reinforcement.

In Part 1 Susan reviewed with us the basics of fixed and variable schedules. She ended with a question about how you get behavior to vary when you are using a continuous reinforcement schedule. We carried that question over into Part 2.

In Part 2 we took a deeper dive into continuous reinforcement schedules. We considered how you get behavior to vary without using a variable reinforcement schedule. Susan talked about moving away from transactional training to training with assent.

Part 3 Susan helped us to understand schedules of co-variation. She defined conjugate and synchronous schedules and gave some very practical examples, especially as it relates to husbandry procedures that may involve some discomfort. Again, she discussed what assent looks like and what it means when an animal says no. What conditions must be present for a conjugate schedule to begin and what conditions mean that the training should stop?

Part 4 is very much about working in teams. Especially when you are working on husbandry procedures that the animal may not be comfortable with, you need to notice and respond appropriately to the subtle signals an animal presents. When one person is in charge of feeding and the other is handling the procedure, effective communication needs to be there.

At the Cheyenne Mountain zoo where Susan does a great deal of consulting work, the goal of each training session is not getting the procedure done. It is having a willing animal for the next session.

In this episode we talk about different magnitudes of reinforcers and the importance of making a distinction in the reinforcers that are available in order for a choice to be made.

Susan talks about the difference between empathy and compassion, and somehow that takes us to parenting styles and a question from Dominique about what to do when a baby cries.