For this episode, I take the mic from Jec and visit with Kimberly Loveless and Kerry O’Brien, horsewomen I admire for their ongoing journey of learning and making progress with their horses. In addition, they have both been generous supporters of the Best Horse Practices Summit.

The three of us have been visiting back and forth about positive reinforcement. Years ago, I featured an article that was pretty much anti-positive reinforcement, with several guest commenters. I also published a piece by horseman Tim McGaffic on combined training, that is, using negative and positive reinforcement.

Here is a bit of information on Kimberly and Kerry:

Kimberly retired from her work as a Federal Agent for nearly 30 years, She has owned, ridden and trained horses since she was a young girl. She has a bachelors degree in Criminal Justice, a Masters in Education, and has taught at the college level.

She is a Bureau of Land Management Wild horse mentor and volunteer and she also gentles mustangs for the Mustang Heritage Foundation. She has seven personal mustangs and one rescue molly mule, ranging in age from six to 16. She lives in Virginia.

Kerry lives near me in Colorado and is a lifelong student of animals, behavior, and brain science. But before that, she had a bodywork and functional movement practice in Los Angeles for over 25 years. She is an "integrator" who believes in having a big toolbox. Friends call her "The Digger." She's also an accomplished photographer, storyteller, and Mustang Heritage Foundation Tip trainer.

Sponsors:

Lucerne Farms

Kate's Real Food

Patagonia WorkWear

Resources:

Video: Kerry works with Coco on accepting dewormer

Learning Schools and How to Avoid Tribalism

Tim McGaffic on Combined Training

Past Article on Clicker Training

Additional suggestions from Kerry O'Briand:

Dog training virtual mentor Susan Garrett was fortunate to have Bob Bailey I think as her graduate advisor. Watch video. 

Smithsonian article on animals trained by Brelands and Bailey for espionage.

A 4.5 hour video on the background and history of operant conditioning. 

Trailer for a longer movie.