Monthly Archives: December 2016

I use food rewards when training, but not in all scenarios. Here’s why. I train by identifying the behavior that I want, setting up scenarios that make it doable, and then rewarding the animal when it happens. I want to be able to get that behavior numerous times, the more […]

Training With Food – Sometimes

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There’s a folk tradition that there’s one night a year that animals talk. For some this happens at the solstice. For others on Christmas Eve. As a child, I would daydream about what it’d be like to be awake at that moment. A few years back, I wrote a story about […]

The Night The Animals Talk

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and through the snow… the horse knows the way… I’m fortunate to keep Tonka at a stable with an indoor so that I can ride all winter. But, oh, Tonka and I get so tired of those four walls! In the last week it has been bitterly cold, the winds have […]

And Through the Snow…

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Hey, Tonka, let’s take a selfie. Hmm, maybe not so close to the camera.   It’d help if you didn’t lean quite so much on me.   Maybe I could get into the photo, too?     I guess this will do. 

Selfie With Horse

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When Tonka and I are in sync, he’s flowing with energy and cadence, and I can talk to him with a the most subtle of body language, like by relaxing a ring finger, or by changing where I look.   But it’s not always pretty. What matters is what you do […]

It’s Not Him, It’s Me

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This time of year there’s freeze and thaw, snow and rain. When the ground softens, many horses look like this:   Not Tonka. On the same day that Zephyr coated himself in mud, Tonka came out of the paddock his pristine, shiny self. Tonka does love a good roll. But it has to […]

Mud-loving or Not

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I sit on the floor of my horse’s stall. I watch him wiggle his lips in the hay. I hear him chew. His breath is relaxed and calm. So is mine. There’s no need to meditate when you have a horse.

Sitting With My Horse

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Anyone who’s been around me at the stable knows that I’m obsessive about grooming my horse. I take pride in seeing a shiny coat and I enjoy the bonding and communication that happens during those long sessions of brushing.   But I also love seeing a tail filled with shavings because this tells me that […]

Shavings in the Tail

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