goats


I used to recommend giving animals Christmas trees. The goats loved to use them as head scratchers and they nibbled on the bark. My rabbit used hers as a hideaway and chewed patterns into it. The chickens appreciated the windbreak. But last year I heard from a friend. Elizabeth had […]

Poisons on Christmas Trees


Only in a laboratory does training happen in a sterile box. The real world is complex and changing. It’s impossible to keep the environment the same from training session to session. The list of potential distractions is long – it’s windy, a fly bites, a car backfires, a horse whinnies, someone walks by eating an […]

Context Matters


We get a lot of joy from our animals, from their companionship, to their antics, to the attention that they give to us. There’s also the joy of touch – for them and for us. Back when I thought I wasn’t riding anymore I got two goat brothers, Pip and […]

Grooming Goats/Grooming Horses



I love horses and they’re the focus of what I do, but I openly admit that my absolute favorite animal to train is the goat. Goats are endlessly enthusiastic and always in the game. Whatever I bring to an interaction with them, they add to it, with great good cheer and always a […]

Training Goats


I’m hard at work on another blogpost about horses and training, and it’s taking me awhile for me to craft my words. Lucky for you (and me!) I have more Baby Goat Photos! Susan had one more doe who kidded triplets! (I try to limit my use of exclamation points. […]

More Goat Kids!


I’m working on a blogpost about using the clicker and timing and how it can all go wrong (and right!) It takes hours of thought and word crafting to get a piece like that perfected before I’m ready to put it out there. So, while I’m working on that, here’s a […]

Baby Goats