Equiosity

Latest Episodes:

Episode 212 Joe Layng Pt 1 Degrees Of Freedom Nov 28, 2022

Show notes

This is part 1 of a three part conversation with Dr Joe Layng. To begin I should say that Dr Layng is not a horse person. This conversation is going to cover a lot of important concepts, but for the most part we won’t be talking specifically about horses. I asked Joe to talk to us about degrees of freedom. This is a topic that I have heard Joe talk about several times and every time I have the same reaction. This is something we need to understand more clearly. It is relevant not just to our horses but to so many of the choices we make for ourselves. Whenever I hear Joe present on this topic, I want to share what he’s saying, and that is of course what equiosity is all about. Dominique and I get to share ideas that make us sit up and take notice. So first, a little background. Dr Layng has over 40 years' experience in the experimental and applied analysis of behavior, with a particular focus on the design of teaching/learning environments. He earned a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, where he collaborated with Paul Andronis and Israel Goldiamond. He is the co-founder of Headsprout and was its senior scientist. At Headsprout, Dr. Layng and his colleagues designed, tested, and implemented highly successful Early Reading and Reading Comprehension programs. Over 4 million children have learned to read through the Head Sprout program. Dr. Layng has held a number of positions in schools, universities, and other public institutions related to instructional design, educational technology, large-scale performance improvement, and clinical behavior analysis. I met Joe at the Art and Science of Animal Training conference. His presentations have always been for me one of the highlights of that conference. I could easily go down any number of rabbit holes with him, but where we are going to begin is with degrees of freedom, what this means and what the implications are for our animals and for ourselves. In the bigger picture, this discussion will help you understand the origins of some of the divisions and the violence that fills the news headlines every day. It will also help us find solutions. It’s an important topic on many levels, and one I hope you will share with others.

Episode 211: Ann Edie Pt 2: Riding A Clicker - Trained Horse Nov 21, 2022

Show notes

We’re continuing our conversation with Ann Edie. Many of you will know Ann already. She’s Panda’s person. Panda is the mini I trained to be a guide for Ann. In this episode we talk about Ann’s full size horses. We meet Ann’s Arabian Magnat. I always referred to Magnat as a one in ten million horse. In Part 1 Ann described what it was like to ride him and the training that created these magic carpet rides. The link between ground work and riding is highlighted. Positive reinforcement isn’t just a description of processes. The process you choose to teach a particular lesson sits on the surface of your training. What underlies these choices is the mindset, your core ethics, your long-standing habits of thought. For most of us riding is where we have received the most instruction. It’s where the influences from others run the deepest. So jumping straight into riding with the clicker may mean that you run head first into those old habit patterns and that’s one reason why some people may struggle to use clicker training when they ride. We ended Part One with a story from a clinic that I gave many years ago that illustrated this. It confirmed for me the importance of beginning on the ground and then transferring your training to riding. In Part 2 of this conversation we continue to weave together the ground work lessons and riding with the clicker. Ann continues to share her experiences partnering a clicker-trained horse. We talk about single-rein riding, teaching horses to ride in pairs, guide work and intelligent disobedience, dealing with spooks and much more.

Episode 210 Ann Edie Pt 1 Riding A Clicker - Trained Horse Nov 15, 2022

Show notes

I was asked recently: “Do clicker trainers ride?” This question confused me at first. Of course, we ride! I wrote a book about riding, and I have produced DVD lessons, on-line clinics and other resources that look directly at riding. But then this person went on to say that the clicker trainers in her area don’t seem to ride. She was wondering if it was just too complicated to ride with positive reinforcement. Hmm. I know that these days there are many variations on the theme in terms of what people mean when they talk about clicker training, but for me there has always been a direct connection between ground work and riding. The expression I use is: Riding is just ground work where you get to sit down and ground work is riding where you get to stand up. I have always seen the connection between the two, so, of course, I carried clicker training with me when I rode. But this question made me think that we should do a podcast that was specifically on riding. To help with this I invited Ann Edie to join us. Many of you will know Ann already. She’s Panda’s person. Panda is the mini I trained to be a guide for Ann. In this episode we talk about Ann’s big horses, her Arabian Magnat and her Icelandics. I always referred to Magnat as a one in ten million horse. Ann describes what this means to her. She shares what it was like to ride him and the training that created what many times felt like magic carpet rides.I was asked recently: “Do clicker trainers ride?” This question confused me at first. Of course, we ride! I wrote a book about riding, and I have produced DVD lessons, on-line clinics and other resources that look directly at riding. But then this person went on to say that the clicker trainers in her area don’t seem to ride. She was wondering if it was just too complicated to ride with positive reinforcement. Hmm. I know that these days there are many variations on the theme in terms of what people mean when they talk about clicker training, but for me there has always been a direct connection between ground work and riding. The expression I use is: Riding is just ground work where you get to sit down and ground work is riding where you get to stand up. I have always seen the connection between the two, so, of course, I carried clicker training with me when I rode. But this question made me think that we should do a podcast that was specifically on riding. To help with this I invited Ann Edie to join us. Many of you will know Ann already. She’s Panda’s person. Panda is the mini I trained to be a guide for Ann. In this episode we talk about Ann’s big horses, her Arabian Magnat and her Icelandics. I always referred to Magnat as a one in ten million horse. Ann describes what this means to her. She shares what it was like to ride him and the training that created what many times felt like magic carpet rides.

Episode 209: Raven Hickson Pt 2: Tickling Rats And Horse Play Nov 08, 2022

Show notes

We continue to explore the connection between tickling rates and playing with horses in Part 2 of our conversation with Raven Hickson. Raven is a behavioral neuroscientist. She’s just finishing her PhD. She’s been studying social play behavior in a rat model of neuro-development disorder. Raven comes from an applied animal background. Her bachelor’s degree is in Animal Science from Cornell. Her focus was on neurobiology and behavior and psychology courses. She interned over two summers as a zookeeper at the Cleveland Zoo which is how she learned about husbandry training and the idea of species-appropriate enrichment. After graduating, she spent time working in zoos, and as a high school animal science teacher, and then as the manager of a small boarding barn before she moved to Scotland in 2017 for a Master’s in Applied Animal Behavior and Animal Welfare at the University of Edinburgh. Her master’s dissertation led directly into her PhD project which has focused on social play behavior in rat models of neurodevelopment disorder, paying particular attention to refining methods to improve welfare. She has two Icelandics who live at home with her. She’s been attending both my in-person clinics and now the on-line clinics. In this conversation play is front and center. We begin by looking at five criteria that can be used to recognize play. We also talk about our experiences with fear. The traditional horse world teaches riders to suppress their fear which often has a negative effect on training. I know many people struggle with their own fear. The irony is they are often afraid to talk about it. The "get back on the horse after you've fallen off" mentality influences their training choices and reduces their ability to play with their horses.

Episode 208: Raven Hickson Pt 1: Tickling Rats And Horse Play Nov 04, 2022

Show notes

What is the connection between tickling rates and playing with horses? Find out in the conversation with Raven Hickson. Raven is a a behavioral neuroscientist. She’s just finishing her PhD. She’s been studying social play behavior in a rat model of neuro-development disorder. Raven comes from an applied animal background. Her bachelor’s degree is in Animal Science from Cornell. Her focus was on neurobiology and behavior and psychology courses. She interned over two summers as a zookeeper at the Cleveland Zoo which is how she learned about husbandry training and the idea of species-appropriate enrichment. After graduating, she spent time working in zoos, and as a high school animal science teacher, and then as the manager of a small boarding barn before she moved to Scotland in 2017 for a Master’s in Applied Animal Behavior and Animal Welfare at the University of Edinburgh. Her master’s dissertation led directly into her PhD project which has focused on social play behavior in rat models of neurodevelopment disorder, paying particular attention to refining methods to improve welfare. She has two Icelandics who live at home with her. She’s been attending both my in-person clinics and now the on-line clinics. In this conversation we begin by having Raven describe the research she’s involved in. She shared with us some of the developmental deficits in rats that are seen when individuals don’t play. That took us to the importance bringing play into our training.

Episode 207: Taylor Culbert Pt 2: A 17th Century View Of Animals Oct 26, 2022

Show notes

This is part two of an afternoon’s conversation with Taylor Culbert. Taylor is a PhD candidate in Theatre and Performance at the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. She is writing her dissertation on 17th century animal performances in Europe, looking specifically at how cultural narratives about animals shaped the ways that humans and animals responded to one another. In Part 1 we began with stag hunts and some surprising revelations about animal intelligence. It was a conversation with many interesting twists and turns. Taylor described the challenge of finding accounts from the 17th century about the relationship performers developed with the animals they worked with. I invited Dominique to share what she had observed in the artists and trainers who performed in the Cavalia shows. It’s been a few years since that show was on tour, so Dominique began by describing the show. Cavalia is like Cirque du Soleil only with horses. In traditional circuses, horses are worked in the round always within reach of a long whip. In Cavalia they wanted to break away from this traditional image of superiority of humans over animals to portray a relationship built around friendship. Part 2 begins with Dominique sharing some stories from the show describing the relationship that developed between the artists and their equine performing partners. From there we circled back into the 17th century to Taylor’s research and that brought us back around to the importance of positive reinforcement training and the role it plays in creating safety nets under horses.

Episode 206: Taylor Culbert Pt 1: A 17th Century View Of Animals Oct 20, 2022

Show notes

Taylor Culbert is a PhD candidate in Theatre and Performance at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). She is writing her dissertation on 17th century animal performances in Europe, looking specifically at how cultural narratives about animals shaped the ways that humans and animals responded to one another. When she isn't writing, Taylor works part-time training horses at a rescue in upstate NY. Taylor is enrolled in my on-line clinics so I’ve been getting to know her. I asked recently what her PhD dissertation is on and was so intrigued by her answer, I knew I wanted to learn more, so I invited her to join us for an afternoon’s conversation. We began with stag hunts and some surprising revelations about animal intelligence. It’s a conversation with interesting twists and turns. We enter a time warp between 17th century Europe and our current time which prompts Dominique to share stories about Cavalia, the theater company she co-founded that brought horses, acrobats, and other artists together in performance. Taylor mentions several references during our conversation. Below are the references: "Horse and Man in Early Modern England" by Peter Edwards "The Accommodated Animal" by Laurie Shannon (talks about "birds and beasts and fish" vs human/animal binary) "Birds and Other Creatures in Renaissance Literature" by Rebecca Ann Back (talks about animals having morality/emotions and the role that Descartes played - or didn't - in early modern understandings of animals) La Vénerie de Jacques Du Fouilloux This is a digital copy of an early edition of one of the hunting manuals that Taylor is writing about.

Episode 205: Christa Culbert Pt 2: Working With An Unsound Horse Oct 11, 2022

Show notes

This is the second half of our conversation with Christa Culbert. Christa is an artist, a horse trainer, and an educator. She is pursing a career in the horse world, and dreams of starting a classical dressage clicker training horse rescue someday. Christa has been participating in my on-line clinics so I’ve been watching her progress with her two older horses. In this episode she introduces us to Huck, a horse she rescued when he was so lame he could barely walk. We talk about the choices she made for him, including the role that training has had in his recovery. We also talk about Christa’s experiences living with her horses in their pasture. That’s a life style I know many people would love to have with their own horses. Other topics include using clicker training to teach young children. Christa asks an important question: What kind of leaders do we need? Her answer: “We need people who are creative, who look to science, who are good listeners, and when something is not going their way, they break things down or try a different way - all things that clicker training teaches. We don’t need more leaders who kick harder when they don’t get what the want.”

Episode 204 Christa Culbert Pt 1 Celebrating Older Horses Sep 30, 2022

Show notes

In the recent Dressage Camp one of the standouts for me during the introductions were how many of the participants were working with older horses. It was so good to hear how many people were choosing to rescue older and often unsound horses. They wanted to know how they could help their horses, so clearly this was a great topic for the podcast. I invited one of the Dressage Camp participants, Christa Culbert, to spend the afternoon with us in conversation. Christa is an artist, a horse trainer, and an educator. She is pursing a career in the horse world, and dreams of starting a classical dressage clicker training horse rescue someday. Christa has been participating in my on-line clinics so I’ve been watching her progress with her two older horses. Both came from a horse rescue. In this episode we talk about Christa’s background both in the horse world and her search for a way of working with horses that feels morally right. That search brought her to clicker training. In so many of the podcasts we talk about what we can learn from the science of behavior analysis. In this conversation Christa shares how her training as an artist has informed her horse training.

Episode 203: Our Horses Connecting To Us - Pt 2: A Creative Training Game Sep 23, 2022

Show notes

This is part two of an afternoon’s conversation in which Dominique used posts from my on-line clinics to select topics for us to discuss. Last week our conversation about the connection that emerges with our horses led to a discussion about colic, and then to lighten things up, we talked about treats vests and pouches. Our next topic is video. A post from a course participation gave Dominique some ideas about how she could use the video from her training sessions to help spot clean loops. From there we moved on to several other topics, including the use of chains to develop back and forth communication between the handler and the horse, and a creative way to use the training game. So first I describe the original version of the training game and then I look at a variation that can create beautifully seamless training.

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