Category: Positive Reinforcement Training

Prof. Jaak Panksepp is one of the most important researchers within the field of neuroscience. He has found 7 core emotional systems within the brain which are present in ALL mammals: Primal Emotional Circuits SEEKING – “the basic impulse to search, investigate, and make sense of the environment” FEAR – All mammals feel FEAR when […]

Getting the foundations strong and solid when wanting to train with food is THE single most important piece of the puzzle for successful training using positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement training is certainly a very effective training technique. But it’s important to get started with strong foundations which will set you up for making great progress […]

I am very excited to welcome Helen as a guest lecturer into The Academy. In this webinar, she will be examining the myriad of ways that physical contact can be utilised in horse training. I am offering a number of spaces on this webinar to people who are NOT members of The Academy. “Helen Spence is a ‘rare breed’ […]

One of the areas within training behaviours positively that some people find hard to grasp, is the concept and purpose of proofing behaviours after the initial learning phase has been completed. This is something that is covered thoroughly within The Academy for our Members. All behaviours and their cues first need to be formed positively and then actively […]

I am very excited to announce that Dr Helen Spence will be doing a webinar for The Academy on Thursday 25th February titled “Horse Sense: Feeling Pressured?” Helen will be examining the myriad of ways that physical contact can be utilised in horse training. We’ll discuss the perception of stimuli, and how that perception changes […]

A few snippets of the endorsements I have had over the last week: “The videos are brilliant! You are always so clear and easy to understand! That is what puts you way ahead of the others!! I swear that my horse knows what I think?! but he is not going off a verbal which is what […]

The Academy is the ONLY one of it’s kind – offering horse owners worldwide the opportunity to learn about up-to-date training protocols and, possibly more importantly, exactly HOW to apply them to horses through our online home study courses. Our 3 month long ‘How Horses Learn, Feel & Communicate’ course is due to begin again […]

QUESTION Hi group! I spent many years working with horses (old school training), then switched to dogs about 20 years ago. I’m pretty much obsessed with clicker training, and I’m looking forward to my first chicken camp next week. I would love to get some suggestions from you about how to approach my first clicker […]

There is nothing in this world that makes me happier than to share these incredibly special times with this mare. She and I have had a long and colourful history together (14 years) including many years of punitive and coercive traditional and natural riding and handling (including competing in eventing). As the main catalyst for my journey to […]

So many horse owners struggle as a result of their horses suffering with, often severe, separation distress Not only is it very distressing for the horse, it can often result in them performing very dangerous behaviour, never mind the fact that it renders any communication virtually impossible without needing to use force and escalating aversives when they are experiencing such […]