How to Navigate the Blogs: Wie man durch die Archive steuert: Dear Blog Readers! Blogs will be published whenever I have time to write them. This is how to navigate the archives of articles previously published: In the top right hand corner …
How to Navigate the Blogs: Wie man durch die Archive steuert: Dear Blog Readers! Blogs will be published whenever I have time to write them. This is how to navigate the archives of articles previously published: In the top right hand corner …
Dear readers, I get many questions still about the Equestrian Vaulting Handbook, which as you can see, has been out of print for some time. I am flattered that folks still want to read it. This book was written in …
Training & Learning – Part 06 – The “chips” Training & Lernen – Teil 06 – die “Jetons” In the last Blog we finished on the note of pure fun with an enthusiastic and self-motivated pupil. Good! It is clear that a …
Training & Learning – Blog 05 – Rewarding like a Pro – Part 1 Training & Lernen – Blog 05 – Belohnen wie ein Profi – Teil 1 In the last Blog we discussed the role of punishment for training …
Training & Learning – Part 04 Training & Lernen – Teil 04 Reward & Punishment In the last Blog we started talking about the ABC of Learning and explained its “A” – the “Antecedent”. We found out that the horse’s …
Training & Learning – Part 03 – The ABC Training & Lernen – Teil 03 – Das ABC So what was it that the horse in the first picture of the last Blog says? The solution was in the series “Understanding your Horse” …
Training & Learning – Part 02 Training & Lernen – Teil 02 In the last Blog we touched upon the differences between the human and the horse’s brain. Naturally this has huge consequences on how we have to structure our …
Training & Learning – 01 – Introduction Trainieren & Lernen – 01 – Einführung We are training our horses, because we want them to learn something – something NEW, obviously, something they have not understood yet. This does not need …
Obituary on Beau Nachruf auf Beau My darling Beau, the last of my rescue horses, is dead – and leaves a huge hole in my life! For over 35 years I have never eaten an apple of which I didn’t …
Your horse’s IQ – Part 17 Der IQ Ihres Pferdes – Teil 17 Only two commands are left to be discussed from the learning list for guide animals – and since the information on the training of minis was so …
Your horse’s IQ – Part 16 Der IQ Ihres Pferdes – Teil 16 After learning a lot about obstacle avoidance in the last Blog, we now get to Point 10 on our learning list of voice commands for a guide …
Your horse’s IQ – Part 15 Der IQ Ihres Pferdes – Teil 15 As promised in the last Blog, now that we are putting obstacles in our way, things become interesting! Any normal horse that is not blind himself, would …
Your Horse’s IQ – Part 14 Der IQ Ihres Pferdes – Teil 14 In the last Blog we ended by setting our guide pony into motion with the command “Forward!” Now we expect our guide to take the leader initiative …
Your Horse’s IQ – Blog 13 Der IQ Ihres Pferdes – Teil 13 As the blind person must totally rely on his guide, the important command # 1 “No!” (our “nein!”), is used more in training than later in his …
Your Horse’s IQ – Command Nr. 1 “No!” – Blog 12 Der IQ Ihres Pferdes – Kommando Nr. 1 “Nein!”– Teil 12 3) voice command association: In the last Blog I recommended to review the part 03 of the lungeing series, …
Your horse’s IQ – Part 11 Der IQ Ihres Pferdes – Teil 11 In the last Blog we talked about housebreaking a guide animal : to control his “elimination” and even to announce when the time to go is, is …
Training a guide Mini – Housebreaking Ein Führpferd trainieren – stubenrein After learning so much about the scientific side of our horses’ thinking capacities I now wanted to proceed to the practical side of it – the application of how …
Your horse’s IQ – Part 09 Der IQ Ihres Pferdes – Teil 09 We have talked about the different ways of learning and the role that memory plays in the process – and have come to the conclusion that offering …
Beau turned 34! Beau ist 34! It gets harder to believe from year to year – but he is still hanging in there! Beau had a very happy birthday, for which even the sun came out! All our best wishes …
Your horse’s IQ – Part 08 Der IQ Ihres Pferdes – Teil 08 In discrimination tasks the horse has learned that only one stimulus, and not another, will result in getting rewarded. In the last Blog we talked about the astonishing …
Your horse’s IQ – Part 07 Der IQ Ihres Pferdes – Teil 07 One’s intelligence has a lot to do with memory – if you don’t retain, what you have learned, you won’t get far. Memory is the faculty of …
Your horse’s IQ – Part 06 Der IQ Ihres Pferdes – Teil 06 In Blog 04 we started talking about Associative Learning, but then had to take a detour. We needed to stress the importance of how the horse perceives …
Your Horse’s IQ – Part 05 Der IQ Ihres Pferdes – Teil 05 In the last Blog we started looking at the sensory equipment the horse has for his perception – for if we don’t even know, how he sees …
Your horse’s IQ – Part 04 Der IQ Ihres Pferdes – Teil 04 In the last Blog we started looking into the activity of learning, beginning with Habituation. We saw that habituation, the process of exposing our horse repeatedly to …
Your Horse’s IQ – Part 3 Learning – Habituation Der IQ Ihres Pferdes – Teil 3 Lernen – Gewöhnung I regard the achievements of guide ponies, whom we mentioned in the last Blogs, as a certain pinnacle of horse intelligence. …
Your horse’s IQ – Part 2 Der IQ Ihres Pferdes – Teil 2 In the last Blog we have seen an impressive list of abilities, which guide animals must have to properly do their job – and we now know …
Your Horse’s IQ – Part 1 Der IQ Ihres Pferdes – Teil 1 From all my previous Blogs you know how convinced I am that playing with my horses and training them with nothing but positive reinforcement (according to the …
Party Games for your Horse – Part 09 Partyspiele für Ihr Pferd – Teil 09 The Tyre-Tower! In my book „From Leading to Liberty“ the horses learned in Game 30 (on page 136) how to place their feet individually and …
The Mikado Game – Part 06 Das Mikado Spiel – Teil 06 In my book „From Leading to Liberty“ the horses learned in Game 30 (on page 136) how to place their feet individually and on command. We mentioned that …
Party Games for your Horse – Part 05 Gesellschaftsspielchen für Ihr Pferd – Teil 05 “Over the Whip!” In this game we broaden our horse’s understanding of the ordinary “send and call” games, which you were introduced to in the …
Fun on the Lunge Line – Part 04 Longierspaß – Teil 04 In the last game we introduced our horses to turns and rope aids in a playful manner. These games also taught us to become more adept at handling …
Party Games : Dancing the Waltz – 03 Gesellschafts-spielchen : Walzertanzen – 03 In the last Blog we visited the Fast-Food together – so this time we have to lose a bit of weight. So we will go dancing! In …
The Take-Out –Blog 02 Straßenverkauf! – Blog 02 In this series I want to suggest a few little games which will give your horse a sense of achievement and will therefore be fun for him. Teach your horse to “Touch” …
Party Games – Part 01 Party Games – Teil 01 In this new series I want to suggest some little games for your warm-up or cool-out time after your work with your horse. I have always played with my horses …
History of the Horse – Part 22 Geschichte des Pferdes – Teil 22 Christmas Gifts for your Horse! For quite a few Blogs now I have had the feeling that I should be more positive about the History of our …
History of the Horse – Part 10 Geschichte des Pferdes – Teil 10 Our times 10: We have now looked at the significance of the relationship between horses and humans over the last Blogs – how it is or how …
History of the Horse – Part 20 Geschichte des Pferdes – Teil 20 Our Times 9 In the last Blogs (starting with Blog 17) we looked at the economic influence that the horse industry in general has today, culminating with the …
History of the Horse – Part 19 Geschichte des Pferdes – Teil 19 Our Times 8 Pro or contra horse racing? I already stated in the last Blog that I am personally not a friend of racing. Horses are rarely …
History of the Horse – Part 18 Geschichte des Pferdes – Teil 18 Our Times 7 In the last Blog we started looking at the equestrian industry in terms of economics – and found that it is quite important in terms …
History of the Horse – Blog 17 Geschichte des Pferdes – Blog 17 Our times 6 – Some Statistics Unser Zeitalter -etwas Statistik We are getting to the end of our History of the Horses. We have killed them in wars, …
History of the Horse – Part 16 Geschichte des Pferdes – Teil 16 We saw in the last Blog that horses had to share the miseries of humans in war as well as in their working environment. Another thing we …
History of the Horse – Part 15 – Our Times 4 Geschichte des Pferdes – Teil 15 – Unser Zeitalter Life as a working horse: War is certainly the most terrible thing that humans ever inflicted on horses (and on themselves, …
History of the Horse – Part 14 Geschichte des Pferdes – Teil 14 In the last Blog we looked at the situation of horses during the First World War – and I find the topic so depressing that the going …
History of the Horse – Part 13 Geschichte des Pferdes – Teil 13 Our times 2 In the last Blog we looked at the types of horses used for warfare. Regardless what function they would be used for, whether pulling equipment …
History of the Horse – Part 12 – Our Times 1 Geschichte des Pferdes – Teil 12 – Unser Zeitalter 1 We have almost arrived in the present! We saw in the last Blog that at the end of the Ice Age there was …
History of the Horse – Part 11 Geschichte des Pferdes – Teil 11 Holocene The period, which started about 10,000 years ago, is called Holocene. It comprises the end of last major glacial epoch as already since about 16,000 years ago there was a …
History of the Horse – Part 10 Geschichte des Pferdes – Teil 10 Pleistocene We have arrived in the Pleistocene – which started about 2 million years ago and lasted 1 million years. We mentioned in the last Blog that the …
History of the Horse – Part 09 Geschichte des Pferdes – Teil 09 Pliocene 2 The animals: Many of the animal species just carried over from the Miocene. The largest ones were the mastodons and giraffes. The first real pigs …
History of the Horse – Part 08 Geschichte des Pferdes – Teil 08 Pliocene 1 During the Miocene, which lasted about 17.7 million years, we saw great changes in the geography (all those mountain ranges!) as well as in our primeval horses – …
History of the Horse – Part 07 Geschichte des Pferdes – Teil 07 Miocene 2 At the end of the last Blog we showed how the anatomy of the horses’ legs started to change. Now they had to search for food in …
History of the Horse – Part 06 Geschichte des Pferdes – Teil 06 The Miocene : At the end of the last Blog we saw that during the Oligocene Miohippus was the star of the development in North America – while all …
History of the Horse – Part 5 Geschichte des Pferdes – Teil 5 In the last 4 Blogs we saw that the development of the very first horse-like animals on our planet began 56 million years ago, in an …
History of the Horse – Eocene 4 – Part 4 Geschichte des Pferdes – Eozän 4 – Teil 4 Up to now we had in the Eocene an even temperature of about 35 ° C (95° F) around the whole globe …
The Eocene era – Part 3 Das Eozän – Teil 3 We heard in the last Blog that the climate on our planet was tropical and the animal world quite exotic in the middle of the Eocene era, which is about …
History of the Horse – The Eocene era – Part 2 Die Geschichte des Pferdes – Das Eozän – Teil 2 At the end of the last Blog we asked ourselves what was so special about the beginning of the …