Nighthaven Empowered Learning

06/03/2025

Creature did 5 mins training.

Now Creature very tired.

Will not leave Mum's side though.. just in case more Training happens.

💤💤💤

05/03/2025

Ninja Pony is an excellent example of this 💕

One of the great side benefits of training force free with horses seems to be the development or natural enhancement of curiosity and bravery the horses show in novel situations, displayed by more investigative behaviours or curiosity shown toward novel objects.

My assumption is that the method of training cultivates this.

Many force free trainers use novel objects as part of their training. Cones and target sticks or other objects, both hand held or larger ground fixtures. Often the objects are brought out as needed, and put away after use, often rearranged to form different placements or patterns for each use. This helps keep the process novel.

The horse is reinforced for interacting with these objects.

They are not forced or coerced into approaching the scary thing. They participate well within their comfort zone, never cajoled or made to try harder to obtain the food when they are uncomfortable, never coaxed past their comfort level to interact with said objects.

These novel objects actually become, or indicate, the opportunity to earn a reward.

They are greeted and approached with enthusiasm.

Early in the learning process, before “touch” is entirely on cue, the horse will often solicit, or touch the objects unasked in the hope a reward will come.

Objects become predictors of good things happening for horses – instead of being things to be scared of.

The more this happens, the more objects, the more generalising, the more reinforcement, the braver the horse appears, as they are happy to approach nearly any novel objects, in the hope reinforcement may happen.

The horse also learns that he can trust his human, as they never ask him to do things he can not do, whether through fear or insufficient preparation.

Spending time with his human also increases in value, as fun things happen during these ‘training’ sessions, and he is reinforced (rewarded) a lot.

Reinforcement makes behaviour stronger – but reinforcement can also increase the value of the person providing the reinforcement, we become associated with all the fun stuff that happens whilst we are ‘training’. Reward, reinforcement, fun, enrichment.

Sounds like a win win.

We have fun, and the horse enjoys himself whilst he is learning behaviours to help make him a safer and happier equine, equipped to deal with life (and strange objects!) in a human world.

03/03/2025

Fantastic opportunity for anyone thinking about studying animal behaviour/training ☺️

PPGA Scholarship program - OPEN FOR 2025 APPLICATIONS - Closes the end of March

We are very proud to announce that the Scholarship Program is back for 2025 - and now open for applications.

The program helps three new, potential, or emerging trainers with the costs of gaining recognised qualification and aid their career as a pet training professional.

Find out more, and apply now, via our website: https://www.ppgaustralia.net.au/PPGA-Sponsorship-Program

02/03/2025

How cool is this! Once again showing the many benefits of force free, cooperative care training x

02/03/2025

Check out how cute Giovanni and Gusto were as babies 😍🥹😍

01/03/2025

🦙!!!OMFG LOOK WHO'S HERE!!!🦙

Welcome to our newest team members, Giovanni (light fawn) and Gusto (black) 💕

We are so excited to have these two joining the Nighthaven crew and are looking forward to sharing their journey with you all.

A huge thanks to for your care, dedication and trusting us with the boys x

I'm not sure Groot is overly impressed, but Drax seems quite taken with the new arrivals.

28/02/2025

🎂Happy SIXTEENTH birthday Lord Thunderpants 🎂

What a journey we continue to have 💕

27/02/2025

"Let's leave the "tools" for the tools" is my new favourite saying 🔥

*** Unpopular Opinion ***

This one will be one of those where I get "fan mail". I don't care this needs to be said.

For those not aware - the world of dog training often sees heated debates about dog training equipment.

One organisation formed to use their fees to pay for legal representation for their rights to use their "tools"of choice.

Here's the thing. These guys sell the idea that the debate is about training methods. It's not. The truth of the matter is that the debate is really a battle of ethics.

I am a firm believer that we learn more, we do better. I'm a crossover trainer. I came from the other team. I've also spent the last 25 years continuing to learn. We must do the best we can for our most loyal companions. We get so much from them. Don't they deserve our best?

If I trained children like some of these people train animals I would be on a current affair. I would do jail time. I would deserve it.

We have more information at our disposal than ever before. I don't understand why people are so resistant to their own development and improvement. More importantly I don't understand the resistance to doing our best by our animals.

Remember when the slick sales pitch is underway about:
*It doesn't hurt them
*If done correctly
*Saves lives
*Emulates the mother
*Motivates them etc

It's about ethics not methodology. Pain, fear and duress may get the result in the moment but not without fallout.

For me I'm trying to rehabilitate and/or teach. I'm not trying to cause new problems.

"Tools" that get instant results are causing pain, fear and or discomfort. That's why they get such a result - because your dog is under duress.

Let's leave the "tools" for the tools.

27/02/2025

🐴🎉Happy seventh Gotcha Day to this beautiful being🎉🐴

Coco has lived with us for quite some time now (I'm guesstimating around four-five years, but time is a fickle thing in my brain 😜) and we just love having her as part of our little herd. Her presence is calm and reserved which can be a nice change at times from the more outgoing members of the team 🤣

It has been interesting watching her behaviour change over the years. Just this morning I messaged her mum with this:

"OMFG Coco is chatting to me! She's usually so quiet, but today I'm getting soft little nickers 🥹"

I just love watching them grow and thrive 💕

*We estimate Coco to be 16 - 17 years old, however much of her history from before she came to her mum is unknown. This is unfortunately very common in the horse world.

Photo by the amazing Megan O'Hehir Pet Photography

26/02/2025

As a regular plant murderer, this post speaks to my soul 🤣

I’ve killed a lot of plants in my life.
I start off great. I water them, I talk to them, I make sure they get the right amount of sun.
But slowly.. I forget, I get busy, I look over one day and there’s a sad, brown twig where my lovely plant used to be.
Luckily for me, pets aren’t plants.
But I have noticed that my equine’s behaviours are a bit like my leafy victims. If I stop reinforcing it (watering it), it almost ceases to exist - the behaviour, that is!
If I take advantage of my horse's kind optimism, by not reinforcing each time they perform a behaviour on cue, I’ll lose them. Because they should have, and deserve, reinforcement every time they do something I ask.
I’ve often heard the question ‘when can I stop giving treats?’ and the answer is most definitely, never.
Sometimes the unexpected happens, and I find myself asking for a behaviour without any means to reinforce it - don’t worry, it happens! The same way if I miss watering my plants one time, they won’t instantly keel over. But this should be an out of the ordinary occurrence, and we should always PLAN to reinforce if we ask our horses for something.
I personally don’t think the semantics of whether we call them treats, reinforcement, food, snacks or otherwise is worth getting bogged down in. The truth of the matter is that for as long as you’re asking your horse to do something, and they’re doing it, they deserve that reinforcer.
And I happen to know two ponies who wholeheartedly agree with me!

25/02/2025

Our mates over at Ollie's Legacy Incorporated are celebrating their fourth birthday and are doing a series of "Happy Home Updates" to celebrate 🎉

I couldn't help but share Eevee's - look how little and cute our Chaos Witch was 😍

Other names she has include Devil Child, Hellspawn, Eevee-get-off-the-bench & Whos-the-cutest-little-demon 🤣

Seriously though, please head over to their page and check out all the amazing work they do. Shelters and rescues are invaluable to our communities. I encourage you to support them in any way you can ☺️

🐾 Happy Home Update 🐾
Eevee arrived at Ollie’s Legacy with her 5 siblings in January 2024. They were part of an accidental litter and had just turned eight weeks old. Eevee ended up
being adopted by her foster carers (commonly known as a “foster fail” in animal rescue circles which I personally think is the best thing to fail at). Eevee’s mum says “The Chaos Witch AKA Eevee... Never a dull moment with this infuriating, sweet, crazy smart whippety-thing about. Love her to bits 💕”

23/02/2025

*Pause*

This is such a powerful tool for any animal interaction. So often we get caught up in our head about what we want/need to do that we can forget what the animal needs from us ❣️

Camelidynamics tip of the month: pause

Take a moment before handling your alpaca or llama.
Before approaching your animal, pause, take a deep breath, and observe.

Are they relaxed? Alert? Nervous? By taking a moment to assess their body language, you set the stage for a calmer, more positive interaction. Slowing down can make all the difference in building trust! 💛

How have you used pause in your camelid interactions? Let me know below your experiences!

23/02/2025

Chickens yesterday, alpacas today. I am so grateful to have found such amazing beings to share this journey with ☺️

A huge thanks to Rita at for everything you do. Your kindness, generosity and willingness to share and learn is inspiring.

It is a dream of mine to see more people providing such amazing educational opportunities for new guardians and the general public... regardless of species.

🩵💜🖤Better welfare starts with better knowledge🖤💜🩵

22/02/2025

Check out my new feathered friends 🥰

Today I had the absolute pleasure of attending the first "Fowl play school of Eggcellence" workshop hosted by and what a day it was!

🐓 Amazing trainers
🐓 Amazing support
🐓 Amazing learning
🐓 Amazing feathered training partners

Sad I was only able to attend one day, but looking forward to more in the future 😊

Big thanks to all who attended. It was wonderful meeting you all xx

20/02/2025

It warms my heart to see the bond these two have formed.
Thunder has always bonded strongly with other horses.
First Sasha.
Then Thidwick.
Now Ninja.
There have been others as well, especially when we were on agistment properties. It always made me sad when they/we moved.
It saddens me more to know that living alone or in unstable herd environments is the norm for many horses.
Horses are herd animals. Living in a stable herd environment provides safety and comfort and providing species appropriate living conditions should be a key consideration in the way we care for horses.
I am grateful that I am now able to provide such an environment for the beautiful beings that live here.

19/02/2025

Check out the first thing I wrote for PPGA as part of the equine subcommittee! Of course on my favourite topic - enrichment 😜

Huge thanks to my fellow committee members for suggestions and edits. Nothing beats a great team x

Special guest appearance by the ginger Ninja pony 💕

17/02/2025

Time for my annual "share a post about best practice worming" post! Because if you know me at all, you'll know that worming, parasite resistance and preventing the apocalypse i.e. infection control, is just one of the hills I will die on 😜

👇Seriously good information here, please read and take note 👇

We’re halfway through February, which means it is nearly March, which means it is almost “autumn”, which means it's time for this annual post, to catch you all before you drench your horses on the 1st of March.

Mid - late autumn is the No. 1 time of year to worm your horses, because it ties in best with breaking the bot-fly life cycle. A bot fly’s lifecycle is 12 months, so treating just once a year will break that lifecycle (and overtime decrease bot fly populations). By mid-autumn/early winter, the entire population of bot flies will be inside your horse, which means you can target all the bots on your property with a single dosage of a boticide dewormer (ivermectin, abamectin, moxidectin).

If you deworm your horses too early in autumn, you will not be targeting all the bot flies as they are often present well into autumn, laying eggs on your horses coat. If you deworm on the 1st of March, there will be bot flies, and subsequently bot eggs and larvae that come after the treatment and will remain within your horse for the year.

Therefore, hold off on the autumn deworming a little longer, if your horses are in good condition. Wait until the nights cool down and the bot flies disappear before deworming – and make sure that the dewormer you purchase is active against bots, otherwise it will all be in vain. If your horses need to be treated now, do so, but make sure you target bot flies again in early winter. The “first frost” method simply means it is cold enough that the bots will be finished. Australia frosts are not cold enough to actually kill any worms in the ground – these need consistent days of below zero temperatures (think Northern European/American winters)

So that’s my bot-fly spiel. Normally I write about strongyles (my favourite), and so I shall of course make a mention of them here too.
I always recommend a mid-late autumn deworming for ALL HORSES because it a) cleans out any bots and b) all horses really should have a strongyle clean out once a year as well. I may be against deworming for the sake of deworming, however that is only if you are doing it 3 or 4 or more times a year.

Strongyles can have a lifecycle of as little as 6 weeks. In addition, at any one point, about 90% of the strongyle population is living on the pasture, not in the horse. Therefore, the concept of using chemical dewormers inside the horse to break the lifecycle of strongyles would not work. At all. So, we chose our annual deworming-clean-out to line up with as many other parasites as possible.

All boticide dewormers are also effective against strongyles so deworming in autumn is a 2 for 1 type deal. You should also consider using a dewormer that also contains praziquantel to treat for tapeworms to get a complete clean out, just in case tapeworms are present. WormCheck does offer a tapeworm specific FEC now, if you wanted to check beforehand to avoid the overuse of praziquantel. (There have been some scary reports of praziquantel resistance in Europe.)

Lastly… wait, second lastly.. this is a topic too complex to get into here, but: this time of year is key for larval cyathostomins, where encysted larvae have mass emergences from the intestine wall, in response to changes in weather (e.g. in VIC as it cools and becomes wetter again). Deworming and removing adult populations of worms can act as a trigger for larval re-emergence, which is also why I often baulk at deworming horses now. The larvae may slowly re-emerge coming into the cooler weather and treating in mid-late autumn may be a safer bet to remove adults and emerged larvae. The research on this is sketchy as best, however these are patterns shown in cattle and hypothetically should translate over into horses.

And lastly (pat on the back for reading this far): just because I’m recommending deworming all horses does not mean I am not recommending FECs in autumn. A FEC will tell you important things about your horses health, and pick up anything odd that may be happening (e.g. a spike in EPG in a horse that is usually a low shedder; this is a sign of an impaired immune system, e.g. EMS, cushings). Doing an autumn FEC will also allow you to test drug efficacy. Autumn should be a key time for everyone to do a FECRT (faecal egg count reduction test), where you get FECs done before and after deworming to make sure that it worked. If you only deworm once a year, then you’ve only got one chance for a FECRT, and you cannot, I repeat, you CANNOT do a FECRT without a FEC before to compare to.

If you’d like to organise FECs and FECRTs for your horses this autumn, check out the website (link on the FB page) for postal submission and drop off points/events.

14/02/2025

Imagine, if you will...

- a stained Oodie sleep shirt
- sandals I'd forgotten to do up
- curls more wild than usual
- a small, deformed pug mix running down a dirt road screaming bloody murder because HOW DARE YOU WORK ON YOUR FENCE ACROSS THE ROAD FROM MY FARM

This is how I met the new neighbour this morning 😳

Welcome to madness I guess 🤣

*Pic of the t-shirt I bought hubby for Xmas from because it seemed fitting 😜