CAT for horses - helping horses overcome their fears

31/05/2024

I was helping a lovely man the other day understand common signs of the equine pain face and although I referred him to the freely available paper written (and researched by Dr Gleerup), he told me that the short video I also referred him to where Dr Gleerup explains her now very well recognised research was helpful before he read the paper. So, although I don't agree with the commentators note about 'respect' and ears, the video link is worth sharing again. Always when I go and meet a new horse in person or on line, pain is always the first thing I want to eliminate the best I can - we are lucky we have these resources, so that we can immediately refer our new clients to a veterinarian, and or help the carer of the horse recognise when the immediate issue is not training, but pain. The link to Dr Gleerup's paper is at the end of the video

Wouldn't it be cool if animals, horses in particular could talk like TV's 'Mr Ed' or 'Dr Doolittle'? Turns out horses ARE trying to communicate with their v...

24/04/2024

Celeste-Leilani Lazaris has released Pillar one from her wonderful program to the public. Celeste's process has really helped me help Star - we are still working on it, but it has been great for us. I need to start videoing again - been a crazy year, soon......I hope. Enjoy the freebee

Pillar One is a Space in Balance Through Movement Method Academy. Join us to share your tips, tricks and stories with other members.

30/03/2024

I don't usually advertise on this site, but my friend has just released a beautiful book. So those who want an awesome coffee table book with the most wonderful ethologically relevant photographs visit Lynn Scott's website here

The first book, available now for purchase is A Horse Story of Wildness. Discover the magic of living in harmony and connection with the Moon Mountain herd. Lynn takes you on a journey with the herd who share life at Moon Mountain.

07/02/2024

A new paper has been recently published and it discusses The least inhibitive, functionally effective (LIFE) model for animal welfare when training. What I love about the model and how it might be seen as a more inclusive model than LIMA is the emphasis on function (which is what CAT H is all about). We have to understand the importance of how a behaviour functions for our horse in order to understand any procedure in terms of functionality for both the horse and his or her trainer/carer. The paper is open access and a webinar where Dr. Fernandez presented his views is available and the link is in the comments. There are some real gems in the webinar - so Dr. Fernandez presents his views for the first hour (just under) and then there are questions and answers. I was pleased that he spoke of the difficulty of contrived aversives. For us this is close to our hearts as some folks have taken CAT H and ran with it, without truly understanding how function is important and we have seen videos where the threshold of the horse is not honoured. This is a form of a contrived aversive (1:20) - so say the horse is afraid of a person and we are seeking to change the horses mind about people. The person would stand BEYOND the threshold and begin their CAT H training there. A person standing inside the threshold (in the red or even to the point of the yellow zone) is placing the horse in fear - it can be seen by the horse as positively punishing the horse by standing within the threshold and removing the punishment (the person) when the horse stands still. This is not CAT H, but of course as CAT H done well is slower than watching paint dry some trainers do not have the time or their audiences the patience to watch paint dry. This is why CAT H done badly does not work and does more harm than good for the horse. Anyway off my soap box now I am back from my break. Here is the link to the paper: press view PDF

The ethics of animal training procedures have seen dramatic changes in the last few decades, with a movement toward reward-based training methods. The…

08/09/2023

Here is a lovely schematic depicting the three arms of the polyvagal theory - diagram is taken from https://www.polyvagalinstitute.org/whatispolyvagaltheory

12/06/2023

For those interested in reading more about the constructional approach, a new paper is in press, soon to be published. For the present time, access to the article is available for free by clicking the link noted in this shared post.

We have another “Congrats!” to share.

A big congratulations to Cameron Scallan and Jesús Rosales-Ruiz for their recently published article, “The Constructional Approach: A Compassionate Approach to Behavior Change.”

The article was published recently in the journal Behavior Analysis in Practice. It is part of a special issue that focuses on the topic of Compassion in Applied Behavior Analysis.

In the article, the authors identify three critical features of compassion. Then, they discuss Dr. Israel Goldiamond’s constructional approach and explain how the constructional approach provides a framework that behavior analysts can use to provide compassionate behavior analytic services.

You can read the article for free using this link:
https://rdcu.be/dcVOT

Here is the abstract for the article:

Recent criticisms have led some behavior analytic researchers and practitioners to look to other fields, including health care and human service professions, for new ideas on how to increase compassion and empathy in their practices (Rohrer & Weiss, 2022; Taylor et al., 2019). The application of these ideas had led to improved therapeutic relationships between board certified behavior analysts (BCBAs) and caregivers of children with autism. At this time, more work is needed to extend a behavior analytic understanding of compassion to the development and implementation of behavior change procedures. In this article, we identify three critical features of compassion: (1) identifying suffering; (2) demonstrating empathy; and (3) acting to alleviate and prevent suffering. These critical features are then discussed in the context of two behavior change strategies that Israel Goldiamond (1974/2002) formalized, the constructional and pathological approaches. The pathological approach gives priority to the elimination of costly or distressing behavior. The constructional approach gives priority to the establishment, transfer, and reinstatement of repertoires. This article illustrates how the four questions of the constructional approach provide a framework that behavior analysts can use for developing and providing compassionate behavior analytic services.

22/03/2023

Our new home for our workshops is now live. Changing platforms has allowed us to keep the overheads to a minimum. If there is anyone who was enrolled and did not see the advice regarding the change, please contact us. Meanwhile the link is here for all who may be interested. https://www.equilog.com.au/worshops/

18/02/2023

We are moving to a new platform soon for CAT H and Mastery and Confidence workshops. The reason is because we are trying to reduce the admin costs, to make it as affordable as possible. I may not have deleted all the links that are out and about so if you are considering the workshop (which is where you can get coaching included in the cost), can you contact me first before linking to the existing workshops.

05/10/2022

Polyvagal Theory for Horses was part of our Mastery and Confidence workshop - we will also be adding this content to CAT H. We will be moving to a new platform shortly and will be able to maintain a reasonable cost for the workshop. Stay tuned....

Julie is a clicker trainer with some 40 years experience. Julie constantly updates her knowledge through the published literature, course work, and opportunities to work with horses and their humans both in the real and the virtual world. Julie also has a Certificate in Equine Body Worker (Pre-Cours...

14/09/2022

Here is a link to early access to a paper soon to be published on CAT for dogs. There are some small differences in the procedure that we use for horses but it is a great read. The shaping procedure is done a little differently by us, but we have used this protocol as well (our differences lay more in species specific behaviours and treating the the threshold a little differently). Interestingly the authors found that when the dogs wanted to switch to positive reinforcement they took advantage of SEEKING type responses - so pretty KOOL

Of the millions of dogs that enter animal shelters in the United States each year, many exhibit behaviors labeled as fear, which can decrease their likelihood of adoption. Current dog training proced...

02/09/2022

Here is a link for a free masterclass regarding how to look at challenging behaviour. I always love Dr Westlund's courses. I was lucky to be asked to participate in an interview with Dr Westlund explaining how CAT H can fit into helping our horses with challenging emotional behaviour (in her full course which is offered after the masterclass finishes) - there is little time to watch these videos so subscribe to them now if you are interested. https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=FlZNG&m=3kxqLipJy_EN.5Q&b=0TDPGxYTjw2fiLN2.tYUOQ

22/04/2022

Here is another extract I had shared to a group. AFTER our horse has gone through CAT H and does not need distance for familiar people lifting her feet, it is a good idea to think about training a start button. This is an extract from our CAT H new DVD series but we are past CAT H now and it is always a good idea to think of a unique start button to help our horse help us understand that they are ready - can you see what start button is being trained here? Can you see why? Can you see why the lead is on? AND that there is a second person? all these antecedents are important to consider - it is a shame it takes longer to train hoof professionals than it does our horses

22/04/2022

Hi everyone, I shared a little snip to a group that related to some of the CAT H stages from our original DVD way way back in the digital era before HD (our new videos are in HD but you get access to all of them through our workshop). I thought I should add it here as well. This was a horse who had a very very very bad fear of horse rugs. The reason for the share was to demonstrate that using -R in the way we do in CAT H when the horse needs distance from the object of their fear, is not nasty to the horse, in fact it is empowering and our horse learns how to control what he or she once feared. I will also take this opportunity to remind folks at the present time we have a discount for our online CAT H videos and coaching. The links are in the pinned post, but I needed to refund some lovely people who have chosen to join us in the last week or so because they did not use the code TAKE20 when they signed up. I don't often look at the value of what the platform tells me I will eventually get (because they take a huge cut), but I will try to now that I have seen the code not being used.

10/04/2022

Our online formats are quite popular, but don't forget we have all the CAT H videos we use in our workshops on USB. The set is $70.00. In Australia, postage is free and for overseas post it is around $15.00 (depending where you are). Till the end of June 2022, we are offering a 20% discount on the hard USB version of CAT for Horses. It is a great tool to have on hand. Message me or email me at [email protected] and I can send you an invoice for the 20% discount.

26/02/2022

There are a number of ways to have access to the Constructional Approach Training for Horses videos. For over a decade now we have been providing coaching and videos relating to CAT for Horses. Our videos are the only ones specifically targeted for horses in the world - still to this day. We offer the DVD video series (the first is a training video watching us be mentored by the experts and the second is an updated CAT H series where we incorporate a little more information about our horses body language and introduce the polyvagal theory as it relates to horses). We show these processes with a horse who was afraid of people and also having feet lifted. These videos are available for purchase on Vimeo or directly from us on USB. If you are more interested in coaching and workshops for CAT H we have a workshop on CAT H where we offer free coaching and you have access to all the videos on CAT H and then if other participants are OK with sharing their coached videos, you will have access to those. Feel free to contact us for more information about any of our workshops or videos.

11/02/2022

Ever wondered what to begin once CAT H has done its job? We would recommend core activation - our horses love it and we have allot of fun teaching it - it sets us up for the journey of mastery and confidence - We have now opened our core activation workshop if anyone is interested here is the link, and the list of workshop topics is at the bottom of the link. Be sure to look at the short promo video https://the-australian-clicker-connection.teachable.com/p/core-activation_for_horses/?preview=logged_out

09/12/2021

Deb Danna’s new book called ‘anchored’ is on the shelves in some countries and it promises to be a good one. Deb is well known for explaining the Polyvagal Theory is simple terms and she never disappoints. We use allot of her mapping suggestions in our confidence and mastery course. We follow the ANS process of the Polyvagal Theory in CAT H and in fact in every interaction we have with our horses. She has been doing the rounds speaking about what we can anticipate in ‘anchored’. There is a great interview she recently did, and she does not disappoint – even if you listen to the first 15 minutes you will see just how relevant the Polyvagal Theory is to horses (especially how we can ‘share’ our ventral vagal tone with our horse and visa versa).
https://resources.soundstrue.com/podcast/becoming-an-active-operator-of-your-nervous-system/?utm_source=Customer%20Service&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=N211114-Dana%20%28WcLzQ2%29&_kx=mkgXhmkrT0n67Q-Xfem7lYpy5OuYI87GKabAzqTswLM%3D.JMDgaq

Deb Dana, LCSW, is a clinician and consultant specializing in using the lens of Polyvagal Theory to understand and resolve the impact of trauma and create ways of working that honor the role of the autonomic nervous system. Her clinical publications include The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging....

06/12/2021

I have received allot of pm's in the last couple of days asking why I insist on using the description CAT H rather than just CAT - So I thought I would explain here in case this is a question you have often asked yourself. There is only one reason and this is I take the view that the procedures that are involved are species specific and CAT H was always adjusted to take this into account. Over the years the CAT process itself has been tweaked and this is great and I do my best to keep up with those tweaks, but it does take me a little time, living on the other side of the world to those who have a easier and cheaper access to webinars. These tweaks relate to the actual procedure NOT the functional and constructive approach that is the essence of CAT. When I get to see the tweaks from the dog protocol, if they are valuable to change for the horse approach I test and retest with a variety of horses (either personally or during coaching) and then if they make sense, I add changes to the CAT H protocol or create new video streams (which is why the updated CAT H DVD series exists). Tweaks and changes have not meant that the original model is of no use - it still is. So my insistence is to do with clearly identifying that I am speaking about the process as it relates to horses who are in fear. In this way any dialogue cannot be misunderstood. It is also important if you see videos from folks saying they use CAT and it is with a horse - make sure that the video you are seeing is not an interpretation of the procedures for dogs. So if you see flooding, a request that we get the horses 'eyes' (well never understood how we do this face on to a horse in any event), breaches of thresholds that are not just shown to demonstrate mistakes, or not taking into account gaze bias (or in fact other ethological relevant calming and coping mechanisms that are specific to horses), then you are not seeing CAT H (perhaps only seeing an interpretation of CAT without understanding the functional and constructive methodology that makes up CAT - not suggesting that whoever showed you or taught it, does so purposefully, but just that they need a little more information. Or they are well ahead of me and I would love to link in with them to understand their reasoning. Recently I saw a webinar with Dr Friedman and Dr Joe Layng on the constructional approach and their praise for its usefulness. Dr Layng spoke in terms of degrees of freedom for our subject (animal or human) and said that it is not useful to think of CAT in terms only of negative reinforcement. Something even Prof Rosales Riuz had said from the get go - but humans like to have labels for everything. Dr Layng has recently published a new book and I will add the link to it in a tick. I understand it explains his theory on degrees of freedom and just what that means for giving our animal greater control over consequences and this is really interesting to me and I am very much looking forward to reading the book - of course it will take some months to get to me but who knows - we may have some more tweaks to make after reading it. Oh and he says the scariest thing about the book is its title! https://www.amazon.com/Nonlinear-Contingency-Analysis-Cognition-Behavior/dp/0367689502

Nonlinear Contingency Analysis: Going Beyond Cognition and Behavior in Clinical Practice

26/11/2021

just watched a great webinar with Susan Friedman & Joe Layng - entitled A 'constructional perspective' discussion - one of the gems that Joe laid out was when using the constructional approach don't think of it in terms of either negative or positive reinforcement but rather put the our actions in terms of categories of benefits for our [horse]. It is so great to see organisations such as the animaltrainingacademy sharing material on the constructional approach

22/09/2021

Nice short video showing some of the stressors we see allot before we help our horses through CAT H and also through our confidence and mastery workshops https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4CEmiRz2GU

There are a number of seemingly innocuous things horses can do that are actually signs the horse is not coping physically or emotionally with what is happeni...

31/07/2021

aghh this is a great example of trigger stacking. In CAT H what we try and do is ensure that our fearful horses do not have the same fate as this watermelon. We carefully consider all the triggers that our fearful horse is experiencing and help our horse overcome these one by one - people are still so surprised just how quickly CAT H works and how quickly they can enhance their new communication through masterful and confident movement solutions lead with Polyvagal eyes. https://fb.watch/75hsebYe0P/

22/07/2021

I had to share this - Not a CAT H horse but after CAT H has done its magic we move on to movement solutions for confidence and mastery workshop - Here is one of our confidence and mastery horses waiting her turn whilst her human starts to teach her paddock buddy. Did you know that enrolling in the CAT H workshop gives you total access to the confidence and mastery workshop? https://fb.watch/v/19_kSkw_t/

13/07/2021

This is a great podcast with Mary Hunter and Jesus Rosales-Riuz on CAT. Although the conversation is about CAT for dogs not CAT H; CAT H is based on the same model. Some fantastic discussions about why we use -R initially if the behaviour of [our horse] is maintained by -R. We are using operant conditioning and shaping calm behaviours and not counter conditioning using treats. They speak of why treats wont work if our animal needs distance (-R) and why treats can not be a good deal when [our horse] is in fear. They make the point that in CAT [H] is our goal is not to stay in -R but work to +R. This is of course how CAT H works and when our horse is in switchover and coming into interaction we take our horse to confident and masterful movement work because these are natural reinforcers for our horses (as well as clicks and treats of course). The points made in the podcast also explain why I always ask for a video of what your horse is doing before I can commit to saying CAT H can help - because we need to see the behaviour and be confident that the behaviour is maintained by -R
(distance). It is a great discussion to listen to and also understand why those who say CAT H is not an ethical deal for horses who are in fear are not correct. https://animaltrainingfundamentals.com/podcasts/effective-reinforcement-with-jesus-rosales-ruiz-and-mary-hunter/?fbclid=IwAR3-lPDfaLU4WHQVXU0DCA4_gCT1ZZSyvKQBkCIE2BcHDwlBaiwzE9CWVQQ

Click Play to Listen Now Episode - 30  July, 2021Host: Barbara HeidenreichGuests: Jesus Rosales-Ruiz, PhD and Mary Hunter, MSMy special guests this episode are Dr Jesus Rosales-Ruiz and Mary Hunter. As hosts of the Art and Science of Animal Training Conference, they bring together behavior scientis...

27/06/2021

Hi everyone, in our CAT H workshop we are now beginning with a new horse who has fears with lifting her feet for trimming. Hoping we can help the wonderful horse / human team. I just want to add that the CAT H never advocates to take our horses over the threshold and provides them with the reinforcer that helps them work out that there is nothing to fear when they see the trigger of their fear. From the constructional perspective we are changing how our horse sees the consequences little by little and everything is in the hands of our horse - not us - our horse shows us where he or she feels safest. Unfortunately I spent quite allot of time on the whispering horse page last week explaining why. Unfortunately my explanation did not resonate and that's fine, we understand when we are ready - but I gave up eventually and now I am blocked. I don't ever block someone who I simply may only disagree with as I feel that I have allot to learn from everyone. CAT H does begin with giving our horses distance from the trigger of their fear but we never breach our horses threshold on purpose - our horses cannot control us if we do, and CAT H is all about the control is in our horse. We move to +R very quickly in most cases. It is important to me that people seeing CAT H understand it - so please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you see something said about CAT H (or see a video where they claim they are using CAT H) - ask me directly or show me the link to the video and I will explain what I see. If I see a public video I do often contact the author and try and explain why the video does not depict CAT H. I had done this with a popular horse trainer and this person since has told their followers that what was being taught was not CAT H.

02/06/2021

UPDATE: We are seeing some really great results using CAT H in our workshop coaching, and because the horses are going so well and so quickly we have found that we are recommending our confidence and mastery techniques (guided by the Polyvagal theory) before we blink. Personally, I see so many posts in groups where all I want to do is cry out that we can help but it is not the appropriate thing to do on someone else's pages. So for this reason and also because we get so many messages on this page that really relate more to confidence and mastery rather than fear, we have decided to create a new page just for confidence and mastery - so shoot over there and think about making that page as good as it can be for horses and their humans. We will add content from time to time there that is non CAT H related. From now on also any purchase of the CAT H workshop will have the FULL confidence and mastery workshop bundled for free! But for the present time, until I make a new workshop we will need to bundle it manually. https://www.facebook.com/The-Masterful-Confident-Equine-101310438848631

27/05/2021

It is so rewarding to see the changes in horses through the CAT H coaching workshops. It is also so rewarding to see how ready the horses are to communicate how they feel to their human. So far in this new coaching format a horse has been helped over her fear of spray; a horse has been helped overcome her fear of cows and now we are working on a horse overcoming her fears of tarps....wont be long now as in two sessions we are moving from switchover to interaction. It can and does happen that fast and we are blessed to have some committed people who found time to join us. If you have a horse with fear issues, please consider subscribing to our workshop where you get to watch all the DVD's we have produced on CAT H and also watch the coaching sessions with other horses - these are becoming another DVD all on their own. If you are committed, wonderful things can change for you and your horse and if you are interested in where to after CAT H has done it's job then we have a surprise for you (but only for workshop participants).

22/05/2021

Our CAT H workshop is ready for a new coaching series - we have successfully helped those who have asked for coaching at the present time. My uni teaching is now wound up for the trimester so I have all the time you need if you would you like coaching on an issue for your horses fear? Send me a DM or email at [email protected] and explain your problem - if it is an area where I think that CAT H can help I will add you to the workshop and you will have all access to our CAT H DVD's. Yes there is a catch and it is you have asked to be coached and coaching involves giving me videos - as many as you like (I am not the kind of trainer that restricts you to x number per whatever) and after the coaching video session I send to you per video you submit to me, I will want to publish it on the same workshop - but I always send the video to you first for your approval. Because we have released our new CAT H series on USB I am giving two people access to the workshop and coaching for free - are you one of those who need help? or do you know someone who needs help with their horse who has triggers of fear? drop me a line asap as I can only take two for free - a gal has to pay the bills

19/05/2021

Hi everyone, the USB's and tech pouch are now available through us for the CAT H part one and part two. The total cost in Australia will be $70.00 (free post) and you will need to check with us for the overseas post. I will have the exact postage for overseas tomorrow when I go and post those who were on our waiting list. So thanks for those who did email me about their special discount and I will extend this discount (20%) till close of business today (you will still have to pm or email me though). I still recommend that you consider our workshop which contains all the same CAT videos - we now have a complete coaching video history of a horse who was afraid of insect spray and also a horse who was afraid of cows. But if you want to simply possess both DVD's in USB format (with menus) then this is the way to go.