Suzi Ruby Training and Behaviour

13/08/2024

Sunshine snoozing ☀

I had a lovely wander with Odie yesterday, inspired by my weekend at Horse Play

We did some foraging together, and it was interesting to see which plants he enjoyed munching. Thistles are always a big hit, and a variety of long grasses! 🌿

After the walk he had a really satisfying jackpot on returning to the field (bucket feed, then a thistle treasure hunt for him and his pals!).

I'm often guilty for rushing off at this point 😅 But instead we hung out and just enjoyed connecting and relaxing together. He had a lovely snooze 😴

I think we both finished our afternoon feeling super relaxed, and really satisfied with our shared time together 🩷 🥰

12/08/2024

I had so much fun being an honorary member of the Horse Play team this weekend! And living my hobby horse dreams, scroll through the pics 😆

Nicky is doing an incredible job educating children, adults, horse owners, and professionals in how horses learn, experience the world, and communicate. I love how she involves horses in the teaching process in such horse-centered way 😍

It's a magical experience getting to spend time with her herd, find out more at Horse Play or https://horseplay.horse/

26/06/2023

We had a brilliant time running this Positive Equine Training Scotland clinic last week at Darcy's!

What a curious and wonderful group of pony participants, I fell a bit in love with them all 😍

This was a great opportunity to do some Free Work (aka Treasure Hunts!) with the horses to help them relax, enjoy themselves, and build their confidence around new things 😊

We had a great time at Darcy's Equine Assisted Learning Centre CIC last week at our loving loading clinic!

Sunshine, great venue, a wonderful group of ponies, and lots of great chat with the lovely attendees. Thank you to everyone who joined us!

Here are some snaps from the day, where we covered:

🦄 Some basic skills that your horse needs to know before you start to work towards loading

🐴 Considering what loading and travelling is like from a horse's perspective

🦄 Using fun exploration to help horses become confident around novel objects, building up to building a fake "trailer" at home

If you missed it then don't worry, we have availability for one-to-one coaching and would be happy to come to you (in person or online) to provide you with a loving loading session tailored to you and your horse's needs! Drop us a message to discuss availability 🫏🐎

24/06/2023

Phoebe has had a wonderful week on Tiree 🥰

⛴️ Now she's a bit blind and deaf it's much easier to take her on the ferry without her getting stressed by the other dogs (silver lining!)

🧘 We've set her up with a red carpet of yoga mats around the house, so that she doesn't slip on the floors and hurt herself

🪑We brought a low stool with us to help with climbing on and off the furniture, so that she's doesn't jump from a height and hurt her joints

The small adjustments to make our holiday home dog-friendly for an older dog have paid off, she's super chilled, very happy, and up for walkies 🥰

09/06/2023

Some snaps of donkey handling practice last night 💜🫏

Molly has a lump under her belly which we're going to investigate with the vet - but it's tricky as she can get very worried about being touched, and is terrified of vets!

It's a delicate balance getting a good look at the lump and providing care for it, without scaring her and making her harder to handle 🥺

We've started with a lovely scratching session, taking lots of breaks where she then has the chance to opt in for more scratches by targeting the brush with her body.

Practicing this will help us to build up loads of really good experiences being touched all over, and will make caring for the lump as stress-free as possible!

Building in consent checks and empowering your animal friends by giving them the option to say "yes" and opt in, rather than doing things to them and waiting for them to say "no", really does transform healthcare.

Even painful and unpleasant things like wound treatment can ve make safe and minimal stress by using techniques 🥰

07/06/2023

Ticket sales are now live for the Positive Equine Training Scotland “Loving loading” clinic on Sunday 18th June at Darcy's Equine Assisted Learning Centre CIC 🥳

Please follow the link for details about the event and to register:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScVVXMyMcZVQmZi7bp-UPIp0jnLaAZK_ohimaS76wJEEm2VJw/viewform

We have a fun day planned and are looking forward to sharing it with you! 💜

Please drop the PETS page a message if you have any questions in the meantime 😊

*UPDATE*

Ticket sales are now live! Thank you so much for your interest in our “Loving loading” clinic on Sunday 18th June at Darcy's Equine Assisted Learning Centre CIC.

Please follow the link for details about the event and to register:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScVVXMyMcZVQmZi7bp-UPIp0jnLaAZK_ohimaS76wJEEm2VJw/viewform

We have a fun day planned and are looking forward to sharing it with you! 🥳

Please drop us an message if you have any questions in the meantime 😊

(Original post:

📢Register your interest for our upcoming loading clinic📢

We’re busy preparing our loading clinic, and it’s shaping up to be a great day!

We’re thrilled that Darcy's Equine Assisted Learning Centre CIC will be hosting at their beautiful venue.

We’re just ironing out some final pieces of paperwork before we can launch ticket sales.

⭐️We’re hoping to hold it on Sunday 18th June, and to help with planning it would be great to know how many of you are interested and available to attend on this date.⭐️

We will confirm details ASAP, but in the meantime, please drop us a message at [email protected] if you would like to register your interest. We will then send you the registration form directly as soon as ticket sales are live!)

07/06/2023

I had a lovely evening last night with my 4-legged friends 🫏🐴🌅

Had a brilliant session with a client who is making amazing progress 🥰

Then went to see Molly-donk 💜 We got some steps in, and everyone was desperate to do muzzle training as they have such positive associations with putting their nose into the muzzle! 😍

Topped this off with a stop-off to see Odie-cob, we had a great lesson earlier this week with to practice movement without frustration so buzzing from that 🐎🥳

All in all, a great Tuesday night!

13/04/2023

This is going to be great fun 😍 perfect for anyone looking to get started with positive reinforcement training, but also more experienced trainers looking to enhance your skills. Will be a really fun, sociable day, I’m looking forward to attending and meeting the newest editions at Equine Unlimited 🫏 🫏🐴🐴

Dorothy looks forward to seeing you this Saturday at the beautiful Equine Unlimited where she will be teaching a clinic focused on "Getting started with positive reinforcement training".

This will be a fun and sociable day that gives you a great foundation to build on if you are new to this type of training, or will help you to finesse your skills if you're more experienced.

All horse carers, owners, and enthusiasts are most welcome!

Please register via the link below, places still available: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1q9JpS6TOKsObgeFgST2vC8XQj9TCw84jTfVFeOXcZgc/viewform

Check out the event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/553487472946766?ref=newsfeed

21/03/2023

And day 2 at Withywoods from our wonderful weekend with Janneke Koekhoven & Marieke van der Meer, hosted by Positive Equine Training Scotland 🐴

Incredible to see Dorothy and Cal’s horses so relaxed about training with people they didn’t know, and with an audience watching them too, a credit to everyone involved in their training and care ❤️

21/03/2023

Great weekend with Positive Equine Training Scotland hosting Marieke van der Meer & Janneke Koekhoven! Feeling very inspired and motivated to train 😍

22/02/2023

This is going to be a brilliant weekend, can’t wait 😍

We are so excited to welcome Janneke Koekhoven and Marieke van der Meer to Scotland for a brilliant weekend of training clinics this March!

✅ Are you interested in learning more about training with freedom of choice and positive reinforcement?

✅ Would you like to learn how r+ can be applied alongside Centered Riding?

✅ How shaping meets feeling when training?

✅ How Force Free can meet Intrinzen-inspired training?

✅ Would you like to connect with like-minded people, and get to know the PETS team?

Then you’ll love this weekend! Janneke and Marieke will be chatting all things training with Dorothy on Saturday, and Calpurnia on Sunday.

🐴There will be live demos with the horses and ponies who live on site, where attendees are encouraged to ask questions and have conversations about the activities, but please note attendees will not be training the horses directly themselves on this occasion.

We’ll be hosting Janneke and Marieke 11am - 430pm on:

💜 Saturday 18th March 2023 at Dorothy Heffernan’s house in Lochwinnoch

💜 Sunday 19th March at Calpurnia’s Withywoods, near Carluke

Both clinics will cover similar topics, but with different hosts and horses involved there will be lots to learn if you attend both days.

Price is £55 for 1 day or £90 for both. This includes tea, coffee and refreshments, but please bring a packed lunch.

Register for either clinic (or both) via Google Forms here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdz-H0WXgI3mhBscDYCZlMIBIgOwHzgxkBNLlL7wRgy_cd-wQ/viewform

And get the latest clinic updates at the event pages here:

Lochwinnoch: https://facebook.com/events/s/r-training-with-janneke-koekho/767088047814327/

Withywoods: https://facebook.com/events/s/r-training-with-janneke-koekho/878301823377971/

20/02/2023

Here’s Molly putting her snuffle mat skills into action 💜

Molly normally tries to get involved in her friend Kiki’s training sessions, which can cause some challenges!

So and I have been looking for ways to keep Molly happy and relaxed at a safe distance while Kiki is being trained. 🦄🥕

Donkeys bond very closely to their companions and need to be close to them, especially at times when they’re feeling a bit worried. Any separation, even just over a fence, can be very stressful for them.

It’s really important to take this into account when setting up their friendships, environment, and their world🌍

Molly did brilliantly today, she felt safe with her friend nearby and was having a lovely time independently snuffling away for snacks 🥰

20/02/2023

Love this system that Calpurnia and Footloose Barefoot Hooves are using to help Luna feel comfortable having her feet trimmed 😍 Luna has made enormous progress under Calpurnia’s care, it’s beautiful to see!

Contact Positive Equine Training Scotland if you would like to find out more about our tailored package for your horse or donkey 😊