Want to learn to work with your horse at liberty or learn some new skills together? Positive reinforcement-based training can help you take your horsemanship to a whole new level.
I am based in Centreville, MD and will travel a reasonable distance to work with you and your horse. We can work on confidence-building, ground manners, cooperative care, under saddle work, tricks & games, and so much more!
PM me for more information or to get on the schedule 🙂
Day 2 of working on Grimora’s separation anxiety using R+
Pardon the gate in the way, but a huge part of her anxiety revolves around physical barriers between her and other horses so it’s the perfect setup to work on this.
This session totaled about 10 minutes. I like to work with her at breakfast time because the resource guarders are secured in their stalls (with their own food). She can still see them, and the gate it open so she can go interact with them as she sees fit. The other horses are basically right behind the camera, one eating his food loose (you can hear him clomping around towards the end 🤩)
In this clip, I take quite a few steps away and ask her to target my hand. You can see her look at the other horses, think a minute, then decide that she still feels safe enough to engage with me. I knew this was a big choice for her so after this she got a jackpot and we kept working on hand targeting a bit closer to the others.
Investigations are still going on to find out who knocked that cone over #oops
This is a snippet from one of Shawna Karrasch’s clinics where she is helping Tik Maynard teach his horse to bring his head down under saddle. It’s this horse’s first session working on this skill - pay attention to when the click happens! This is one of the many skills that can be taught using positive reinforcement.
Shawna Karrasch Equine and Jessie Hillegas will be in Centreville, MD on October 28 & 29 to teach one of these awesome clinics. You can audit, bring your own horse, or partner up with a resident horse. PM me for more information or to sign up!
This splash pad has perhaps become my favorite thing to set up for the horses. It’s fun to watch them check out the water and cool themselves off. Petey is also under the impression that this is simply the most delicious beverage.
Providing enrichment items like this encourages horses to investigate at whatever distance they feel comfortable with. It’s great for getting their brains working at a level below their fear threshold. You can benefit too - personally, I like to stand in this sprinkler just as much the horses do 🤩