Maine Equine Sports at Crystal Lake Farm

Maine Equine Sports at Crystal Lake Farm Positive reinforcmenent based lessons for begginers & those looking to advance in the hunter/jumper sport. www.maineequinesports.com

We ride with clickers & treat bags filled with hay pellet. Students learn behavioral science & HOW to train horses!

A 12 hour difference brings a beautiful fresh layer of snow to the farm โ„๏ธ
01/20/2025

A 12 hour difference brings a beautiful fresh layer of snow to the farm โ„๏ธ

Congratulations team Maine Equine Sports for a wonderful 2024 season! Also a huge congratulations to all MeHJA competito...
01/12/2025

Congratulations team Maine Equine Sports for a wonderful 2024 season! Also a huge congratulations to all MeHJA competitors ๐ŸŽ‰ โฃ
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Last night was a wonderful evening at the 2024 MeHJA Year End Awards Banquet celebrating both our studentsโ€™ accomplishments and those of fellow MeHJA competitors! โฃ
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Hereโ€™s Maine Equine Sportsโ€™ results: โฃ
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๐Ÿ† ๐Ÿฐ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ฃ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ in Hunter Breeding Ponies - ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐˜† ๐—ฃ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—น๐—ฒ shown by Maddie Lancasterโฃ
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๐Ÿ† ๐Ÿฑ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ฃ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ in Hunter Breeding Ponies- ๐— ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—”๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ฟ shown by Liliana Dudarโฃ
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๐Ÿ† ๐Ÿฒ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ฃ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ in Hunter Breeding Ponies - ๐—ฃ๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ผ shown by Grace Lindnerโฃ
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๐Ÿ† ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—–๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป in Leadline Equitation - ๐—š๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ฏ๐˜† ๐—š๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ป๐—ผ๐—ป with Spicy Pickle, Moon Affair & Pistachio โฃ
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๐Ÿ† ๐Ÿฑ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ฃ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ in Leadline Pleasure - ๐— ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—”๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ฟ ridden by Gabby Gagnonโฃ
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๐Ÿ† ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—–๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป in Walk Trot 11 & Up Equitation - ๐—š๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—Ÿ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ with Spicy Pickle & Moon Affairโฃ
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๐Ÿ† ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—–๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป in Walk Trot 11 & Up Pleasure - ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐˜† ๐—ฃ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—น๐—ฒ with Grace Lindnerโฃ
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๐Ÿ† ๐Ÿฒ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ฃ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ in MeHJA Vet Fund Pleasure - ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐˜† ๐—ฃ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—น๐—ฒ with Maddie Lancasterโฃ
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๐Ÿ† ๐Ÿฐ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ฃ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ in Puddle Jumpers - ๐— ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—”๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ฟ with Kate Bennettโฃ
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๐Ÿ† ๐Ÿฒ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ฃ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ in Puddle Jumpers - ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐˜† ๐—ฃ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—น๐—ฒ with Maddie Lancaster โฃ
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๐Ÿ† ๐—•๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜‡๐—ฒ ๐— ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐—น in Walk Trot Poles Medal - ๐—š๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—Ÿ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ with Spicy Pickle & Moon Affairโฃ
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๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’™๐— ๐—ฒ๐—›๐—๐—” ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—”๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ - ๐—ก๐—ถ๐—ธ ๐—•๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ด๐˜€๐Ÿ’™๐Ÿ’›โฃ
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๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’™๐— ๐—ฒ๐—›๐—๐—” ๐—๐—ฅ ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐˜€๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฝ ๐—”๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ - ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฒ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐Ÿ’™๐Ÿ’›โฃ
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The 2024 season brought many ups & downs, it was a season of growth & many personal accomplishments. This crew deserves the recognition for all their hard work, time dedicated, and the love they have for these animals! โฃ
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Weโ€™re so proud of our students & horses at MES! Thank you all for choosing MES not only for competition opportunities but to learn all about equine behavior & why we do what we do with horses. โฃ
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Looking forward to an exciting 2025 ahead continuing to integrate R+ training with sport!โฃ
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Kate & Nik

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of us at Maine Equine Sports! The herd enjoyed a special holiday breakfast t...
12/25/2024

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of us at Maine Equine Sports! The herd enjoyed a special holiday breakfast today topped with some of their favorite snacks โค๏ธ

A Merry Christmas Eve from the herd, Nash, Kate & Nik to you! โ„๏ธ๐Ÿด๐Ÿ’•
12/25/2024

A Merry Christmas Eve from the herd, Nash, Kate & Nik to you! โ„๏ธ๐Ÿด๐Ÿ’•

This happened to us this summer with strangers coming by and feeding the herd. We manage our horsesโ€™ feed meticulously a...
12/19/2024

This happened to us this summer with strangers coming by and feeding the herd. We manage our horsesโ€™ feed meticulously and after large carrots were fed to our senior guy without permission at night he choked resulting in an after hours emergency vet call. Thank goodness heโ€™s okay. One of many reasons we do not allow our herd to be fed without permission and weโ€™re a private barn. Itโ€™s not okay to feed other peopleโ€™s animals.

We have ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด๐˜€ & December is the ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต time to get on the schedule before lesson spots fill up in the new yea...
12/08/2024

We have ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด๐˜€ & December is the ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต time to get on the schedule before lesson spots fill up in the new year! โฃ
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๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ก๐—ถ๐—ธ teaches beginner through intermediate students ages 7+. Nik is a wonderful teacher for learning the basics of riding (steering, walk, trot) & groundwork with clicker training! He offers knowledge in creating a strong foundation for both western & english riders! Nik has space for new students on Saturdays!โฃ
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๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ž๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ specializes in teaching intermediate & advanced students (teens & adults) who are interested in learning anything & everything about training with R+ and applying it to both groundwork & riding! Students lessoning with Kate must be interested in the process of training with food rewards. Kate only has space for 1-2 new students on weekday afternoons at this time.
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๐—œ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ? โฃ
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Explore our website: www.maineequinesports.comโฃ
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Then schedule a Meet & Greet lesson to get started!

The UNH Jumper Show today was an absolutely perfect way to wrap up the 2024 season!โฃโฃIt was an incredible successful day...
12/07/2024

The UNH Jumper Show today was an absolutely perfect way to wrap up the 2024 season!โฃ
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It was an incredible successful day both goal and ribbon wise. There were 6, 1sts among this group in classes filled way past the placings. Their rides were so deserving of such! โฃ
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One thing sitting with me this evening is the incredible sportsmanship & horsemanship these riders demonstrated all day under ALL circumstances. โฃ
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I texted Crystal a couple weeks back to see if sheโ€™d entertain the idea of hauling two of my ponies students to show today as we had many variables preventing us from hauling ourselves there. She met my ask with so much enthusiasm & also wanting to join in on the show fun! She brought Spumoni & Wild (of the lovely .equestrian ) along with their kids to jump around too. โฃ(Gabby not pictured due to nap ๐Ÿ’ค)
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So fun & what a cool dynamic! These kids & ponies have met in passing most of the season & have been competitors at some point or another but instead I believe new friendships were made. I was reminded of the strong power of horses to bring us together. Iโ€™ve seen so much divide in the industry lately with so much discussion around equine welfare, ethics, sports, and opinions..itโ€™s reassuring to see that it is possible to have a fun, supportive community in horse sport! โฃ
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We all helped each other out & came together to be a team for the day. It was so much FUN ๐Ÿคฉ cheering each other on, watching each kid & horse reach milestones & just absolutely enjoy the journey together! โฃ
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These kids bent over backwards to take care of the horses today. Every horse in this group was pampered and cared for beyond words without any promptingโ€ฆthe best interest of the horse always went without question. โฃ
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What an absolutely perfect show day to end the 2024 season with! Thank you all for making is such a fun day! โฃ
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Thank you so much Crystal for the haul today and helping us out when Pickle wasnโ€™t feeling fabulous at the end of the day. Thankfully heโ€™s back to himself but hasnโ€™t been a fan of this cold.โฃ
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Thank you to UNH Equine (UNH Equine Program University of New Hampshire IHSA Team)for running such a well run & fun show! We appreciate all the hard work you put into it and canโ€™t wait to return!โฃ
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~Kate

What a fun Saturday of Groups! The theme was confidence building with cone sending in a small group! Each small group de...
11/04/2024

What a fun Saturday of Groups!

The theme was confidence building with cone sending in a small group!

Each small group delegated tasks requiring clear, consistent communication among people.

This was a fun challenge for students!

What an incredibly good day ๐ŸคฉThese kids have worked SO FREAKING HARD for today! After our recent shows focusing on lots ...
11/03/2024

What an incredibly good day ๐Ÿคฉ

These kids have worked SO FREAKING HARD for today! After our recent shows focusing on lots of schooling and working through challenges, it was so rewarding to see it all come together today and the hard work pay off. They absolutely crushed their goals, have improved tremendously in riding proactively & with the horse, their cues & effective riding have come so far. I watched them make so many smart choices for both themselves & the horses and bounce back from mistakes on their own. I love seeing them put their skills to use & be able to ride in and large open space independently.

In a large division of 11 (I think..maybe more?) they scored in both their Hunter & Handy rounds and placed!!!

๐Ÿ’›Maddie & Spicy Pickle 3rd in the Ground Hunter Division๐Ÿ’›

๐Ÿ’šLili & Moon Affair 6th in the Ground Hunter Division๐Ÿ’š

Iโ€™d be lying if I said I wasnโ€™t emotional after this one. To see my Pickle pony rise through the ranks with his lease kid who absolutely adores him after his first season showing was absolutely incredible. Just back in April a flat class was too overstimulating, now heโ€™s placing 3rd out of 11 in a hunter derby ๐Ÿฅน And just ONE year ago I was slowly restarting him tackles, just walking for the months of Nov & Dec 2023. My eyes have welled up with happy tears many times today.

Pharaoh crushed it of course and enjoyed strutting his stuff in a bigger space! Lili & Pharaoh have worked through so much this season. Pharaohโ€™s been the PERFECT teacher for helping Lili develop a stable lower leg & balance energy. Today was a HUGE accomplishment for them as a team!! ๐ŸŽ‰

Wonderful work today ladies! Iโ€™m so proud of yโ€™all & the ponies! ๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›

~Kate

๐Ÿ‘ป Happy Halloween! ๐ŸŽƒ At the show this past Sunday, 3 of our students entered the costume class! They designed costumes b...
10/31/2024

๐Ÿ‘ป Happy Halloween! ๐ŸŽƒ

At the show this past Sunday, 3 of our students entered the costume class! They designed costumes based on the horses names.

๐Ÿ‘‘ Lili & Pharaoh were Pharaoh ๐Ÿ‘ธ

๐Ÿฅ’ Maddie, Gabby & Pickle were Spicy Pickle ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ

So much fun!! ๐Ÿคฉ

Sunday was such a fun day full of ๐—›๐—จ๐—š๐—˜ classes and fun with the ponies! It was very windy but our ponies stayed their us...
09/12/2024

Sunday was such a fun day full of ๐—›๐—จ๐—š๐—˜ classes and fun with the ponies! It was very windy but our ponies stayed their usual selves and crushed it! โฃ
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โญ๏ธ๐—š๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ฏ๐˜† & ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐˜† ๐—ฃ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—น๐—ฒโญ๏ธโฃ
โ€ข2nd Leadline Hunter Seat Equitation (Riders 7 & Under)โฃ
โ€ข3rd Leadline Hunter Seat Pleasure Horse/Pony (Riders 7 & Under) โฃ
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โญ๏ธ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฒ & ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐˜† ๐—ฃ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—น๐—ฒโญ๏ธโฃ
โ€ข3rd Hunter Breeding Poniesโฃ
โ€ข8th 18โ€ (0.45m) Baby Green Puddle Jumper Aโฃ
โ€ข6th 18โ€ (0.45m) Baby Green Puddle Jumper Bโฃ
โ€ข4th 18โ€ (0.45m) Take 2 Baby Green Puddle Jumper Aโฃ
โ€ข1st 18โ€ (0.45m) Take 2 Baby Green Puddle Jumper B โฃ
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โญ๏ธ๐—Ÿ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ & ๐— ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—”๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ฟโญ๏ธโฃ
โ€ข6th Hunter Breeding Ponies โฃ
โ€ข4th 18โ€ (0.45m) Take 2 Baby Green Puddle Jumper Bโฃ
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โญ๏ธ๐—š๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ & ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐˜† ๐—ฃ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—น๐—ฒโญ๏ธโฃ
โ€ข3rd Ground Poles Jumpersโฃ
โ€ข3rd Walk-Trot Equitation (11+)โฃ
โ€ข5th Walk-Trot Pleasure (11+)โฃ
โ€ข1st (out of 16!!) MeHJA Walk-Trot Poles Medal โฃ
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โญ๏ธ๐—ž๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ & ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐˜† ๐—ฃ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—น๐—ฒโญ๏ธโฃ
โ€ข2nd in a large Easy Does it Hunter Under Saddle Classโฃ
โ€ข7th in Easy Does it O/F (18โ€)โฃ
โ€ข5th Easy Does it Hunter Stake (18โ€) โฃ
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โญ๏ธ๐—ž๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ & ๐— ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—”๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ฟโญ๏ธโฃ
โ€ข3rd 18โ€ (0.45m) Take 2 Baby Green Puddle Jumper Aโฃ
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A bit of a surreal experience for me wrapping up the day completing the Easy Does It division on Pickles who just 5 short months ago we were introducing to showing. At Pickleโ€™s first off farm show in April, he was quite overstimulated. We did one flat class with 3 other horse/riders in a large arena, he quickly went over threshold. I dismounted and stood in the middle feeding him treats from my pocket & bringing him back down quickly on the ground. I knew I had my work cut out for me but stayed determined and calm.โฃ
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Each show Pickles has made incredible progress and quickly has surpassed all expectations and goals this season! Students have been a big part in his success, contributing to his training at home and making smart choices at shows to set Pickles up for good experiences. Thank you to every student whoโ€™s appreciated him and taken care of him as if he were your own!โฃ
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Great job team! Your horsemanship and sportsmanship continues to impress me and make me so very proud to call myself your coach & trainer!โฃ
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~Kate

A great explanation of why we choose mainly food rewards. Here at MES we certainly mix in scratches too, but itโ€™s import...
09/12/2024

A great explanation of why we choose mainly food rewards. Here at MES we certainly mix in scratches too, but itโ€™s important to understand the value and how itโ€™s understood to the horse.

Why don't we just use scratches with positive reinforcement instead of food? Well, in real life practice is becomes a clumsy, messy, inconsistent reinforcer to use alone.

Most horses either find scratching low value or extremely high value. If they aren't particularly itchy, scratches don't mean much to a horse. We can often train basic behaviors like standing for grooming or basic targeting/leading skills with scratches, but its not a reliable reinforcer when things get hard. It may be strong enough to maintain a behavior that is easy for the horse, but if its something they don't want to do or if there is competeing reinforcers available (like grass) its often not strong enough to maintain the behaviors. Then we end up mixing in R- again to make them listen.

Or horses find scratching too high value. Horses who are terribly itchy and love scratches. But they get distracted by wanting more scratches, they feel punished when we stop scratching and get frustrated when they aren't finding the clear path to more scratches. Sometimes the horses who like scratches the kost are the worst candidates for scratches as reinforcement.

Scratches are slow to deliver. We need to scratch for a sufficient amount of time that the horse actually appreciates it and feel satiated, for the reinforcement to be of value. Which is slow and exhausting for us. This would stretch a 1 minute training session with food with 10 reps of a behavior, 10 clicks+treats, to a 20 minute session. Its slow and interrupts the horse's natural training flow. They are thinking about the skill, get the click, then spend 2 minutes being scratched they aren't likely to jump right back into doing the goal behavior for the next loop. We want to be able to loop through the cue-behavior-reinforcement loop fairly smoothly and quickly so the horse can keep focusing on the task and the increasing criteria. Without interrupting it for frequent breaks.

We can however, use scratches as a great way to let a horse know when they did an extra good job. With a large reinforcement, a break from the repetition and a moment of being thoroughly appreciated. But food is safe, convenient, fast, adjustable value, and effect

Unfortunately, weโ€™ve had to postpone the Shawna Karrasch Equine clinic due to limited sign ups. We plan to reschedule to...
09/12/2024

Unfortunately, weโ€™ve had to postpone the Shawna Karrasch Equine clinic due to limited sign ups. We plan to reschedule to early summer 2025 and will announce a date once a new one is established. Sorry yโ€™all! We were looking forward to it, hopefully there will be more interest early summer.

โœจThis clinic is sneaking right up! Less than two months away!โœจWe have 10 spaces (of 15) available to participants and ha...
09/10/2024

โœจThis clinic is sneaking right up! Less than two months away!โœจ

We have 10 spaces (of 15) available to participants and have unlimited room for auditors!

This is an incredible opportunity to learn all about positive reinforcement training with horses from the leading trainers in this field.

Open to all ages and all experience levels. Training/instruction will be customized to each participant and horse.

โญ๏ธYou can learn more about the clinicians (Shawna & Jessie) and the clinic focus here: https://angelic-base-918.myflodesk.comโญ๏ธ

๐ŸดParticipants can trailer in OR work with one of Maine Equine Sportsโ€™ horses.๐Ÿด

Sign up soon to reserve your spot!

Find more info & sign up ๐Ÿคฉ here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSey6ufhheroV-XfxcZCDO6s0fa-a3if_dLKD6mNCR9kQHjnCg/couple

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