Ravendaisy Farm

08/07/2025

A note about “force free” training: force free training doesn’t mean you never force your horse to do something. It means that you train the behavior without force in a controlled setting, over and over, and heavily reinforce it to create a positive association so that if you *do* need to force the horse to comply, it’s not a big deal.

Case in point: when the nippers get stuck in their hoof and you can’t honor the horse’s request to have the hoof back. Or when the old school farrier grabs on to that hoof for dear life and your horse doesn’t even realize he’s being forced to keep his hoof still because it would have done that anyway.

Some people think you should force a horse to comply every time just in case you need to force them to comply in the future. The truth is - that’s the opposite of how it works in real life. If I give my horse a choice 98% of the time, the 2% I have to force compliance just isn’t a big deal. It’s not a blow up. It’s the exception, rather than the rule. And it’s far less likely to be necessary to need any force at all because they enjoy performing the behavior and it’s always felt safe.

A good example of this is knitting. I love knitting. I used to do it all the time for fun because I enjoyed it. Now, if someone told me “knit me a scarf right now or else you’re fired!” it would be weird. But also, I’m very good at it, so not really a big deal and I’d be happy to do it. That’s the goal of force free training.

Forcing a horse to do something they already like doing isn’t a big deal. It does, however, take time to reach this point with some horses. But if I can hold on to Blue’s hoof for dear life and force her to hold it still will I wrestle the stuck nipper out of her hoof... I’m convinced there’s hope for any horse out there to feel this safe about a behavior trained with force free positive reinforcement. Sadly I couldn’t find the clip of when this happened to blue (she stood too still to trigger the motion sensor on the cameras!) but here’s a clip of Ziyal where the same thing happened. (Video in comments so it doesn’t turn into a reel - you probably wont even notice that she gently asks for her hoof back and I keep holding it!)

02/24/2025

Tuition lowered to help those still dealing with the effects of Hurricane Helene.

02/23/2025

Bring Finesse without Force to your relationships
Believe in your magic.
Asheville, NC 3/7
Traveler's Rest, SC 3/8-9
Shelby, NC 3/10

message me for more info!

https://ravendaisyfarm.com/positivelifeskills

01/06/2025

Elevate your relationship by embracing finesse over force.

Now booking transformative clinics and lessons for 2025.

Discover the power of positive reinforcement combined with the skills you already have.

problem solving - husbandry skills bitless and bridleless riding

Improve your performance and feel good doing it.

DM for more information or visit www.ravendaisy.com

12/19/2024

Many years ago, in conversation with Ray, I asked him about how difficult it could be to get this way of working with horses across to people.
He told me one time he'd heard someone say: “There’s no use going to those Ray Hunt clinics, all he does is work with the mind.” Ray laughed and said “Well what the hell else is there? I like to think it’s 80% mind. You might have to do quite a bit physically, but once the mind is in tune, it takes almost nothing at all.”
I'm still working toward that principle.

11/24/2024

⭐️Cowy trail horse supreme⭐️
15.2 H 11yr AQHA gelding
Stormy (aka Plaxicos Gun) is looking for his next partner in crime. A grandson of the great cutting horse, Playgun, Stormy can play all your silly games- trails, cows, western dressage, English, couch. Chill and experienced enough to have a calm mind about it and enough spirit to still have his opinions on things.

His current owner has decided to retire from riding and he’s been in consistent training for the last 4 months and will continue until rehomed. We’re schooling lateral work, playing with cows on the ranch and in the arena, carrying a flag and starting on bitless/bridless work. He’s looking for a human who is at least an advanced beginner and is committed to putting the relationship 1st. 1 free lesson
included to help you get to know each other. (Travel fee might apply)

Follow him on IG for pics, videos and updates:)

06/07/2024

We discuss Operant Conditioning all the time, its the foundation of how horses learn! But one aspect we often overlook is the difference between natural and contrived learning and the emotions that come with each. We know and understand that operant conditioning is happening all the time in the background without us even noticing or thinking about it.

Natural learning happens very fluidly, the quadrants are very blurry, they are happening all the time to various degrees. A simple example is that if a horse is in the sun and bugs and feeling uncomfortable (aversive) the horse seeks the shade to be cool and less buggy (relief). Are they seeking the shade (adding shade) or avoiding heat and bugs (subtracting aversive)? Well its a blurry fuzzy line of both of them. The negative reinforcement is still avoidance, the positive reinforcement is still seeking, but it doesn't carry big, huge, dramatic emotions or alot of aversive associations. The horse controls their exposure to the stimuli.

Contrived learning, training, is not a natural environmental situation. Its induced by US. We control it, the horse doesn't. The horse KNOWS that we are controlling the stimulus, not them. That we are modifying their behavior. They know we control the exposure to the aversives and appetitives and WE are being conditioned with what we add to the equation. Are we bringing aversives or appetitives to our classical conditioning? When we control the appetitives and aversives its different than if those same things happen naturally or if YOU make them happen.

If a person made you stand in the sun and bugs and only decided when you can get access to shade, you aren't thinking of the sun or bugs as the aversive, you are thinking of the person controlling them as the aversive. The person in control is being conditioned as the aversive, not the relief. It creates and includes emotions of resentment and frustration that don't exist in the same situation in a natural setting.

05/16/2024

You know how your great aunt can’t be around you without commenting on your weight?
You know how your mother in law can’t stop asking when you’re gonna have a baby because she’s dying for grandchildren?

You know how your mom licks that napkin and squeezes your face while she whipes dirt off your cheek?
You know how, when you were a child, your parents brushed your hair too fast, pulled on your hair, and your feelings were dismissed? “Oh you’re being such a baby!”

You know the way that family dinner is so stressful, but your aunts make amazing food- so you have the draw of the food, and the stress of the discord and passive aggressive comments? You know the pressure to have seconds, to not offend, coupled with a comment on your weight?

You know all those tiny, nitpicky, well meaning things that drive you crazy? You know how horrible the hands that fuss over you feel? You know how terrible the dissonance between what’s said and what’s felt is?

They’re made to sound like they’re for you, but they’re not- they’re for the person doing them.
Don’t be that guy with your horse.

Pinching, picking, constant cleaning, fussing
Nitpicking every little step
Fussing with buckles, forgetting about the horse and wrenching leather over soft, sensitize surfaces
Yelling, smacking, emotional corrections and making up for it with food

Those are not for the horse- they’re for you.

Every touch should be for the horse.
Touch with intention
Focus on the task AND the horse
Guide, with care
Say no when you have to, without judgement or emotion
Say yes when you can, without going off the rails
Bring the horse to center
And be someone they find peace standing next to.

01/31/2024

01/24/2024