Relationship Based Horse Training

I am a behaviorist and a trainer. I look at a horses whole environment and what drives them to be who they are. I strive to use the least intrusive, minimally aversive method to address any behavior issues, teach new skills, and build healthy, happy relationships between human and equine by using Learning Theory. I have spent my whole life studying horses and I strive to keep up to date with new knowledge, always challenging and evolving my own beliefs. Horses are smart, powerful animals that deserve to be treated with dignity and fairness, as does every living being. I employ clicker training and positive reinforcement to open two-way communication between animals and people. It brings clarity, consent, understanding, and unity. I love teaching people about how behavior is learned and modified so they can understand and connect with their horses, and it often surprises them how simple it really can be. 

Although Pavlov's dogs and B.F. Skinner's rats have been around since the 1930's, the horse world is far behind when it comes to consciously applying science-based methods to train and modify behavior. I myself, originally learned to train horses for competition through coercion, pain, and punishment disguised as "classical" and/or "natural". I didn't know any better. I struggled emotionally while learning to ride and train the "traditional" way, knowing the horses weren't happy participants, but quite the opposite. I was doing things to horses instead of with them. I wasn't enjoying them the way I had imagined when I was a young girl, and they definitely weren't enjoying me. Now, my horses and I experience things together; in unity. I knew there had to be another way; without pain, punishment, fear, aversives, intimidation, excessive pressure, threats, or force. And this is it.