Training Matters

11/03/2026

Yes. Thinking of you, Chance. 💔

Every one of us started because we loved a pony.

Not a ribbon. Not a trophy. A pony. But somewhere along the way, the sport takes over, and little by little it squeezes the love out. Then we wonder why so many riders walk away.

Think about the day a child’s first pony gets sold to make room for a “better” horse. That’s a lesson, whether we mean it or not. It says horses are upgrades, like trading in last year’s phone. It says winning comes from buying a better horse, not from working through the challenges. And it says that when a horse gets hurt, gets old, or can’t be used anymore, it’s someone else’s problem. Even a “good home” hands someone else the vet bills, the hard decisions, and the grief that were ours to carry.

Our kids are watching. If we teach them that a living being is only worth keeping while its body is useful, we shouldn’t be surprised by who they let into their lives, or how they treat us when we’re the ones who get old.

Horses aren’t objects. There’s a whole, feeling life inside that body, and it doesn’t stop mattering when the riding stops. A horse that can’t work is rarely safe out in the world. Too many get passed from home to home until they land somewhere they never should have. So when the sport ends, find a new way to have fun: groundwork, games, easy jobs. And when even that’s done, give them the soft, loving goodbye they’ve earned.

Remind yourself. Remind your kids. We’re here for the horse, not the sport. The love comes first, second, and third.

11/02/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1KSphoFFsK/

It's taken me two weeks to be able to write this post.

Two weeks ago today we said goodbye to Chance, 32-year-old Morgan and newbie teacher extraordinaire. We euthanized him on a sunny fall day, with me and one of the other folks who had grown to love him by his side. The vet was extremely kind and explained in advance everything we would observe as Chance left this world.

Euthanizing Chance was heartbreaking, but the right decision. While he looked really good for a 32-year-old horse, he struggled mightily last winter with cold founder (also called winter laminitis), and it was likely he would experience this condition again. What happens with cold founder is that the horse experiences reduced circulation through their feet because of cold temperatures and that results in extreme pain. Among other interventions, Chance had to be kept indoors for many weeks last winter while we helped him to overcome the pain. This is not a happy condition for any horse.

Chance also had had stifle (knee) issues in his hind legs for many years and he could no longer eat hay or grass. We fed him a "soup" of soaked hay cubes and Triple Crown Senior, with snacks of wetted hay pellets in between the four meals he was getting daily, to make up for the hay and grass he could no longer consume. He could chew hay and grass, just not swallow it. So, we still provided him with both for "enrichment" purposes.

If I'd lived in a warmer climate I would have kept Chance going. But, I don't. It was time, given our location and facilities. All over New England folks are making decisions regarding elderly and ill horses as to whether they should navigate another winter. Quality of life is always front and center in these decisions.

Below is the last picture I took of Chance, a brown horse with a small white patch in the middle of his forehead, wearing a blue blanket with green trim and walking under leafless apple trees towards me. He loved walking out to the apple trees and "grazing" under them. On the way, he would interact with or just hang out near our miniature horses in their pen. Chance always came to me when I went out to retrieve him. And, he was wonderful with folks new to horses. Such an easy old man.

11/01/2026

Sharing this so folks can see what a protected contact arrangement that facilitates positive reinforcement-based training with a scared horse or donkey might look like. Not long ago I recommended such an arrangement to a person whose horse was afraid of handling and easily scared. The owner didn’t know what I meant and had a hard time envisioning such a setup when it was described.

11/01/2026

I so often refer people to their vets as well as encourage them to get second opinions or work with a rehab vet related to possible pain with their dogs. Why? Because I suspect it is part of the behavioral issues folks are concerned with. The behavior problem is why they've come to me. But the physical problem needs attention. Ethically, pain and discomfort need to be addressed.

Veterinary behaviorists are finding large percentages, 50 and up, of behavior problems their clients come to them with have pain or discomfort as a factor. Certain VBs are very good at finding the root causes of the discomfort so that it can be well addressed and the behavior issues improved.

It is challenging to be persistent in advocating for more investigation of potential pain with an animal. The article linked in the comments discusses the cognitive dissonance we may face in working through identifying and treating pain and discomfort in our companions.

Image of a brown dog with gray muzzle, sitting and looking at the camera. This is my Winnie, who has been on his own pain journey. He has a spinal condition and some beginning arthritis that took some time and persistence to address. Pain meds and rehab therapy have helped him tremendously.

11/01/2026

I haven't followed the discussion related to the WSJ's recent article on dog trainers, training philosophy, and infighting in the industry, nor have I read the WSJ article. I just can't deal with the michegoss. Not that I don't have opinions or don't care about the messages people get about what constitutes good training. I absolutely do. I have learned enough to know what's what. But I just do my work in my own little corner of the training/teaching universe. I trust Kiki Yablon of Kiki Yablon Dog Training and Annie Grossman, author of How to Train Your Dog With Love + Science, to have a good take on the topic.

10/19/2026

Highly recommend with Mary Hunter, who has presented at our Animal Trainers’ Retreats and is a co-writer of the manual for tabletop training game PORTL, which we play at all our events.

Happening tomorrow!

Join Mary Hunter and TAGteach International for a webinar about reinforcement systems!

The webinar will be held on Tuesday, October 20, from 1:00–2:30 pm Eastern Time.

A recording WILL be available if you can’t join the live presentation.

This is a “pay what you can” webinar!

To register, visit this link and click on the EXPLORE button:
TagTeachMembers.com

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Here’s the full description for the event:

Building reinforcement systems for accelerated learning

In this webinar with Mary Hunter, we’ll look closely at reinforcement systems and how they work. Taking the time to carefully design and teach new reinforcement systems can greatly expedite your teaching. As well, Mary will help you understand how to analyze your existing reinforcement systems.

What is a reinforcement system?

A reinforcement system describes the back-and-forth interaction that happens between a teacher and a learner during the delivery of a reinforcer. At each step in the sequence, the teacher’s behavior cues the learner’s next behavior. Likewise, the learner’s behavior cues the teacher’s next behavior.

Learning how to recognize and build reinforcement systems and interconnected chains will help you be more responsive to your learner, turning your training sessions into a back-and-forth conversation.

How do you teach a new reinforcement system?

Mary will share six steps that you can use to design and teach a reinforcement system as an interconnected chain. This process involves finding a suitable teaching environment, selecting a reinforcer, planning an interconnected chain, teaching your learner where and how to collect the reinforcer, adding a reinforcer signal, and finally utilizing your reinforcement system while teaching new behaviors.

Throughout the presentation, Mary will share animal training video examples, as well as examples with human learners using the shaping game PORTL. These examples will help you better understand how reinforcement systems work and why taking the time to teach and improve your reinforcement systems can help accelerate your teaching.

See you tomorrow !!!

Register at: TagTeachMembers.com

10/18/2026

Apparently almost everyone has ADHD. I keep seeing posts explaining the "condition" as a label. "I'm an ADHD woman." "I have ADHD brain." These always strike me as off the mark.

One recent post says that people with ADHD do better with something called "body doubling" because their "brain doesn’t respond to motivation or discipline." That can't possibly be true. What can be true is that particular individuals respond to different environments and reinforcers.

What the body doubling refers to is working next to someone who is working as you work, not commenting on or evaluating your progress. Apparently for "ADHD brains" this sort of environmental setup is conducive to getting work done, whereas some other attempts to provide “motivation” and “discipline” are not. For ALL people diagnosed with ADHD because of what brain scans have indicated. This is likely an oversimplification of the neuroscience.

I'm sure the setup--what trainers call the antecedent arrangement--of working with others is helpful for some individuals diagnosed with ADHD (the diagnosis of which is based on their behaviors under certain conditions, not a brain scan) and not for others. I'm sure it's also helpful for many people who aren't labeled as having ADHD.

It's the behaviors that are the tell. Our understanding of the brain science gives us some background, what might be called distant antecedent, information to base interventions on that we then track the effects of. How do I know this? Because of the children I've observed growing up under this label of ADHD. They couldn't be more different. The mother of one child with this diagnosis couldn't understand why it was called a hyperactivity disorder for her child. She said, "They should call it attention deficit slug disorder," because he was the farthest thing from hyperactive. His thinking and analysis patterns were unusual, to say the least, but he wasn't hyperactive as we commonly understand that descriptor.

One fabulous third-grade teacher was the first to tell me that ADHD is just a label. I had to wrestle with that one. But to actually work with the children diagnosed with ADHD in her classroom, it needed to be understood that they were different individuals. She did have two boys work sitting together quite a lot on the advanced work they were capable of completing but struggled to do. She observed their behaviors and devised a classroom structure that could work for them. She might well have done quite differently for my friend's adorable slug child. Or a little girl who preferred working alone.

Don't label your children or your animals. Look at their behavior. Devise antecedent conditions that help them to be successful. Reinforce with the reinforcers they find meaningful. Remember that reinforcers are plentiful and often more than one is supplied at the same time. In the body doubling concept, the antecedent condition is working in close proximity to others. The reinforcers might be social and sensory just by virtue of that proximity. Whether a setup is successful in providing motivation and discipline to learn and access relevant reinforcers will be indicated in its results.

Image of a dark miniature horse (Angel) "smiling" when cued by trainer Ryan Talbot, who is dressed for cool weather in a wool cap and coat and boots. Is Angel happy? Who knows? What I do know is that Angel is working eagerly with Ryan for the food he is being offered from a white treat bucket strapped to his waist. And that we all enjoy watching it.

10/17/2026

The fall scents are very reinforcing for my three pups. The boxer-pit mix, Winnie, normally hates chilly, rainy mornings like this one. But the smells were too enticing to go back to the house porch as he sometimes does.

Two off leash morning sniffy walks on my farm are part of our routine, which means the dogs need a solid recall. The smells the dogs are exploring are likely animals who have been on the move. I saw a porcupine in a tree and was able to call the dogs off an air scent of the animal. Naturally, they got a lot of cheese.