If you see me at the barn most likely you will also see my treat bag on me or attached to my saddle. I am one of a very few people that carry treats with them at the barn. And I think I am the only one who has a clicker with me. I am an oddity at the barn because I feed treats, and due to that fact I get lots of questions regarding the feeding treats. So I thought I would do a post on what my techniques for feeding treats and training are:
1. There is a big difference in feeding treats and rewarding your horse for good behavior. I do not just freely hand out treats to my horses. They work for them and earn them. I am not treating them, I am rewarding a good behavior!
2. The MOST important step when rewarding with food is to first teach food manners! My horses do not get rewarded for mugging or nipping! They are first taught to look away from me. (Navi is still learning this one) Now once they are respectful around the treats I can be more relaxed with how and where I feed them. Take Pixie for example, I can feed her in any location or position because she has learned to take the treats nicely. However, Navi, I have to watch my timing and her position carefully as not to ruin my own training.
3. I use positive reinforcement training (clicker included) in which I use the treats as a reward. This is a very systematic training method that requires good timing as with any other method of training. It is very possible to do it wrong and create a horse that is mouthy, but if someone takes the time to learn how to do it correctly it is a kinder approach to horse training and one that your horse will love!
4. I have been teaching this method of training to dogs for 10 years now and started with my horses just a little over 3 years ago. I still learn everyday how to improve my timing and approach. Every new behavior I teach my horses I am learning along with them since I am new to using this method in the horse world. This method involves not only the training, but managing the environment in which you are training in. The animal must be set up for success!
On to Pixie and I :) We accomplished her targeting my hand with her butt, lol! 2 years ago I set out to teach her to back up with me standing behind her. And now we not only have backing, but direction change too. This is done at liberty with no pressure and release. I can't wait to see how far we can go with this!
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Mounting Block
Navi and I have officially mastered the mounting block at liberty. She is now to the point where she will line up on her own and wait for me to get on :) I, of course, am clicking and treating after I am mounted. We had a great session two days ago where I got on and off 4 times. The last time we walked off before I dismounted. She is flexing nicely both directions while I am on her too! We are finding the softness that I hoped to achieve before riding her again. :)
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Learning and Behavior
This last week I spent a day on the road with some good buddies of mine from the barn. It was a fun road trip with some good conversations. And you know of course that when you get 4 horse ladies in one truck that training and trainers will eventually come up as a topic! It was a good conversation and it got me thinking about how and why I train the way I do. I have grown so much in the last 4 years as a trainer. But this post isn't about how I train...I want to break down the 4 Operant Conditioning Quadrants.
This will be a very simplified post to just get the basics out there. I believe if you are training an animal you should at the very least know and understand what method you are using and why it works or doesn't work.
I will start with my favorite methods:
This will be a very simplified post to just get the basics out there. I believe if you are training an animal you should at the very least know and understand what method you are using and why it works or doesn't work.
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| The Four Quadrants |
- Positive Punishment
- Positive Reinforcement
- Negative Punishment
- Negative Reinforcement
I will start with my favorite methods:
- Positive Reinforcement- Here you are adding something to make a behavior more rewarding and increasing the likely-hood that the horse will repeat the behavior. Example: I reward Pixie with praise and treats when she stands still at the mounting block.
- Negative Punishment - Here you are taking away something good to decrease a behavior. Example: If Pixie doesn't stand still at the mounting block I ignore her taking way all praise and treats.
- Negative Reinforcement - Here you are taking away an unpleasant thing to increase a behavior. (This is the most used in horse training, often referred to as pressure and release). Example : If you want to stop your horse you pull on the reins creating pressure and pain in their mouth the pressure is released when they stop.
- Positive Punishment- Here you are adding something unpleasant to decrease a behavior. Example: Your horse moves while you are trying to mount so correct them by pulling on the reins or yelling at them.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Saying No
Yesterday I received an invite to participate with Pixie in a Demo at the NILE (Northern International Livestock Exposition), which is a huge multiple day event in this area. Participating in the NILE is huge and something I have wanted to do for the last two years! It was a honor just being asked to be there! Showing the world what Pixie and I have accomplished would be amazing! So why does my post titled Saying No?
Well because I turned down the invite. Why would I turn down the chance to do something I have always wanted to do? Something I may not get another chance at doing. Really the answer is simple...it is because of Pixie. Would she be able to do it? Yes, I think she could have, but I don't think she would have enjoyed it. We could have trailered over early, and she would have calmed down enough to listen to me. Even so she still would have been stressed to a certain point. Pixie and I have reached a point in our relationship that we can work through most stressful situations just fine, but it doesn't mean I want to expose her to them on purpose. In the end it boils down to this...Pixie and I have come this far in our relationship because I always try to put her first. And while performing at the NILE would have been our chance to show everyone what we have accomplished, it would have been putting Me first not her.
So Saturday I will be spending all day at the NILE enjoying all the great demonstrations, sale booths, and horses they have to offer. While my Pixie girl will be at home in her pasture with her herd enjoying a quiet day :)
Well because I turned down the invite. Why would I turn down the chance to do something I have always wanted to do? Something I may not get another chance at doing. Really the answer is simple...it is because of Pixie. Would she be able to do it? Yes, I think she could have, but I don't think she would have enjoyed it. We could have trailered over early, and she would have calmed down enough to listen to me. Even so she still would have been stressed to a certain point. Pixie and I have reached a point in our relationship that we can work through most stressful situations just fine, but it doesn't mean I want to expose her to them on purpose. In the end it boils down to this...Pixie and I have come this far in our relationship because I always try to put her first. And while performing at the NILE would have been our chance to show everyone what we have accomplished, it would have been putting Me first not her.
So Saturday I will be spending all day at the NILE enjoying all the great demonstrations, sale booths, and horses they have to offer. While my Pixie girl will be at home in her pasture with her herd enjoying a quiet day :)
Thursday, October 2, 2014
My Favorite Time of the Year!
Fall has arrived!! I love love love fall! I always enjoy getting out and enjoying the beautiful weather. Plus seeing all the amazing colors of this season. Yesterday was no exception as I went out for a 3 hour trail ride with one of my friends at the barn. We had a great time exploring the ranch!
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| The rain was moving in |
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| The path home. Love this trail! |
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| We watched a storm roll by as we headed home |
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| As we come on top of the ridge the view was amazing! |
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| cow pony in the making :) |
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| Pixie and I. This horse is my heart and soul! |
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Struggling with EPI and the True Costs
This post is all doggy related even though this is a horse blog :) This post is going to be centered about Devan my rescue dog that we adopted June 2013. I have been wanting to write this post for a while, but just haven't had the time. As it is this will probably be a 2 day project.
Devan was always a healthy little puppy, full of energy and a good weight. But then in June of 2014 right after she turned 1, we noticed that she was starting to lose weight and was having diarrhea. Okay pretty easy fix or so we thought. We took her into the vet and were prescribe wormer, giardia meds, and anti-diarrhea medication. All total the vet visit was $162.00. A few days into the meds Devan's stool become better, but her appetite was increasing, and she wasn't looking any better.
Ten days later after all the meds were gone we noticed the diarrhea was back and Devan was continuing to lose weight! She was now down to 37lbs from her healthy 45lbs. At this point all she did was eat and sleep. She had no energy and was looking worse and worse daily. Back to the vet we went this time with a stool sample in tow. We were prescribed a prescription food, more anti-diarrhea meds, and a fecal test that got sent into the lab. The food was $30.00 for 7lbs for the dry and $2.00 a can. Not bad until you stop to realize at this point we were feeding her 4 cups a day just to try and satisfy her hunger. Plus her stool never really got better, she still had loose almost diarrhea stools. The fecal test was $50 plus we had the meds and re-exam. All together we were looking at $154.00 for this visit.
A few days later we had our answer on the fecal test. Unfortunately the fecal came back completely clear of anything. Our next step was x-rays and a full blood panel. The blood panel came back normal and her x-rays showed that the stomach was full of food and was huge like a dog with bloat. As I stood in the room with the vet looking at her x-rays the vet looked at me and said " She is literally starving to death in front of us and we don't know why" Those words almost took my breath away. I was watching Devan fade away in front of my eyes as she has lost more weight as was down to 35lbs. That was 10 pounds in just under 3 weeks!
From there we scheduled a fasting blood test that would test her pancreatic levels and B12. We had to fast her the rest of that afternoon and into the morning. It was heartbreaking to see her search and search for food and not understand why we were not feeding her. The x-rays, more meds to make her food move out of her stomach faster, and the blood work came to $466.00.
All the while I had been frantically researching everything I could on the internet. All of her symptoms were pointing towards Malabsorption, but there are multiple causes and I didn't have a clue what was causing her issue. At this point I made the decision to take her off the prescription food and switch her to a pre-packaged raw diet. Everything I was reading said raw is much easier to digest. Off the local pet food store I went and $148 later I walked out with 12lbs frozen food, and a package of dehydrated raw plus some supplements. I was so grateful for the staff at the store. They were such a big help in helping me decide what the get!
And finally the next day we had some answers! Her blood work came back! Her B12 was low so we stopped and picked up some shots for that for the next 12 weeks we would give subq. to help increase her vit. B12 level. Thankfully the shots only ran us $15. Not too much later in the day the rest of the bloodwork came back. It showed her Pancreas wasn't producing enough enzymes to digest her food. FINALLY...we knew why she was starving to death. It was Friday evening of course so we had to wait to till Monday to get the enzymes we needed. We also had to put her back on an antibiotic to combat SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth)
I went home and starting researching her condition and discovered it was called EPI (Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency) It was almost unheard of 10 years ago, but is becoming more and more common.
Come Monday we felt a huge weight lift off our shoulders when we finally got to pick up her enzymes. We finally had a way to make her better! It did come at a cost though. The enzymes were $203 for the bottle and the pharmacist told us to expect them to last 30 days. Now we faced the fear of wondering if we could afford to keep her healthy. Her food was $39.00 for 6lbs and she was eating almost 9 lbs a week and now the cost of the enzymes! Thankfully in my research I discovered where to get the generic enzymes and those were only $48. a month. That was a huge relief! We ordered those right away too so that when our first batch was gone we had them on hand so we didn't have to worry about shipping.
Adding up all the costs from when we first discovered something was wrong to finally getting her diagnosed and getting her first bottle of enzymes we paid a total of $1,264.00. I am so very thankful that we could afford to pay those costs, cause I couldn't imagine if we had to lose Devan due to money. I hope that if someone reads this, it will help them have the proper bloodwork done sooner to help save them time and money.
I would love to report that Devan made a complete turn around, but that is simply not the case. She is still struggling. We are currently starting another round of antibiotics to see if that will help her gain some weight. She is able to digest most of her food as her diarrhea has stopped. She is currently eating 4lbs of raw food a day and is only 31.5 lbs. I hope to someday have her back up to 40lbs. I have joined forums and support groups online and have registered her with the college that is researching this scary disease. She does have energy and her B12 levels are back to where they should be!
Devan was always a healthy little puppy, full of energy and a good weight. But then in June of 2014 right after she turned 1, we noticed that she was starting to lose weight and was having diarrhea. Okay pretty easy fix or so we thought. We took her into the vet and were prescribe wormer, giardia meds, and anti-diarrhea medication. All total the vet visit was $162.00. A few days into the meds Devan's stool become better, but her appetite was increasing, and she wasn't looking any better.
Ten days later after all the meds were gone we noticed the diarrhea was back and Devan was continuing to lose weight! She was now down to 37lbs from her healthy 45lbs. At this point all she did was eat and sleep. She had no energy and was looking worse and worse daily. Back to the vet we went this time with a stool sample in tow. We were prescribed a prescription food, more anti-diarrhea meds, and a fecal test that got sent into the lab. The food was $30.00 for 7lbs for the dry and $2.00 a can. Not bad until you stop to realize at this point we were feeding her 4 cups a day just to try and satisfy her hunger. Plus her stool never really got better, she still had loose almost diarrhea stools. The fecal test was $50 plus we had the meds and re-exam. All together we were looking at $154.00 for this visit.
A few days later we had our answer on the fecal test. Unfortunately the fecal came back completely clear of anything. Our next step was x-rays and a full blood panel. The blood panel came back normal and her x-rays showed that the stomach was full of food and was huge like a dog with bloat. As I stood in the room with the vet looking at her x-rays the vet looked at me and said " She is literally starving to death in front of us and we don't know why" Those words almost took my breath away. I was watching Devan fade away in front of my eyes as she has lost more weight as was down to 35lbs. That was 10 pounds in just under 3 weeks!
From there we scheduled a fasting blood test that would test her pancreatic levels and B12. We had to fast her the rest of that afternoon and into the morning. It was heartbreaking to see her search and search for food and not understand why we were not feeding her. The x-rays, more meds to make her food move out of her stomach faster, and the blood work came to $466.00.
All the while I had been frantically researching everything I could on the internet. All of her symptoms were pointing towards Malabsorption, but there are multiple causes and I didn't have a clue what was causing her issue. At this point I made the decision to take her off the prescription food and switch her to a pre-packaged raw diet. Everything I was reading said raw is much easier to digest. Off the local pet food store I went and $148 later I walked out with 12lbs frozen food, and a package of dehydrated raw plus some supplements. I was so grateful for the staff at the store. They were such a big help in helping me decide what the get!
And finally the next day we had some answers! Her blood work came back! Her B12 was low so we stopped and picked up some shots for that for the next 12 weeks we would give subq. to help increase her vit. B12 level. Thankfully the shots only ran us $15. Not too much later in the day the rest of the bloodwork came back. It showed her Pancreas wasn't producing enough enzymes to digest her food. FINALLY...we knew why she was starving to death. It was Friday evening of course so we had to wait to till Monday to get the enzymes we needed. We also had to put her back on an antibiotic to combat SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth)
I went home and starting researching her condition and discovered it was called EPI (Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency) It was almost unheard of 10 years ago, but is becoming more and more common.
Come Monday we felt a huge weight lift off our shoulders when we finally got to pick up her enzymes. We finally had a way to make her better! It did come at a cost though. The enzymes were $203 for the bottle and the pharmacist told us to expect them to last 30 days. Now we faced the fear of wondering if we could afford to keep her healthy. Her food was $39.00 for 6lbs and she was eating almost 9 lbs a week and now the cost of the enzymes! Thankfully in my research I discovered where to get the generic enzymes and those were only $48. a month. That was a huge relief! We ordered those right away too so that when our first batch was gone we had them on hand so we didn't have to worry about shipping.
Adding up all the costs from when we first discovered something was wrong to finally getting her diagnosed and getting her first bottle of enzymes we paid a total of $1,264.00. I am so very thankful that we could afford to pay those costs, cause I couldn't imagine if we had to lose Devan due to money. I hope that if someone reads this, it will help them have the proper bloodwork done sooner to help save them time and money.
I would love to report that Devan made a complete turn around, but that is simply not the case. She is still struggling. We are currently starting another round of antibiotics to see if that will help her gain some weight. She is able to digest most of her food as her diarrhea has stopped. She is currently eating 4lbs of raw food a day and is only 31.5 lbs. I hope to someday have her back up to 40lbs. I have joined forums and support groups online and have registered her with the college that is researching this scary disease. She does have energy and her B12 levels are back to where they should be!
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| Devan |
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Remembering Baby Berry and 1 Year with Char
In just a few days it will have been 1 year since Char and Baby Berry stepped off that trailer at my barn. I cannot believe how fast time goes by. I had no idea what was in store for either one of them or myself at that point. How could I have ever guessed that I would have been taking on such a huge task with Baby Berry and Char for that matter. Sometimes life changes that fast! I had no plans of ever owning a 5th horse. We each had 2 and that was plenty, but we couldn't not help these two horses.
Baby Berry was only in our lives for a short time, but boy did she make an impact! The day we let her go will forever be one of the hardest days of my life. She was a great little filly with a big big heart! She fought hard to make it, but in the end she wasn't meant to be on this earth for a long time .I believe everything happens for a reason even if we don't know why at the time. I truly believe she was brought to us to make sure Char had a happy ending.
I still don't know what exactly we will end up doing with Char. And by that I mean I don't know if we will ever ride her or if she will just be. She came to us as a basically untouched 17yr old broodmare. Now she knows almost all the basics and of course I have ridden her, but this summer I just let her be. We hung out and groomed, but that was it really. Other than feet work we didn't require much of her, and she seemed to enjoy it. She greets us in the pasture and loves attention! I am going to let her tell me what she is comfortable doing. If the day comes that we ride then so be it, but if not she will spend the rest of her time just hanging out with us.
Baby Berry was only in our lives for a short time, but boy did she make an impact! The day we let her go will forever be one of the hardest days of my life. She was a great little filly with a big big heart! She fought hard to make it, but in the end she wasn't meant to be on this earth for a long time .I believe everything happens for a reason even if we don't know why at the time. I truly believe she was brought to us to make sure Char had a happy ending.
I still don't know what exactly we will end up doing with Char. And by that I mean I don't know if we will ever ride her or if she will just be. She came to us as a basically untouched 17yr old broodmare. Now she knows almost all the basics and of course I have ridden her, but this summer I just let her be. We hung out and groomed, but that was it really. Other than feet work we didn't require much of her, and she seemed to enjoy it. She greets us in the pasture and loves attention! I am going to let her tell me what she is comfortable doing. If the day comes that we ride then so be it, but if not she will spend the rest of her time just hanging out with us.
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| I cherish this photo of Baby Berry and I |
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| One of the many days I hung out in their pasture gaining trust. |
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| Char this summer. She will live her life out on this ranch. |
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