Food is not a bad thing! Despite what the persistent attitude of the equestrian community says, there is absolutely nothing wrong with...

Discussing the common issues of meeting horses who struggle with self regulation, the causes and solutions.

Why is a pressure cue, used in positive reinforcement training not the same as pressure and release?

I don’t think people realize just how many horses out there carry trauma with them. With that, I don’t even mean severely abused horses...

For the video version of this post check out this YouTube video! Correct feeding practices are essential to a effective and enjoyable...

Working with horses in a force free way is an huge exercise in trust and letting go of control. Despite the common myth/saying in the...

Often one of the first questions I get from my students is "do I need to use a clicker?" The answer is "no!, but you do need a marker...

Every once in a while I get people inquiring about me taking in horses to train. And my answer is usually "I don't do it." Instead, I...

The most important aspect of Force-Free Horsemanship is that we intentionally provide our horses with more choices during training. One...

Shaping is one of the most important educational tools in ethical horsemanship, and it's not only essential in force-free and/or reward...

Let's talk a bit about using positive punishment. Positive Punishment is the application of an aversive stimulus after a behaviour to...

“Making the wrong thing hard and the right thing easy” A common saying in the Natural Horsemanship circles and one that in my own opinion...

Hitting horses as a response to lipping, nibbling, nipping, biting etc. is quite a hotly debated topic. Unfortunately, it’s still a very...

I practice Force-Free Horsemanship. Today I want to talk a bit about what Force-Free means to me. Force-free, to me, means without...

The 5 freedoms are the basics of any animal welfare, and the 3 F’s are the top three basic welfare needs of a horse. These go hand in...

I don’t “correct” bad/unwanted behaviours One thing that always makes people confused when they first encounter force-free or positive...

Last post I talked about operant conditioning, so today brings us to the topic of classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is also...

On my social media posts, you will see a lot of talk about "positive reinforcement", "negative reinforcement", "punishment", "Aversives",...

Welcome back to the Leslie Horsemanship Blog Today, Let's talk about food anxiety. Food anxiety during training is an incredibly common...

Positive Reinforcement is often very misunderstood. Especially the horse world is plagued with old school beliefs and misconceptions...