Are you looking for an equestrian career that’s much more than just “a job working with horses”? Want to experience incredible rewards while participating in a true revolution in equine training and welfare? Experience a new road to knowledge, and be one of the pioneers in bringing Positive […]
Shawna Karrasch is now officially the Positive Reinforcement Trainer and Animal Behavior expert at Via Nova Training. It’s an amazing synergy of talents, experience and resources, and we’ve been actively preparing opportunities for you to take the Priority to Positive® Path too. More on that […]
We’re on the road to the future with a new name: Via Nova Training. We’ll be taking Positive Reinforcement training into the national and international world of traditional horsemanship under this name, so watch for us as Via Nova Training at competitions, exhibitions, demos, online and wherever equestrians and horsemen […]
Being able to read your horse’s body language and facial expressions are one of the most important aspects of successful positive reinforcement training. Because we are looking for and reinforcing calm and relaxation, it is vital that we know what those emotions look like. Conversely, we need to be able […]
Hi Guys, Shawna here! I am often asked about the feasibility of combining positive reinforcement(R+) and negative reinforcement(R-). It is not a simple answer. Some people have referred to this practice as combined reinforcement, but this is not a scientific term or construct. I think the thing we need to […]
Did you know that Shawna does a podcast on equine clicker training? It’s a great way to hear Shawna discuss popular topics in positive reinforcement training, and even get questions answered! If you go to the website, https://www.horseradionetwork.com/shows/equine-clicker-101/, you can leave a voice message for Shawna that will be […]
Last week we started talking about Karen Pryor’s ‘Ten Laws of Shaping’, and what those look like in terms of real-world examples. The second guideline identified by Karen Pryor in her book, ‘Don’t Shoot the Dog’, is as follows:
“Train one aspect of any particular behavior at a time; don’t try […]
One of the seminal books on positive reinforcement training with animals (and humans, too!) is ‘Don’t Shoot the Dog’, by Karen Pryor. When I was a zookeeper, this was required reading, and really has been the manual of this method of training for exotic animals since it was published. For […]
Many of you have told Shawna how much you enjoy her ‘Ask Shawna’ series on youtube, so she is back at it! This episode is about helping the over-excited/over aroused horse relax around food. Enjoy, and be sure to leave a comment. […]
One of the participants in our last workshop was Sarah Matlock, an instructor of Applied Equine Behavior at Colorado State University. We originally met Sarah at CHATTcon (Convergence of Human and Animal Training Technologies) in Seattle in July and were lucky enough to have her come learn with us earlier […]