What is your experience level?

---

Do you have about 75 hours in the saddle?

Have you trained any

animals using only R+, positive reinforcement?

Do you have some knowledge of 

Behavior Science?

Are you learning to recognize the quadrants of communication and/or

how to assess core emotional states?

Have you heard about intrinsic motivation

relevant to horses?

MORE SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS:

If you are an experienced rider/trainer, please answer these questions to determine your general collective experiences and awareness level.

No judgement, for self assessment only. There really are no wrong answers.

Have you trained animals using R+, positive reinforcement training? What animals and what behaviors?

Some, but not all, of the following things are prerequisites to getting on the horse. 

Yes or No - with which of these do you have experience? Was it traditional or R+?
Handling
Grooming
Longing (lunging)
Loading
Feet, foot care
Work on long lines
Work in hand
Liberty work
Agility work
Understanding the equine learning process 

Meditation and relaxation to help the horses

 Clicker training and classical conditioning   
Proprioception work
IntrinZen work, for integrating the horse's intrinsic reward system into training or therapy
Functional movement work - human or animal
Tricks (virtually any behavior we teach the horse could be considered a trick)
Feeding and care
Ethology
Enrichment
Riding is just one tiny facet of our relationship with a horse. What else can you think of?

Going deeper;

Have you ground driven a horse with long lines? At all three gaits?
Have you worked a horse in hand? For what movements?

Do you know how to tell the subtle signs that the horse is uncomfortable emotionally or physically?
Have you had your own horse? At your own place?
Have you ridden a horse in a horse show? What sort?
Have you trained a horse? How old was it, for how long and to what level?
How much work at the canter/lope (hours or # of times)? At what speeds?
What is the traditional cue for canter?

Have you ridden a horse at the same speed & up/down through all 3 gaits - walk, trot, lope/canter?

Have you ridden a "gaited horse"?
Have you done a horsemanship pattern or dressage test?
Have you ridden bareback? At the canter bareback? How much, how often?
Have you jumped a horse over jumps, creeks or logs? Jumped bareback?
About how many hours have you spent riding or training in your lifetime?

Have you trained for or ridden in an (equine) endurance race?

On a more scary note;
Have you ridden a bucking horse or stopped a runaway horse - without falling off? Please describe what happened.

Have you seen someone else on an out of control horse? Did they fall off?

Have you had or seen a horse go crazy/wild/bucking, while it's going around on the lunge line?

Have you handled and/or lunged a very excited horse?

Goals
What are your plans (the picture in your head) with horses for the relatively near future and your longer range plans for the next few years?

Want to visit or ask questions?

713six940694

or email

v26ellis at gmail dot com