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Connecting The Dots Between Children’s Books and Horse Training

I just published this week’s Equiosity podcast.

This is Part 3 of a three part conversation.

In Part 1 we talked about resets – what they are and how they can be used to help horses rebalance so they are more in sync with their handlers.

In Part 2 this led to a discussion of shaping on a point of contact, the WWYLM lesson and visualizing your horse as a marching band.

In part 3 explore some useful metaphors that help in understanding lateral work. We begin with Merry-Go-Rounds and then move on to railroad tracks.

At the very end of the podcast I talk about the connection between the horse training and my children’s books. Everything is connected to everything else. I hope you listen all the way to the end to understand the connections. Clicker training really is Modern Horse Training. It represents a shift in attitude towards horses.

When I’m thinking about Modern Horse training I’m thinking about the contrast between today and that time when horses were beasts of burden.

Our relationship with horses is different today. The reason why we have horses has changed. Our horses are our companions and our friends. They aren’t pit ponies down in the coal mines forced to haul coal out of the mines. They aren’t the London cab horses that were written about in Black Beauty. Thankfully, those days are behind us. We have the luxury to really examine our training and to update it to make sure that it really does work in the best interest of our horses.

When I’m sharing clicker training, I want to touch more than the lead rope you hold in your hands. I want to touch your heart because that’s how we truly, deeply connect to one another and change forever how people train horses.

The children’s books for me are part of that. So thank you for indulging me as I continue to talk about the Kenyon Bear Books. I encourage you to order them to see what they are about. (https://www.theclickercenter.com/bear-hollow-press)
Everything is connected to everything else.

Train well and have fun with clicker training.

To listen to the podcast go to equiosity.com or subscribe to it via your podcast provider.

https://soundcloud.com/user-398403643/episode-271-resets-pt-3-merry-go-rounds-and-railway-tracks

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Equiosity Podcast Episode #270

Now that Edgrr is published I can shift my focus back to horses. That means this week’s Equiosity podcast is now available.

Enjoy!

Equiosity Episode 270: Resets and Lateral Work Part 2: The Why Would You Leave Me? Lesson

This is Part 2 of a three part conversation that was sparked by the on-line coaching sessions that I host once a month for people in my on-line clinics. We were talking about balance, which is no surprise. We’re always talking about balance. Embedded in that conversation was a discussion of resets. In part 1 we defined resets, discussed their importance, described how they are taught and used.

In this episode we begin with the “Why Would You Leave Me?” Lesson. I describe what this lesson is, how it is taught and the relation to resets. We discuss how to help horses that tend to overflex and horses that are very crooked. I use the metaphor of a marching band to help visualize the process of teaching horses how to become better balanced.

Listen to the podcast at: Equiosity.com or subscribe to it via your podcast provider.

https://soundcloud.com/user-398403643/episode-270-resets-and-lateral-work-pt-2-the-why-would-you-leave-me-lesson

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Enjoy The Kenyon Bear Books

The Kenyon Bear Books: “Teddies to the Rescue” and “Edgrr the Bear Who Wanted to be Real”

Order them through my web site: theclickercenter.com or get them from Amazon.

In “Teddies to the Rescue” I introduce you to Kenyon. Kenyon lives in the window of the Shuttle Hill Herb Shop.

The shop was a real place. For twenty years the children in the village could visit the bears playing in the window. They never knew what the bears would be doing. They might be heading out for a wintertime adventure . . . ,

or helping to keep the shop neat and tidy.

The books turn their adventures into stories everyone can enjoy.

You can order both books from my web site: theclickercenter.com or through Amazon.

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It’s Publication Day!

It’s Publication Day!! Help me celebrate by ordering your copy of “Edgrr The Bear Who Wanted to Be Real” today!!

I know I’m supposed to be offering you all sorts of limited time offers to get you to buy the book, but that’s never been my style.

Instead I’ll share a review of the book that a reader sent me when Edgrr was first published in 1987:

“Emma (Age 6) and I snuggled down with Edgrr The Bear Who Wanted to Be Real, and read it straight through. When we finished, we felt wonderful and thought it was a very special and important thing that Edgrr learned. Thank you for sharing.”

The Kenyon Bear Books are stories to grow up with. They are stories that will be read over and over again, as all the best stories from our childhood were. It’s a gentle magic. There are no super heroes saving the world, just teddy bear size adventures to be shared at bedtime.

Order your copy through my web site theclickercenter.com or get it through Amazon. If you live outside the US, that’s your best option because you will save on the international shipping.

Edgrr is available both in paperback and hardcover. They are different sizes. The paperback is the perfect size for reading aloud and sharing the many illustrations. The hardcover is for your young independent reader. As they fall asleep, they can tuck the book under their pillow to inspire their own nighttime adventures.

Help me turn Edgrr into an Amazon bestseller. Order your copy today!!

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Tomorrow is Publication Day!

Edgrr The Bear Who Wanted To Be Real

Tomorrow is Publication Day!

From the Book:
And now was a time to warm cold paws, dry wet fur, and munch marshmallows.  Edgrr decided that marshmallows were something real bears ate a lot of.  But he couldn’t decide how he liked his done best. 

He tried roasting them slowly so that they were an even crusty brown all around the outside.  That was delicious.  Then he tried putting them in the hot part of the fire until they burst into flame.  They turned black, but inside they were soft and gooey.  He liked that, too.  It was a hard choice.

“Let’s have a ghost story,” piped up one of the little bears.
 
“Yes, Kenyon,” said another, “tell us a story.”

Kenyon paused in the act of skewering a marshmallow onto his stick. 

“I don’t know any stories,” he teased.

“Of course, you do.  Tell us a story.  Go on, you’re the oldest.”

“Oh, all right.”  He thought for a moment.  He stared across the fire at Edgrr.  He knew the perfect story.  “All right.  Here goes.”

Tomorrow is Publication Day!!! You can order your own copy of “Edgrr the Bear Who Wanted to be Real” and share Kenyon’s ghost story with your young readers.

Go to my web site: theclickercenter.com or order it through Amazon.

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Celebrating The New Books!

Celebrating The New Books!

It’s winter. The horses like this time of the year. No flies. No summer heat, just long naps with the winter sun warming their backs.

Winter is a time for dreaming, a time for stories. It is the perfect time for “Edgrr the Bear Who Wanted to be Real”

The new book will be published Feb 1 2024

That’s the new children’s book. Today is January 28 and I am celebrating my other new book, “Modern Horse Training” at this year’s Clicker Expo Live. I started my day with a Book Nook conversation with Ken Ramirez. What a pleasure and what an honor to talk about the book with Ken.

A screenshot taken during the Book Nook conversation with Ken Ramirez at the Clicker Expo Live.

You can learn more about all my book at my web site: theclickercenter.com

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Edgrr: A Sneak preview continued:

All day long Edgrr lay in a heap just as the little girl had left him.  Kenyon shook his head.  He just did not understand him.

“Don’t you want to be adopted?” he asked.  “Don’t you want to be loved?”

“No,” Edgrr growled.  “Real bears do not need love.  Real bears live in the woods and eat berries.  Real bears do not need anybody.”

Kenyon sighed, but it made him sad to think of all the wonderful things Edgrr was missing.

“We must help him,” Kenyon said to the other bears.  The shop was closed for the night, and all the people had gone home to their nice warm houses. 

“We must show him what it is like to be loved.”

“But how?” asked all the other bears.

“I do not know,” Kenyon sighed, “but we must think of something.  We must.”

So, all the bears sat and thought.  Kenyon wrinkled up his forehead as hard as he could.  No one said anything.  The shop got very very quiet.  Outside the wind howled and blew gusts of snow up against the window.  It was a cold February night and Kenyon was glad to be inside.

“That’s it!” he exclaimed.

“What’s it?  What is it?”

But Kenyon put his paw to his lips and winked meaningfully in Edgrr’s direction.  “Shh . . . .  I’ll tell you later.”

You will have to wait just a little bit longer to hear Kenyon’s plan. My new book, “Edgrr the Bear Who Wanted to be Real” will be published on February 1 2024. You can order it now from my web site: theclickercenter.com, or after February 1 through Amazon

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Edgrr – A Sneak Preview Continued

Edgrr: A Sneak preview continued:

The key turned in the lock, and the shop owner walked in.

“Get over here at once,” Kenyon hissed.  “Someone will see you.”

“Then I shall growl and scare them away,” declared Edgrr.  “I am a real bear.  I won’t sit in the window anymore.  I won’t! I won’t! I won’t!  And you can’t make me!”  he shouted. He ducked under the table cover and hid between two large cartons.

Kenyon groaned, but he couldn’t move from the window.  A young mother came in with her two little girls.  They came up to the front of the shop to pick out a bear.  Kenyon watched in horror as Edgrr crept out from under the table and stalked up behind the little girls.  He was growling under his breath and looking his fiercest.

The eldest girl turned around and saw him, but she wasn’t a bit afraid.  She picked him up and gave him a big hug.  Edgrr went limp and put on his scowliest face.

“What about this one, Mommy?” asked the little girl, holding him up so he could be seen.

“No, I don’t think so, dear.  He doesn’t look very happy.  Put him back in the window.  What about this one?  I like this bear.”

She picked up a cinnamon-colored bear who smiled and grinned, and could barely keep from laughing out loud at the thought of being adopted.  The little girls liked him a lot so the shop owner tucked him away in a pretty gift bag, and off he went to his new home.

Edgrr will be published on February 1, 2024.

You can order both books through my web site: theclickercenter.com

Or you can get them through Amazon. You can order Edgrr on Amazon after Feb 1 2024.

I’ll share more tomorrow.