Food For Training - Introductory Course
$199.00 USD
Course Contents
- 30 Modules of theory & practical
- 5 downloadable resources
- Work at your own pace
- Knowledge building quizzes
- Exclusive Facebook group
- Bonus Video Tutorial
- Certificate upon completion
30 Day Money Back Guarantee
Any questions before you sign up?
No worries. Send us a quick message and we’ll be happy to answer any question you have.
Why Take a Course About Food?
Food can create a beautiful relationship with your equine, if used with knowledge and skill. But many people really struggle with using it safely, effectively and in a way that’s enjoyable for both parties.
Horses, donkeys and mules are designed to spend most of their waking moments searching, foraging and enjoyably eating food. Unfortunately domestication has meant that they don’t always have access to food which can create a complex relationship with food. This can also create a whole host of problems for the equine and their caretaker.
Since becoming a Positive Reinforcement (clicker) trainer who trains exclusively with food, I’ve noticed over the years that there are a lot of taboos, misconceptions and misinformation surrounding food generally and in relation to training and hand feeding.
There’s also a daunting learning curve when people decide they’d like to incorporate food in their training program and I have seen a lot of people struggle and give up due to lack of good information and support.
Hand feeding and generally using food in training is claimed to cause biting, nipping, pushiness, rudeness, disrespect and dangerous behaviour. As a result, people are often talked out of using food or worse, ridiculed for using it.
Who’s the Course For?
- Equestrians wanting a better relationship with their equine,
- People who want to enjoy their time with their equine,
- Anyone who wants their equine to have fun too,
- Equestrians who want to further their knowledge,
- Anyone interested in doing different activities with their equine,
- People who want to have a safe equine and feel safe themselves around food,
- Equestrians who are sick of battles and want a more cooperative relationship,
- Anyone starting out or wanting to learn more about Positive Reinforcement (clicker) training or wanting to do liberty or tricks using food.
Problems often encountered:
- Nippy and pushy equines,
- People becoming confused, overwhelmed and getting mixed messages,
- Unreliable sources of information,
- People feeling unsafe,
- Feeling alone or ostracised for using food,
- Equines who are overly food focused and over aroused.
This unique course will help people who are interested in learning about food, who want to be safe, who want to use food effectively and also have a better understanding of the deep relationship equines have with food. It can also help avoid the problems people often encounter when they first introduce food into their training.
I assure you: food is not bad, it’s not evil and hand feeding is not going to spoil or ruin your horse. Food is something we all enjoy, it’s something that’s essential to survival and it’s also something that we can use to influence or change behaviour. It’s something that can open the lines of communication between yourself and your equine and build a trusting relationship.
With the right information, you can have a safe and polite horse. Best of all, you can create a wonderful relationship with your equine, based on pleasurable time spent together.
The Course Covers:
- the function of positive reinforcement and where it fits in learning theory,
- ethical considerations,
- emotional aspects for your equine,
- ethological considerations,
- ways to prevent problem behaviour,
- why horses behave the way they do around food,
- the types of food that are best to set both you and your equine up for success,
- the practicalities of different ways we can use and deliver food,
- the different feedback we can get and give when we use food in certain ways.
Special Bonus
I’ve also included a fun activity: a small experiment with food followed by further enrichment activities based on the outcome of the experiment.
Participants will be welcome to share and discuss their process and results in an exclusive Facebook group.
Course participants who share video of their experiment in the group will also receive a free tutorial on a training technique I’ve developed. This technique illustrates how we can dive deeper into using food in a safe way, develop deeper communication and a better relationship with our equine. This technique is helpful even for people who are not necessarily committed to training with Positive Reinforcement, but is mainly focused on a fun and easy way to introduce the concept of using food and starting to build that wonderful relationship.
Course Modules
What is Positive Reinforcement?
Food as a Consequence of Behaviour
Operant and Classical (Pavlovian) Conditioning
The Foundation Lesson
Never Train a Hungry Equine
Alternative Food
Contrafreeloading
Food Anxiety and Resource Guarding
Types of Food for Training
Food Delivery Techniques
Hand Feeding
Distance Feeding
Texture and Moisture Content
Pre-Loading Food
Muzzle Bump
Be Generous at the Start
Food as a Diagnostic Tool
Later in Your Positive Reinforcement Training
Do I Always Need Lots of Food?
A Fun Activity – Preference Testing
How to Present Test Food
Collecting Data
Analysing the Data
Enrichment Activity
The Next Steps
Final Quiz
