This site is all about my unique blend of classical dressage, traditional horsemanship and — yes — clicker training. If you have any question about how all that could possibly fit together, just browse around the site!  If the answers to your questions about clicker training horses are not here, well, just email or call me. I’m always happy to answer any questions.

For more help on clicker training horses, dressage and “true” horsemanship check out the Links page for my favorite websites from around the world. If you think your site should be there, just email me with the link.

Also, if you want to read what I’m reading my Book Store has a selection of the books (and DVDs) on clicker training horses, dressage training, and horsemanship that are either in my personal library right now, or are on my own wishlist.  AND if you buy a book via the Book Store a portion of your purchase price goes to support this site. Thanks in advance!

–Sharon

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Sharon’s Blog

In Memory of Roxi – May 10, 1998 to August 10, 2010

By sharon on August 12, 2010

This week we lost our beloved Shepherd, Roxi, at age 12.  I wrote this for her.

There is a hole in the Universe where you used to be.

I go through my day tripping over the impressions you left in my routine.

Like a photograph negative I see the outline of you.

But it is not you.

At the door.

Under the coffee table.

At my feet under my desk.

I get out of bed – late because you didn’t make me get up.

I wander aimlessly in the morning thinking [more...]

Posted in Featured | 6 Responses

Grass – The Carpet of Motivation

By sharon on July 17, 2010

I wrote this article several years ago.  It had gotten lost in the shuffle of updating my website.  Unfortunately the video that had gone along with it is among the missing.  But, here is the article anyway.   –Sharon

Here in New England one of the things I really miss in the winter is the ability to ride outside on grass.  Or, as we like to call it, the ‘Carpet of Motivation’.  The reason it has earned that name is because of all the food rewards we’ve offered—and we’ve used just about every possible treat under the [more...]

Posted in Clicker training, Solving Problems | 4 Responses

Finding what motivates a change

By sharon on July 11, 2010

Sweet Libby

This week I worked with Libby, a 30 year old Quarter Horse mare, for the first time. Libby and her owner, Kirsten, were referred to me by Libby’s massage therapist, Heather Davis. Libby suffers from some lameness due to injury and hard use (before Kirsten). Not surprisingly as a result she holds her body very tightly. The massage therapy has helped Libby but Heather believed that if Libby could become more mentally relaxed that it would help her body to relax as well. This is where I come in.

Kirsten had started a little [more...]

Posted in Clicker training, Health & Wellbeing, Horsemanship, Solving Problems | 1 Response

Guest Writer’s Corner

Prelude to a Scratch (Solving a Problem with Hoof Handling)

By kirsten on July 24, 2010

Libby

I bought Libby for my non-rider husband and she came to me as a 25 year old with some age-related issues:  arthritis, sore hocks, and lameness in her left spavin.  Yet she impressed me by making a ten hour trailer ride from northern Ohio and trusting me enough to follow a stranger (me) off that trailer (in the dark) and into her new stall.  In the glaring light of day I could see she needed the attention of a good farrier before I could even consider riding her, so all I asked of her in the beginning was to stand still [more...]

Posted in Clicker training, Guest Writers, Health & Wellbeing, Kirsten Collins, Solving Problems | Tagged | 1 Response

Thoughts on Softness and Breathing on the Trail

By laurie on June 30, 2010

Editor’s Note: Laurie Grann is a dear friend and a most excellent horse woman.  She recently participated in a week long clinic with Mark Rashid.  She wrote up her thoughts about how she is working his ideas into her every day riding.  The result is what follows.  Perhaps if we are all very nice to her she will contribute again!

Laurie and Dulcie

Today, my sister and I went on a 14 mile ride–2 loops of about 7 miles each.  The first loop was mostly flat and good footing and took us 1 hour and 20 minutes.  The second loop was climbing [more...]

Posted in Digging Deeper, Guest Writers, Horsemanship, Laurie Grann | Leave a response

Getting a Horse to Work WITH her Massage Therapist

By heather on December 31, 2009

The author, Heather Davis, with Cheyenne

By Heather Davis

I am a certified equine “massage” therapist, applying principles of touch to encourage horses to release old neuromuscular strain patterns and relearn how to exist without previously held pain and resistance. Much of my work is informed by the work of Ida Rolf (known as “Rolfing” or Structural Integration), osteopathy, shiatsu, and myofascial release. Many horses, when asked to “let go” of old tension and memory stored within the body’s vastly intelligent network of innervated structural soft tissue, will take some time to relax into the willingness to release. [more...]

Posted in Clicker training, Digging Deeper, Health & Wellbeing, Heather Davis, Sensitive Chestnut Mare with Baggage, Solving Problems | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Responses