BVS Carriage & Driving Society newsletter March 2017

March's Ride and Drive was held out of Cal City. Conditions were perfect, not too hot, not too cold, and no wind. The trails were in very good condition with no deep sand for minis to flounder in! Everyone enjoyed themselves immensely. The outing was topped off by a delicious lunch at Gloria's Mexican Restaurant. As we all know, the Carriage Club has excellent cooks, so their praise of the food at Gloria's is praise indeed!

The Club's March meeting featured Rosemary from Thunderpaws Dog Training. Rosemary discussed dog training and, as we all know, the underlying basic principles of training apply to all kinds of animals. This means that, techniques which work for dogs, can work for equines. Rosemary's basic tenets are that the level of success attained depends upon 1) the strength of the relationship between the animal and its human, 2) the degree of engagement by the animal (which depends upon the person's efforts), and 3) positive reinforcement techniques.

Rosemary covered a little of the history of training techniques and how they have altered over time. As science has done more research and we have gained a deeper understanding of how animals view the world, better training techniques have evolved and been developed. In other words, as we uncover what makes animals tick, successful training becomes easier!

Old fashioned methods of training that rely on correction or punishment are nowadays considered inhumane as well as outmoded. It is well documented that these archaic methods cannot attain the high levels of accomplishment that newer training methods achieve. Rosemary showed videos which demonstrated just how spectacularly successful positive reinforcement techniques can be when used for training. And you can bet the animals prefer positive reinforcement too! Training should be fun, not a chore, and the more all participants enjoy the process, the better the outcome.

Rosemary's presentation was riveting and the audience members certainly were engaged! A plethora of questions followed, some of which involved issues Club members have had with their own animals. Due to Rosemary's broad experience and expertise, she had suggestions and hints to offer for all kinds of issues which would help improve matters. The audience found the information enlightening and inspirational. Comments and discussions afterwards confirmed that folks had learned a lot, and how much everyone had enjoyed Rosemary's appearance. We all left with new ideas and were fired up to start using our newly acquired techniques with our equines.

A heartfelt "thank you" goes out to Rosemary from the Carriage Club!