Hi I'm Pauline Keil
I live on 12 acres in an outer suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with my husband David, my son and my two horses, four donkeys and our cat. My daughter lives away from home now and both my children are competent horse people as well.
How my passion for horses grew
I was drawn to horses from around 10 years old and was lucky enough to have a couple of riding schools within walking distance. The passion was ignited, and I lived, breathed and dreamt about horses. In my twenties, late night dressage lessons and weekend trail riding was my life. Soon there was another horse added to the family and my husband and I had many happy hours trail riding together.
After having a break from horses whilst my children were young, I accidentally met up with my old dressage instructor and we picked up where we left off, except this time I rode clients’ and school horses. I had lessons and would train and school other people’s horses as well. I learnt so much and yet I yearned for my own horse.
A light bulb moment
Finally, when we found our dream property, I bought my horse and a companion, because you can never have just one. But things changed with having my own horse. Things were different, I was different and my horses were very precious to me. So when I brought my special horse for her first lesson with my instructor, something happened that changed everything for me.
I had trouble mounting as she was nervous in strange surroundings, with lots of horses and dogs running around and my instructor told me to hit her with the whip and jump on quick. I did it, but I hated it and it felt so wrong, so I decided I was not going to do that to her again.
My search for a better way
That was the beginning of my search. It led me to a number of Natural Horsemanship trainers and although I learnt a lot, there was nothing good for my horse about it and definitely not what I wanted. It was just another way to make my horse do what I wanted, she was not happy and I wanted her to be happy.
Then I discovered all about the benefits of my horse being barefoot, I learnt to do maintenance trims and learnt how to ride bitless. I learnt about horses being herd animals, I started reading about equine behaviour ..… and things started to make sense. Then at last, the final piece of the puzzle, finding out about Positive Reinforcement (R+) training and from that, the wider subject of Learning Theory.
Experience, Training and Further Education
After more than 30 years of experience owning and training horses, recent years have been a steep learning curve. When I discovered the benefits of horses being barefoot, I set out on an educational journey. I studied hooves, pathology, anatomy, the links between hooves and overall health, culminating in attending a workshop presented by Andrew Bowe (The Barefoot Blacksmith) who has pioneered rehabilitation of the most chronic cases of laminitis and navicular disease, all through barefoot protocols. He’s passionate about the connection between barefoot and diet, environment, movement, track systems, low sugar/starch diets, exercise and a balanced trim.
I’ve also learnt about equine nutrition and attended a workshop held by Carol Layton, a highly regarded equine nutritionist in Australia and around the world. She follows the latest science on nutrition and is passionate about sharing her information with the horse owning public.
I’m also passionate about equine enrichment and utilising concepts such as the Paddock Paradise approach developed by Jaime Jackson.
Track systems and Paddock Paradise type set ups are invaluable for encouraging movement, herd living, preventing laminitis and adding an enriching aspect to our horse’s lives.
During April 2017, I was privileged to attend a three day seminar with the world renowned animal trainer, Dr Robert (Bob) Bailey in Melbourne, Australia. He is well known and highly respected for his work on behaviour conditioning (training) and implementation of Operant Conditioning in many species. This includes his involvement in marine mammal training with the US Navy and his historic partnership with Marian and Keller Breland in the commercial training of over 140 species of animals with Animal Behaviour Enterprises. His seminar covered the principles and procedures of Operant Conditioning, biology, teaching, effectiveness, history and practical trainer and animal demonstrations.
I also attended Ken Ramirez’s seminar in Leeds, UK in June, 2017. Ken is another world renowned multi species trainer and behaviour consultant, who is currently the Chief Training Officer for Karen Pryor Clicker Training (KPCT). His 2 day seminar focused on Concept Training, Non-Food Reinforcers, Scent Detection, Teaching an Animal to Say No and Handling Animal Mistakes Positively.
Whilst in the UK, I attended a 2 day seminar presented by an equine Positive Reinforcement Trainer, in June, 2017 in the UK, where I learnt about Animal Learning Theory and Techniques. The course covered Communication, Motivation, Operant Techniques, as well as behaviour modification techniques, such as Systematic Desensitisation and Counter Conditioning.
My learning has culminated in the trip of a lifetime to the US in 2018, where I attended an intensive 5 day course; Training for Professionals: Across Species, at the Karen Pryor National Training Centre, in Washington, USA on 13-18 August, 2018, conducted by Ken Ramirez. In a small and personalised group, we spent time in the classroom learning theory, talking science and guided by Ken, we followed his steps in his program of training all species. This included Ken’s 4 Cornerstones of Animal Care; Healthcare, Nutrition, Environment and Behaviour Management (training). We learnt about everything we need to consider to not only change the behaviour of any species, but how to improve and enrich their lives and how to improve our relationship. This was a comprehensive course, designed to prepare positive reinforcement trainers to approach behaviour management in the most effective and most humane way. Classroom time was interspersed with practical hands-on training with goats, mini donkeys and alpacas, as well as Ken’s training demonstrations with various animals. Link as follows: https://theranch.clickertraining.com/courses-seminars/training-for-professionals/
During my US trip in 2018, I was also privileged to spend 5 days in a private clinic with world renowned equine clicker trainer Peggy Hogan at Santa Barbara, USA from the 21-25 August, 2018.
Peggy travels the world conducting clicker training clinics and is a regular speaker at Clicker Expos
I spent many hours training various equines each day and discussing theory and practical applications of positive reinforcement training.
I also attended the Australasian Animal Training Conference on 11 – 16 November 2018. Hosted by the Australasian Society of Zoo Keeping and Animal Training Community (ATC), which was held at the 3 properties owned by Zoos Victoria; Melbourne Zoo, Healesville Sanctuary and Werribee Open Range Zoo. There were international Key Note Speakers, workshops, training papers presented and behind the scenes training demonstrations and discussions, all focused on science based, force-free approaches to training all species.
I enjoyed the extra day workshop prior to the conference, which was held at Healesville Sanctuary, where we discussed training plans and the unique issues trainers faced with many of our native species and enjoyed watching some of the husbandry training of emus, cassowaries and other native species. We learnt about the conservation efforts with 2 endangered species and how training was ensuring their survival after release and we also enjoyed some exclusive training time and Q&A with the trainers of the free flight show and went on to see the behaviours that were trained, being demonstrated in the show with the public.
I also attended the extra full day workshop at the end of the conference with Wouter Stellaard, the training director at Colombus Zoo and Aquarium. Wouter covered the importance of the bridge, reinforcement strategies and we enjoyed some hands-on training sessions with the lemurs.
I have also participated in many online courses, including Shaping, Advanced Shaping and Start Buttons with Peggy Hogan at Clicker Training Horses.
In September 2019 I successfully completed Professor Susan Friedman’s course on Applied Behaviour Analysis, called Living and Learning with Animals: The Fundamental Principles and Procedures of Teaching and Learning. “LLA Professional is designed to provide the foundation for a comprehensive and coherent understanding of behavior analysis as it relates to facilitating the lives of captive and companion animals. The principles and procedures discussed throughout the class apply to all species.” Link as follows: http://www.behaviorworks.org/htm/lla_professional_overview.html
During November 2019, I also had the privilege of hosting the Level 1 course for Animal Assisted Play Therapy (R) in Australia. Participants enjoyed learning about playful therapeutic interactions with various animals, including my own R+ trained horses.
I had the great pleasure to co-host a R+ Multi Species Animal Training workshop that was held in Tasmania over 2 days.
We covered the species’ ethogram, including typical behaviour, living environment, calming and appeasement signals and appropriate food types and delivery. A group of trainers enjoyed theory and lots of practical hands-on training of sheep, cows and horses.
I’ve also completed the Karen Pryor Academy Foundation Dog Trainers course, participated in various online courses such as Hind End Movement with Peggy Hogan, lectures from ClickerExpo Live and Exploring Rewards, hosted by Angelica Hesselius and Eva Bertilsson.
I have spent many hours reading, studying, asking questions, attending seminars and conferences, training my horses, learning from other trainers and coaches and have learnt so much in the last 10 years. I now feel I have a strong grasp of the real science behind how and why horses behave the way they do.
I’m also looking forward to future learning. I am a lifelong learner!
Pauline Keil
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