I live on 12 acres in an outer suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with my husband David, my son Jordan and my three horses, dog, a cat, and chickens. My daughter Christina lives away from home now and both my children are competent horse people as well.
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.
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.
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.
What I love about training with positive reinforcement, is that it is a humane way of training not only horses, but any animal or human. There is choice and control for the horse if the training is of a high standard, but there is also intrinsic motivation and pleasure within the learning for the horse. With positive reinforcement training, our horses become curious, seeking, problem solvers and they begin to like and value us as well – it enhances our relationship with our horses to a whole other level. We empower them in a way no other training can and that is hugely valuable and reinforcing to them. What I enjoy and take great pleasure from, is the way we can take a holistic approach to our training. Before we train, we address every aspect of our horses’ lives and attempt to make it the best life they can live, from a species-specific point of view. 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 few years. I now feel I have a strong grasp of the real science behind how and why horses behave the way they do.
Pauline Keil