By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT-FLE

Science advances by asking new questions. As a naturally curious person, I have always been drawn to exploring those questions and searching for new perspectives. As our understanding of animal cognition continues to evolve, so too…

By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT-FLE

Animal training has never lacked information; it has theories, methods, techniques, and generations of practical application. What it has lacked is something more fundamental: a way to see how all of these pieces actually fit together…

By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr

I was halfway through lunch when they came to me. There was a kind of tension in the way they stood there, with urgency and a look that screamed desperation. Peter was back in the field with…

By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT-FLE

There is a question that keeps surfacing in the horse world, often quietly, sometimes defensively. Is it actually possible to train a horse without negative reinforcement or punishment?

The short answer is yes. It is possible…

By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT-FLE

Horses are inherently social animals. Herd dynamics govern attention, movement, and emotional regulation, and every interaction communicates information about risk, opportunity, and cooperation. 

Bandura’s work on social learning shows that horses observe and model behaviour from…

By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT-FLE

Horses live in a world where anticipation is essential. As prey animals, their survival depends on predicting what will happen next, physically, socially, and emotionally. Cognitive science supports what experienced equestrians have long observed: horses are…

By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT-FLE

Horses live in a world of constant stimulation. Every movement, tone, and gesture conveys information, and they respond with sensitivity that reflects their social and cognitive awareness. Building trust with a horse is the first step…

By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT-FLE

There comes a moment in this line of work when usual explanations stop working.

You can no longer say, They just need more clarity, and mean repetition.
You can no longer say, They’re refusing to obay,…

By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT-FL

When we think of horse training, most people imagine a person holding reins and applying pressure on the bit, releasing it when the horse does the right thing. For centuries, this model, based on negative reinforcement…