The biomass density of the SpotsNStripes Farm was a little overwhelming to me. It's like Dr. Doolittle turned loose in a panel fencing factory. Open-air pens of goats, dogs, cats, pheasants, tortoises, ponies, horses, donkeys, mules, and multiple species of zebras in a very zoo-like habitat. No open range here. But neither is it a place to casually oogle animals. This is one of the most intensive equine training facilities you will ever find.
Nancy pours her heart into teaching her clinics. She is a non-stop, high energy clinician who never stops reiterating her fundamental message. She is totally accessible to her students and she teaches with a patience and concern towards all. She teaches people pretty much like she teaches animals; and she is
very good at it.
Nancy has four fundamental concepts:
1. Habituate or desensitize by moving from an accepted touch or activity to a less accepted touch or activity ("from an A spot, to a B spot")
2. Use the "whoops principle" as in "Whoops, I accidentally touched your B spot".
3. Do it with rhythm.
4. Show the animal you will do it yourself before you ask them to do it (Copycat)
She avoids negative reinforcement and punishment, because she says it just doesn't work on zebras. She finds food reinforcement too risky and ineffective to use as her reward, so she has this "zoo" arranged to limit "herd interactions" in order to use social interaction with herself as the main reward. She seeks to become each of her trainees "Best Friend", that is, more specifically, Dominant Best Friend. We watched the two kinship groups of zebras work out the problem of having a small flake of hay tossed in their pens. The kinship group (herd) always has a strict hierarchy and the female animals each have a best friend who she shares her food with. The stallion had his favorite striped mare. With friendship, privilege is conferred. It is this type of bond that Nancy is focused on.
Male zebras will collaborate to protect their herds and will tolerate their sons remaining in the herd. The father of a young zebra mare will fight the stallion that wants to court her, but only long enough to test him and make sure he is strong enough to defend his daughter adequately. Zebras respond with either total panic or total aggression if they have not been trained to do otherwise. Zebras will kill themselves trying to get away or kill their owners when leaving isn't a better option. She showed us how a bottle-fed baby turns into a disrespectful dangerous animal as it matures (usually about 5 years). She convinced me that I am not the kind of person that should own a zebra. She showed the National Geographic video on zebras to give us an idea of what kind of animal the zebra really is. It's a harsh reality that horse-lovers might not like.
I really enjoyed getting to work with Nancy for three days. She has interns helping her train and I think someone wanting to get a broad background in equine behavior should definitely try to spend some time with her at the ranch. Her techniques are very applicable to all equine training, and with relationship as the primary focus, it comes totally natural to women. She accepts qualified interns and she offers clinics twice a year at the
SpotsNStripes Ranch. Do not show up uninvited though, it's not a zoo.
More photos of my experience can be seen
hereWhen it was over, I was glad to get home to my own paddocks where my resplendent but tiny herd lives a relatively vast area. I don't think they missed me as much as I missed them. I tried her recommended head-rubbing protocol (me rubbing my head on them)for rebonding after my absence, but they just looked at me like I was out of my mind (or maybe they were just miffed that I had been gone?).
Labels: clinicians, desensitization, equine personality, review, trust, zebras
