Secrets to a Cooperative, Eager Horse

Behavioral Strategies for the Modern Equestrian

Karen Rohlf

Hosted by: KAREN ROHLF

JENIFER ZELIGS, PH.D.

SHARON MADERE

DAVID LICHMAN

ANTONIA HENDERSON, PH.D.

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Special Offers…

Our experts have more to offer!  Check it out:

Karen Rohlf

KAREN ROHLF

FREE TRIAL in the Dressage Naturally Video Classroom! Hundreds of training videos with exercises, inspiration, demonstration and solutions to help you create stronger partnerships and healthy biomechanics.

ANTONIA HENDERSON

JENIFER ZELIGS, PH.D.

20% off Courses & Books! Use code: rohlf22. Unlock the secret science of behavior and discover how to train animals through compassionate wisdom in Jenifer’s Animal Training 101 and Mindful Partners programs.

SHARON MADERE

SHARON MADERE

Volunteer & Learn. Sharon offers a variety of opportunities at her Silver Moon Iberian Farm and Equilightenment program. From customized intensive learning to volunteer work, there’s something for everyone.

DAVID LICHMAN

DAVID LICHMAN

10% off Liberty Mastery Series! Use code: EAGER. David’s Liberty Outside The Round Pen gives you detailed information on how to get your liberty connection so strong it resists distraction even out in the open!

ANTONIA HENDERSON

ANTONIA HENDERSON, PH.D.

Bookmark Antonia’s website. She is currently working on a book looking at the psychological welfare of show horses. Her website is new but stay tuned for her blog, seminars, and a podcast!

Meet the Experts

Your host, Karen Rohlf

Internationally Recognized Clinician, Author and Creator of Dressage Naturally

Karen RohlfKaren Rohlf, author and creator of Dressage Naturally, is an internationally recognized clinician who is changing the equestrian educational paradigm. Since 2003 she has been a leader in bringing together the best of the worlds of dressage and partnership-based training.

Karen believes in getting to the heart of our mental, emotional, and physical partnership with our horses. Her methods focus on the progression of training in a way that puts the wholistic well-being of the horse first. She is well known for her transformative and student-empowering approach to teaching as well as her ability to create supportive, non-judgmental, open-minded learning environments.

Karen has proven her ability to find common ground and reconcile seemingly conflicting methods. The horse world is plagued by strongly held traditions, and dogmatic beliefs, yet Karen courageously pioneered a way to combine dressage and natural horsemanship in her Dressage Naturally program. She is passionate about finding more compassionate, open-minded frameworks that all riders can benefit from.

Learn More About Karen:

David Lichman

DAVID LICHMAN

David teaches all over the world, helping students find a better relationship with their horses on the ground and riding.
His training philosophy can be summed up inthis simple quote:

“I don’t see them as horses, I see them as friends. They have names, desires and needs – as do I. Friends help fulfill each other’s needs and desires. “

David Lichman is a 5-Star Master Parelli Professional with a specialty in Liberty Horses. He has performed across the continent with his three-horse act, which includes bridle-less riding and riding to music. He is the creator of Liberty Outside the Round Pen, a Parelli Mastery Series release, available for streaming and on DVD, in which David gives step-by-step instructions on building a connection that resists distractions, enabling students to play at Liberty with exuberance in large open areas.

David is a strong supporter of Equine Assisted Therapy for all humans, but especially for veterans returning from service.

Learn More About David:

Sharon Madere

SHARON MADEREA life-long horse addict, Sharon Madere has enjoyed eventing, dressage, trail-riding gaited horses and more. Her intro to behavioral science was via mentorship with Dr. R.K. Anderson (Dip ACVB), shortly after she founded Premier Pet Products.

Sharon is a Certified Horse Behavior Consultant (IAABC), member of ISES, a boutique breeder of Iberian horses, and trains, competes in artistic Classical riding (The Baroque Equestrian Games). She sees individual behavior cases, conducts workshops and wet-labs, lectures to veterinary students, and consults with upper level competitors – focusing on the science of learning and positive reinforcement training to improve equine welfare, increase safety, and enhance higher level riding performance. Her breeding program has gained recognition for her innovative and systematic early education, Foal to Foundation.

Along with Dr. Robin Foster, Sharon developed and launched the annual Progressive Equine Behavior Training Forum. She is especially excited to watch the unfolding adventures Karen Rohlf and Quora (a filly from Sharon’s Silver Moon breeding program).

Learn More About Sharon:

Jenifer Zeligs, Ph.D.

Jenifer Zeligs, Ph.D. is a world-renown animal behaviorist with over 40 years of experience, award winning presentations on animal behavior modification, and numerous publications to her credit. In 2014 she published what has been called the new industry “bible” Animal Training 101: The complete and practical guide to the art and science of behavior modification.  Dr. Zeligs is a founder of the Animal Training and Research International Center which oversees an animal care facility affiliated with the California State University system where she currently teaches. Her second book: Mindful Partners: The Zen art and science of working with animals has just been published. With a wealth of experience in many species, both domestic and exotic, and specifically with horses, Dr. Zeligs current passion is to help encourage students to greater successes by helping them to develop better relationships with horses through mindful training.

Her journey into the world of animal training began in grade school when she started learning to ride horses and worked for 7 years at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Since that time, she has worked with dozens of species both terrestrial and aquatic. She has continued to love horses and works to bring new and positive methods, mixed with science, to the broad horse community.

Dr. Zeligs has vast experience in the animal care industry including collaborating with and consulting for countless private and public facilities and organizations, as well as training animals for companionship, competition, liberty work, veterinary procedures, research, feature films and documentaries, and public display. Dr. Zeligs has been featured in numerous documentaries and television shows including National Geographic Explorer, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Dateline, NBC.

The center of her work is to foster the most compassionate care of animals suited to the needs of the individual trainer, animal and training objective. Dr. Zeligs teaches a nuanced understanding of behavior modification through a pros/cons model without engaging in shaming or judging different approaches harshly.  Dr. Zeligs hopes to engage students to further inquire and develop the art and science of behavior.  Her students now work with and mange a wide range of animal programs throughout the world.

Learn More About Jenifer:

Antonia Henderson, Ph.D.

ANTONIA HENDERSONAntonia (Toni) Henderson recently retired as a psychology professor from Vancouver’s Langara College in British Columbia, Canada, where her research has focused on interpersonal relationships, attachment, and the human animal bond. She continues to work as a research psychologist – teaching, consulting, and writing about the psychology of human/animal relationships, and particularly our relationship with sport horses. She has designed and taught university courses in Human Animal Studies and Equine Behaviour. She currently sits on the Council for the International Society for Equitation Science, an international body of scholars, practitioners, and veterinarians whose mission is to promote evidence-based research and impart that knowledge to the greater horse community for the advancement of equine welfare. 

Since 2011, she has been a regular contributor to the horse magazines Horse Sport and Horse Canada writing about the science and psychology of equine behaviour in language accessible to non-scientific horse owners, trainers, and horse enthusiasts. Toni has a notable publication record in academic journals, books, and book chapters, but has more recently focused on publishing for the general horse public, to distill the science, and bring it to the stable. Toni has a strong practical background in the equine industry. She worked at several hunter/jumper facilities in Southwestern Ontario, grooming, teaching, riding, and managing. She has owned, bred, imported, and successfully competed her own horses in the hunter/jumper, and dressage, disciplines. She currently competes her own 9-year-old Hanoverian dressage horse, “Farah”.

Much of her current writing can be accessed at https://horsesport.com/ under “Articles” and then “Behaviour” and “Welfare”.

Learn More About Antonia:

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