So it’s May the 4th, Star Wars day, a significant day for Star Wars fans all over the world, particularly this year as lockdown fever will be alleviated with the release of ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ on Disney+. Much excitement in the Spence household over that one.
However there’s another reason for excitement in the Spence household today, also related to the lockdown, and that is the launch of my online courses.
For years I’ve been delivering webinars and lectures online for universities, also for CPD for organisations such as the APBC (Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors) and BVBA (British Veterinary Behaviour Association), but that’s been the limit of my online teaching. I’ve always resisted doing online coaching and consultations, preferring to actually see my clients in the real world. However the coronavirus lockdown has changed all that.
Thankfully now we are blessed with such fantastic technology that I’ve been able to carry on coaching my regular clients via video calling. For me, this has been a revelation, and is nearly as good as seeing them. I’ve also been able to conduct behaviour consultations this way, alongside getting my clients to film footage of their day to day interactions with their horse and various aspects of the problem. It’s been a real eye opener for me, and looks like it will revolutionise my business in the future.
But perhaps the most exciting discovery has been the (very steep learning curve!) discovery that I’ve made, which is how to set up online courses. All brought about because of the lockdown leading to cancellation of my BHS (British Horse Society) CPD days planned for this year. The plan was to deliver my ‘How Horses Learn Best: Learning Theory in Context’ day at various venues around the UK and Ireland. But coronavirus has put paid to that. So we had to find a way to get the material online. Thankfully BHS Ireland had filmed the first day, so hooray, I’ve been able to convert the footage into an online course, available not just for coaches but for all with an interest.
In addition, I’ve some clicker courses complete and more useful courses in the pipeline. If you’d like to be kept notified of new courses, pop along to the site and sign up to the mailing list.
You might ask what’s different about my clicker courses to other ones out there. Not only do I have over twenty years experience of training horses with the clicker, which puts me in pretty much the first wave of horse trainers training that way in the UK and Ireland (in fact when I began I don’t think anyone else in Ireland was doing it!). I also have highly relevant qualifications, having a Psychology degree, a PhD in horse behaviour, and being an ABTC (Aninal Behaviour and Training Council) registered Clinical Animal Behaviourist specialising in horses. I have worked in the horse industry for over twenty years, including in riding schools, stud yards and rescue centres and have extensive practical horse handling and training experience. And I’ve been teaching this stuff at all levels from happy hacker to post graduate degree since 2003.
I’ve been developing my techniques over that time, always evolving and innovating. I’ve shared so much of what I do with other trainers, at conferences and online, but I still find there’s a bit of a chinese whispers effect. So if you really want to know about calmness in training, the foundation behaviours I consider important, straight from the horse’s mouth, then these are the courses for you.
For the How Horses Learn Best: Learning Theory in Context course, go to https://helenspence.podia.com/learning-theory-in-context
For the Getting Started with the Clicker course, go to https://helenspence.podia.com/getting-started-with-the-clicker
And for the store front listing all the courses go to https://helenspence.podia.com/ and scroll down the page.
Enjoy!!
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Spence Horse Sense 