What does it mean to be “Ethical?”

It’s not about what we can do with horses. It’s how we get there that matters most…to them.

Our love for horses should drives us to want what is best for them to the best of our abilities.

Having an ethical mindset looks like responsibly prioritizing their physical, emotional, and physiological needs: nutrition, living environments, social needs, veterinary care, daily management, enrichment, and training are all important examples of areas to continuously improve our humane care for them.

Being ethical means actively choosing and prioritizing kindness in your equine’s care and training.

By embracing ethics in care and training, we can naturally see improved results in our connection, communication, and overall relationship with our equines. They offer us so much in companionship and deserve nothing less than optimal care from their humans.

This is why the word ethical means so much to me and what why I keep it at the forefront of everything I offer here at Ethical Equine Academy.

About Me

Hello, there 👋🏻 I’m Kelsey!

I am so glad you made it here. I am a positive reinforcement-focused youth instructor, trainer, and coach based out of Cincinnati, Ohio.

My career started with a riding instructor certification from the Certified Horsemanship Association in 2016. However, I knew I didn’t want to be a riding instructor for just any program. I had worked at several barns at that point and could see a trend of welfare being secondary to numbers and profit. I didn’t want that….I wanted to create a program that put the horses first, always.

I started my youth academy in 2018 as a traditional-based program that was centered on natural horsemanship training methods. It was just me, 2 ponies, and a handful of students in my backyard. It was honestly going great until I ran into the same problem that a lot of lesson barn owners run into…

My horses were burnt out.

They stopped enjoying their “job” because the lessons were monotonous.

I started questioning how I was falling into this trap…and then began researching.

I stumbled across positive reinforcement training initially in 2019. By Spring of 2020, I was ready to dive in and learn more. I took The Willing Equine’s 3-month Foundation Course and immediately fell in love with relearning about equine science and training in a way I had never been taught before.

I started implementing everything I was learning into my youth lessons right away. We had amazing results! My horses were more engaged. They were excited to meet me and my students at the gate. They were more curious than ever before to try new things!

Learning about positive reinforcement training also came with relearning how to take care of my horses from a more welfare-centered approach, too. So not only did my horses enjoy learning and engaging in their lessons with both me and my students…but they felt better, too! I restructured their care protocol and management to make sure they were eating appropriately, moving more, had more enrichment activity opportunities, changed their tack, changed their hoof care strategy, and added bodywork.

I wanted them to be more supported physically, physiologically, mentally, and emotionally.

Since then, I pursued Adele’s 9-month Positive Equine Professionals Behavior Consulting Mentorship Program and spent a good length of time not just improving my training applications, but my coaching skills as well. Being a good trainer is only half of the puzzle! We need to be able to teach these skills well to the next generation of horse owners and trainers.

I have worked with many horse owners virtually and throughout the Cincinnati area, both 1:1 and in small group settings. I came into my own with both my teaching style and my goals. I also branched out to create a virtual learning academy for kids who want to learn positive reinforcement/clicker training with their own pets at home!

This has all led me to here and now. I will always have my small backyard program here for my youth students and even growing my all-animal clicker training education academy, but now I have a passion for something bigger than myself and the impact only I can do.

There are so many lesson barns and equine programs serving youth who miss out on the opportunity of:

• lesson horses that do a 180…from burnout and shut down to curious and engaged in every session
• safer lessons
• more practical, fun ways to teach youth about horses that are not limited to riding them
• lesson plans that build themselves

and more!

My mission here now is to help others like me who need more welfare-centered management practices and protocols and are craving a lesson curriculum that does not put the horse or safety second to profit. The Educators Mentorship is for instructors, lesson barn owners and managers, nonprofit organizations serving youth through equestrian activities.

The mentorship goes through 3 tiers to accommodate any range of goals for an R+ curriculum development or restructure….no matter if you are a solo instructor with 2 horses or if you own and manage a large facility of lesson horses and staff that need retrained and coached through it.

I have created a unique program that is completely customizable to you, your goals, your horses, and your staff.

If more lesson barns adapted and dedicated even a small percentage of training behaviors to positive reinforcement training….lesson horses everywhere would be in a much better place emotionally, mentally, and even physically.

I have witnessed this first hand for myself and my own horses…so now it’s time for you to.

So let’s dive in together!

“So…What is Positive Reinforcement?”

Positive reinforcement can be commonly known as, “clicker training,” although it is not exclusive to using only clickers. You will also see people abbreviate positive reinforcement with “R+.”

When we use positive reinforcement in training, we are reinforcing our horse by adding an appetitive to the training equation. This means that we are reinforcing desirable behaviors with something that the horse really likes! We know we are successful in training with positive reinforcement as we continue to see these desirable behaviors increase. In almost all cases of training animals with positive reinforcement….reinforcing the horse with something they really like is often going to mean we train them with food.

My training and coaching centers around positive reinforcement because it has been proven to be the least intrusive and minimally aversive way to effectively and ethically modify behaviors. When applied correctly, it allows for true compassion, connection, cooperation, and trust with our equine companions.

But here is the thing…

You don’t have to learn all the nuances of positive reinforcement on your own!

In fact, I would highly encourage anyone new to positive reinforcement to hire an experienced trainer or coach to guide them through the beginning stages of introducing it to their horses.

This is where Ethical Equine Academy can help!

Whether virtually or in-person, anyone can learn and apply R+!

If you don’t think the virtual learning options are your cup of tea, I encourage you to give it a try.

Your horse will be the first to thank you!

You can have the connection, cooperation, and trust you have always wanted with your horse.

So let’s get started on your ethical equine journey together.