CEDAR-- “Brav” is a German word that, in English, can be translated to good, well-behaved, or even brave.
It’s also the word that Sea2Stable horse rescue founder, Wendy Intrieri uses to communicate with the horses at her rescue. Intrieri was a dolphin trainer for over a decade and used positive reinforcement as her training technique. She has now taken what she learned from her time with dolphins to help her rehab horses who were previously mistreated and traumatized.
“When I worked with the dolphins, it was 100% positive reinforcement and nothing else. So, we use something called a bridge, which is when you tell the dolphin ‘Yes!’, at that split second, whatever it is that you’re doing, that is what I want you to do. And because you did that, this is what the reinforcement is for,” Intrieri said. “Brav. That’s what I use for my bridge. And they know that what I was doing was right. I don’t reinforce them with a treat 100% of the time. It’s a surprise. It keeps their motivation higher that way.”
The horses at Sea2Stable come from different backgrounds, with varying levels of trust towards people. Because of this, the rescue horses make perfect partners for underserved, at-risk individuals.
Intrieri has opened her barn’s doors to those who could benefit from what she calls a motivational mindset.
“It’s changing the way they think and perceive about something. And that will change the way they feel… And they come and do sessions with us and learn this same life coaching mindset. And they work with the horses partner up and do these same reset sessions with the horses and they see, maybe the horse has a similar story to what they’ve been through in their past or some kind of motivation that they need for their own personal challenges that they need to overcome,” she said.
Sea2Stable is a 501c3 nonprofit and is run entirely by volunteers. They are currently looking to expand but need donations to be able to take in more horses. They have recently received a grant to put in another paddock.
You can find Sea2Stable’s donation link here. They also have a barn wish list, and opportunities to volunteer.
