Episode 155 Sarah Memmi Pt 2: On Being Accepted as a Clicker Trainer

This is Part 2 of our conversation with Sarah Memmi. Sarah is a behavioral scientist. She’s an Assistant Professor of Marketing in the College of Business at the University of Louisville. Sarah’s main area of research is how people pursue goals, handle conflict between multiple goals, and manage their personal resources (time, money). She also teaches in the University of Louisville’s unique equine business program.

There are so many rabbit holes we could go down relating to Sarah’s professional work, but last week we began with Sarah’s lifelong love of horses. I met Sarah twenty years ago when she was feeling in over her head with her young trakehner/TB homebred. We began there. Sarah’s situation at that time was one many people share. She kept her horses at home. She had to figure out clicker training on her own. I wanted Sarah to talk to us about that part of her horse journey. Her youngster became a super partner, but sadly she lost him when he was just eleven. So this opened another chapter in her life. Sarah has been wonderfully successful staying connected to the horse world.

She not only had horses to ride, but people have even invited her to clicker train the horses she works with. So many people get the door slammed in their faces when they try to talk about clicker training. Instead Sarah has been in invited to clicker train the horses she’s riding. She’s been a successful ambassador for the work. So it’s an important question that we’re exploring. How does she introduce clicker training to the owners of the horses she’s riding? What is she doing that facilitates being accepted by them?

That’s the question we explore in part 2 of our conversation.