Horse Behaviour & Psychology

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Rebuilding After Setbacks - The end of the horse show season is time for evaluation. What went well? What would you like to change? Competitors entering the next horse show without reflection often revisit mistakes like a Groundhog Day time loop.

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Horses are commonly housed in individual boxes. While this may be convenient and prevent injuries from other horses, it may also be detrimental to the horse’s welfare, especially if access to pasture is limited. A paper by Alice Ruet and colleagues investigated the effect of various management practices on the display of behavioural indicators of compromised welfare in housed horses.

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If a dog is man’s best friend, then the horse is his most loyal servant. – Joseph V. DiBianca, Loudly They Speak: The Memoirs of a Horse Listener - What is it that makes the vast majority of horse people love dogs? Dogs indeed possess some of the same admirable traits as horses and complement the lifestyle of a horse person very well.

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Keys to an effective horse training session. I’ve trained a lot of horses. After nailing up my sign as a “professional horse trainer” several decades ago, I learned quickly that overhead is high in the horse business so you’d better make some hay if you’re going to pay your bills. Consequently, I rode many horses each day, breaking young ones and tuning up show horses.

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According to recent research, equids whose owners believe in their capacity to experience emotions or share an emotional bond with them tend to be in significantly better health.

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How clear communication and great preparation is your best support for an easy transition.

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Fall fairs, circuit championships, and club awards banquets signal the end of another horse show season. So how did it go? Did your shows, rodeos, or competitive trail rides meet your expectations? For the majority of horse owners, the answer to this question will likely be no. Stuff happens. And so we look toward the next year. But with chilly fall and winter weather looming, we all need some goals to motivate us to get off the couch and out to the arena on those cold nights!

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Miscalculating the effort level of exercises for horses often derails the process of gaining fitness. Whether or not a horse finds any given exercise hard is left to a lot of guesswork. And since many riders form assumptions based on their own perspectives of sport and physical challenges, this guesswork is frequently inaccurate. To gauge this better and to deliver beneficial doses of effort, we need to clarify how and when certain tasks are difficult for the horse.

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The relationship between hurry and worry - My first horse rushed his jumps. He never refused. I reasoned that he was a “bold” jumper — he loved to jump and so did I! On approach to every fence, my horse’s head would elevate, his ears would perk up, and his legs would speed up. I figured the jumper ring, with its speed element, was a more natural fit for my eager jumper than the hunter ring.

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This week I was joined by Equine Physiotherapist Yasmin Stuart, who is also a BTMM apprentice trainer with Celeste Lazaris. As I recently enrolled in Celeste Lazaris’ self-study Nerve Release Technique course, it felt very aligned to connect with Yasmin for a chat about her work and the patterns she’s been noticing amongst her clients through the lens of posture and nerve impingement.

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