Equine Behaviourist - Emily McDonald

11/12/2024

https://thehorse.com/118825/20-things-your-horses-teeth-are-telling-you/?lid=vrhp4p8bm01k&utm_source=braze&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter&utm_content=TheHorse%20-%20Newsletter%20-%2020241210%20-%20Horse%20Health&uuid=66ed6dd55fda993087550edf

Brush up on your equine oral health knowledge with these facts about dental anatomy, issues, and exams.

10/12/2024

01/12/2024

Another great article by Juliet Getty!

A letter from Juliet M. Getty, Ph.D. The issue is still free choice forage feeding. I respect and honor the way horses are made—they are different—unique, really. In a suitable, native environment, they are quite capable of taking care of themselves. They are free to eat and roam and, well, be h...

17/11/2024

I have really been enjoying listening to this podcast by Lauren Fraser Equine Behaviourist and Matthias Lenz. I love the open, honest discussion and it has really got me thinking!

The podcast of animal training and behaviour professionals Lauren Fraser and Matthias Lenz, that promises to be less show and more substance.

05/09/2024

Very interesting video showing the three types of hoof flare, which of these should be trimmed off and how.

Should you remove FLARE on the horse’s hoof or leave it alone? Do you know the 3 different types of flare?In this 🚀 lesson I’m going to...

04/09/2024

This article details how a healthy diet and reducing stress can help horses deal with vaccination inflammation. Although of course the first thing to consider is does the horse really need the specific vaccine? Anecdotally I have heard of several horses who have got colic or laminitis within days of being vaccinated. Also, having several vaccines at one time may be more risky.

By Juliet M. Getty, Ph.D. You’ve seen it firsthand – a decline in your horse’s overall demeanor and health following routine vaccinations. Inflammation is the reason for this reaction. A new study from the Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University...

05/07/2024

https://thehorse.com/1122420/handling-the-head-shy-horse/?lid=qc2hk7zh9nl3&utm_source=braze&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter&utm_content=TheHorse%20-%20Newsletter%20-%2020240704%20-%20Welfare%20&Industry&uuid=__equine_main__5481_emily.mcd%40hotmail.co.uk__

Determine what is causing the horse's head shy behavior, and then use learning principles to reverse it.

21/06/2024

Lots of great ideas here for helping a stabled horse cope:

Follow these 12 tips to improve your horse’s welfare while on stall rest for injury or illness.

10/06/2024

Here is an interesting article highlighting how important our soil health is to our horses health. Has anyone tried the Supersoil product in their pasture?

How Nurturing Your Soil Can Nurture Your Horses Like people, horses also appear to be getting sicker, and no one knows why. There are countless cases of neurological disorders, digestive diseases, and things like Equine Grass Sickness with no known cause other than they all ate grass. There are also...

07/03/2024

Growing a tall hedge (3.5 m high and 2.6–4.2 m wide) and trimming it every three years is good for the environment and for the health of your horse.
Good for the environment because a hedge this height/ width stores the most carbon in the soil underneath it and contributes to the biodiversity of the soil. Over trimmed hedges have a reduced ability for both.
The best hedge plants, ie those that store the most carbon and are impressively good for the health of the horse in order …
1. Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) the highest ability to store carbon, full of antioxidants and phytonutrients to help with metabolism, inflammation and arthritis.
2. Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)- high in flavonoids to reduce inflammation, support metabolism and give strong protection against free radical damage.
3. Bramble (Rubus corylifolius)- strong immune system support and improves metabolism.
4. Spindle (Euonymus europaeus)- an important plant for the horse to nibble, contains antimicrobial compounds active against many pathogens, its also anti- fungal.
www.equibiome.org

25/02/2024

Great advice here 🙂

29/12/2023

https://thehorse.com/19534/why-are-horses-frisky-when-its-cold/?lid=tgagiqutdx3x&utm_source=braze&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=TheHorse%20-%20Newsletter%20-%2020231228-%20Welfare%20&%20Industry&uuid=6487fe9c73ab420001be0e02

Why do horses act "fresh" when it's cold outside? An equine behaviorist investigates.

03/12/2023

Lovely thoughts by Bonny Mealand, very much my way of thinking too 😃

A more accurate description of how I work with equines is by encouraging communication and interaction.

30/10/2023

Another great article by Juliet Getty.

By Juliet M. Getty, Ph.D. Horses are more likely to suffer from laminitis in the fall than any other time of year. Two reasons - Increased insulin secretion due to high levels of simple sugars and starch in pasture grasses, and increased blood ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone) secretion from the pi...

10/08/2023

One of the most important items we need when we train with Positive Reinforcement (R+) and/or Counter Conditioning - is food! Pretty hard to train without it!

Forget about “treats” and “treat training”!!

Food is a Primary Reinforcer and it’s innately valuable to the animal, it doesn’t have to be learnt (conditioned). This means food is an unconditioned reinforcer and is similar to other Primary Reinforcers that are associated with ensuring survival, such as water, shelter and s*x. The great thing is that food is easy and portable.

An important tenet of R+ training is that we never train a hungry animal. We also train with alternative food as physically close as possible and also as similar in value to the food we are offering in our training. In this way, we offer a measure of choice to the equine, as many will not easily walk away from a training session to access alternate food.

Many equines may be afraid to walk away from a training session due to past learning history around humans. It’s not enough to say “the horse can just walk away if they don’t like it or don’t want to participate”. We need to teach the horse that they have a choice and can exercise it, they don’t automatically know this and will leave. It’s also important to remember that if a horse leaves, you may be entering Negative Reinforcement territory, which we want to avoid if our aim is to train with R+.

Often I will even recommend training after the equine has eaten. This is because many equines have an unhappy history around food, such as being deprived, having had to fight over food or have been teased with food, particularly higher value food. Equines can have a love hate relationship with food, certain foods can be associated with unpleasant experiences and trauma and particularly if they’ve ever experienced EGUS (ulcers).

One really important factor in successful R+ training is the type of food. Species appropriate food that is low in sugar and starch, high in fibre and creates lots of chewing and saliva. I recommend using dampened chopped hay (chaff), fibre or hay pellets, rinsed and soaked unmolassed beet pulp or even handfuls of loose hay. This type of food is what equines were designed to eat and it creates pleasure, satiation and relaxation in slowly chewing these types of foods. Forget about Cheerios, carrot coins and sunflower seeds, etc as they are not species appropriate and can often sabotage your training, by creating equines who are barely satisfied and perhaps even frustrated by these small titbits.

Finally, be generous!! Another of the most common pitfalls of people starting out training with food is that they are not generous enough. Be aware of choke, but give a generous handful to begin with and then keep topping it up regularly.

When shaping new behaviours, if you can click and feed every couple of seconds, you’ll have a very happy horse who is nearly continually chewing. As trickle feeders, this is what equines were designed to do and it makes them very happy! Being generous also means we are not withholding in order to wait for a specific behaviour. Continually topping up the food is what keeps the horse wanting to keep engaging and trying.

Here's an example of what an early session looks like where we are teaching the horse the meaning of the click or marker you are using, also how to stay out of our space ("manners") and how generous the trainer needs to be when starting out or when training a new behaviour:

https://youtu.be/DHfPcFMqn2I?si=7T7bddvxEbH_a5Zp

Make sure you have big generous food pouches and stuff them full of high fibre food. Even if you think you’re being generous, check on your equines’ behaviour. Do they look similar to when they’re munching their hay net in their own time, or do they look tense and have their ears back?

Do you think you could throw them a handful in a bucket while you get organised or set things up? Could you throw a few more handfuls each time you give them a break? A couple of handfuls in a few buckets or mats scattered around while you set up your camera to film your sessions? Do you continually feed your horse when you stop to chat to someone?

20/04/2023

18/04/2023