Alejandra Abella - Learning Through Animals

13/07/2025

So it seems I forgot World Horse Day a couple of days ago, which is unforgivable, but also, let's face it...for those of us living with horses, it's always their day! To repair my oversight, however, I thought it might be a good time to see where things are with my mare's weight.

If you've been following the saga, it has been a constant concern and a real see-saw situation since she started showing signs of Cushing's disease about four years ago, at around age 21. And with the move to Spain, she had two episodes of fast weight loss: when she arrived, and then four months later again, when she moved to my house. Or rather, she hadn't fully recovered from the move to Spain by the time she came home, and I wasn't seeing enough gain after 3 months at home.

So on May 26, I posted about having to do math (I don't mind it, but math does not like me!) to review her ration formulation and give it a facelift. And here are the photos of her now. It may not look like much, but I can see and measure the difference. She's almost back to her ideal weight, I can see and feel no more ribs, and her rump is almost round again!

And what helped? Since she was already eating the highest amount of grain advisable and has free-choice hay, I figured she just wasn't utilizing her feed correctly. So, I added brewer's yeast at every meal for better mineral and vitamin absorption, added amino acids for muscular support, and added a little beet pulp at night for added weight without added sugars and starch, which she needs to avoid with her Cushing's. Her weight and condition will always be something I have to watch now that she's older and ill, but look at my shiny, happy girl! Happy (belated) Horse World Day!

12/07/2025

❤️

Children with speech and language difficulties worked with horses in a first-ever pilot camp using evidence-based equine therapy. https://nbc4i.co/45Z3hs7?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_NBC4

12/07/2025

On the debate about frog loading.

09/07/2025

Not long ago, dogs were valued primarily for the jobs they performed, such as hunting, herding livestock, and guarding property, all of which required boundless energy and a wariness of strangers. But “as more city dwellers adopt pets, and cultural shifts have led dogs and people to spend more time inside, some behaviors that made dogs appealing to our ancestors have become maladaptive,” Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods wrote in 2024. A dog wary of strangers is tough to take for a walk, for instance, and gets consigned to a fenced-in yard where it can’t spend its energy. https://theatln.tc/YWRfWeSv

“Dogs have gone from working all day and sleeping outside to relaxing on the couch and sleeping in our beds,” the authors write. “Thousands of years of domestication couldn’t prepare dogs for this abrupt transition.”

Dog owners have attempted to correct for this by picking a hypoallergenic breed, a smart breed, a breed that is supposedly good with children—but the main thing a breed usually tells you is what your dog will look like.

“Service dogs are the exception and the answer to the domestication puzzle,” Hare and Woods write. “For more than a century, service dogs have had to sit quietly in a café, calmly negotiate the stress and noise of urban life, and interact gently with children. They can do this not because they are smarter than pet dogs, but because ... service dogs are uniquely friendly. Unlike most pet dogs, service dogs are attracted to strangers, even as puppies. And increasing friendliness seems to have changed these dogs’ biology, just as it did thousands of years ago.”

“We believe these changes are the early signs of a third wave in dog domestication,” the authors continue. “If dog lovers shift their demand from a dog’s hair color and tail length to their comfort with strangers and new places, this friendliness could quickly ripple through the population and become amplified with each successive generation … A breeding program that prioritizes a friendly temperament could show results within just a few decades.”

In the meantime, as the third wave of domestication gets under way, humans must continue caring for the pets they have now.

🎨: Fine Art Images / Heritage Images / Getty

07/07/2025

Rythm, rythm, rythm. Rythm and balance. My students know what that is. Without them, there's nothing. And that goes for life too. ❤️

Carl Hester tells us “First thing I look at when I buy a horse is paces, rather than breeding. Beautiful parents don’t always produce beautiful children. I’m not looking for the flashiest paces, but also the trainablility and rideability. How are you going to keep a big, flamboyant mover sound into Grand Prix? You want an easy mover. The horse needs the first thing on the scale of training: rhythm.” – Carl Hester and a young Valegro.
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2018/02/trot-picture-gallery/

06/07/2025

Because , even physically!

Fish or bird ownership showed no significant link to slower cognitive decline in this study – but with cats and dogs it was a different story

29/06/2025

Have you ever had a fetching cat? I did!

Felines who fetch are an evolutionary mystery, Katherine J. Wu wrote in 2023. https://theatln.tc/8zSVUsBF

When her cat Calvin retrieved a yarn puff that Wu’s husband had offhandedly tossed across the apartment, Wu was “gobsmacked.” But Calvin, it turns out, isn’t that much of an exception. Cats that fetch are a minority, but not an extreme minority. Though data on the topic are limited, one 1986 study found that nearly 16 percent of cats reportedly fetch. Newer data suggest that the percentage might be higher.

Repeatedly retrieving a single object isn’t a regular occurrence in the wild; domestic dogs fetch because we bred them to do so, Wu writes. But if fetching seems to come naturally to a subset of felines, that would make sense from an evolutionary perspective. “Fetching is just a sequence of four behaviors: looking, chasing, grab-biting, and returning,” an evolutionary biologist explained to Wu. “Versions of the first three are already built into predators’ classic hunting repertoire.” The returning part of fetching could be drawn from feline mothers’ habit of bringing live prey back to their kittens to teach them how to hunt, or moving food to a safer area to eat, a behavior seen in both feline sexes.

Most fetching seen in felines seems to be initiated by the felines themselves, not, as with dogs, by humans. Both cats and dogs love a good chase, “but the average canine probably gets much more of a thrill out of obeying and pleasing us,” Wu continues. “The weirdness of cat-fetching can make it all the more special to the people lucky enough to experience it for themselves … Calvin needs me for a lot of things—food, water, tooth-brushings, veterinary care. But when he explicitly invites me to play with him, I’m transported to a part of his universe that feels especially intimate. He is choosing to have fun but also expressing that he’d prefer to do it with me.“

📸: Getty

28/06/2025

Cats, this fascinated domesticated wild animals!

In true feline form, cats took their time deciding whether to jump into humans’ laps. In a comprehensive study from 2017 on the spread of domesticated cats, DNA analysis suggests that cats lived for thousands of years alongside humans before they were domesticated. During that time, their genes have changed little from those of wildcats, apart from picking up one recent tweak.

Learn more about how cats became a domesticated companion of humans: https://on.natgeo.com/3HYIESW

23/06/2025

Como dice la eminente etóloga Dr. Temple Grandin , "necesitamos todo tipo de mentes", y como decía su madre de ella cuando era pequeña, "es diferente, no menos". Vive la différence!

Los ambientes donde vivían las especies salvajes de burros y caballos han condicionado su biología y el concepto que tenemos de ellos

22/06/2025

Awesome morning at the XXIX Salón Del Caballo de la Comunidad Valenciana, FIECVAL 2025, organized by at , watching
some of the most beautiful Spanish horses, both in hand and riding classical dressage.

Things I learned: wow, SO many young riders of dressage in Spain, and what a level! And of course, wowzers, the horses! PRE and PRE crosses are just made for the sport! And there really is something special about handlers being in Spanish traditional dress.

10/06/2025