Equine ABCs

12/02/2024

FOLLOWED BY WILD HORSES

On a recent trip to a Herd Management Area, I looked over my shoulder and a group of horses was following me. These horses are not fed. This is a wonderful display of their natural curiosity.

When visiting wild horse herds, give at least 100 feet of space and 300 feet for new foals. If horses approach, move away when you are able to do so safely. Never pet or feed wild horses.

11/16/2024

The horses in this herd are ones I’ve spent a lot of time observing. Reaching individuals who have information is the best chance we have for justice. Please share and get the word out!

Onaqui Community—We Need Your Help

We’re asking for your assistance in piecing together the timeline of Pyrite/Goldie/Glory’s tragic shooting and death.

If you have any images of OQ146yS (Pyrite/Goldie/Glory) taken between October 21 and November 10, please send them to the BLM Tip Line at [email protected] or call 800-722-3998. Every piece of information helps. If you’ve cropped your images, please include both the cropped and original versions when you send them. You are also welcome to send them to OCF for documentation purposes as well.

While this tragedy is heartbreaking, what defines the Onaqui community is how we rally together—for the horses. We’re grateful to those who first alerted us about Pyrite’s condition, the volunteers who checked on him, and those who accounted for the rest of the herd. We also appreciate every interview, social post share, and rally cry that is bringing attention to this. Thank you for caring so deeply about OUR wild horses.

We also want to share that the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for this cruel act has increased to $30,000.

Onaqui Catalogue Foundation (OCF): $1,500
Wild Beauty Foundation (WBF): $2,500
Bureau of Land Management (BLM): $5,000
Red Birds Trust (RBT): $5,000
Wild Horse Education (WHE): $5,000
Rewilding America Now (RAN): $5,000
American Wild Horse Conservation (AWHC): $6,000

We are so grateful for the outpouring of support. Together, we can work toward justice for Pyrite and ensure the safety of the Onaqui herd.

OCF Team

Bureau of Land Management - Utah
The Wild Beauty Foundation
Red Birds Trust
Rewilding America Now
Wild Horse Education
American Wild Horse Conservation

11/08/2024

If you have a grey horse, you can now test for which allele your horse has with UC Davis! G3 is associated with increased risk of melanomas and a faster greying rate.

A newly published study led by Dr. Leif Andersson and colleagues at Uppsala University in collaboration with researchers at the UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory (VGL) discovered the existence of two different Gray alleles, one of which is associated with fast graying and increased risk for me...

10/18/2024

Great breakdown of some different methodologies for approaching fearful/traumatized horses.

𝗙𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿-𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘂𝘀 𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

I saw yet another post in a local group this morning supposedly promoting systematic desensitisation when in fact what they were doing is flooding. There is a huge need for education so that caregivers, riders and coaches understand the very crucial distinction .

I first came across titration and pendulation some years ago as part of my own on-going healing journey from trauma and complex ptsd. Ever since, this had made so much sense to me than the more frequently used systematic desensitisation and counter-conditioning.

I have also had the opportunity to deep dive into this on the EQUUSOMA course and further learning from Laura Donaldson which only emphasised for me that this is my preference when working with horses and dogs.

When systematic desensitisation and counter- conditioning are introduced too soon or if the intensity of the trigger is misjudged can lead to re-traumatisation. On the other hand with tiny drops of stress with titration the risk is greatly minimised.

Systematic desensitisation is the graded exposure to a trigger at a level the horse can cope with (Butler et al,2011, Wolpe,1950).

The aim is to maintain relaxation throughout. If your horse becomes tense go back a step to where they are calm.

Systematic desensitisation involves the following criteria:

• Distance
• Intensity (strength)
• Duration (start with seconds)
• Distraction ( layer them in one at a time)

Increase one criteria at a time. For example it you move closer (distance) then you lower intensity, duration and distraction. We need to recognise that we can still be removing agency from the horse when we use systematic desensitisation.

Counter - conditioning

Counter-conditioning is a type of classical conditioning. In this case the aim is for the horse to develop a positive or neutral response to a stimulus or situation that worries them ( positive conditioned emotional response or CER) (Bouton,2002,Dickinson & Pearce,1977). It is challenging to tell if what we are seeing is just a change in behaviour response or if the emotional response has truly changed with the behaviour.

This is frequently done by pairing the fear or anxiety provoking stimulus with something pleasant such as food or scratches.

For example a person on a bike is paired with food. However, this is not easy to apply as it requires precision and good timing. If your horse spots the bike before you then the association may be weakened .

Systematic desensitisation and counter-conditioning protocols can be long and complicated to follow.

Both can lead to flooding and potential re-traumatisation if done too soon, too quickly or at too high a level of intensity!!

If your horse has had a very frightening experience it is important that this is addressed FIRST through minimising every day stress and any veterinary treatment if required (Saur et al,2019)

👿FLOODING This is the process by which the horse is exposed to the fly spray at full intensity whilst escape is prevented. It is extremely poor for welfare, detrimental to the horse/ human relationship and unethical. DO NOT FLOOD YOUR HORSE!!

Titration and Pendulation

This way of working is more suitable if your horse is phobic or traumatised.
The goal with all horses to AVOID causing explosive BIG reactions as this worsens fear responses, erodes trust and can hinder progress. The aim is to settle the nervous system to optimise it's functioning (Levine, 1999,2010,Van der Kolk, 2014, Payne et al,2015) and allow for stress to be discharged safely.

Essentially pendulation and titration are about returning an individual to a more balanced state that allows them to calmly re-engage with the world (Levine, 2010). The process involves moving from a tiny droplet of stress or activation back to a sense of safety.

Dr Peter Levine describes pendulation as a primal restorative rhythm of contraction and expansion, that indicates to the individual experiencing the stress that does not last forever (Levine, 2010 p79) .

For example breaking stimuli down into it's sensory components drop by drop ie sound, sight, sight observing from a distance, tactile walking over different surfaces.

Working in tiny droplets makes flooding almost impossible. For example allowing your horse to observe a bike moving in the distance then move or graze or mutually groom with a friend to return to a sense of safety. This also allows for completion of the stress cycle (Schwartz, 2020).

References

Bouton, M. E. (2002). Context, ambiguity, and unlearning: sources of relapse after behavioral extinction. Biological psychiatry, 52(10), 976-98

Butler, R., Sargisson, R. J., & Elliffe, D. (2011). The efficacy of systematic desensitization for treating the separation-related problem behaviour of domestic dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 129(2-4), 136-145

Dickinson, A., & Pearce, J. M. (1977). Inhibitory interactions between appetitive and aversive stimuli. Psychological Bulletin, 84(4), 690.

Levine, P. A. (1997). Waking the tiger: Healing trauma: The innate capacity to transform overwhelming experiences. North Atlantic Books.

Levine, P. A. (2010). In an unspoken voice: How the body releases trauma and restores goodness. North Atlantic Books.

Payne, P., Levine, P. A., & Crane-Godreau, M. A. (2015). Somatic experiencing: using interoception and proprioception as core elements of trauma therapy. Frontiers in psychology, 93.

Sauer, F.J., Hermann, M., Ramseyer, A., Burger, D., Riemer, S. and Ge**er, V., 2019. Effects of breed, management and personality on cortisol reactivity in sport horses. Plos
one, 14(12), p.e0221794.

Schwartz, A. (2020). The complex PTSD workbook: A mind-body approach to regaining emotional control and becoming whole. Sheldon Press.

©️Jessie Sams (2023) Animal Behaviour and Trauma Recovery Service

10/17/2024

What are your best bot fly removal hacks?

Those darn eggs are superglued on, I swear.

10/09/2024

LET’S MAKE THIS A TREND

Sprinkle some treats around a paddock or field and let your horse loose to find them!

This is a really easy way to do enrichment. If your horse is on a dry lot, hide them in buckets and on surfaces so they are not eating dirt.

Your horse probably won’t know to search the first time, and likely doesn’t have many opportunities to use their nose. Make it super easy to start so they know good stuff might be available!

09/28/2024

This looks like an excellent webinar for folks involved with foals!

Understand Horses presents a webinar with vet behaviourist Gabriel Lencioni and equine behaviour consultant and trainer Trudi Dempsey on early life experiences and their long-term impact on horses.

09/17/2024

Great article discussing welfare impacts of strip grazing vs. track system methods of weight control for horses.

Background Equine obesity is a growing concern. Much of the current management advice centres on dietary restrictions, including the removal or limitation of grazing. Little is known about the impac...

08/23/2024

SEPARATION ANXIETY: An example modification exercise

Disclaimer: Horses are individuals and their environments and handlers are unique. There is no one-size fits all to solving a problem behavior. Please work with a professional, who can cater plans to you and your horses' specific needs.

Since separation anxiety is one of the biggest challenges horse owners face, I thought it might be helpful to share a relatively low-stress way separation anxiety can be approached. For some horses this process can be quite quick, and others it may take working with a fine tooth comb to identify their sources of fear and how to help them cope through it. These two horses only have each other, so separation anxiety is a very real problem.

My goal is to be able to take Nova on several hour trail rides in a few years without either horse being worried—we're starting now, so we can be well practiced taking walks by the time we begin riding.

08/22/2024

Nothing compares to watching wild horses in the field.

Various shots from the last 6 years of observing wild horses.

08/20/2024

COMMENT SECTIONS ARE A WILD RIDE

Beware of folks who talk in certainties—our understanding of horse behavior is a best fit model not an unbendable fact.

Research, while valuable, can lead to false or overblown conclusions where only one, or two, studies are repeatedly cited and are treated as more robust than they actually are. And, lack of research can be misinterpreted as a hypothesis being untrue when in fact it is simply untested.

On the flip side, relying only on field based interpretations means we are bringing only our preconceptions to the table and, even if we are trying to be diligent to keep an open mind, we naturally throw out data that does not fit well into our internal models. We are especially prone to circular reasoning, where we think an explanation fits well and then apply it to every similiar situation. We then claim that similar situation as evidence of our interpretation even though it was never verified in the first place!

If you want to develop an understanding, learn from folks who not only provide you an interpretation but have shown you the data and where it comes from, so you can expand your own knowledge rather than relying on parroted thinkpieces which don’t actually expand your critical thinking.

08/07/2024

INDUSTRY STANDARD PREMATURE WEANING PRACTICES

Weaning is naturally gradual, whereby the physical and psychological bond between mother and offspring is ended. To date, there are numerous studies, across a wide range of species, showing the physical and mental harm that is done when animals are prematurely and forcibly weaned. The act compromises an animal's welfare and goes against best-practices for raising a physically and behaviourally healthy animal. Therefore, it should be avoided.

Premature weaning of horses (~4-7 months of age) is sadly still a common practice in the horse world. While young horses can physically be kept alive when weaned at this age, the practice is harmful in the short-term. It can also result in the creation of unwanted behaviour problems in the long-term.

While we have selectively bred horses to perform a wide range of activities for us, we have not been able to breed out the basic needs which they still share with their wilder relatives. Studying how horses behave under natural conditions gives us valuable information on how best we can provide for our domestic horses. For example, horses have evolved to need fulltime access to what I call the 3 F's of Friends, Forage, and Freedom: living in direct contact with other horses, having continual access to forage so that they can trickle feed, and having the ability to freely engage in a wide range of normal behaviours in their environment. When horses are denied access to one or more of these three F's, or when we interfere with their ability to engage in normal behaviours it results in stress, decreased welfare, and can result in the creation of unwanted behaviours.

To better understand the effects of weaning practices, researchers in France and Iceland examined how and when foals wean themselves when living under natural conditions. Of the 16 mare-foal pairs they observed, they found that all of the foals spontaneously weaned themselves at around 9-10 months of age. Two weeks prior to self-weaning, the mares and foals remained closer to one another than they did to others in the group, usually within 1-5 horse lengths of one another. Suckling bouts also didn't decrease in the two weeks prior to weaning, and the foals made no attempts to suckle once weaned. This self-directed weaning also caused no signs of stress to either party.

A frequent rationale for premature weaning is to preserve the physical condition of the mare. Interestingly, none of the mares in this study lost physical condition, despite the length of time mares and foals were together.

In summary, to quote the authors:

"Modern breeding practices generally impose strong constraints as compared to the conditions of development of foals in a more natural environment. One major aspect is the early artificial weaning, which is not just a stage of diet transition but also a stage of social separation. There is increasing evidence that such a practice, although carried out on a routine basis by horse breeders, leads to short- and in some cases to long-term severe negative outcomes.

There is therefore a clear need to better understand the factors at stake (e.g., cessation of milk intake, immature digestive system, maternal deprivation, absence of adult models, additional changes in feeding or housing…), to improve the domestic management of weaning and animal welfare."

You can read the full paper, 'Domestic Foal Weaning: Need for Re-Thinking Breeding Practices?' by accessing it at this link: https://tinyurl.com/PrematureWeaningHorses

Image by Hans Benn from Pixabay

08/07/2024

One full minute of a horse falling asleep while getting scratches.

No tricks, gimmicks, or drugs. No magical stick training. 1.5 years of hard work, consistent training, and trying to recreate a safe, enriching world. And finally this horse feels comfortable enough to begin not just enjoying scratches, but taking a nap after asking for them.

Pasture interactions can be a reflection of how the horse feels in its environment and with the training it does receive. For Oberon, even changing to primarily food-based training and having multiple acres didn’t change his opinions overnight. He has needed repeated, good experiences and opportunities to make choices in as many scenarios as possible. We have worked and reworked how we approach challenges. He came to me with an amazing set of behaviors—he loads, leads, ties, holds still for vet examinations, and even could have his feet trimmed. But, he would be rigid, you could hear his breath pickup, and he would sometimes startle explosively. He has a kick that will send you to the hospital.

His behavior didn’t reflect his internal state, because training is only the tiniest slice of the puzzle. You can create some behaviors in days, minutes even for certain ones. But recreating a horse’s world view takes years. For some, depending on past history, current living condition, and age, it may never change. For others, it may not take much to help them open up and begin to explore the world.

But, there is no speeding past to get to this point. Be prepared to buckle up and put in the work. But I promise it is worth it.

07/08/2024

GENTLE RESTRAINT

For emergency situations.

Teaching your horses how to respond to pressure and restraint is an incredibly valuable tool. You can apply it in a number of situations and it can help keep them calm with a behavior they know how to do even when the situation makes them uncomfortable. It is not a substitute for training and should be phased out where appropriate, but it can drastically reduce the risk of a behavioral injury in an emergency situation. Just like you would for formal training, try and introduce stimuli slowly and build your way towards the final goal rather than racing to the target—your horse will thank you, and it might save you an unintentional hospital trip for yourself!

07/08/2024

GENTLE RESTRAINT

For emergency situations.

Teaching your horses how to respond to pressure and restraint is an incredibly valuable tool. You can apply it in a number of situations and it can help keep them calm with a behavior they know how to do even when the situation makes them uncomfortable. It is not a substitute for training and should be phased out where appropriate, but it can drastically reduce the risk of a behavioral injury in an emergency situation. Just like you would for formal training, try and introduce stimuli slowly and build your way towards the final goal rather than racing to the target—your horse will thank you, and it might save you an unintentional hospital trip for yourself!

06/27/2024

HABITUATION: How wild horses can get used to explosions

Sound on. 🔊

This was loud enough I could feel it in my chest a little bit. I started filming after several detonations occured. Habituation can be an incredibly powerful thing!