The discussions in the current unit of Advanced Equine Behaviour, nay, in the entire course, have been fascinating and incredibly insightful. A statement which holds true for every course I’ve taken with Equine Guelph. While I don’t have a horse of my own, nor am I currently leasing, I do aspire to adopt one within […]
Category: The Equine Industry
Breed Profile: Paso Fino
The Smoothest riding horse in the world! This video of a Paso Fino foal was making the rounds several months ago, right around the time I had to choose a breed to profile for an assignment in my Equine Industry course. Naturally, I had to learn more. Origin: Puerto Rico Aptitudes: riding horse Population Status: common Origins of […]
The Potential Perils of Natural Horsemanship Part 2: Natural for whom? Challenging the myths
The second part of The Potential Perils of Natural Horsemanship challenges some common beliefs inherent in the practice of natural horsemanship. The ‘alpha’ & the dangers of dominance “Dominance hierarchies, alpha positions or leadership in social groups of horses are man-made concepts that should not form the basis of human-horse interactions” (International Society for Equitation Science, […]
The Potential Perils of Natural Horsemanship Part 1: Round-pen training
With advances in welfare science and equitation science, great strides have been made in horsemanship, training, and veterinary practices. We now have a much richer understanding of equine cognition, learning abilities, social needs and behaviour, which all play an important role in the evolution of species appropriate training and handling techniques. Natural horsemanship (NH) […]
A Guiding Statement for Equine Welfare
Another Equine Guelph course has come to an end. For the final activity, we were encouraged to develop a Guiding Life Statement for Equine Welfare and a few goals to guide us as responsible members of the industry, with welfare as a priority. I thought this would be an appropriate place to share the statement and […]
Xenophon Continued: Notes on conformation
Xenophon describes what to look for when purchasing a horse in fairly simplistic terms when compared to the level of detail presented in Horse Conformation: Structure, Soundness, and Performance (Equine Research, 2004). However, it is evident that he had a reasonably sound understanding of the importance of form relative to function and equine health. One […]
