My Mission

My goal is to bring science to the stable – to distill the research about how horses think, behave, learn, feel, and sense their world. I want to make that science accessible and useful to horse owners and trainers to enhance the well being of today’s modern sport horse. On this website, I offer several different platforms for learning about equine science.

The Blog Posts are short articles focusing on particular issues, misconceptions, or controversies about how we train and manage sport horses. Sometimes I challenge the “popular wisdom” by exploring what science has found. Other posts may explain a particular learning theory concept or new research about how horses think, feel, sense their world, or respond to different management systems. I’ll post relevant links that demonstrate good handling practices or training techniques that are based in sound equine science. For example, Dr. Gemma Pearson has done a fantastic video series called “Don’t break your vet” in which she outlines some short and simple training sessions to practice that will make your next vet visit uneventful and even pleasurable. It is amazing how much can be accomplished in a one very short session. 

Mini Equine Seminars (coming soon) are interactive slide shows about particular concepts in equine science that are often difficult to understand if you are not coming from a science background. There is a lot of scientific mumbo-jumbo in the research literature that provides useful information for horse owners. I have used visuals and ordinary language to illustrate how these concepts might apply to our interactions with our own horses. This one, “Learning Theory Basics” is a good starting point.

The Podcasts are in development. Here I will be interviewing different equine researchers, behaviourists, practitioners, and veterinarians about various issues in horse training and management that impact our horse’s physiological and psychological welfare. Upcoming is an interview I did with Dr. Susi Cienciela an equine veterinarian who looks at how to recognize and respond to fear in her equine patients using a standardized fear scale.