Applied Equine Behaviour. Understanding Horses and Treating Behaviour Problems

PART 1 WHO IS THE HORSE?

1.  From Evolution to Domestication

·       The evolution of the horse

·       The impact of diet

·       The need to move quickly

·       Development of social structures

·       The Selfish Gene theory

·       Evolutionary stable strategies

·       The impact of humans and domestication

·       The consequences of domestication

·       Taxonomic classification

·       The African asses

·       The Asiatic asses

·       The wild horse

2.  Equine Ethology

·       The study of animal behaviour

·       Ethology – what is it and why is it important?

·       The equid ethogram

·       Maintenance behaviours

·       Safety

·       Ingestion

·       Body care

·       Rest

·       Motion

·       Exploration

·       Time budgets

·       Social structure

·       Affiliative behaviour

·       Avoidance and agonistic behaviour

·       Resource Holding Potential

·       The role of play

·       Sexual behaviour in horses

·       Developmental behaviour in foals

·       Foal handling

·       Weaning

3.  Equine Senses and Communication

·       Equine senses

·       Vision

·       Hearing

·       Touch

·       Olfaction

·       Taste

·       Equine communication

·       Horse-human interactions

·       Attachment theory

·       Horse-human communication

PART 2 HOW HORSES LEARN

4.  Fundamentals of learning theory

·       Learning theory and concepts

·       Non-associative learning

·       Habituation: nothing to see here

·       Sensitisation: something to worry about

·       Associative learning

·       Classical conditioning

·       Operant conditioning

·       The Premack Principle

·       Natural Horsemanship

·       Clicker training

·       Factors that affect learning

·       Making learning easy

5.  Further learning theory

·       Further properties of classical conditioning

·       Salience

·       Contingency

·       Blocking

·       Overshadowing

·       Single event learning

·       Generalisation and discrimination

·       Second order conditioning

·       Extinction

·       Extinction in classical conditioning

·       Spontaneous Recovery

·       Flooding

·       Learned helplessness

6.  Physiology of behaviour

·       The importance of understanding equine neuropsychology

·       What we need to know about the horse’s brain

·       Neural pathways

·       The Hebb rule

·       The limbic system: the centre of emotion and behaviour

·       Practical implications in training and handling

·       Introduction to the nervous system

·       The autonomic nervous system

·       The role of the vagus nerve and vagal tone

·       Neuroplasticity

·       The impact of stress

·       Sleep: the cornerstone of physiological function

·       Memory consolidation

·       Sleep deprivation

·       Memory and its role in behaviour

·       Working memory “slots” Resource model

·       Types of memory

·       Memory retrieval

·       The interaction between health and behaviour

·       Identifying pain through behaviour

PART 3 EQUINE WELFARE

7.  Welfare and Wellbeing

·       Defining equine welfare and wellbeing

·       How can welfare and wellbeing be measured?

·       Identifying good and poor welfare and wellbeing

·       Why is it important to understand wellbeing and welfare in the context of equine behaviour?

·       Animal welfare legislation in the UK

·       Models of animal and equine welfare

·       The Five Domains model

·       Agency in the behaviour domain Adaptive expendability

·       Qualitative behaviour assessment

·       Behaviour as an indicator of wellbeing

·       Trauma Equine cognition and wellbeing

·       Challenges and controversies in equine welfare

·       The use of restrictive equipment and training methods

·       Misinterpretation of behaviour

·       Putting human demands before welfare

PART 4 BEHAVIOUR CONSULTING 

8.  Diagnosing behaviour problems

·       Legal and professional aspects of behaviour consulting

·       Working under vet referral

·       Elements of a case history

·       Assessment of environmental and management factors

·       Assessment of relationships

·       Assessment of training and handling factors

·       Differential diagnosis

·       Predisposing factors

·       Initiating factors

·       Maintaining factors

·       The principle of parsimony

·       Useful resources to leave with owners

9.  Treatment planning – safety and situation

·       Safety

·       Behavioural First Aid

·       Approaches to response management

·       Promoting adaptive species-specific behaviours

10.  Treatment planning – behaviour modification

·       Modifying behaviour

·       Desensitisation and Counterconditioning (DS/CC)

·       Using appetitive stimuli – good things

·       Thresholds

·       Guidelines for a successful DS/CC behaviour modification plan

·       Common themes in behaviour consultations

·       Separation anxiety

·       Touch acceptance

·       Calm lead rope walking

·       Using the mounting block

·       Getting comfortable with being tied up

·       Learning to stand still

·       Learning to be comfortable about being caught

·       DS or CC?

·       Learning to be comfortable with a headcollar

·       Protected contact

·       Loading

11. Communication and counselling

·       Introduction to human behaviour change

·       Conducting a behaviour consultation

·       Goal setting questions

·       Success depends on the quality of your communication

·       Relational communication for behaviour change

·       Human behaviour change

·       The process of change

·       The psychology of change

·       The environment for change

·       Ownership of change

·       Clinical supervision

PART 5 PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY AWARENESS

12. A behaviourist’s guide to psychopharmacology

·       What is psychopharmacology?

·       What is a psychopharmaceutical?

·       What is my role as a behaviourist in the use of a psychopharmaceutical?

·       When might the use of a psychopharmaceutical be indicated?

·       Your awareness of psychopharmacological medications

·       Sedatives and tranquilisers

·       Antidepressants

·       Trazodone

·       Non-prescription calming products

·       Tryptophan

·       Magnesium

·       Alpha-casozepine (branded as Zylkene)

·       Equine appeasing pheromones

APPENDICES

1.  The five domains of equine welfare

2.  Your horse’s behaviour threshold

3.  Bringer of good things

4.  Enrichment

5.  The equine behaviour bank account

6.  The target game

7.  The Find It game

8.  Case report example 1

9.  Case report example 2

10.  Client report example

11.  Treatment plan stage 1 – safety

12.  Example of DS/CC to the saddle