Animal category: Equines

Study on the recognition by riders of signs of distress in horses experiencing negative emotions

Study of the influence of a rider's weight on a horse's behaviour, the symmetry of its gait and its physiological responses.

How do you motivate your horse? What role can rewards play? Can you do without them once your horse has learned the exercise? What to do when the horse becomes too demanding? Are caresses and use of the voice rewards? These are all questions raised by positive reinforcement, which the clicker training technique can create. This book offers basic exercises as well as exercises to solve classical equestrian problems. It is based on numerous scientific reference works as well as a multitude of practical cases.

This book reviews the main texts on cognition in horses and their perceptions of the environment.

This book explains observation, the sensory world of horses, their round-the-clock activities, the ways they can communicate, their social structures and the constraints imposed by domestication and temperament. It teaches the reader how horses are broken in and how to observe them. It is intended for everyone wanting to increase their knowledge of horses.

Protocol for assessing the welfare of donkeys on farms using environmental and animal indicators

This review brings together all the recommendations informed by recent science on the use of fodder for horses. It covers the different types of fodder, conservation methods, hygiene levels, feeding behaviour, composition, digestion and digestibility and the effects of these on health and performance.

Horses (Equus caballus) have a rich history of relationships with humans. Across different cultures and eras, they have been used for work, entertainment, cultural rituals, food, therapy and companionship and they continue to fulfil many of these roles today. As horses are one of the most commonly trained domestic animals, understanding how they learn and how their relationship with humans and other horses impacts their ability to learn can influence their welfare, training, breeding and management. Since, unlike dogs and cats, domesticated horses evolved from prey animals, the horse-human relationship raises interesting and unique scientific theoretical questions. There is still much to learn about the cognition and behaviour of horses from a scientific perspective. This review explores current research in three related areas of horse cognition: human-horse interactions, social learning, and independent learning in horses. Research on these topics is summarised and suggestions for future research are provided.

Whether you are a rider, breeder, teacher or horse owner, you will find everything on horse welfare in this "go-to" text from the French Horse and Riding Institute. Nowadays, there is a real awareness of welfare issues for animals, and the horse is no exception to this. What is currently considered to be good or bad practice? What scientific evidence is there? What might future developments look like and what are the regulations? In order to answer these questions, this book offers the reader information that is informed by science and presented in a form that can be understood and used by both professionals and amateurs. With a context-setting preface and introduction written by Axel Kahn and Sylvie Brunel, the wealth of bibliographical research carried out by Christine Briant and her team makes it possible to grasp the concept of equine welfare (including that of donkeys and ponies), and to apply it to feeding, housing, health and behaviour.

Whether you handle horses as a rider or driver and whatever style you do it in, this practical guide will help you to optimise your horse's training and working habits. The three chapters of this book, based on recent research in ethology, deal with the main types of learning in an accessible and concrete way. The different approaches are first defined and then analysed, with supporting examples and scenarios. The complexities of habituation and awareness, and of operating and Pavlovian conditioning are demystified with a view to their application in everyday life. The step-by-step tutoring through each process and provision of problem-solving tips will provide readers with genuine avenues to improve their relationship with horses. Fully illustrated with colour photos and drawings, this book is an essential tool for anyone wishing to apply training principles in their handling of riding and carriage horses.