Conversations in Equine Science

Horses as teachers for human-robot interactions.

This week Nancy and Kate discuss how horses are once again helping humans navigate the new frontier of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Research Reference and Link:
Eakta Jain and Christina Gardner-McCune. 2023. Horse as Teacher: How human-horse interaction informs human-robot interaction. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '23). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 536, pp. 1–13.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3544548.3581245

What do rider’s want from an arena surface?

This week Nancy discusses two peer reviewed papers on how to assess arena surface safety and usefulness.
Research References and Links:
Holt, D., Northrop, A., Martin, J., Daggett, A. and Hobbs, S. (2014), What do Riders Want from an Arena Surface?. Equine Vet J, 46: 41-42. 
https://doi.org/10.1111/evj.12267_126
Northrop, A., Martin, J., Blundell, E., Owen, A. and Hobbs, S. (2014), Development of the Equestrian Arena Surfaces for the 2012 Olympic Games. Equine Vet J, 46: 45-46. 
https://doi.org/10.1111/evj.12267_137

Results of the massage trial.

This week Nancy gives a summary of her results with replicating the hind-end massage study using her own horses.
Research Reference/Link:
Mabbutt, C., Yarnell, K., and Ferro de Godoy, R. (2022). Comparative Exercise Physiology Vol. 18 (5), pp. 419-426
https://www.wageningenacademic.com/doi/epdf/10.3920/CEP220022?role=tab

Social License to Operate (SLO); The Grand National.

This week Kate and Nancy discuss the recently published paper questioning the protests and disagreements that occurred at this years (2023) Grand National at Aintree.
Research Reference and Link (Open Access):
Pearson, G.; Douglas, J.; Wolframm, I.; Furtado, T. Used like Pawns or Treated like Kings? How Narratives around Racehorse Welfare in the 2023 Grand National May Affect Public Acceptance: An Informed Commentary. Animals 2023, 13, 3137. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13193137

Forces and pressures on the horses back during bareback riding versus riding in a conventional saddle.

This week Nancy discusses a research paper comparing pressures/forces in bareback riding with riding in a well fitted conventional saddle.
Research Reference with Link: H.M. Clayton et al.(2013). Forces and pressures on the horse’s back during bareback riding. The Veterinary Journal.

Update on Deworming Protocols for Gastrointestinal Parasites in Adult Horses.

This week Nancy and Kate discuss a paper that investigated a herd of 18 mares that were housed on a pasture since 1979 without a deworming program. Nancy also relates the lecture information from a seminar she attended about deworming horses to combat parasite resistance.
Reference and Link to Research Paper:
Steuer, A.E., Anderson, H.P., Shepherd, T. et al. (2022). Parasite dynamics in untreated horses through one calendar year. Parasites Vectors 15, 50.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-022-05168-z
Link to a Veterinary article describing the newest thoughts on deworming programs for adult horses:
Deworming Programs- One Size Does Not Fit All. https://www.steinbeckpeninsulaequine.com/post/deworming-programs-one-size-does-not-fit-all

Assessing Welfare of Domestic Horses using the Wild Horse Herd Model.

This episode Kate and Nancy discuss a paper revealing updated research on the requirements of horses using the 5 domains model. This is a foundational start to assessing welfare.
Research Reference:
Harvey, A.M.; Ramp, D.; Mellor, D.J. Review of the Foundational Knowledge Required for Assessing Horse Welfare. Animals 2022, 12, 3385. 
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/23/3385

How Happy Are Equine Athletes ?

This week Nancy and Kate discuss welfare issues in equestrian sports and leisure riding.
Research Reference/Link:
Furtado, T.; Preshaw, L.; Hockenhull, J.; Wathan, J.; Douglas, J.; Horseman, S.; Smith, R.; Pollard, D.; Pinchbeck, G.; Rogers, J.; et al. How Happy Are Equine Athletes? Stakeholder Perceptions of Equine Welfare Issues Associated with Equestrian Sport. Animals 2021, 11, 3228.
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/11/3228#app1-animals-11-03228

When lightning strikes.

This week Kate and Nancy discuss lightening strikes in animals and how to lessen the odds of having a horse struck by lightning.
Research Reference:
Gomes, C., (2012). Lightning safety of animals. International Journal of Biometeorology (56), pp. 1011–1023.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-011-0515-5
Additional Information: https://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning

Do you see what I see? Looking into equine personality testing.

This week Nancy and Kate discuss the Equine Personality Test (EPT) and it's reliability scores.
Research Reference: A. Jolivald, K. Yarnell, C. Hall, C. Ijichi (2022). Do you see what I see? Investigating the validity of an equine personality questionnaire. Applied Animal Behaviour Science., 248, Article 105567
Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168159122000259