When that winter weather blows in and all you are doing with your equine friends is keeping them fed and watered and sheltered from the weather, you can ponder the learning opportunities coming your way.
In November, we have the Alberta Equestrian Federation annual conference in Calgary featuring a number of interesting guest speakers.
The keynote sessions will cover quite a variety of topics: Customer Service — Why Isn’t It A Common Practice?; Think Horse, Speak Horse and Be the Better Horse; Risk Management and Insurance Solutions for the Equine Community; and Horse Sense for Human Potential.
There will be other sessions including Back Country First Aid, Equine Safe Handling Procedures, Long Term Athlete Development and AEF Bits of News.
You can contact the Alberta Equestrian Federation (AEF) for more details and registration.
In January, we have the Annual Breeders and Owners conference in Red Deer featuring three full days encompassing a huge variety of sessions – there is even equine themed shopping opportunities in the trade fair.
The lineup of presenters for 2013 covers a wide variety of topics of interest to “horsey” folk.
Topics will include the latest information in equine health, behavior, management, alternative therapies, genetics, training and the future of the equine industry. You can contact the Horse Industry Branch for more details and registration.
There are many other learning opportunities available if you are looking for something else.
One excellent resource is the Internet but you have to keep in mind that everything you find online is not necessarily 100 per cent true.
One article I came across recently caught my attention: Equine Performance and Psychological Factors Linked by Christa Leste-Lasserre.
Her opening comment was “Ever feel like your horse is in a bad mood?”. I have often wondered if horses have moods and this article seems to support my theory.
The article quotes a British equine behaviour research team working on this topic. One of the team members stated that “to attain optimal individual performance within any equestrian discipline, horses must be in peak physical fitness and have the correct psychological state”.
The study goes on to describe the psychological state as being made up of three factors: temperament, mood and emotional reaction. The challenge is how to scientifically measure these factors — really tough when you can’t ask the subjects to describe their mood. But, just because we can’t measure it, doesn’t mean it is not a factor.
Anyone who has spent lots of time with their horses already knows that they have their good days and their bad days.
Is it their mood that day or are we asking them to do something they are not ready for (physically fit) or not mentally suited for (temperament) the tasks?
Another aspect of educating yourself with information off the Internet is that you can find conflicting information.
I was researching which bedding is best to put in the shelters for my miniature horses — I was pondering using straw but was concerned about the impact of my minis eating the straw.
The results of my searching did not help at all — I can find information ranging from “excellent bedding for miniature horses`` to “never use straw for miniature horses — will cause digestive tract blockage”.
So, I am no further ahead than when I started my search.
