The Horse Trust delivers first CPD course on equine behaviour modification for vets and nurses

Jenny Thompson RVN, veterinary nursing lecturer at MYF Training, Aldershot, said “This was an excellent course, designed to give an understanding of how horses learn. This knowledge was then used to understand how common unwanted behaviours could be dealt with. Particularly valuable were the opportunities throughout the day to actually practise the concepts being taught with the horses provided. It was so refreshing to attend an evidence-based course on this subject and to see learning theory utilised in an informed and reasoned manner with the horses’ welfare always paramount”.

Alastair MacVicar MRCVS, Principal of the Anvil Equine Veterinary Clinic, West Sussex, said “This is an interesting course which allowed practical insights into adapting poor behaviour in horses. This will have direct benefits by allowing us to offer more involved advice to owners who are being tested by their horse’s poor behaviour. It also impressed me with regard to the relative rapidity with which some poor behaviour can be modified – a matter of just half an hour in some cases”.

Andy Forsyth, Senior Veterinary Technical Advisor at CEVA Animal Health, manufacturers of the equine appeasing pheromone product ConfidenceEQ and sponsors of the course, said “This training should have been available 20 years ago in the UK vet schools. It would be invaluable for dealing, on a day-to-day basis, with the caseload in any mixed, equine practice or charity, allowing a safer and more effective environment for equine patients and their owners. It was a great pleasure for us to be involved in this course and our thanks go out to all involved for an excellent and thought provoking day of CPD”.