Abstract: Training can best be explained as a process that occurs through stimulus-response-reinforcement chains, whereby animals are conditioned to associate cues in their environment, with specific behavioural responses and their rewarding consequences. Research into learning in horses has concentrated on their powers of discrimination and on primary positive reinforcement schedules, where the correct response is paired with a desirable consequence such as food. In contrast, a number of other learning processes that are used in training have been widely studied in other species, but have received little scientific investigation in the horse. These include: negative reinforcement, where performance of the correct response is followed by removal of, or decrease in, intensity of a unpleasant stimulus; punishment, where an incorrect response is paired with an undesirable consequence, but without consistent prior warning; secondary conditioning, where a natural primary reinforcer such as food is closely associated with an arbitrary secondary reinforcer such as vocal praise; and variable or partial conditioning, where once the correct response has been learnt, reinforcement is presented according to an intermittent schedule to increase resistance to extinction outside of training.

Abstract: The Way to Perfect Horsemanship is an outstanding work in the vast literature devoted to horsemanship. It provides, for the first time, a clear insight into the psychological makeup of the horse, its muscular system, the mechanics of its movement, and the aids to human-to-horse communication. Udo Burger presents his philosophy of riding in a scientific manner, asserting that no one can no more learn to ride without a knowledge of horse physiology and psychology than one can learn the art of medecine without a background in health and disease. He clearly explains what one should feel and do on horseback--ultimately, as if one is part of the horse, completely united with it in all of its movements. Anyone with a genuine empathy for horses--wether teacher, trainer, competitor, or occasional rider--will benefit enormously from reading this classic work on horsemanship. The late Udo Burger was an accomplished horseman and one of Germany's most esteemed equine veterinarians.

Abstract: At around 1 year of age, human infants display a number of new behaviors that seem to indicate a newly emerging understanding of other persons as intentional beings whose attention to outside objects may be shared, followed into, and directed in various ways. These behaviors have mostly been studied separately. In the current study, we investigated the most important of these behaviors together as they emerged in a single group of 24 infants between 9 and 15 months of age. At each of seven monthly visits, we measured joint attentional engagement, gaze and point following, imitation of two different kinds of actions on objects, imperative and declarative gestures, and comprehension and production of language. We also measured several nonsocial-cognitive skills as a point of comparison. We report two studies. The focus of the first study was the initial emergence of infants' social-cognitive skills and how these skills are related to one another developmentally. We found a reliable pattern of emergence: Infants progressed from sharing to following to directing others' attention and behavior. The nonsocial skills did not emerge predictably in this developmental sequence. Furthermore, correlational analyses showed that the ages of emergence of all pairs of the social-cognitive skills or their components were interrelated. The focus of the second study was the social interaction of infants and their mothers, especially with regard to their skills of joint attentional engagement (including mothers' use of language to follow into or direct infants' attention) and how these skills related to infants' early communicative competence. Our measures of communicative competence included not only language production, as in previous studies, but also language comprehension and gesture production. It was found that two measures-the amount of time infants spent in joint engagement with their mothers and the degree to which mothers used language that followed into their infant's focus of attention-predicted infants' earliest skills of gestural and linguistic communication. Results of the two studies are discussed in terms of their implications for theories of social-cognitive development, for theories of language development, and for theories of the process by means of which human children become fully participating members of the cultural activities and processes into which they are born.

Abstract: Endurance horses, like marathon runners, undertake sub-maximal, longterm physical exercises and in both cases thermoregulation plays a critical role. A standardised sub-maximal treadmill test was used to assess fitness and training state in endurance horses. Literature reports that trained human athletes dissipate head load better than not trained ones; in this study parameters related to thermoregulation were recorded together with other haematologic and metabolic ones. Six endurance horses, divided into two groups according to their training state, performed two submaximal tests at a distance of one week. Blood samples were collected at rest, during exercise, at the end and during recovery (10, 30 and 60 minutes after work). Heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), rectal (RT) and skin (ST) temperatures were monitored through the exercise (and recovery for HR). HR resulted significantly lower (P<0.01) in trained horses than in untrained ones, especially during recovery. Also rectal and skin temperatures resulted significantly lower (P<0.05) in trained horses and ST increased more gradually during exercise. The values of haematocrit and haemoglobin resulted significantly lower (P<0.05) at rest, during exercise and recovery samples. In this study, the parameters related to thermoregulation, in accordance with data from human athletes, resulted significantly different in trained and untrained horses, while other parameters didn't vary significantly between the two groups. Thermoregulatory responses to exercise-generated heat load in a standardised test, studied by simple parameters, can thus offer useful information about fitness and training state of endurance horses.

Abstract: Yulk G. 1998. Leadership in organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall
Leadership in Organizations focuses on effective leadership in organizations through both theory and practice. This book explains and critiques the major theories and studies that are most relevant and informative and reviews what we know about leadership effectiveness. This combination of theory and practice makes this text a useful resource for practicing managers who are looking for something more than superficial answers to difficult questions about leadership.