Abstract: Canada has a variety of educational offerings in equine management at the diploma and certificate level offered by universities and colleges, as well as by industry supported centres. However, it was not until 2007 that the first degree-based program in equine science was launched. Offered by the University of Guelph, the Bachelor of Bio- Resource Management – Equine Management program is designed for students who do not intend to pursue post-graduate studies and are strongly focused on securing employment that makes use of the knowledge acquired in their bachelor's degree. The courses in the BSc-program include basic natural sciences as well as equine-specific courses with a focus on management of equine related businesses and events. Diploma and certificate programs usually include only specifically equine-related courses e.g. in anatomy and physiology, health, business, facility management and nutrition. All diploma and certificate programs, and to a slightly lesser extent the BSc program, have a strong focus on applied learning with the intent to provide highly trained workers for the industry. Unique in Canada are the entirely online-taught Diploma in Equine Studies, the Certificate in Equine Business Management and the Equine Science Certificate offered by Equine Guelph and the University of Guelph"s continuing education. Students of these programs have access to a virtual classroom via the internet, and therefore access to instructors and guest speakers from the industry throughout the course. The Canadian certificate programs typically take one year (two semesters), the diploma programs two years (four semesters), while the BSc program takes four years (eight semesters). The BSc program requires approximately 2000 hours of in-class time plus roughly twice the amount spent on assignments and studying, totalling to an overall workload of roughly 6000 hours. Most programs require the completion of Grade 12 or equivalent for admission, and in all programs a background and experience with horses is not required for admission, however it is usually deemed beneficial. Career options for BSc-graduates include barn management, riding instructor or coach, professional rider, judge, steward, course designer, equine-assisted therapy, veterinary assistant, event manager, nutrition consultant, retail sales in tack and equipment, equine sales and marketing, agriculture extension services, college lecturer, consultant and technical advisor, and media relations. Career options for the diploma and certificate program graduates generally include similar areas, with a focus on hands-on work and direct interaction with horses such as employment as grooms, trainers and barn managers.

Abstract: Rollkur, the usually coercively obtained hyperflexion of the horse's neck, is employed as a training method by some dressage riders; however, its use is controversial as it may cause discomfort and adversely affect the horse's welfare. The objectives of this study were to determine: (1) if horses showed differences in stress, discomfort and fear responses as measured by heart rate and behaviour when ridden in Rollkur (R) obtained by pressure on the reins compared to regular poll flexion (i.e. with the nose-line being at or just in front of the vertical; N), and (2) if they showed a preference between the two riding styles when given the choice. Fifteen riding horses were ridden 30 times through a Y-maze randomly alternating between sides. Riding through one arm of the Y-maze was always followed by a short round ridden in R, whereas riding through the other arm was followed by a short round ridden in N. Immediately after the conditioning phase, horses were again repeatedly ridden into the maze; however, riders left it to the horse to decide which arm of the maze to enter. During R, horses moved slower and showed more often behavioural signs of discomfort, such as tail-swishing, head-tossing or attempted bucks (P < 0.05), and 14 of the 15 horses chose significantly (P < 0.05) more often the maze-arm associated with N rather than R. Subsequently, eight of the horses were also subjected to two fear tests following a short ride in N as well as a ride in R. During R, horses tended to react stronger (P = 0.092) to the fear stimuli and to take longer (P = 0.087) to approach them. These findings indicate that a coercively obtained Rollkur position may be uncomfortable for horses and that it makes them more fearful and therefore potentially more dangerous to ride. Further studies need to assess horses' reaction to gradual training of Rollkur, as opposed to a coercively obtained hyperflexion, in order to decide whether the practice should be banned.

Abstract: Current definitions of horse personality traits are rather vague, lacking clear, universally accepted guidelines for evaluation in performance tests. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to screen behavioural and physiological measurements taken during riding for potential links with scores the same horses received in the official stallion performance test for rideability and personality traits. Behaviour, heart rate (HR) and HR variability from thirty-six stallions participating in a performance test were recorded repeatedly during their performance test training. Using the coefficient of determination, regression analysis revealed that about 1/3 of variation (ranging between r = 0.26 (“constitution” (i.e. fitness, health)) and r = 0.46 (rideability)) in the personality trait scores could be explained by selecting the three most influential behaviour patterns per trait. These behaviour patterns included stumbling (with all traits except character), head-tossing (temperament, rideability), tail-swishing (willingness to work), involuntary change in gait (character) and the rider's use of her/his hands (constitution, rideability), voice (temperament) or whip (constitution). Subsequent mixed model analysis revealed a significant (P < 0.05) influence of the behaviour pattern “horse-induced change in gait” on character (-0.98 ± 0.31 scores per additional occurrence of change in gaits), of head-tossing (-0.25 ± 0.08 scores) and rider's use of voice (-0.51 ± 0.25; P = 0.0594) on temperament, and of stumbling on each of the following: willingness to work (-2.5 ± 1.2), constitution (-2.5 ± 1.2 scores; P = 0.0516) and rideability scores (-3.3 ± 1.4). In addition, constitution scores tended (P = 0.0889) to increase with higher low frequency/high frequency heart rate variation ratios (LF/HF), indicating a shift towards sympathetic dominance and thus a higher stress load in horses with higher scores for constitution. Rideability scores from the training phase were also significantly influenced by head-tossing (-0.5 ± 0.1), and in addition rideability scores from the final test were influenced by the training rider, ranging between average estimated rideability scores of 6.8 ± 0.4 for one training rider and 8.36 ± 0.3 scores for another training rider. Horses ridden with their nose-line predominantly behind the vertical received higher scores for rideability (8.3 ± 0.3) than horses ridden with their nose-line at the vertical (7.7 ± 0.2). These findings indicate that either judges perceive horses to have a better rideability when they readily offer a more extreme poll flexion, or that riders make use of horses’ better rideability by imposing a more extreme poll flexion. Several of the above described associations, but also of the non-existing links (e.g. no association between shying or heart rate and temperament) between behaviour patterns and scores for personality traits are rather surprising, warranting further investigation regarding the underlying causes of these relationships. Some of these behaviour patterns should be considered when redesigning the current guidelines for evaluation of personality traits during breeding horse performance tests, ultimately leading to improved genetic selection for equine personality traits. However, ethical implication of defining aversive behaviour such as head-tossing as an indicator of, for example, poor temperament, should not be neglected when devising new guidelines: such aversive behaviour may in fact be an indication of inadequate training techniques rather than poor horse personality.

Abstract: The interaction of horses with humans is a dynamic state, but it is not clearly understood how horses perceive humans. Nervousness is transmissible from humans to horses indicated by increased horse heart rate (HR), however no studies have investigated whether horses can differentiate between humans who are physiologicallystressed (eg. after exercising) as opposed to psychologically-stressed (eg. feeling nervous/afraid). Horses (N=10) were randomly subjected to each of four treatments: 1) no human [control], 2) a calm human comfortable around horses [CALM; N=2 humans], 3) a physically-stressed human [PHYS; human exercised to reach 70% of maximum HR; N=2 humans], and 4) a psychologically-stressed human [PSYCH; human who was nervous around horses; N=14 humans]. Humans ranked themselves on a scale of 1-10 for their nervousness around horses. Both humans and horses were equipped with a HR monitor. Behavioural observations of the horses [gait, head position relative to the withers, distance from human, orientation toward human] were recorded live. Horses were allowed to wander loose in a round pen for 5 minutes of baseline recordings, at which time the human subject entered the round pen, stood in the centre and placed a blindfold over his/her eyes. The human remained in the centre of the round pen for an additional 5 minutes. Horse HR during control did not differ from when the human was present in the CALM and PSYCH treatment, and was lower during the PHYS treatment (51a vs 54a vs 55a vs 45b bpm for control, CALM, PSYCH and PHYS respectively; a,b differ p<0.0001). Over the 5 minute test period, horse HR decreased in PHYS and PSYCH (p<0.01) whereas it increased in CALM (p<0.0001). Horse HR decreased with increasing human rank of nervousness around horses (p=0.0156), and horses stood nearer to the human when they faced the human (p<0.0001) regardless of treatment. Horses moved at a faster gait in the control treatment, and their gait was slowest in the PSYCH treatment (p<0.0001), and the horse’s head position was lower in the PHYS and PSYCH treatments compared to CALM or baseline (p< 0.0001). A lower horse head position was positively correlated to a lower horse HR (p<0.0001) and negatively correlated to horse age (p<0.0001). Human HR was affected by treatment, with PHYS having the highest HR (p<0.0001). Human HR increased when the horse was facing away from the human, even though the human was blindfolded (p=0.0395). Overall, horses appear to be influenced by the physiological and psychological state of a human without any direct contact. Horses’ posture does reflect their physiological state. Understanding how horses react to human physiological and psychological states is especially important in equine-assisted activities, where the response of the horse has specific implications for the human participant.