I headed off to Birmingham to the BSAVA congress in April, to attend the Companion Animal Behaviour Therapy Study Group (CABTSG) day.  CABTSG usually try to cover a variety of species, however when I saw the initial list of speakers for the 2009 conference I was disappointed to see a distinct lack of equine topics!  Cats, dogs, rabbits, lizards and all sorts of other creatures are considered to be companion animals, however it is usually cats and dogs that get all the airtime. 

Technically horses are considered companion animals within the UK too, although they do seem to sit on the periphery of the group.  Perhaps this is partially because in wider Europe they are classified as a food-producing animal (as they are killed for meat in some countries - which will remain nameless!) ...

Although I would have preferred to just moan about the lack of equine content, I decided to be brave and put my hand up to do a short 10 min talk on the current state of equine behaviour modification training, as carried out by riders and mainstream instructors.

On the day there was an audience of around 70 people, mostly veterinarians and professional animal behaviourists.  Fairly daunting!  This is not my usual scene, however my husband is a behaviourist so he recognised a few faces which made integrating a little easier.

As I was researching my topic, I was reminded of how little horse training techniques and equipment have changed over the millenia.  I found photographs of spurs and bits that I had taken while at the Louvre, and other museums, and managed to match them up with their very similar modern-day counterparts. 

I can't help but feel that a change is in the wind though, that advances in our understanding of horses and other animals may allow us to achieve greater results than we previously thought possible.  The equipment and techniques employed in dog training has changed markedly over the past 20 years, and for the better I think.

Hopefully the same is in store for us?