The horse world is lagging behind in the humane treatment of animals. If you prodded a cat with a fork, or smacked it with a belt, you’d rightly be in big trouble. It would be deemed extremely cruel – abhorrent treatment of an animal and there would be a justified onslaught if it was made public. Similarly, the use of prong collars on dogs is now (thankfully and finally) banned in the UK. Yet spurs, whips, chifneys, various bits which resemble medieval instruments of torture are still...

CONSIDERING THE WELFARE IMPLICATIONS OF OUR PERCEPTIONS What Actually IS Intelligence? ‘Intelligent’, ‘smart’, ‘clever’, ‘stupid’, ‘dense’ ‘slow’. Some of the many labels which are used when referring to the cognitive ability of equines (and other animals). If we ask ourselves to define ‘intelligence’ though, it can be quite difficult (have a think!). In human terms, and in school and university settings, it is often measured by the famous I.Q. tests which on the whole concentrate on...

2 SCENTS ON EQUINE OLFACTION “But there’s nothing there boy” you say to your horse as his head shoots up and he looks off into the distance at goodness knows what – nothing you can see, that’s for sure! Perhaps if he could speak your language he’d say “are you crazy?! Can’t you smell that??” Olfaction is of great importance to equines, and one of the senses that they rely heavily on. This, along with the other four sensory modalities, forms a rich part of the horse’s sensory integration,...