CONTRIBUTORS
Understand Horses contributors are all highly qualified professionals and experts in their field who are passionate about presenting practical, easy to understand evidence-based knowledge for horse owners and equine professionals.
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TRUDI DEMPSEY
Trudi is a Certified Equine Behaviour Consultant with the IAABC and a member of their Application Review Committee. She is also an Accredited Animal Behaviourist with the ABTC offering in-person and online consultations. Trudi has been offering her own unique blend of classical dressage and positive reinforcement since the ’90s. She specialises in developing behaviour change by creating low stress learning environments. Trudi presents clinics, talks, and workshops in person throughout the UK and webinars and courses online around the world. She contributes to Your Horse magazine and the peer reviewed IAABC Journal. She hosts the behaviour and training podcast ‘Lead a Horse to Water’.
On-Demand Courses
AN INTRODUCTION TO TRAINING HORSES WITH FOOD
HOW TO CREATE A SUCCESSFUL TRAINING PLAN
Instructor-Led Course
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JUSTINE HARRISON
Justine is the founder of Understand Horses and has been practicing as a horse behaviour consultant since 2007. She is a Certified Equine Behaviour Consultant with the IAABC, the organisation’s UK Co-Chair and a member of the Application Review Committee. She is also a registered Accredited Animal Behaviourist and Trustee of the Animal Behaviour & Training Council. Justine is a visiting lecturer on the BSc (Hons) Equine Behavioural Science degree at ARU Writtle (formerly Writtle University College) and also acts as an expert consultant in court cases involving equine behaviour. She holds lectures and workshops around the UK and regularly contributes to a wide variety of international publications – either writing articles, commenting or answering specific questions about horse behaviour and training.
On-Demand Courses
UNDERSTAND EQUINE BODY LANGUAGE
Instructor-Led Course
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EMMA LETHBRIDGE
Part neuroscientist, part horse fanatic, Emma is fascinated by the equine brain and how horses perceive and respond to their world. Emma has 32 years’ experience with horses, having been lucky enough to have been riding since she was four and to have had four wonderful family horses since the age of 12. Emma has studied horses to master’s level, read a degree in neuroscience and obtained a PhD in neuropsychology; she has also ridden in affiliated competitions, worked on professional yards, directed an equine learning centre, taught riding, helped many people with their horse’s behaviour and, more importantly than all of that combined, she has come to love equines not for what they can do for us, but for the wonderful creatures they are in their own right.
On-Demand Courses
GREY MATTERS! UNDERSTANDING THE EQUINE BRAIN
WORKING WITH FEAR AND TRAUMA IN HORSES
Instructor-Led Course
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LAUREN FRASER
Lauren Fraser MSc is an experienced horsewoman, who has worked professionally with horses since 2006. Prior to her current specialisation, Lauren taught riding and horsemanship, and trained horses. Lauren holds an Equine Science Certificate (with Distinction) from the University of Guelph, and obtained her MSc in Clinical Animal Behaviour (with Merit) through the University of Edinburgh's Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies. Lauren's dissertation research examined the behaviour of horses subjected to ‘laying down’ during training. Lauren provides horse behaviour consultations, both in-person and remotely worldwide, and offers educational events on horse behaviour and training.
On-Demand Courses:
WHY DO HORSES BEHAVE BADLY? AN INTRODUCTION TO BEHAVIOURAL DEVELOPMENT IN HORSES
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ROSA VERWIJS
Rosa is an IAABC Certified Equine Behaviour Consultant and registered with the Animal Behaviour and Training Council as an Accredited Animal Behaviourist. She is also a Senior Lecturer in Equine Behaviour and Nutrition at ARU Writtle (formely Writtle University College) in Essex, where she leads the BSc (Hons) Equine Behavioural Science degree. Rosa has experience working on studs and in racing, and now focuses her time on lecturing, behavioural research and consulting to try and promote a better understanding of natural equine behaviour and encourage horse owners and trainers to use more science-based, ethical training practices.
On-Demand Courses:
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ROXANE KIRTON
Roxane Kirton BVMS MSc MRCVS is an equine vet who graduated from the University of Glasgow in 2005. She has spent most of her career working in the equine charity sector and it was the challenges of working with horses and ponies with histories of cruelty and neglect that started Roxane’s interest in equine behaviour. This led to her obtaining a MSc in Clinical Animal Behaviour with Distinction from the University of Lincoln in 2020. Her MSc research project was investigating the welfare impact of different grazing systems on outdoor living ponies. Roxane has a particular professional interest in the relationship between unwanted behaviours and physical health. In addition to continuing to work in the charity sector to improve the welfare of horses, Roxane also offers private behaviour and acupuncture consultations.
On-Demand Courses
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SOOZ FOSTER
Sooz is a Certified Equine Behaviour Consultant with the IAABC and a member of their Application Review Committee. She is also an Accredited Animal Behaviourist with the Animal Behaviour & Training Council and a British Horse Society stable manager and senior coach. She has worked in the equine industry for over 20 years – teaching riding, training client’s horses and competing in various disciplines. Sooz now also trains dogs and cats and is working towards becoming a Certified Karen Pryor Clicker Trainer. She works with all animals following ethical, science-based practises and believes that there is a lot to gain by training other species alongside horses.
On-Demand Course:
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SAM COUPER
Sam has been cataloguing and recording observations of feral horses since 2018. She is board chair of the Onaqui Catalogue Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to compiling observations on the Onaqui wild horses using citizen science. In particular, she is passionate about breaking down barriers surrounding scientific observation and interpretation for both professionals and laymen. To bring wild horses to the public, she teaches a course on wild horse behaviour at the University of Utah (USA). In particular, she is interested in how management, climate, and predation histories interact to affect horse heterarchies and band formation strategies. Sam is a member of IAABC and is working towards becoming a full time equine behaviour consultant, where she plans to integrate feral horse research and personal observations to aid owners with removed feral horses adapting to domestic settings.
On-Demand Course