Board of Directors

Emily Kieson holds a PhD in Comparative Psychology, a MS in Psychology, and a graduate degree in Equine Science. Emily also holds multiple certifications in various models of equine-assisted activities and previously served as Chair of the Equine Welfare Committee with the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH) for2 years. Her current research focuses on equine affiliative behaviors to study how horses create and maintain social bonds and how those can overlap with human affiliative behaviors for application in management, horse ownership, equine-assisted activities, and indicators of positive welfare in horses with and without humans. She also has a passion for supporting sustainable systems of horse management and husbandry that promote physical and psychological welfare of the horse while simultaneously supporting sustainable ecosystem practices on small and large scales (for both feral and domestic equids). Emily currently develops and teaches courses at universities in the fields of psychology, animal-human interactions, animal-assisted interventions, animal behavior and training, and animal welfare and ethics.  She also serves as a member of dissertation committees at universities in the US and UK.  Emily serves as Executive Director at Equine International

Bethany Baxley’s passion for horses has been a lifelong love. She combined this passion with compassion for children with special needs when she worked at a summer camp over 10 years ago. As a Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor through the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH), Bethany noticed negative behaviors in the horses escalate and horses being retired from programs after only a short time of working. She began to wonder what was going on with these horses. They were physically well, but still expressing these behaviors. This led her to Texas Tech, after a friend introduced her to a professor looking for a graduate student for animal welfare research, Dr. Nichole Anderson. 

Bethany’s research focuses on the stress of horses working in Equine-Assisted Services (EAS). Specifically, how mounted services affect the horses’ gait and behaviors. Her hope is that the research she is conducting will improve the welfare of horses in EAS and therefore increase the longevity and sustainability of facilities offering these services.