About Research and Funding

Title: Development of a horse-human ethogram and checklist to support treatment progression and equine welfare in Equine Assisted Interventions (Phase 1&2 out of 4)

Funded by:  Partially funded by Ann Kern-Godal’s Memorial Fund for Horse-Assisted Therapy.  Additional Donations are needed (DONATE HERE) 

Summary: The research goal: The purpose of this study is to develop a preliminary tool to track horse-human interactions and communication over the course of equine-assisted interventions (EAI) to improve the understanding and integration of horse-human interactions and wellbeing outcomes for both humans and horses across all models of EAI. Practitioners of EAI working alone would benefit from a standardized observational tool to monitor the progress of horse-human interactions to promote therapeutic progress and to ensure equine welfare. Thus, the development of an EAI ethogram would create a new method to identify and qualify treatment progression across all models of EAI. 

Participating Researchers: 

Emily Kieson PhD, MS, PgDip, ESMHL (PI)

Christine Rudd PhD Candidate

Collaborators:  Five international centers providing equine-assisted work (Including Project Comeback (www.projectcomeback.org), Ears Forward (www.earsforward.com) in Canada, Dr. Francesca Gatti with Ekornrud Stable in Norway, and a private EAI center run by Marjut Turunen in Finland).  This project is also supported by collaborations with Regis College.

Title:  Contextualizing Intra- and Interspecies Affiliative Interactions of Free-living and Captive Horses to Inform Handling and Management Practices in Zoos and Conservation Programs

Funding:  Partially funded through Equine International fundraising efforts (Donations welcome!) 

Summary:  In order to understand how to build relationships with horses and establish trust, we need to understand how horses express these same indicators of building friendship with one another and look at how those same behavioral patterns are or are not expressed with people and under what context those occur.  To do this we have collected video data (during specific research trips in addition to Learning Wild trips) of horses in free-living (Insh Marshes) and captive (HWP) environments and their respective behavioral patterns with each other and with known and unknown humans.  Comparing behavioral patterns of horse-horse affiliative behaviors with those expressed during human interactions as well as looking at the outcomes of those interactions (e.g. was the horse willing to engage with human and allow the human to partake in caretaking behaviors) provides essential data that informs handling practices in these novel environments.  The theoretical foundations of this study are from comparative psychology and relationship theory.  Some of the practices that were observed for this study are new approaches to handling captive equids and have won awards through the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA).  This study is to understand the equine behavioral psychology behind this kind of handling, but also to inform better management and handling practices that are aligned with behavioral indicators as well as contextual indicators (including the role of choice and free expression in horses).  

Participating Researchers:

Emily Kieson PhD, MS, PgDip, ESMHL (PI)

Helen Sabolek Consiglio PhD (Associate Professor, Regis College)

Katee Stanley 

Abigail Brackett

Bonny Mealand EP

Collaborators:  Bonny Mealand (Touching Wild), Insh Marshes - Royal Society for the Preservation of Birds (RSPB - Scotland), The Highland Wildlife Park (HWP) in the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland and member of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS). This project is also supported by collaborations with Regis College.

Title:  Equine Affiliative Behavior Ethogram 

Funding: Partially funded through Equine International fundraising efforts (Donations welcome!) 

Summary:  In order to understand how we fit into horses' lives, we need to understand how they create and maintain social bonds without humans and in natural-living and free-living environments.  The purpose of this study is to observe pro-social behaviors that exist between individuals in family groups and free-living groups (where horses have free choice of "friends" and groups) when they are choosing to spend time in close proximity with others.  Video data for this study were collected on dedicated research trips to observe the pottoka horses in the Piornal region of Spain, the free-living konik ponies at Wicken Fen in the UK, and on Learning Wild trips to Mongolia to observe wild Takhi (Przewalski Horses). Both are free-breeding groups so observations take into account family groups and dyad-specific interactions based on sex of the horse and place (e.g. foal, mare, stallion, etc) within the family group.  The findings of this study will be compared with groups of non-breeding horses as well as domestic groups to develop a comprehensive ethogram of affiliative behaviors.  The goal is that the ethogram can be used to better understand social and emotional well-being of horses in all environments as well as better understand their expressions of affiliative behaviors with humans (and under what context that occurs - see Projects 2 & 4).  

Participating Researchers: 

Emily Kieson PhD, MS, PgDip, ESMHL (PI) 

Linda Gibertini 

Jessie Sams 

Collaborators:  Pottokas en Piornal (Spain), Wicken Fen (a member of the National Trust in the UK), The International Takhi Group (ITG). This project is also supported by collaborations with Regis College.

Title:  Observations and Context of Expressions of Affiliative Behaviors of Horses towards Humans 

Funding:  Partially funded through Equine International fundraising efforts (Donations welcome!) 

Summary:  To better understand how we, as humans, fit into the lives of horses, we need to understand when, how, and under what circumstances they express emotional bonding (affilitaive) behaviors between themselves (horse-horse/intraspecific) and under what conditions and context they might express these same behaviors with humans (interspecific).  This study uses the data collected in Projects 2 & 3 and compares these to horses who are handled regularly by familiar and unfamiliar humans.  The data used in this study were collected at a variety of locations internationally and include free-living as well as domestic herds.  Observations were under natural conditions.  

Participating Researchers:

Emily Kieson PhD, MS, PgDip, ESMHL (PI) 

Helen Sabolek Consiglio PhD (Associate Professor, Regis College)

Katee Stanley

Abigail Brackett

Additional Researchers Pending 

Collaborators:  Insh Marshes - Royal Society for the Preservation of Birds (RSPB - Scotland), Project Comeback, Blaze's Equine Rescue, Select Domestic Settings in UK and USA.  This project is also supported by collaborations with Regis College.