Learning Wild Courses with Equine International and Touching Wild

We  are excited to invite you to join us on the first Learning Wild course  on the island of Skyros in March 2024. Skyros, one of the Greek islands  in the Agean sea, is home to the Skyrian horse, one of the rarest horses  in the world. 

Learning  Wild courses are designed to provide a unique experience for  participants from around the world to explore the role of free-living  equids in cultures, environments, and histories in a variety of  international locations. We attract participants from a wide range of  careers and backgrounds which allows us to facilitate conversations that  engage with all levels of society and create opportunities to engage  with the local community and needs of the horses and culture in which we  are hosting the courses. We firmly believe that, by providing a space  in which people can learn about the unique traits of the horses we are  visiting, they can better understand the role these horses play in the  history of the landscape, the local culture, and the environment. We  believe that, by providing these experiences and perspectives on horses  we can move forward to encourage greater biodiversity with horses as  part of the dynamic ecosystems that can improve the health of our  planet.

Join Dr. Emily Kieson as she conducts research in the social lives of horses and explores  applications to domestic equine welfare and developing stronger  friendships with our own horses.
 

Share the experience and enthusiasm for the observational study of feral ponies with Bonny Mealand who is passionate about enabling others to learn from the richness of  this perspective. In addition there will be local experts and  representatives from relevant organisations.

For the Learning Wild  Skyros Course which will take place in mid-March 2024, we will work  closely with Amanda Simpson from the Skyros Island Horse Trust - Friends  of the Skyrian Horse to better understand the exceptional history of  the Skyrian horse; a breed that has been immortalised in history and  myth and is a living representation of the richness of Greek history. As  an animal with such a unique role in history, the Skyrian horse is a  symbol of how we can move forward with a greater respect for nature  while still honouring the past. 

We  will discuss the history of these horses on the island as well as their  role in the landscape, place in the culture and relationships with the  people on the island. Historically, Skyrian horses have roamed the tiny  island and played a large role in the ecosystem. There are still Skyrian  horses living freely on the southern areas of Skyros and we will visit  some of these locations to explore the vegetation and landscape that has  served as their home for thousands of years and see if the free-living  horses that still roam there are visible in a way that allows us to  observe them without disrupting their natural behaviours.
 

ITINERARY

This is an outline of the structure of the 4 days.


The delivery of the course will be determined

mainly by the weather.

March 15

The Art of Observation

Equine evolution, physical and behavioural


Putting together a simple ethogram.

March 16

Regenerative  grazing, conservation grazing and the possibilities of sustainable  environmental practices with horses as part of the landscape. We will  explore the ways communities can come together to improve both economic  and environmental growth and the potential for this here in Skyros.

March 17

Working  with Amanda and her volunteers at the Skyrian Horse Trust to  contextualise their history and heritage, understand the cultural and  historical changes which have led to restricted grazing for the Skyrian  horses and the need to preserve the breed in a more domestic setting. We  will learn about the ways in which the Trust is working to provide  enrichment and behavioural needs to replicate and mirror the Skyrian  horses natural environment while also improving the soil health.

March 18

Human & Horse

Through  group discussion we will contextualise and evaluate our observations  and learning, along with bringing our unique local, regional and global  perspectives to explore the ways we can translate what we have witnessed  and learned here in Skyros with the settings, situations and  environments we live and work to improve equine welfare, horse:human  relationships, improved environmental practises and more by sharing  ideas and interdisciplinary collaborations.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

TERRAIN GRADING

Moderate

As  we will be exploring the environments inhabited by the ponies,  challenging terrain may be encountered so a reasonable level of fitness  is suggested

WEATHER

March  is the first month of spring in Skyros - weather can be changeable and  packing accordingly is recommended. A summary of weather expectations  can be found at www.holiday-weather.com/skyros/averages/march/

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TRAVEL TO SKYROS

The  airport of Skyros is located on the northern side of the island, in the  region of Agios Petros. It operates only domestic flights from Athens  and Thessaloniki. There are no charter flights to Skyros from other  countries. The flight time from Athens to Skyros is 40 minutes and the  main flight operators to Skyros are:


www.olympicair.com

en.aegeanair.com

www.skyexpress.gr

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TRAVEL IN SKYROS

There are taxi services to get around the island and we will have a small minibus to take us around.

ACCOMMODATION

We have a limited amount of accommodation available in shared houses, book early to secure your bed.
We also offer an option for the cost of the course only with no accommodation provided.
Local places to stay can be found at:

www.greeka.com/sporades/skyros/hotels/
Booking.com - Accommodation Search Results

YOUR HOSTS

Bonny Mealand (Touching Wild) qualified as an Equine Podiatrist in 2005 and has been committed to  understanding, implementing and promoting a whole horse approach to  health and well-being ever since. Bonny specialises in working with  wild, free-living equines and “difficult” domestic equines by building  trust and helping them learn to be handled in a low stress way.

A short clip of Bonny working with some Takhi (equus prezwalski) can beviewed here - BBC Inside the Zoo.


Bonny  is committed to constantly learning as much about and from equines as  possible. Believing that it is possible to define what a life of quality  looks like at both a species and individual level. She then uses this  perspective to implement a high standard of welfare into their  domesticated lives.She is also a retained Firefighter, Somatic Yoga and  Mindfulness Teacher and BHS Welfare Advisor and is a MSc student at the  Dick vet (University of Edinburgh) studying  Equine Science.

Emily Kieson (Equine International) holds a PhD in Comparative Psychology, a MS in Psychology, and a graduate degree in Equine Science.

Her  research focuses on equine behavioural psychology, equine welfare, and  horse-human interactions as they apply to both horse owners and  equine-assisted activities and learning programs. Her current research  focuses on equine affiliative behaviours to study how horses create and  maintain social bonds and how those can overlap with human affiliative  behaviours to create authentic lasting friendships between horses and  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).