Scentwork for Horses

"This book represents a major step forward for the human-horse relationship. Working within the horse's natural olfactory world to encourage exploration and reciprocal relationship, Rachaël Draaisma provides a well-researched and thoroughly conceptualized approach that is certain to be both enriching and enjoyable for horses and their people alike. Everyone who loves, lives, and works with horses will benefit greatly from reading this important addition to the literature. I have already made it required reading for our Equine Assisted Play Therapy® program. Highly recommended." Risë VanFleet, PhD, CAEBC-I, Psychologist; Certified Animal Ethology & Behavior Consultant-Instructor, Coauthor of the award-winning book Animal Assisted Play Therapy®, Principal, International Institute for Animal Assisted Play Therapy® "My training has been given a whole new dimension, and the effect of the training has been mind-blowing with each of the highly sensitive competition horses (of various disciplines) I am working with." Susan Kjærgård, Director Blue Berry Hill, Equine Instructor and former Grand Prix rider, Denmark "Giving horses the opportunity to use their scenting ability restores natural behaviours and anatomical functional movement. It also bestows autonomy, facilitating positive confidence through freedom of movement and thought." Julia Robertson, Director and Founder of Galen Myotherapy, UK

Auteur

Rachaël Draaisma graduated from the Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. She has always lived with and had a passion for dogs and horses. In 2002, she decided to make it her profession. Rachaël obtained several diplomas and then started working as a trainer and behavioural consultant, first with dogs and later with horses. In 2013, she completed the TR (Turid Rugaas) International Dog Trainers Education course. Under Turid's supervision, she began studying the calming signals of horses, filming domesticated horses, and analysing the resulting material. The study grew, is ongoing, and led to a complete focus shift from dogs to horses. It also led to the worldwide publication of the book Language Signs and Calming Signals of Horses by CRC Press.

Texte du rabat

This is the first practical guide on how to implement scentwork into the lives of domesticated horses, enhancing behaviour, welfare and the human-animal bond. Scentwork is a new discipline and Draaisma arms the reader with a pallet of information to enable them to put this technique into action.

Contenu

PART 1 EXPLORATION. Brain and biology: what explains these changes?. How to implement exploration in daily life. How to use exploration to address problems. PART 2 SCENT TRACKING FOR HORSES. Anatomy and physiology. Biomechanics. Background information. The advantages of scent tracking. Practicalities: what you need to know. The four pillars of this method. What materials do you need. Laying a track: tips for beginners. Tracking: step 1- the beginning. How to make tracking more difficult. Scent tracking while riding. From finding a scent bag to finding missing persons. Treat search. Appendix of tools. Bibliography