I’m rapt to be able to catch up with a friend next month as she’s visiting Australia.  She lives in France and we met whilst studying at the Irish National Stud!  Now many years later she is attending the Equitation Science Conference.  This is held by the International Society for Equitation Science.  It will be in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales from November 22 – 25 of 2017.

I thought I would head along to the ISES website to find out a little more about this non profit.

As it says on their about page:

“The idea of founding a society devoted to Equitation Science had first been raised during discussions at the Havemeyer Foundation Workshop on Horse Behavior and Welfare in Iceland in 2002. The following year, a satellite meeting on horse welfare was held at the International Society for Applied Ethology Congress in Italy. In 2004, the first workshop, solely devoted to Equitation Science was held at the Veterinary School of the University of Edinburgh.

As a direct result of the growing interest in Equitation Science, the 1st symposium was launched at the Australian Equine Behaviour Centre (AEBC) in 2005, where 8 peer-reviewed scientific papers were presented. The 2nd Equitation Science symposium (2006) was hosted by the Veterinary Faculty of Milano (Italy) with 16 peer-reviewed papers, 11 posters and practical demonstrations held at the Stable Rosenthal (Carpiano).

In August 2007, the 3rd symposium took place at Michigan State University, USA. This was a historic event for ISES as the Society was founded and the first general meeting held. The Symposia were then transformed to conferences.

The 4th conference, ISES Dublin 2008, took place at the Royal Dublin Society (Ireland), attracting 100 peer-reviewed scientific abstracts.

The following 5th conference at Sydney University in Australia tackled some highly topical issues.  Including the sustainability of horse sports and the concept of ethical equitation, including contributions from 200 delegates representing 15 countries.”

The science behind how we use horses, communicate with them and respond to their welfare needs is an interesting one.  As horses come into higher demand for entertainment and sports, it’s an area that I am sure will grow.  Interested as a practitioner in your particular field?  You can sign up for membership and benefit from future research projects and conferences.  There are even research funding opportunities and student travel grants available – cool!

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Perhaps as you go through high school or even university, you question the value of scientific subjects.  There are some horse careers where it’s necessary for you to have a science background – even at degree level.  Let’s explore the idea of science and horses relating to careers:

• Anthelmintics – horses suffer from worms; they can affect their digestive system and overall health as they steal nutrients meant for the horse to digest.
  To be able to educate people about the correct use of worming products or to help create these products often requires a science background.
• Veterinarians – being able to effectively treat horses requires knowing a lot of science. You need to know about the horse’s respiratory system, reproductive system, urinary system, anatomy, physiology, and also nutrition.  The list goes on!
  This means being comfortable with biology, chemistry and biochemistry.

• Reproductive technicians – whether you have a passion for mares, stallions, artificial insemination, reproductive technologies or live cover, it doesn’t matter!
  Science is important to know the reproductive physiology of the mare and stallion.  It’s also important to know about aspects in the mare’s pregnancy.  Plus, what can improve chances of conception and healthy pregnancies leading to a live foal.
• Nutritionists – perhaps you want to advise people about the best horse feed types for their horse.  Or you want to develop a particular food product for horses.  Either way, science is imperative. Knowing what happens in the digestive system of the horse as well as how particular feeds can affect this comes down to biochemistry.
  Being able to develop a horse feed that has the right levels of vitamins and minerals that is palatable to the horse and easily consumed is also a question of biochemistry.  Knowing how to best produce and store hay also needs science!
• Medicines and additives – if you want to create something that can heal, prevent or diminish an ailment in horses, science will be needed. This could be an oral medication, something to be injected or even a supplement given in feed.
  Knowing how it will get into the horse’s system and affect it will require knowledge of biochemistry and anatomy at least.

So here are five general career topics that show just how important science and horses are.  Science impacts on the areas of horse health and welfare, reproduction and nutrition.  Science is important to many horse careers!

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