(21st March 2013)

A new season of courses held by the Italian Horse Protection Association is about to start. As always, the courses are held by highly qualified teachers and the cost remains very accessible, in consideration of their educational scope.

This year’s calendar is richer than that of 2012, thanks to notable organizational efforts. We believe, in fact, that better protection of equines begins with better education and thus better knowledge of how these animals are made and how they think.

Our highly qualified teaching staff consists of:

Paolo Baragli, who teaches cognitive ethology and physiology of the horse at the Equine Laboratory (Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa). He has conducted experimental studies on the spatial abilities, the concept of permanence of an object and the possible modes of interaction between horse and human beings, with the use of cognitive biases.
His aim is to improve the conditions of psycho-physical wellbeing of equines through practical application of the results of his studies. He is a regular contributor to international journals and has participated in international conventions as invited lecturer.

Paola Lovrovich, who graduated in Biological Sciences at the University of Trieste in 2007, with a dissertation titled “Behaviour of the Wild Population of Tarpans in Carnia”. In 2011 she was awarded the title of 2nd level University Master in “Ethology of pets” with an experimental dissertation titled “"Human-given cues and behavioural plasticity of horses during a delayed three-choice task", presented to the 2nd International Equine Science Meeting (Regensburg, 2012). Familiar with horses since she was 9, she has extensive knowledge of the riding world. She has a horse named Jody, who has been bearing with her for 11 years. Her site is: www.etologiadelcavallo.it

Agnese Santi, who graduated in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Bologna in 2005. After training experience in Italy (Select Breeders Service) and the United States (Peterson and Smith Equine Hospital, Florida), she worked as resident veterinarian at Kedrah House Stud, an important Irish breeding farm, before undertaking an Internship at the Valley Equine Hospital in Lambourn (UK), where she stayed as junior clinician. After a month of voluntary work in Egypt (at ACE) she returned in Tuscany, where she works as equine veterinarian.

Dario Arcamone, who teaches sculpture and design at the Studio Art Centres International in Florence. He has studied in Italy, Germany, Greece and the United States, where he specialized in sculpture (MFA) in Ohio. His second life is made up of horses and their natural management, especially of the equine foot, which he follows as professional trimmer. He has studied with special interest the trimming method of Jaime Jackson, from whom he received the certification of professional trimmer AANHCP. In addition, he teaches for the professional training branch of AANHCP (ISNHCP) through the Dutch association PPE (Paddock Paradise Europe) and the Italian BHI (Barefoot Horse Italia).


The IHP courses for 2013 are listed below, with the links to the detailed schedules:

Equine psychology and better management of horses
The aim of this course is to get to know the horse’s mind and its mechanisms. The most important psychological and ethological characteristics will be analyzed, for the purpose of learning how to change the stable environment and the management of horses to meet their needs: how the horse perceives the surrounding environment; the horse’s memory; evaluation of stimuli, and brain lateralization. The participants will learn to analyze the behaviour of horses in a social context, in order to “read” their behaviour in the stable. The latest research has revealed that erroneous management can cause forms of depression and pre-depression. We will try to understand how this happens, through the development of the emotional behaviour of horses.
Download the schedule (the course will be held in Italian only)


Correct communication with horses: practical application of the learning process in management and direction from the ground
This course illustrates how horses learn from the environmental stimuli surrounding them. It explains how the mental processes through which the horse learns to live in the wild and to adapt to environmental conditions are the same used to adapt to human intentions. Based on this knowledge, we can create and apply new artificial stimuli designed to let the horse understand, clearly and unmistakably, what we want from it.
The courses alternate brief theoretical sessions on the basic concept with longer practice sessions in which the participants are taught to correctly apply the newly learned concepts to horses.
Rather than teaching how to do and what to do, like a manual, the course focusses on how we are “interpreted” and understood (or more often misunderstood) by the horse.
The purpose of the course is that of developing the participants’ awareness and teaching them how to apply clear, consistent stimuli, understandable by the horse in any activity or discipline.
Download the schedule (the course will be held in Italian only)


VET / Barefoot Course
The course, divided into two sections, deals with what an owner should know about veterinary management and the approach to natural trimming. The section on veterinary management is designed to provide information that helps owners to extricate themselves from the many rules existing in the horse world, by examining the most common clichés and trying to understand their legitimacy. Subsequently, the course will analyze the most common veterinary routine practices (why they are done, what are they about, how important they are). Lastly, it will attempt to understand and identify the real emergencies in the horse, and what is really important to do (and not to do).
The section dedicated to natural management of horses’ hooves will analyze the philosophy and the studies carried out by Jaime Jackson on the Great Basin Mustangs (USA), in order to understand the importance and need for so-called “natural trimming”. This approach does not focus exclusively on trimming per se, but on a philosophy of management as close as possible to the natural model, where the horse is fully understood, immersed in its evolutionary habitat.
Download the schedule (the course will be held in Italian only)


Calendar of the courses

Equine psychology and better management of horses
- 25th and 26th May
• 15th and 16th June
• 7th and 8th September
• 12th e 13th October

Correct communication with horses
• 1st and 2nd June
• 6th and 7th Juy
• 20th and 21st July
• 14th and 15th September
• 19th and 20th October


VET / BAREFOOT
• 29th and 30th June
• 3rd and 4th August
• 21st and 22nd September
• 26th and 27th October


Download the general information to get the details on: schedules, number of participants, meals and overnight stays (optional).

Download the application form

For more information, contact our secretary: write to m.cavallari@horseprotection.it or call the number +39 347 3694804