Rehabilitation Training Opportunities at Equine Rescue
Assessment of Needs:
Rehabilitation Training Opportunities at Equine Rescue
Author: Patricia Barlow-Irick, Ph.D. Mustang Camp, PO Box 620 Blanco, NM 87412 patricia@mustangcamp.org
Equine rescues take unwanted or relinquished equines as sanctuaries, or to find them new homes. Very little research has been done to describe the behavioral rehabilitation of horses in rescues. Holcomb et al (2010), in a survey of 280 equine rescue organizations, found that a major reason (27.6%) for relinquishment was behavior problems and the greatest single obstacle to re-homing a horse was its level of training according to 26.9% of the respondents. Weiss et al. surveyed 3036 households about potentially providing a home for an adopted horse and concluded that relinquishments might be reduced and adoptions increased if there was some level of medical and behavioral counseling for horse owners/adopters.
The objective of this project was to gather information about rehabilitation training at equine rescues, and particularly to assess the need for applied animal behavior theory and practical skills training.
Methods
We prepared a mailing list of 656 rescues from the Homes For Horses member list and Guidestar “Equine rescues” and asked them, to fill in our google form:
Results
After 3 days we prepared this report:
- Emails sent 656
- Bad addresses 79 12.04%
- Emails received 577
- Opened email 257 44.54%
- Clicked into survey 64 24.90%
Most (93%) of the responding rescues had training as a part of their program.
Most of them ranked it as a major component of their program.
Three indicated they used Applied Animal Behavior or Clicker Training. Seventeen said they used “Mixed” which would require more questions to define. Since a combination of positive and negative reinforcement would fall under Applied Animal Behavior, we interpret “mixed” as not having a theoretical basis for methods chosen.
Most of the respondents were most challenged by fear.
The interest in the possibility of sending someone to a free-class was high.
The interest in other free information was also high.
Discussion
We know from experience that fewer rescues would actually send someone to a class than indicated a willingness to do so. Yet, the combination of interest in receiving weekly information together with the high percent saying they would come indicates that there is a unfulfilled need to provide rescues with training information. One of the obstacles to helping rescues with training problems is making contact with them, given that 65% of the rescues did not even open the mail. Direct snail mail may increase contact with many of these rescues.
We believe that equine rescues could provide a venue for animal trainers to promote science based training both for behavioral rehabilitation and for relinquishment prevention counseling for owners and adopters.
Literature Cited
Holcomb, K. E., Stull, C. L., & Kass, P. H. (2010). Unwanted horses: The role of nonprofit equine rescue and sanctuary organizations. Journal of animal science, 88(12), 4142-4150.
Weiss, E., Dolan, E. D., Mohan-Gibbons, H., Gramann, S., & Slater, M. R. (2017). Estimating the Availability of Potential Homes for Unwanted Horses in the United States. Animals, 7(7), 53.