Recognising equine emotions and stress and its role in EAS

What will our webinar be about?

Recognising equine emotions and stress and its role in the field of Equine Assisted Services.

Dr Helen Spence is a clinical animal behaviourist specialising in equines based primarily in Northern Ireland. She graduated with a BSc (Hons) Psychology from Queens University Belfast in 1999 and followed this with a doctorate on the ‘Influence of Owner Personality and Attitudes on the Behaviour and Temperament of the Domestic Horse’, also at Queens.

While completing her doctoral studies, she launched her business ‘Helen Spence Horse Sense’ in 2003, offering advice on equine behaviour and training and coaching classical riding. Since then, Dr Spence has taught horse behaviour at post graduate level at Southampton University, Waikato University, NMBU Oslo and Edinburgh University. She has taught undergraduate psychology with a focus on learning theory and animal behaviour at Queens, and is invited by internationally renowned veterinary behaviourist Sarah Heath on an annual basis to speak to fourth year veterinary students at Liverpool University.

Helen also has a thorough practical grounding in the horse world, having worked in a range of equine settings including stud work and riding schools. She has owned and bred a number of equines over the years and backed or supervised backing of a range of young horses. She has recently reduced her lecturing commitments in order to focus on her passion for her outdoor office.

Currently working on a book, backing two youngsters and bringing on two more, she still commits three days a week to hands on work with clients and their horses.

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