Changing Rein

This episode kicks off our new season of Changing Rein, in which we hope to step back and take a ‘big picture’ look at how welfare policy happens in equestrian sport, and what are the challenges and opportunities in making a better life for horses in sport.

Our first guest is Prof Natalie Waran.
 
Nat is an internationally acclaimed animal behaviour and welfare scientist, educator and opinion leader. She was previously Professor of Animal Welfare, the Jeanne Marchig Animal Welfare Education Centre Director andInternational Dean at Edinburgh University’s Veterinary School, before she moved back to NZ in 2016 to take up the role of Professor of One Welfare and Executive Dean at EIT where she was based for 7 years. She was until recentlyDirector of a new ‘A Good Life for Animals Centre’ – a Research and Human Behaviour Change initiative in New Zealand. She is now full-time in her role as Director of NavigateWelfare, an international animal welfare consultancy,whilst maintaining her academic work as a Hon Professor at Edinburgh, Hartpury, and Charles Sturt Universities. 
 
Over the past 30+ years, she has researched and published across a range of species, but her special interest is in equine welfare and she has worked on a variety of topics including; horse transport, indicators of equine stress andpain, equine problem behaviour, equine quality of life and welfare assessment as well as editing a book ‘The Welfare of Horses’ published by Springer. Her most recent research collaborations involves colleagues in Australia, UK,Brazil, UK, Sweden and Denmark, all with the central objective of developing methods and understanding about positive horse welfare. She has been a trustee for a number of international equine charities including; The Brooke (workingequids) and International Fund for Animal Welfare and works closely with others such as World Horse Welfare. A co-founder of the International Society for Equitation Science (ISES), she is now Honorary Fellow and former Trustee forthe organisation. 
 
She has a track record of organising numerous conferences and workshops to bring researchers and practitioners together to share information to advance animal welfare, and in particular to promote positive human behaviour change. The first workshop to develop the field of equitation science was held in 2004whilst she was at Edinburgh University, she then organised the 2012 ISES conference in Edinburgh when she returned to the vet school, and in 2024 she chaired the local organising committee for the ISES conference held in NZ with the theme of ‘A Good Life for Horses’. As the invited chairperson of the FEI Equine Ethics and Wellbeing Commission, she led the development of an ambitious report proposing a new ‘Good Life’ Vision, Charter and 30 Recommendations toaddress critical issues related to the involvement of horses in sport, and in 2024, she co-authored a white paper (Good Equine Welfare) for Eurogroup for Animal Welfare. 
 
In 2025 she was awarded an OBE for her services to equine welfare, research and education. 
 
When at home in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand , Nat enjoys training and riding her own horses, coaching young riders and trying to teach her naughty donkeys and Pickles the (very) feral goat, new tricks.

We had so much to talk about that we split our chat with Bonny Mealand into two episodes which are interlinked. We discuss how free-living equids offer vital insights into the needs of domestic horses, and why recognising how essential these inextricable links between these two worlds is for the future of meaningful equine care.
We explored how Bonny developed the HELP model which recognises that our presence, choices, and handling directly impact a horse’s emotional state and autonomy, leading to a focus on trust-based, low-stress approaches.
Bonny firmly believes that when we slow down, learn to observe well and pay attention, horses begin to teach us, revealing insights we could never access through intellectual knowledge, techniques and method alone. Learning toobserve with care and curiosity allows horses to become our teachers, showing us what truly matters to them, helping us let go of assumptions and develop a more attuned, responsive, and respectful way of understanding and being withthem. We explore how Bonnie's insights can be applied to everyday interactions with horses and we learn about Bonnie's "genie wish", one that is probably shared by most of our guests and listeners. Tune in and let us know your thoughts!

You can learn more aboutBonny’s work at these websites:
 
Touching Wild: https://www.touchingwild.com/
 
Learning Wild: https://learningwilduk.wixsite.com/learningwild?fbclid=IwAR3NJULaSPPUZDXdBbiCOvankZ6zLSrU2AjdLlTyl3h8ju2RAVjgG6YfRzU
 
The Equine Podiatry Association - https://www.epauk.org/?doing_wp_cron=1752481742.6105430126190185546875
 
Cristina Wilkins' online course mentioned by Bonny is available at this link:
https://www.openlearning.com/une/courses/une-equine-course/?cl=1&redirectTo=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.openlearning.com%2Fune%2Fcourses%2Fune-equine-course%2Fhomepage%2F%3Fcl%3D1

Summary
In Part 1 of our conversation with Bonny Mealand, she shares her journey into equine podiatry and the development of her HELP model, which emphasizes a holistic, horse-led approach to care. She discusses the importance of understanding horse behavior, building trust, and ensuring emotional safety in interactions. Bonny highlights the significance of observation in equine care and the important role of choice when developing meaningful relationships with horses. The conversation also touches on the challenges of rehabilitating traumatized horses and the potential for riding to be a positive shared experience when approached correctly.

Takeaways
Bonny's work focuses on a holistic approach to equine care.
The HELP model emphasizes safety and relationship building with horses.
Understanding horse behavior is crucial for effective interaction.
Observation of free-living horses provides insights into their natural behavior.
Building trust with horses takes time and patience.
The importance of emotional safety in horse handling cannot be overstated.
Rehabilitating traumatized horses requires a long-term commitment.
The HELP wheel serves as a framework for horse-human relationships.
Touch should be initiated by the horse to ensure comfort.
Riding can be a part of the relationship if approached correctly.

Kristen Closson possesses a unique trifecta of expertise.  As a rider that knows how it should feel, a coach who knows how to create it, and a judge who knows how to assess it. 
She has successfully competed through the FEI levels, and then diversified her attention to also include the coaching and the judging aspects of the sport.  She assists riders of all levels from young riders to International Grand Prix riders with her keen eye.
Kristen is remains active in education and sports administration, and holds two committee seats at Equestrian NSW, as well as being a coach educator and a judge educator.

In this episode we discuss promoting harmony in dressage through learning how to ask questions and interpret answers, and the role our self awareness plays in this ability.

You can learn more about Kristen's work on her website https://www.clossondressage.com/

Karen and Meta share an interest in Systems Thinking and its potential applications to horse welfare in sport. So when Dr Megan Ross and her co-authors published a paper on wicked problems and systemic issues in Canadian dressage she had to be a podcast guest!
Dr Megan Ross has a background in dressage and eventing. She has an applied science degree from the University of British Columbia with a focus on Animal Welfare and has applied this background (and Pilates certification) as a trainer and riding instructor to support the horse-rider dyad. 
She recently completed a PhD at the Atlantic Veterinary College and the University of Prince Edward Islandunder the supervision of Dr. Caroline Ritter and Dr. Kathryn Proudfoot. Her research focused on the human dimension of horse well-being/welfare, exploring owners’ perspectives of horse welfare in their daily life like management andtraining. 
She is now conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Katrina Merkies at the University of Guelph assessing the influence of interventions on rider and horse behaviour during lessons.
 
Link to the paper discussed in the episode
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/388845023_A_wicked_problem_Systemic_issues_surrounding_Canadian_equestrian_dressage_and_dressage_horse_welfare
 
The map of the issues mentioned by Megan in the episode is available atthis link:
https://static.cambridge.org/content/id/urn%3Acambridge.org%3Aid%3Aarticle%3AS0962728625000028/resource/name/S0962728625000028sup001.pdf