8.45am - JUSTINE HARRISON

9am - Lecture: LIANE PRESHAW

TBC

09.30am - Lecture: SAM TIBBETTS

Veterinary examinations and treatments can be stressful experiences for horses, particularly in unfamiliar environments. Creating horse-centric spaces and approaches can significantly reduce stress and improve safety for both horses and humans. Sam shares how she prepares horses for veterinary care and how thoughtful design of the environment can support calmer, more cooperative behaviour. Drawing on her experience developing a horse-centric facility, she explores practical, low-stress ways to support horses during examinations and procedures, and how small changes in preparation, handling and environment can make a meaningful difference to how horses experience veterinary care.

10am - Lecture: BRONWEN WILLIAMS

Giving information and telling others what they need to do often doesn’t work and can make situations worse. Drawing on ideas from some human behaviour change models and approaches, Bronwen will introduce how we can communicate more clearly and simply with others, helping us understand each other's views and manage difficult issues. She will offer useful ideas for everyone, regardless of experience. Bronwen’s Sunday workshop will expand on these ideas with practical exercises.

10.30am

Tea & Coffee

11am - Lecture: ROXANE KIRTON

Behaviour problems in horses can have medical, neurological, or emotional causes that training and management alone cannot always resolve. Roxane will explore the role of nutraceuticals (supplements) and pharmaceuticals (medications) in equine behaviour cases, and the important differences between them. She will discuss what these products are, how they are regulated, and how the evidence for their effectiveness varies. She will also explore what options exist, when their use may be appropriate, and how they can support behaviour modification and welfare-focused management. Using practical case examples throughout, you will gain a clearer understanding of where supplements and medications may – and may not – fit within the wider equine behaviour toolkit.

11.30am - Lecture: JESSICA WEIGH

Gastric ulcers represent a significant challenge to equine health, comfort, and performance. Jess will take a comprehensive look at the causes and diagnosis of Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS), followed by an in-depth exploration of management strategies. She will specifically examine the vital role of targeted nutrition and husbandry adjustments in supporting recovery and reducing future risk. By balancing clinical insights with practical applications, this session equips you with the tools to manage current cases effectively and implement proactive measures for long-term digestive well-being.

12pm & 2pm - Workshop: TRUDI DEMPSEY & SOOZ FOSTER

Ever felt stuck, not knowing what’s right, unsure if you’ll get it at all? That’s exactly what horses feel when the rules aren’t clear. In this interactive workshop, Trudi and Sooz will guide you through that uncomfortable experience and show how small, thoughtful changes can transform learning. You’ll discover how shaping the environment - rather than correcting mistakes - creates clarity, reduces tension, and makes progress feel natural. Using real-world horse examples you’ll explore how these principles turn confusion into confidence and make training straightforward, effective, and stress-free.

12.45pm

Buffet lunch

12pm & 2pm - Workshop: JUSTINE HARRISON

This interactive workshop invites you to explore a real-life equine case and consider how different factors can influence a horse’s experience and behaviour. You will be presented with the case details and asked to consider the challenges the horse might face and which management choices could shape the outcome. Justine will explore how everyday decisions can affect stress levels, coping ability, and longer-term behaviour. This session highlights the importance of considering the horse’s behaviour, behavioural needs, and best welfare practice when making management decisions, and taking a practical, broader perspective on how those decisions may affect the horse.

2.45pm - Lecture: ROSA VERWIJS

Rosa will explore the behavioural and cognitive factors that shape a horse’s capacity to solve problems, drawing on current research from the expanding field of equine cognition. She will examine how learning processes and species specific perceptual and behavioural biases influence the way horses interpret and respond to challenges. She will also analyse how emotional state shapes cognitive performance, highlighting how emotional arousal affects a horse’s ability to think clearly, regulate behaviour, and adapt flexibly. Bridging scientific evidence with practical application, Rosa will demonstrate how a deeper understanding of equine cognition can enhance training strategies, improve welfare, and support better performance outcomes.

3.15pm - Lecture: IRITH BLOOM

Do you struggle with daily care for your horse or want to feel safer doing it? Horses need a lot of handling: everything from brushing to tacking up to hoof care happens repeatedly throughout a horse’s life. Some horses easily accept handling; with others, handling can be a challenge. Irith will talk about how to teach horses to collaborate in handling activities using something called “opt-ins” or “consent signals.” If you’ve ever struggled with handling, or just want the farrier to have an easier time, Irith will suggest ways to improve both how smoothly things go during handling and your relationship with your horse.

3.45pm

Tea & Coffee

4.15pm - Lecture: JASON FINCH

Emergency situations involving horses can be frightening and complex. Jason will introduce the principles of safe and effective equine rescue, drawing on proven large animal rescue techniques used by the emergency services. You will learn how rescue incidents are assessed, how risks to people and horses are managed, and how rescuers work alongside veterinary teams and other specialists. The lecture will also focus on what horse owners can do to prepare for emergencies and respond in ways that improve safety and welfare. This session serves as an introduction to Sunday’s equine rescue demonstration, where you will see rescue techniques in action and hear from the rescue team, a vet and a behaviourist about how rescue situations affect horses, and how owners and responders can help reduce stress and support recovery afterwards.

4.45pm - Lecture: EMMA LETHBRIDGE

Traumatic experiences leave behind psychological scars, changes to the horse's brain and body which can profoundly affect their cognition, behaviour and wellbeing. It is these changes that trauma-informed care aims to acknowledge and respond to in a way that lessens distress and provides the necessary support for healing. Emma will present the SAFETY framework for providing trauma-informed care and discuss practical ways in which we can use the framework to help horses who have experienced stressful events.

5.15pm

A Q&A session with the day’s presenters.

5.30pm

8.55am - JUSTINE HARRISON

9am - Arena Demo: ROXANE KIRTON, JASON FINCH & MARK BUGGIE

Following Saturday’s introductory session on equine rescue principles, this live demonstration brings rescue techniques to life. Using specialist equipment and established large animal rescue methods, the RSPCA team will demonstrate how rescuers safely manage situations such as trapped, cast, or injured horses. Alongside the technical aspects of rescue, a veterinarian and equine behaviourist will discuss how emergency situations affect horses physically and pschologically, and what owners and responders can do to reduce stress and support welfare during rescue. Delegates will gain practical insight into how rescue operations are carried out and, importantly, how good preparation and informed responses from owners can improve safety and outcomes when emergencies occur.

10.30am

Tea & Coffee

11am - Arena Demo: Rosa Verwijs

This practical demonstration will build on the lecture given by Rosa on Saturday by exploring how horses respond to various problem-solving challenges. You will observe horses working through various tasks and assess behavioural indicators of perceptual bias, stress, curiosity, and cognitive engagement. Rosa will highlight how training choices, environmental factors, and reinforcement methods influence a horse’s capacity to process information and problem solve effectively. By linking theory to practice, this demo will illustrate how understanding equine cognition can enhance training outcomes and support better welfare in everyday handling, training and ridden work.

11.45am - Arena Demo: TRUDI DEMPSEY

In this practical demonstration you will observe horses navigating specific training challenges and examine what their responses reveal. Trudi will guide the investigative process, measuring changes such as latency, quality of movement, and consistency to uncover what is influencing behaviour. What precedes the response? How quickly does the horse respond? Does clarity reduce hesitation? What shifts when criteria, environment, or handler position are adjusted? The emphasis is on refinement. Clear criteria, thoughtful set-ups, and systematic fading of support allow horses to develop confident, reliable responses without unnecessary stress. Come and be a behaviour detective and leave with a practical framework for real-time behavioural assessment, hypothesis testing, and shaping learning.

12.30pm

Buffet lunch

1.30pm & 2.15pm - Workshop: SAM TIBBETTS & JESSICA WEIGH

Seeing horses as owners of their own experiences helps to build their confidence and can reduce stress in veterinary situations. In this practical workshop, Sam and Jess will explore how environment, handling and preparation can influence how horses cope during examinations and treatment. Working with horses in a yard environment that may be used for veterinary procedures, they will discuss how the horses respond to the setting and how environments and handling approaches can be adjusted to ensure their patients have space and time, supporting observational and explorative learning. They will also consider the skills horses need to be comfortable with routine veterinary care, how owners can support their horses – both in advance and on the day, and how thoughtful preparation can improve equine welfare as well as safety of both horses and humans.

1.30pm & 2.15pm - Workshop: IRITH BLOOM & TRUDI DEMPSEY

Consent signals are a tool we can use to improve just about everything we do with horses. We will take a look at how to identify and use consent signals an actual horse gives, in real time! Irith and Trudi will train a consent signal – either using a signal the horse naturally provides, or teaching a signal we humans came up with. Both kinds of consent signal can be used for handling and much more. Since workshop time is limited, our demo horse may not have a chance to fully grasp what the consent signal means, but the things you learn here will help you apply the concept of consent signals with your own horse.

3pm

Tea & Coffee

3.30pm & 4.15pm - Workshop: BRONWEN WILLIAMS

Bronwen will build on the ideas from her Saturday lecture to explore those difficult conversations that many of us dread, delay, or avoid. She will look at how we can raise welfare concerns, talk about end-of-life decisions for our own or others’ animals, and ask people to respect our wishes and boundaries. This workshop won’t solve all these challenges, but it will encourage us to think differently about how we approach them - for the sake of both horses and humans. Bronwen will introduce some ideas and practical activities that you can take away and use, if they feel helpful or relevant in your life, not just in equine situations.

3.30pm & 4.15pm - Workshop: LIANE PRESHAW

The environment and resources we provide for our horses can have a big impact on their welfare. We can keep them in environments that we think will meet their behavioural needs and give them access to enrichment resources to provide mental stimulation, but we need to assess the horse’s response if we are to be confident that we’ve achieved our goal. Liane will use case studies to help you evaluate different environments and enrichment resources, and discuss how we might tell if they’ve had the desired effect.

5pm

Prizegiving