The Science of Natural Horsemanship and Join-Up
I first met Monty Roberts in September last year through Dr Veronica Fowler, a former student of mine. I then spent a day with Monty, Kelly Marks and Veronica to see Monty working with some horses and to talk to him about his methods. I was somewhat dissapointed to hear that he had received a lot of criticism from animal scientists over the years. It was not the criticism itself that was a cause for sadness but the fact that no-one had ever taken him up on his offer to scientifically study his methods. So we put together a plan to study "Join-Up" at Hartpury College. The team working on the project includes internationally recognised animal behaviour scientist Dr Mark Kennedy from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge and Kathryn Nankervis and Lucy Dumbell from Hartpury College. The first studies took place the first week in February and we are now begining the huge task of analysing all the heart rate and video reocrdings that were made over the two days of studies. The results should be available in the late Spring to early Summer this year.
Kelly Marks, myself, Dr Veronica Fowler and Monty Roberts
Fitting a heart rate monitor to a horse about to be "joined-up"
Myself and Monty after a horse that would not load had been "joined-up" and successfully loaded
I currently work as a consultant for a variety of companies and organisations in both the human and veterinary fields. Some examples of areas I have been involved in or am currently involved in are shown below. |
| RECENT & ONGOING PROJECTS: |
• A project to develop farm-based screening for tuberculosis in cattle using exhaled breath and other body fluids. This project is currently being funded by DEFRA.
• Development of two different non-invasive breath collection systems, which can be used in rodents and other small animals and for paediatric applications. I have also had a system for non-invasive breath collection patented by a former employer.
• Looking for novel methods of diagnosis of respiratory disease using techniques such as electronic nose, dedicated NO/CO analysers, respiratory mass spectrometers and SIFT-MS.
• Evaluation of a novel breath collector and patient-side portable analyser for detecting airway inflammation
• Development of a method of non-invasive testing for illegal use of prohibited substances in horseracing.
• Contract research as part of pharmaceutical registration and evaluation of nutraceuticals.
• Development and testing of devices for delivering inhaled medication to animals, including radiolabel deposition studies.
• Diagnostic use of sound analysis for upper and lower airway disease in horse, cats and dogs.
• Development of an approach to correct for errors due to low frequency response of medical or analytical equipment.
• Estimation of errors in attenuation of radioisotopes in large mammals.
• Project to construct a large animal split-ring PET (positron emission tomography) scanner
• Thermal environmental monitoring in Hong Kong in advance of the Equestrian competitions in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games
• Working with a major veterinary capital equipment supplier to evaluate the suitability of new products to add to their range
• Consultant on transport for the International League for the Protection of horses
• Design and placement of a study, evaluation of results and production of a report for a manufacturer of horsewalkers
• Evaluation of capability and trends in equine science and equine education in the UK
• Advising a company marketing portable and fixed cooling systems on applications in horses
• Working with a medical device company on equine applications for their product range
• Project management of registration of a new veterinary medication
• Advising a large Newmarket stud on purchase, installation and siting of environmental stations in order to relate growth rates to thermal conditions and optimise management
• Co-inventor of a novel imaging technique to track the movement of solid structures beneath an elastic outer layer
• Evaluation of the accuracy of a portable system for measuring ventilation and gas exchange in horses during ridden over ground and treadmill exercise |
Content to follow |
To view a gallery of photos from a recent test event in Hong Kong, please click here. |
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