BEVA launches course on minimising patient stress
“Better horse handling leads to happier horses, and this means happier vets and nurses” – Gemma Pearson.
A new CPD course on minimising the stress of equine patients has been launched by the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA).
The six-part ‘Hold Your Horses’ course will cover topics including: how to read horses’ emotions and body language, restraint during veterinary care, psychopharmaceuticals, and anthrozoology (the study of animal and human interactions).
The training is designed to be suitable for every member of the veterinary team involved in horse care. It is pre-recorded, so can be completed on demand.
The course is presented by Gemma Pearson, an RCVS specialist in veterinary behaviour medicine (equine) who is director of equine behaviour at The Horse Trust and a lecturer in equine behaviour medicine at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh.
Previous research by Dr Pearson, published in the journal Equine Veterinary Education, revealed that 95 per cent of equine veterinary surgeons worked with ‘difficult’ horses on at least a monthly basis. Eighty-one per cent of them had been injured in the last five years.
Dr Pearson said: “Horses have limited cognitive skills and so we should try to better understand what motivates and reinforces unwanted behaviours rather than assuming the horse is being wilfully or maliciously disobedient.
“To do this we need to appreciate how horses learn. Better horse handling leads to happier horses, and this means happier vets and nurses and owners/clients with the ultimate knock on of better safety, better job satisfaction and better retention in the profession.”
The course, free for BEVA members, is available on the association’s website.
Image © Liphook Equine Hospital
Eligible members of BEVA will be able to vote for their Council team until Monday, 17 August 2026. Members will have received an election email on 17 July.
