De-mystifying horsemanship: how science can make us better horse trainers

On July 9, 2025 at Noon (ET), ethologist and anthrozoologist Renate Larssen will give a brief overview of the different ways horses learn and what this means for the way we train them. She will debunk some common training myths and provide practical examples and actionable advice on how we can use science to enhance our training and improve our relationships with our horses.

Renate Larssen is an ethologist and anthrozoologist specializing in horse behavior and horse-human relationships. She is a PhD researcher at the University of Leicester College of Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities in the United Kingdom, where she employs a multidisciplinary approach to develop a new theoretical framework called “archaeo-ethology” to study the history of animals. She has worked as an equine behavior consultant for many years, providing advice to owners, veterinarians, breeders, and equine charities, and is frequently consulted as an international expert. She publishes the Substack “The Equine Ethologist”, where she writes essays on horse behavior and the horse-human relationship.