This course will be of interest to those who wish to learn more about the needs, psychology and training of domesticated parrots. Students will be expected to research and carry out practical projects and report on them. Students should communicate via email, and work closely with their tutor, who will respond to all communications within forty eight hours. Assessment is continuous, and students are tutored until they gain success in each module. Those students who are not able to access the internet may use post and phone by arrangement with the tutor.

Web page two

Phase One

This unit covers diet, housing, and general health needs. There is much new knowledge available, and we shall be looking at the new ideas on diet, housing, and sleep patterns.

Phase Two

This unit deals with psychology of the parrot, and how we can use this knowledge to give our bird a better life, and enjoy a better relationship.

Phase Three

This unit deals with training, both for everyday behaviour and for 'party tricks'.

Phase Four

We study more advanced psychology, dealing in more depth with problem behaviours, how to prevent them, and how to cure them.

Phase Five

Here we will look at the different breeds, and which one will suit which lifestyle.

PhaseSix

A module of choice, which should demonstrate aspects of knowledge gained on the course. The project should be clearly presented, with a suitable use of illustrations.

Equine web text

Christine Woodall

Text for Equine Courses web pages

Equine Care and Behaviour.

1st page

This course is designed to enable students to think about keeping horses and ponies in a suitable way. Different methods stable management, health issues and both preventing and dealing with behaviour problems are made clear.

In these enlightened times, our knowledge of equine needs takes into account the natural behaviour of the horse, and this course plots through how horses have evolved into the diverse breeds which we see today.

Preventative health care can save owners a fortune, and the horse a lot of ill health. Knowledge of behaviour can develop a sound relationship, so that the horse develops a trust for the owner or rider. Keeping a horse in a manner suitable for the work he is expected to do will keep him happily in that work.

2nd page

Equine Care and Behaviour

Phase One

This phase covers equine evolution, including the four types of primitives that evolved to become our modern day horse breeds; domestication; travel and human / equine communication.

Phase two

This phase covers the psychology of a flight animal, and how this affects training and behaviour, and how a flight animal’s life is different to that of a predator. We also cover the way in which living in a herd affects behaviour; and how it affects the way a horse learns.

Phase Three

This phase covers basic conformation, and the anatomy of the horse. It also looks at the senses, as they are used by the horse to understand their environment, and to perceive both safety and danger. We look at the teeth, and the digestive system. We also look at how horse moves.

Phase Four

This phase covers feeding, and looks at the different feeding regimes required for different lifestyles and workloads. We cover physical problems related to feeding, including grass kept horses, and those permanently stabled. We look at the psychological impact of housing regimes.

Phase Five

This phase covers the general balance of health care. We look at preventative care, detecting illness, and some common ailments. We also look at natural healing techniques, such as Reiki, which can detect problems, as well as help with healing. These therapies are complementary to veterinary help.

Equine Studies web text

WebPage one

Have you ever wondered why your horse, or the horses you work with, does what they do? Unlike us, horses have plenty of enemies who would like to eat them. This means that they have developed both physically and psychologically to keep one step ahead of their enemies.

In order to achieve great relationships with horses, you need to know how they communicate, how they think, and how their behaviour is affected by their surroundings. This course is designed to help you to achieve this goal. No matter how well you ride, behaviour problems will occur until you truly understand what makes a horse a horse. This course will show you how to achieve that dream.

Web Page two

Phase One:

Genetics and diversity : what role the genes play in creating what a horse will look like. Family equade: the horses wild relatives, Asses and Zebras, their breeds, differences, how they live, survive and their behaviour. Modern horse diversity: how the breeds of today relate to the first four primitive types. The origin and behaviour of Cold blood and hot blood horses, the origin and behaviour of ponies.

Phase Two:

How a horse learns: the experiments of Pavlov, learning through conditioning, habituation, perceptual learning, positive and negative reinforcement. What the horse sees: how the horse perceives its surroundings, focus, distance and depth perception, its blind spots. The difference between its sight and a predator’s sight, behaviour that results from the way the horse sees. Being misunderstood by the rider, spooking, how they perceive going through water, over ditches and jumps. Hidden senses:

Pheromones, and the hormones, and how they play a very important part in shaping a horses behaviour, and sexual urge.

Phase Three:

Emotional behaviour: anxiety, stress, aggression, fear, fear induced aggression, separation anxiety, boredom, frustration, ill health, hyper active, sexual emotions. How behaviour is the affected by these emotions. The defence system: flight zones and personal space, fight or flight, how a horse would be attacked in the wild, the targets attacked. Biting, kicking, rearing, leg strikes, charging, how this all relates to behaviour and training problems. Domestic herd behaviour: how a domestic herd differs from a wild herd. Herd size, pecking order, socialisation, instinctive behaviour, sleeping, eating, playing, buddying up, the role of a gelding, mare and foal. Introducing a new horse. Territories, how they recognise and mark them, the horses homing sense how it always knows where home is.

Phase Four:

Communication by sound: how the vocal system works, why they need to be vocal. Vocal sounds and what each means. Signal communication: a dictionary of what each movement is saying, the ears, the nose, the tail, the neck, the head and the legs.

Discreet communication through defecating, urinating, and pheromones. The complete language of the horse: what the horse is saying when we put all the signals vocals, body posture together. Foal language, stallion language, mare language. Fighting language, friendship language.

Phase Five:

Humans and horses: how they perceive us, the predator/prey aspect. The importance of trust between horse and owner. Respecting a horse’s space, why they spook, rear buck, bite or kick when we do certain things. Adaptation to our environment:

How the horse has had to adapt to our world. The behaviour differences of city and country horses. Training: how they view us training them, being asked to do things that are against their instinct and nature, reading and misreading our signals, how they learn through us, aversion or avoidance, positive and negative reinforcement, learning when training is over. Behaviour that is inadvertently taught (suspicious behaviour). Natural Training: communicating in the language of the horse. Gaining trust and respect, respecting each other’s space, the art of horse whispering and why it works without the need for oppressive training. How horses have adapted into our environment, being contained, transported and trained. How they have retained most of their ancestral instincts.

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Parrot web text

Equine web text

Equine Studies web text

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