Standing on the shoulders of giants: building foundations for the future of equitation science

Sir Isaac Newton famously wrote; “If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants” (nanos gigantum humeris insidentes), conveying the notion of discovering ‘truth’ by building on previous discoveries. It is widely agreed that globally as a body of horse practitioners we still don't know what we don’t know and even more importantly, what we need to know to improve equine welfare during handling, training, performance and leisure. Often we forget the true heroes, that is, those who have gone before upon who’s ‘shoulders of wisdom’ we have built our equestrian and equitation practice, which may or may not include enjoyment and/or achievement as a result. Examples of these could go as far back as Xenophon – who wrote about foundation training in young horses making key statements such as “The groom should stroke or scratch the colt, so that he enjoys human company, and should take the young horse through crowds to accustom him to different sights and noises. If the colt is frightened, the groom should reassure him, rather than punish him, and teach the animal that there is nothing to fear.” This basic advice resonates in Equitation Science based approaches being taken to young horse education today. Although there are also teachings within Xenophon’s book that are no longer considered acceptable (and certainly not in the interests of good equine welfare), the introduction of habituation to frightening things, the use of reassurance rather than punishment and the introduction and acceptance of positive emotions in horses (such as enjoying human company) are now all active and growing areas for research in the established field of Equitation Science.