Learning from the Wild: Social Lives of Horses in Mongolia & Scotland

Abstract

Dr. Emily Kieson has collected behavioral data on thousands of free-living, feral, and wild horses across more than a dozen locations on three continents. Her research focuses on how horses create, maintain, and navigate social relationships, with particular attention to affiliative behaviors, communication, friendship, and social stability.

In this webinar, Dr. Kieson will share research and video examples from free-living horse populations in Scotland and Mongolia, highlighting what these horses can teach us about social connection, choice, communication, and welfare. Drawing from preliminary findings and field observations, the webinar will explore how knowledge from free-living horse societies can inform the ways we manage, train, and interact with domestic horses.

Participants will gain insight into horse-horse and horse-human relationships, consider how domestic environments can support or limit natural social behavior, and leave with practical, actionable strategies for improving horse welfare and relationship-based practice at home.

Dr. Emily Kieson

Emily Kieson serves as Executive Director at Equine International, a US-based nonprofit focused on research, education, and outreach in the fields of equine behavior, welfare, and equine-human interactions. Her research focuses on equine behavioral psychology, equine welfare, and horse-human interactions as they apply to both horse owners and equine-assisted activities and learning programs. She holds a PhD in Comparative Psychology, a MS in Psychology, and a graduate degree in Equine Science. Emily also holds multiple certifications in various models of equine-assisted activities and has previously served as Chair of the Equine Welfare Committee with the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH). Her current research focuses involve looking at equine affiliative behaviors to study how horses create and maintain social bonds and how those can overlap with human affiliative behaviors for application in management, horse ownership, equine-assisted activities, and indicators of positive welfare in horses with and without humans. She also has a passion for supporting sustainable systems of horse management and husbandry that promote physical and psychological welfare of the horse while simultaneously supporting sustainable ecosystem practices on small and large scales (for both feral and domestic equids). Emily currently develops and teaches courses at universities in the fields of psychology, animal-human interactions, animal-assisted interventions, animal behavior and training, and animal welfare and ethics.

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