Home Study - horse management course - Combine your love of horses with sound management skills
This course is designed to equip managers, supervisors, or people who want to work up to these positions within the industry (e.g. at a riding school, race track, stud, farm etc) with the necessary management skills required to undertake such a role.
The four Core business modules and three horse care units are combined with your selection of two general studies elective units.
The choice of electives allows you to integrate the knowledge you gain through "real-life" or relevant experiences in equine workplaces or through undertaking focused Research Projects that are directed toward your specific goals and interests.
Modules
Note that each module in the Advanced Certificate in Applied Management (Horses) is a short course in its own right, and may be studied separately.
ELECTIVES - WORKSHOPS AND RESEARCH PROJECTSThis is the final requirement that you must satisfy before receiving your award.
There are two options available to you to satisfy this requirement:
Alternative 1If you work in the industry that you have been studying; you may submit a reference from your employer, in an effort to satisfy this industry (ie. workplace project) requirement; on the basis of RPL (ie. recognition for prior learning), achieved through your current and past work experience.The reference must indicate that you have skills and an awareness of your industry, which is sufficient for you to work in a position of responsibility.
Alternative 2If you do not work in the relevant industry, you need to undertake either :
- 2 Workshop Projects
OR - 2 Research projects
OR - 1 Workshop Project and 1 Research project
In some cases we will accept other learning that constitutes "Learning in a real world relevant situation". This means that we will accept (based upon documentary proof):
Attending industry meetings (conferences, seminars, study tours, committee meetings, etc)
AND/OR
- Attending workshops run by another institution
TIPS FOR UNDERSTANDING EQUINE BEHAVIOUR
Through knowledge of natural equine behaviour we can obtain insights into how a horse should be handled.
Domesticated horses are subjected to unnatural intervention and influence by humans.
Problems in horse behaviour (discussed in later lessons) are usually due to not understanding the inborn behavioural needs and not adequately providing for those genetically driven needs.
Though true wild horses don’t exist, there are domestic horses which do exist in the wild. By studying the behaviour patterns of such horses (and other wild equines such as zebra’s) it is possible to develop a strong insight into inborn behaviour patterns.
Examples:
Social Behaviour – natural herds are normally up to 20 individuals (either a stallion and mares, or a bachelor group. Sometimes an animal will become a loner (due to others dying, or being excluded from a group). Loners tend to join new groups or die early. Horses have an ability to form friendships with each other (and people); which can be sustained for life. Friendships are not determined by rank.
Daily Routine – up to 70% of the day is spent eating; 5 to 20% standing awake and 10-20% dozing. Five to 15% of the day is spent moving without feeding. Behavioural problems can result if eating time is dramatically reduced, or the days are organised into rigid schedules. It may be ideal for a horse owner to feed, groom and exercise horses at a precise time every day, but doing so is in contrast to natural routine, and can result in excess nervousness and excitement
Rank – in nature, a stallion normally holds the highest rank, followed by a dominant mare (usually older and stronger. Stronger, more experienced and fitter animals are dominant over weaker ones. Psychological factors as well as physical characteristics can contribute to rank; and it is possible for a smaller animal to rank higher than a larger one. Higher ranked animals have privileges over lower ones. Some authorities consider rank to be primarily inborn, but others believe it is more a learned behaviour. Individual distance parameters develop (in accord with rank) between individual horses in any group. Foals will maintain a relatively close distance to their mothers of coarse, but horses at opposite ends of the rankings in a herd will maintain a greater distance apart than those closer to each other in rank.
Conflict – aggressive behaviour is in response to situations that arise. Without the stimuli, naturally aggressive animals may not demonstrate a great deal of aggression anyway.
A horse can exhibit aggression on various levels: facial expressions (i.e. Ears laying back, nostrils narrowed, mouth corners pulled back and down); threatening without contact (i.e. Swinging head, rear leg threats, bite threats) or more seriously with bodily contact (i.e. Kicking and biting)
Fighting – Horses will occupy a range but are not “territorial”, so meetings between herds (or stallions) are often relatively peaceful. During mating season however, serious fighting can occur between competing stallions.
WHYCHOOSE US?
- Support: communicate directly with staff . Answering you is our top
priority - Different: if your training is different, you stand out
- Resources: unique collection of people and intellectual property.
- Flexibility: more options for how, where, when and what you study
- Learning is top priority: what you learn changes you for life. Everything
else issecondary - Better value: Compare our cost per study hour.
- Reliability: Established since 1979, and being independent means we have
avoided the stresses suffered by many other institutions
