Twin Pines Equine offers equine behavior services, including aversion therapy, under the direction of Dr. Ashley Leighton. Dr. Leighton has been trained by Dr. Sue McDonnell, a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist at the Havemeyer Equine Behavior Lab, at New Bolton Center.

We use positive reinforcement (a combination of verbal praise and small food rewards) and gradual step-wise introduction of stimuli to habituate horses to procedures that they may find aversive.  Common aversions include needle-shyness, trailer phobias, or fear of basic physical examination procedures. 

We offer packages of 4 half-hour sessions for one bundled price, and recommend that these sessions take place over a period of 2-4 weeks.  During these sessions, we can train the owner or handler to continue with the training
between visits.  Consistency and frequency is key, so we have found that the most economical way to habituate horses is to bring the regular handler into these training sessions.

For more information about needle shyness and aversion therapy, please read Dr. McDonnell’s article “Terrible or Tolerant?  Training to Handle Veterinary Procedures."

For other excellent equine behavior articles, go to Havemeyer’s Frequently Asked Equine Behavior Questions page.