This course offers a comprehensive overview of equine behavior and welfare, grounded in their evolutionary history and domestication process, and links these foundational concepts to current management challenges. The horse is studied as a social and sensitive species to interpret its behavior from an ethological perspective, incorporating key concepts of perception, learning, emotions, cognition, and temperament. Throughout the program, criteria are developed to evaluate welfare on a scientific basis, considering the effect of stress, housing, feeding, and human-animal interaction on health and behavior. In addition, the program delves into the relationship between welfare and athletic performance, along with insights into the genetic basis of behavior, the analysis of practical behavioral problems, and a comparative approach to donkeys and mules to broaden decision-making in different contexts of use.

Upon completing this course, you will be able to:
• Interpret behavioral patterns in horses based on their evolution, domestication, and status as a social and sensitive species.
• Analyze equine behavior using concepts of perception, learning, emotions, cognition, and temperament to explain responses to the environment and human handling.
• Identify behavioral indicators associated with welfare, stress, and behavioral abnormalities under different management, housing, and feeding conditions.
• Relate welfare assessment frameworks to technical criteria to understand how management recommendations aimed at improving welfare are supported.
• Analyze the relationship between welfare and athletic performance, considering management factors and the genetic basis of behavior that influence performance and the emergence of behavioral problems.