How human behaviour change science can help us manage obesity in horses

It is an unfortunate fact that changing our own behaviour is not as easy as we would hope. Despite humans being an apparently rational and intelligent species, we still do all sorts of things that we know are bad for our health and wellbeing. This can include exercising too little, scrolling through social media too much, spending too little time with our loved ones, and not eating as healthily as we could. Often, when we try to change, we have good intentions which last a short while, but we are unsurprised when our efforts ultimately fail.

Despite our own experiences with change, when we want other people to change their behaviour, we often have unrealistically high hopes. It is commonly assumed that we can simply impart knowledge on a person, and they will subsequently change. This is often the case when an equine professional is presented with an overweight horse. However, because of the slow and meandering process of human behaviour change, it can be difficult to bring about change in owners quickly, unless there is an urgent concern such as laminitis. A better understanding of how the process of change happens can help to facilitate conversations that subsequently improve animal welfare more quickly, reducing the frustration felt by equine professionals.