Karen and Meta share an interest in Systems Thinking and its potential applications to horse welfare in sport. So when Dr Megan Ross and her co-authors published a paper on wicked problems and systemic issues in Canadian dressage she had to be a podcast guest!

Dr Megan Ross has a background in dressage and eventing. She has an applied science degree from the University of British Columbia with a focus on Animal Welfare and has applied this background (and Pilates certification) as a trainer and riding instructor to support the horse-rider dyad. 

She recently completed a PhD at the Atlantic Veterinary College and the University of Prince Edward Islandunder the supervision of Dr. Caroline Ritter and Dr. Kathryn Proudfoot. Her research focused on the human dimension of horse well-being/welfare, exploring owners’ perspectives of horse welfare in their daily life like management andtraining. 

She is now conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Katrina Merkies at the University of Guelph assessing the influence of interventions on rider and horse behaviour during lessons.

Link to the paper discussed in the episode

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/388845023_A_wicked_problem_Systemic_issues_surrounding_Canadian_equestrian_dressage_and_dressage_horse_welfare

The map of the issues mentioned by Megan in the episode is available atthis link:

https://static.cambridge.org/content/id/urn%3Acambridge.org%3Aid%3Aarticle%3AS0962728625000028/resource/name/S0962728625000028sup001.pdf