This week on the podcast I spoke with equine behaviour specialist Lauren Fraser, the woman behind the 3 Fs (Friends, Forage, Freedom) framework for species-appropriate horse management. As you might imagine, I was excited to pick her brain on the intersection between equine life-styles and environments and their behaviour. 

Our conversation ranged into many interesting territories, such as the direct links between deficits in the 3Fs and the problem behaviour we may encounter as a result, the negative effects our human mindsets can have when it comes to providing appropriate lifestyles for our horses, and a few notes at the end around co-operative care and the benefit of taking enough time to train our horses so we can prevent fear and trauma rather than rehabilitate it. 

Lauren Fraser is an experienced horsewoman, who has worked professionally with horses since 2006. Prior to her current specialisation, Lauren taught riding and horsemanship, and trained horses. 

Lauren provides horse behaviour consultations remotely worldwide. She also teaches others about horse behaviour, regularly guest lecturing for several universities, and delivering educational courses through the Understand Horses website. Lauren also mentors horse trainers who are interested in better understanding and addressing horse behaviour problems.

Lauren holds an equine science certificate from the University of Guelph, and obtained her MSc in clinical animal behaviour through the University of Edinburgh's Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies. Lauren's dissertation research examined the behaviour of horses subjected to ‘laying down’ during training. 

Lauren was the International Association of Animal Behaviour Consultant’s (IAABC) horse division chair from 2013-2021 and was an IAABC application review committee member from 2012-2023. She is an International Society of Equitation Science practitioner member, as well as a Fear Free® Certified Professional.

Lauren currently has three horses: an Andalusian, an Arabian, and an Arabian/Quarter horse. She has tried her hand at many things with her horses over the years, including limited distance endurance riding, bridleless riding and liberty work, as well as working cattle and progressing her horses from the hackamore, into the two-rein. Lauren particularly enjoys training cooperative care behaviours, and teaching ‘clean slates’: giving young horses solid foundations. 

When not with her horses, Lauren can be found mountain biking, taking her dogs to dock diving competitions, or playing the ukulele, poorly.

You can explore Lauren's work at https://www.equinebehaviorist.ca or find her on TikTok @horsebehaviourtok