ACADEMIC

My specialist academic areas are Animal Mentality and Horse Training Psychology.
I hold a Bachelor of Science Degree (with double major in zoology including animal behaviour) and Diploma of Education from the University of Tasmania.
I am currently writing a PhD thesis at the University of Melbourne entitled "The Mental Evolution of the Horse and its Consequences for Training".
From 1977 to 1991 I lectured full-time then part-time in zoology including animal behaviour at the University of Tasmania, Launceston. In 1978 I was commissioned to write a series of four books and practical manuals entitled "Cell biology and Genetics".
I have written an extensive paper on my own theories of the origin of higher mental abilities in animals entitled: "Cognitive abilities - the result of selective pressures on food acquisition?" This paper was published in March 2001 by the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science. I have also presented this theory to the Australian Society for the Study of Animal Behaviour in 1996.
I am the only horse trainer in the world who is a member of the International Society of Applied Ethology, an elite academic group of animal behaviourists

PROFESSIONAL

I have developed and currently manage the Australian Equine Behaviour Centre, the largest horse training/behaviour-modification centre in Australia. I conduct quarterly training clinics in all the Australian capital cities where I deal with behaviour problems and promote a scientific understanding of the psychology of the training of horses.
At the Bicentennial Australia International Pony Club Championships I was "Master Of The Horse". This entailed matching international junior riders with local horses.
In 2000 I featured on the television show, Pets Behaving Badly, where I demonstrated the reform of a bolting/shying/rearing horse.
In 1995 I sold the stallion 'Woodmount Magic' to the UK that I began training when the horse was a weanling. This sale was the first Australian-trained eventing stallion sold to Europe, and the first Australian event horse to be sold for a six-figure sum.

EQUESTRIAN SPORT

I represented Australia in eventing (Three Day Event) in 1989.
I have won many events at both state and national level in dressage and eventing including Australia's most prestigious horse trial, the Gawler Three Day Event.
I represented Victoria in dressage in 1988

COACHING / EDUCATION

In 1995 I coached the Indian equestrian team in the Asia Pacific Games to win the bronze medal.
I gave lectures and demonstrated the psychology of training horses at EQUITANA 1999.
I have written extensively in equestrian magazines on the psychology and training of horses since 1994.

My specialist academic areas are Animal Mentality and Horse Training Psychology.