This essay derives from the concern that horses ridden with a bit in their mouth can be subjected to strong pressure from the bit if the horse and rider do not understand each other. The horse's mucosa membrane and the tongue are very sensitive tissues (Cook, 1999; Manfredi, 2005; Oliveira, 2005; Terada, 2006) and the bit can then be a source of pain and discomfort. The training of the horse should therefore always be a step by step process and as the horse develops difficulties are increased. Oliveira (2005) suggested that high demands can be placed on the horse but to be successful in the training it is essential to be content with small progress and reward the slightest desired response from the horse. This corresponds with the principles of operant conditioning with negative reinforcement.

The term euthanasia is derived from the Greek terms eu meaning good and thanatos meaning death, "good death". The penetrating captive bolt is an effective method of euthanasia, when use of drugs is inappropriate. The horse becomes immediately unconscious and falls to the ground. First after the blood is emptied from the body the horse is dead. The use of injectable euthanasia agents is a rapid and reliable method of performing euthanasia. The aim is to stop the flow of oxygenated blood to vital organs and tissues. The muscle relaxants may be used either in combination wih or following an anaesthetic dose of barbiturate, their use use as a sole agent is totally inhumane.

SammanfattningDetta arbete tar upp de viktigaste fysiologiska förändringarna hos den åldrande hästen, hur dessa påverkar hästens beteende och behov, och hur det i sin tur påverkar den omvårdnad hästen har behov av. Sjukdomar som i större utsträckning drabbar äldre hästar än yngre tas upp, och fokus ligger främst på att så långt det är möjligt förebygga dessa. I de fall detta inte är möjligt ligger fokus på att göra livet för den sjuka hästen så symtomfritt som möjligt. Den åldrande hästens näringsbehov tas upp, samt hur detta kan påverkas av olika sjukdomar. Med åldrande hästar menas i detta arbete hästar i åldern 20 år och uppåt.SummaryTreating older horses for illness and injury becomes more and more common.

The problem with keeping horses with to little social contact has come to attention in a new regulation that comes into effect august 1st 2009. It states that horses? need of social contact has to be accommodated. That?s why it feels important to try to survey the horse owners? awareness about the regulation and its present fulfillment.

The aim of this study was to analyze how discourses about domestic violence emerges in policy and practice, and to investigate how those discourses may change from a structural, political level to a local, practical level. The research questions focused how the problem of domestic violence is formulated at national and local level, scrutinizing the different discourses framing and reproducing the causes and solutions of the problem, and also to deduce how different context affects formulations. The empirical material consists of policy plans and interviews with social workers. The findings indicates that the issue of domestic violence is articulated differently on different levels. In action plans on the national level, the domestic violence is formulated within a structural discourse, being a problem on a (gender-) political level, whereas professional social workers recognizes domestic violence as a personal problem within an individual oriented discourse.

The purpose of this thesis was to examine women's shelter representatives' views on domestic violence in same-sex relationships between women. The questions we posed were how women's shelter representatives relate to same-sex domestic violence, both from a theoretical and practical perspective, as well as if they are, or feel they should be, inclusive of women who are victims of same-sex domestic violence.We conducted a qualitative study, in which we interviewed eight women's shelter representatives. We then compared and linked our findings with previous research, including studies on the occurrence of same-sex violence, and ideas of similarity and differences between men's violence against women and same-sex domestic violence. We also linked our findings to theories on heteronormativity and structural theories surrounding same-sex domestic violence.We found that the competence and knowledge of women's shelter representatives varies greatly from individual to individual. Heteronormativity permeates the organisations to a great extent, from exclusive marketing and initial reception to a lack of interest regarding these issues.

Domestic violence is a serious public health issue that concerns everyone. Public health service is one of many authorities where battered women seek help. The purpose of this literature review was to describe which factors affect the encounter between battered women and nurses in public health departments. The method consisted of analysing 11 scientific articles. The result is presented in themes that show the different attitudes in the encounter between nurses and battered women.

Domestic science is an interdisciplinary subject. Furthermore domestic science is a combination of theory and practice. The basic competence, a recommendation from ?The Swedish School Institution? (Skolverket), is to enter the secondary school with minimum grade G, (godkänd) in the basic themes: Swedish, English and Mathematic. Today there are many pupils finishing their secondary school without grade in one or more basic themes; Swedish, English and Mathematic.

The aim of this review is to evaluate the best way to transport the horse. When it comes to transporting horses there are a number of different types of trailers and trucks that you can choose from today. The most common type of trailer is designed for two horses and the horses are transported facing the direction of travel. Studies has been performed to determine if that is the most advantageous direction for the horse to travel in, in terms of balance and levels of stress. Stress is a widely discussed subject and the definition is not fully developed.

In this study we have examined in which way the horse is used in Equine Assisted Therapy, and what effects the treatment staff experience and describes that the interaction with horses has on girls who self-harms. Our Empirical data was collected through qualitative methods such as interviews, participant observation and informal interviews with a total of six different informants, from five different activities with Equine Assisted Therapy for girls who self-harms. In the analysis we have assumed symbolic interactionism, a theory focusing on the human as a social being, where the self-image alters in the social interaction with other human beings. We interwove this theory with the Biophilia hypothesis, an explanatory model concerning human?s relationship to animals and nature.The conclusions we have found in the results are:Equine Assisted Therapy is a complementary treatment comprises both horseback riding and exercises which is not based on the horsebackEquine Assisted Therapy almost always involves three parts, the therapist, the client and the horse.

The horse's motivations to forage and eat are behaviors that horse owners should take into consideration when designing the horse's living environment. In today?s housing of horses, horses are often kept alone in boxes and paddocks and are fed with small amounts of energy-rich roughage. Problems that can arise with a shortened feeding-time and long periods of fasting are behavioral changes like stereotypic behaviors and an increased risk for ulcers. A solution to the short feeding-time is that you are feeding roughage in a small mesh hay net, or a so-called Slow-feed net.

This work focuses on the relation between human and animals and especially on the relation between horses and human. I have brought up the human och horse relationsship, today, and in history and wrote about the behaviour of the horse. Some older studies with human and animal interaction, including animals like dog and cattle are discussed. I have also discussed physiological parameters that might influence the bond and the interaction between human and horse and some critical aspects concerning the methodology when studying this kind of physiology. The purpose of the experimental study was to analyze if common management routines and grooming of horses increases horses interest in making contact with humans. Many horse owners feel that they have a good connection with their horse and factors that can influence the relationsship could be physical contact, feeding or some challange that make the horse trust the human.

The aim of the study was to investigate feeding routines, management, health and level of activity of riding horses in Sweden. This was obtained by a survey requesting information from owners who kept horses at a non-professional level. Owners to approximately 500 horses were contacted and the usable response of the survey was 56 %. The dominating breed in the study was Swedish warmblood (38 %). Fiftytwo percent of the horses were geldings, 45 % were mares and 3 % were stallions.

As the quality of internationally competing horses is increasing, a debate concerning the breeding goal of the Swedish Warmblood horse has arisen. Some people claim that the breeding goal should be divided into two separate goals in the future; one for show jumping horses and another one for dressage horses. At the same time others claim that since the largest group of people using the Swedish Warmblood horse today is amateur riders, the needs of these riders should be taken into a larger consideration in the breeding program. The largest emphasis in this matter is on the horses? temperament. The objective of the study was to investigate what the majority of the Swedish horse people think about a variety of questions concerning today?s breeding goal of the Swedish Warmblood horse.

The aim of this thesis was to study how social workers in social services in several municipalities perceive that they interpret the concept of domestic violence and how they believe they would act when it comes to different types of domestic violence. The thesis has focused on three types of violence; physical, psychological and economical. Seven social workers were interviewed with a thematised interview guide and six vignettes. The theoretical perspectives applied in the analysis were the process of normalization and the continuum of violence. The results showed that the social workers did not interpret domestic violence unanimous, and they had different ideas of how they would act in the vignettes.