TOUCHING WILD with Bonny Mealand
PATH 1
Ethology:
The Horse in Context
A 6-week guided learning
programme alongside other thoughtful learners
See with clarity
Understand with
compassion
Respond with
confidence
“Clear, grounded, and deeply
compassionate - science with soul.”
Welcome
Grounded in science • Guided by the horse.
Touching Wild Academy exists because horses make more sense when we learn to see the world through their eyes.
If you’ve ever felt out of place in the mainstream horse world -
not because you lack knowledge or commitment, but because the conversations around you don’t quite sit right -
if you’ve found yourself holding questions quietly while others seem so certain,
or feeling alone in your reluctance to rush towards fixes and formulas,
you’re not imagining it, and you’re not alone.
This learning pathway offers a slower, steadier way to understand behaviour: one that stays close to the horse’s experience, takes complexity seriously and values careful questions before decisions are made.
What This Learning Pathway Is For
Ethology: The Horse in Context is for people who want to deepen their understanding of horse behaviour, and who are drawn to ethology as a way of making sense of what they’re seeing.
It speaks to thoughtful owners and professionals who sense that behaviour is meaningful, contextual, and intelligible and that looking through an ethological lens can offer clearer, more grounded understanding than technique alone.
Many people arrive here wanting to move beyond surface explanations and quick fixes. They are curious about behaviour in its biological, emotional, and environmental context and want a way of thinking that leads to relevant, well-grounded decisions and the ability to explain their approach with confidence and care.
This pathway stays with the richness of an ethological approach. The focus is on developing deep understanding and clear explanations of what you’re seeing, so decisions can be made thoughtfully across different situations and relationships.
At its heart, this learning pathway supports you to become a confident advocate for your horse, building clarity in how you interpret what you see, make careful decisions and communicate them with depth and integrity.
What this course supports you to do
Better Questions
Ask better questions before
deciding what to do
This is not about acquiring techniques or being given answers.
It’s about developing clarity, discernment and confidence in how you interpret what you see.
“Bonny’s attention to detail - noticing subtle shifts
and adapting in response - was a masterclass in observation.”
How learning unfolds
PACE & RHYTHM
This pathway moves at a steady, deliberate pace. Each week includes live teaching, recordings, discussion and access to an expanding library of carefully curated resources.
You’re free to engage in the ways that suit you best. If life gets busy, that’s okay, you step back in when you’re ready.
The emphasis throughout is on building strong foundations: shared language, grounded explanations and a clearer sense of what truly matters when interpreting behaviour.
“This work changed how I understand
trust and relationship with horses.”
TEACHING & ENQUIRY
Teaching is clear, structured, and information-rich, followed by time to reflect, question and explore ideas together.
Learning often shows up first as a settling: fewer competing explanations, less urgency to act and a clearer sense of direction.
Rather than “right answers”, the emphasis is on careful enquiry, shared observation and building explanations that can hold across different horses and contexts.
“Knowing others are thinking just as
carefully has been a quiet relief.”
OBSERVATION & FIELD LABS
Alongside presentations and discussion, learning is grounded in structured observation practice.
You’ll work with video footage and case material, including wild, free-living, conservation-grazing, zoo-kept and domestic horses, using guided prompts and shared frameworks to practise noticing, describing and interpreting what you see.
These Field Labs are not tests or assessments. They are shared spaces for slowing perception, exploring multiple interpretations and learning how to stay close to the horse’s experience without rushing to conclusions.
Through watching, reflecting and discussing together, patterns begin to emerge, not because someone tells you what’s happening, but because you learn how to see more clearly for yourself.
“I’m far more confident now in advocating for
my horses and thinking things through with care.”
LEARNING ALONGSIDE OTHERS
This is a learning space shaped by shared care for horses and a willingness to think together.
Owners and professionals learn alongside one another without hierarchy, each bringing experience that adds depth, nuance and perspectives you may not have considered.
Participation is always by choice. Quiet attention is valued as much as speaking and listening is recognised as a skill in its own right. Discussions are thoughtful and held with care; people are not here to fix each other or offer unsolicited solutions.
Over time, many people notice a sense of relief in not having to hold questions alone and in learning alongside others who are also committed to slowing down, looking more closely and acting with thoughtful integrity.
“Never rushed, always guided
by the horse’s wellbeing.”
GUIDANCE & FACILITATION
Guidance in this pathway is not about telling you what to do.
It involves slowing the conversation down, asking precise questions, and examining assumptions, including those we may not realise we’re holding.
Feedback is offered as an invitation to look more closely or from different perspectives, critical thinking is explored together.
The process is modelled openly, with curiosity and intellectual honesty.
We take horses seriously, and the responsibility they place in us.
We take ourselves lightly enough to keep learning.
“Professional and deeply humane,
without ever feeling sterile or prescriptive."
Behind the learning
This pathway draws on decades spent studying and working alongside equids across a wide range of contexts - wild and free-living, conservation-grazing herds, zoo-kept populations, unhandled and minimally handled horses and domestic horses living under a wide variety of constraints.
That long-term, real-world experience is integrated with postgraduate study in equine science and careful engagement with behavioural and welfare research. These are not separate strands, but a single way of understanding horses as a species.
Sustained observation of wild and free-living horses runs throughout the programme, offering reference points for what horses do and choose, when they are free to express species-specific behaviour. This allows meaningful comparison with domestic and managed lives, bringing clarity to what is adaptive, what is constrained and what behaviour may be telling us.
What’s shared here has been tested against real lives, real constraints and real horses, refined over time, challenged by experience and continually updated as understanding evolves.
“It’s impossible not to feel inspired when
learning alongside someone so deeply
committed to improving the lives of equines."
Testimonials
What happens next
1
Join
You join a friendly cohort and begin by gently orienting to the rhythm of the pathway and the shared agreements that support thoughtful learning.
2
Learn
From there, learning unfolds week by week through live sessions, observation practice and reflection. There’s space to absorb, question and integrate what you’re noticing into your own situations, without pressure to perform or keep up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which pathway is right for me?
Choose Ethology: The Horse in Context if you want to build a solid, species-appropriate understanding of horses, develop clearer ways of interpreting behaviour and feel more confident in your thinking and communication before deciding what to do.
If you’re already working with a challenging horse or situation and want closer, confidential support alongside the same learning foundations the
Applied Ethology Mentorship may be a better fit.
Pricing for - Ethology: The Horse In Context
Ethology: The Horse in Context
6 weeks · live teaching · shared learning
6 months’ access to recordings and resources
INCLUDES:
• Weekly live teaching sessions with Q&A
• Curated learning resources
• Access to a supportive learning community
Standard Rate
£395
The full course as specified above
Pay-It-Forward Rate
£475
Towards a Supported place (See below)
Installment Plan
£120
then £50 per week
for 6 weeks
Supported places
Where Pay-It-Forward contributions allow, a limited number of supported (reduced-fee) places may be offered per cohort to make the learning accessible to those who feel drawn to the work but are currently experiencing financial constraints.
To be considered, you’re invited to complete a short application sharing a little about yourself and how you hope to use this opportunity in service of horses.
Both standard and supported places receive the same learning, time, and attention.
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