Sue McDonnell, PhD, Certified AAB

Sue M. McDonnell, PhD, is a certified applied animal behaviorist and the founding head of the equine behavior program at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine. She is also the author of numerous books and articles about horse behavior and management.

Articles by: Sue McDonnell, PhD, Certified AAB

Ground vs. Breeding Mount Semen Collection

We have show pony breeding stallions, and as of last year are doing almost all shipped semen. This year we are seriously thinking about expanding our business to offer semen collection and shipping services for outside stallions, which will

Read More

Narrow Doorway Aversion

 My mare has a particular problem with doorways, like stall doorways, small barn doorways, and even to some extent with the round pen gate. Big, wide doors are no problem, but with anything about four feet wide or smaller she will

Read More

Foal Urination and Defecation

The first urination in foals typically occurs within the first six hours for females and the first twelve hours for males. Like defecation, the first urination in foals very often occurs soon after the first nursing.

Read More

More on Panic Attacks

Readers Respond

August’s Behavior column (article #914) sparked heated debate about euthanasia for horses with incurable panic attacks. This month we feature two readers’ responses and the author’s comments.

It was a

Read More

Retraining a Rebellious Colt

We recently had a foal who is now one month old. His mother has always been easy to handle in the cross ties or harness (she is a 20-year-old retired Standardbred), but is not a horse which can be caught easily in the pasture, and she isn’t

Read More

Mare Savages Foal

Mares which unpredictably savage a foal in this manner typically savage again if given the opportunity

Read More

Enjoying Veterinary Visits

In our referral equine behavior practice, we frequently rehabilitate horses perceived to be uncooperative with one or more veterinary procedures such as injections, nasogastric tubing, genital examination, etc. We have found that straightforward

Read More

Teeth Grinding

What does teeth grinding mean? I think there is a horse in our barn that does it sometimes.

Read More

Horse Play

I have a report to do for science class on animal behavior (middle school, fifth grade). My teacher, Mr. Brennan, said to pick a favorite animal species and a favorite type of behavior. My favorite animals are wild horses, and my

Read More

More From The Horse

Down Horse _ 3
Collecting Colostrum, colostrum, foal care, mare care
foal nursing
horse nose snout nostril detail close animal equine pont

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Has your horse started shedding his winter coat?
264 votes · 264 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

The Horse
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.