Ashley Fowler's talk on horses wins Toastmasters award

Ashley Fowler with her contest master, Cynthia Lanham

Ashley Fowler of Midway placed first in Midway Toastmasters’ International Speech contest with her speech, "Straight From the Horse's Mouth,” and now she advances to the area contest in Lexington Feb. 22.

Fowler is a researcher at the University of Kentucky, where she earned her Ph.D. in equine nutrition. She is a post-doctoral scholar in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.

In her speech, Fowler shared three lessons she has learned from working with horses since she was 10 years old.

First, horses respond more positively to someone who is confident. Second, different horses have different personalities, a communication style that works for one horse may not work for another.

Third, it's important to be empathetic and try to understand why a horse is pinning its ears back (a sore back?) or refusing to step in a puddle (fear that the puddle is too deep?). Fowler said she's found that these principles also apply to interactions with humans.