Equine behaviour Flashcards
Origin of equids
Four ancestral breeds (subspecies)
Originally, most horses were ponies
A pony is <14.2 hands high
4 inches to a hand measured from sole of foot to withers
Animal behaviour of wild horses
(Przewalski ‘wild’ Horse)
Live in bands (harems) of 10 to 20 horses
Time audit, daylight
45% time eating
15% moving
35% resting
Night
Lie down for about 10% of time (longer in foals)
Domesticated horses animal behaviour
Large groups of mares with stallions split themselves into bands controlled by a stallion
Younger colts and fillies stay with group until 2-3 years old
Then live alone for a few months
Join a new group
Stallions tend not to breed their own daughters
Young stallions may from bachelor bands
Groups of mares and geldings with no stallion often group together under a boss mare or gelding
In a band, relationships (dominance) are linear
Dominance determines order in which horses obtain resources e.g.
Access to stallion (if mare in heat)
Drink at a waterer
Grazing behaviour in horses
Time grazing: preference 60 to 80% of daylight hours grazing
Can eat sufficient in 4 hours on good pasture
Only lie down for 10 to 15% of day
Pasture utilization
Horses avoid feces (latrines)
Avoid forages with a lot of stem
Results in roughs and lawns (good areas)
Smell in horses
Use the sense of smell to identify their surroundings
Pheromones given off by an individual horse help identify it to others
Signal sexual receptivity
Hearing in horses
Far better developed than in humans
Use low, quiet voices
Ears move independently of each other in a 180 rotation
Where a horses’ ears are is where its thoughts are
Ear position gives clues regarding a horses’ mood
Vision in horses
Eyes are very large
Eyes positioned on sides of head
So can see 340 degrees
Blind spots - very poor vision:
Directly in front for 1m
Directly behind them.
Diagram of Visual Field
Have small range of binocular vision
Visual streak in retina with high concentration of receptors
Horse adjusts position of head to see objects in 3D
Extend head to look at distant objects in 3D
Flex head to look at ground
Limited color vision
Blue and green
Very good monochromatic vision
Particularly in low light
Monocular vision, poor focusing
Black mats or water puddles look like deep holes
Horses can fear objects seen many times before that is in a different position
Different colors may cause a horse to spook
Touch in horses
Very important sense for a horse
Tactile hairs on muzzle and around eyes
Lips are very mobile
More sensitive around head (especially the ears) , legs, ribs and flank areas
Mutual grooming – important social aspect
Types of vocalization and what it means in horses
Squeal or scream – threat
Snort - fear
Whinny (neigh) - greeting
Blow – curiosity
Nicker – quiet communications
Laying down and standing up in horses
Lying down
Place all 4 feet beneath body
Collapse
Standing up
Extend fore legs first
Push up with hind legs
Where should you stand when a horse lies down or stands up?
To the side, right side preferably
Risks for human injury while handling horses
Horses are large and powerful animals
Kick – ACCURATE!! Can range 6-8 feet (2-3 M); can kick to the side
Strike – front legs
Bite - not usually, but when they do they can cause serous injury
Run you over
Step on your feet
Crush injuries – frightened or startled horses will always try to escape perceived danger and run right over top of anything in its way
Risk for animal injury while handling horses
They develop strong social relationship with their herd mates
Separation causes anxiety
Injuries from capture/restraint equipment
Attempts to escape chutes or fenced areas
Injuries from housing
Nails, broken boards, and wires
Flight zone in horses
Flight zone is 3 – 10 M
Ensure that the horse looks at you when you approach
Evasive manoeuvre – wheel away, leaving you facing the hind quarters
Do not approach from the rear
When passing behind either give room or stay very close
Never stand directly in front of a horse
Indications for restraint in horses
Safety
Veterinary personnel
Patient
Client
Legalities
Liability for injury
Equine capture: the approach
Approach in a curve to the withers
Do not look at the face directly (predatory); instead look at withers
When approaching, speak gently in a low confident voice.
Scratching the withers is a calming gesture seen in mutual grooming
If the horse starts to move away – stop and stand quiet till the horse is calmed.
Never rush at the horse
Halter
Halter is the basic restraint tool
Rope
Leather
Nylon webbing
Lead shank
Lead shank should always be attached with a snap or knot
Chain lead
Chain lead may be used for more control
It is passed across the bridge of the nose
Used to reinforce authority (similar to a choke collar on a dog).
Do not have the chain under constant pressure!!
More severe chain restraint is passing the chain under the upper lip and onto the gum of the upper jaw.
What to do while restraining a horse
Horses should be held not tied for veterinary procedures
Handler always stands on the same side as the vet
If the horse does act up handler:
Pulls head towards them if needed
Swings hind legs away
The rope/tie in horses
Properly tied horse
Location of rope on fence – level with the shoulder or higher
Tied to a solid post preferably
Length of rope – should be relatively short
Tied with a quick release knot
Never leave a tied horse unattended!!!
Loa
Loading problems in horses
Reluctance to load
Helpful hints
Open the escape door and put a rope across it
Lets light in, you out
Rope/bar keeps horse in
Make sure the brake is on so that everything is stable
Load an ‘easy’ horse first
Back horse in
Use a lunge line behind the butt
Train as foals
Warning signs of horse aggression
Ears flattened backwards
Rapid tail movement
Snaking
Pawing
Squealing
Threats to kick
Aggression towards people in horses
Usually in stalls
Due to dominance or fear e.g. painful experience
May be able to counter condition by offering treats, grooming or exercise
Aggression Towards other horses
Breeding, dominance, territorial
Can introduce new horses gradually
Separated by two fences
Protects from kick injury
Castration may help
Maternal aggression in horses
In the first few days after delivery
Accustom mare to care givers prior to delivery
Minimize contact during this period
Stallion aggression
Overused
Out of season
Doesn’t like mare
Tend not to want to mate mares they were stabled with when they were colts
Forced mating results in aggression
Treating stallion aggression
Change mare
Consider AI
Physical restraint with hobbles
Desensitization and clicker training
What can trigger stereotypies
Boredom can trigger, lack of:
Social interaction
Forage
Exercise
Cribbing is
Stable Vice / Oral Stereotypy
Grasp object with upper incisors and suck air into esophagus and stomach
Predisposing factors (mostly feed related)
Weaned in a stall rather than at pasture
Kept in a stall following weaning
Being fed concentrates
Lack of time at pasture
Lack of straw bedding in stall
More susceptible to colic
Also called wind sucking and aerophagia
Wood chewing
Eating wooden fence posts or building material
Particularly a problem in horses kept indoors
Fed concentrate or hay cubes and no long stem hay or straw
Treatment
Provide more roughage
Long stem hay
Pasture
Turn out
Weaving
Repetitively moving head from side to side, may be accompanied by shifting weight on fore legs.
In a stall/stable/barn,
Usually in front of an opening
Box walking and risk factors
Repetitively walking around the edges or side of a stall.
Similar to weaving, less common
Often seen prior to feeding or turnout
Risk factors
Mature warmbloods or thoroughbreds
Weaned in a stall/stable/barn
Kept in a stall/stable/barn
Not turned out to pasture every day
Lack of multiple open windows
Lack of straw bedding
Lack of forage
Consequences and treatment of box walking
Consequences
Increased risk of colic
Treatment
Provide mirror
More turn out
More social contact (windows)
More forage
Reproductive behaviour in horses
Sexually mature at 2-3 years of age
Seasonally polyestrous
Do not cycle in fall/winter
Unless under lights
Cycle every 21 days if not pregnant
Gestation is 340 +/- 20 d.
Breeding in horses
Pasture breeding
Stallion runs with mares and breeds them as they come in heat
Stallion (stud) often housed separately from mares
Mare brough to stud(s) to determine if she is in heat (teased)
Or determined by ultrasound
Stallion courtship
Prances
Sniffs mare
May show flehmen
Raising head and curling upper lip up while sniffing
Nuzzles and grooms mare
Mare courtship
Not ready (proestrus)
Ears pinned back
Squeal
Kick at stallion
Move away
Potentially dangerous
Tease with a solid barrier between stallion and mare
Mare in heat (estrus)
Stand still
Lift/deviate tail
Urinates
Squat
Wink
Eversion of the vulvar labia
Turns hindquarters towards stallion and stands for mounting
Mares often rectally palpated or ultrasounded when in estrus to better estimate time of ovulation
Usually towards the end of estrus
Parturition in horses
Udder gradually enlarges during last month of pregnancy
Teats enlarge and point slightly to the side
Close to parturition
Colostrum on ends of teats
Dried beads
Waxing
Starts a few days prior to parturition
Dripping milk: parturition within 24 h.
Pelvic muscles slowly relax in the month before parturition
Hollow area appears either side of tail head
Vulva swells and relaxes
Parturition within days
First stages of labour in horses
Restless
Kicking at belly
Looking at flanks
Sweating
Look for quiet secluded place
May not foal if onlooker
Use camera
Second stage of labour in horses
Begins with rupture of allantois
Normal foaling is now rapid and explosive
20 to 40 minutes
Third stage of labour in horses
Passage of placenta
Can be tied in a knot while it hangs to help passage
Placenta normally passes within 3 hours of foaling
Mare bonding with foal
Mare stands and licks her foal
May nicker
May lie down and roll for up to an hour
Foal stands typically within 1 hour
Sucks colostrum within 2 hours
First month of foal life
Spend first month close to dam
Period of dependence
Sleep frequently
Socialization period in foal
2 to 3 months
Explore
Play with foals
Colts mount and fight more
Fillies groom and run more
Colts only groom fillies
Fillies groom both sexes
When to handle foal
Should be gently handled during first 42 days of life
4 months and after of foal
Spends more time grazing and resting
Period of increasing independence
Why do mares reject foals
First time mums or foals with a painful udder may:
Accept foal
But not let suckle
Tranquilize, restrain and assist foal
First time mom foal rejection treatment
May run away from foal
Treatment
Quiet, relaxing environment
Food treats
Restrain mare
May have to foster foal onto another mare
Rejection of foal with aggression
Kick or bite foal
Hereditary?
Protect foal
Partial barriers to allow suckling
Counter conditioning with rewards
Fostering
Principle of fostering foals
Mare that has recently lost foal
Restrain mare so that she has to allow sucking
Make it difficult for her to identify new foals
Put strong smelling ointment on muzzle to restrict her sense of smell
Vicks vapor rub
Blindfold mare
How to make foal more acceptable to a fostering mom
Scent of natural foal
Cover with skin from dead foal
Wash dead foal and then apply to new foal
What to do to help foal during fostering
One restrains mare
Lead rope
Tranquilize if necessary
Rope divider
One assists foal to find teat
Foal should be kept away from mares head
What to do with foal after feeding form foster mom
Remove foal to adjacent pen
Mare must not be able to see foal
Repeat process every 2 hours
When mare starts to call to foal, allow her to sniff
If successful, will bond in in 24 to 48 hours
The twitch on horses
Nerve stimulating device that may immobilize horses and can be helpful in restr
Nerve stimulating device that may immobilize horses and can be helpful in restraint
Most twitches are applied to the upper lip of the horse
Horses that have been twitched previously will throw their heads and tighten their lips to prevent you from putting the twitch on.
Use sparingly!
Loop twitch of chain or rope
The most common method – loop is placed over the thumb and 3 fingers (fig 7 - 19 in text) pinky prevents the chain from sliding down your arm.
Grasp the end of the horse’s lip, raise the hand with the twitch on it and slide it onto the horse’s nose.
The twitch is tightened until the horse responds by standing still
Humane twitch
problem is that pressure is mild and horses are able to ignore it
Skin twitch
pinch a small amount of skin on the neck just above the point of the shoulder and rolling it around a clenched fist
