Equine Behaviour Flashcards
what is ecology
- the scientific or objective study of an animal under natural conditions
- insight into physiological and psychological needs
what do we know about the horse
- they are a prey species - with the main defence being flight
- herd animal
what is precocious
- neurological maturity at birth
- able to process stimuli right at birth
what is imprinting
- bond created younge in order to bond with mother or humans
what is neophobic
- fearful of novel stimuli
- degree is based on breed and experience
what are the two most important and developed sense in horses
- sight
- hearing
what type of vision do horses have
- large eyes
- placed on sides = for feild of vision
anterolaterally positioned - not good depth perception
- 350 field of vision - 55-60 binocular range
what types of head shapes do horses have
- dolichocephalic
- mesocephalic
- brachycephalic
why is the shape of the head important
- peripheral acuity is influence by the shape of the head
- ## head postition affects focus of binocular vision
does a horse have good motion detection?
yes, doesnt have to see clearly just has to detect movement
- makes horses reactive
do horses have night vision
- better then people
- high density of retinal rods
- tapetum lucidum - shines at night
auditory sense
- hear better then humans
- acoustic discrimmination
- 10 independent muscles - position control they will move ear towards the sound
how can you use auditory senses
- vocal cues, understanding tone ( learn to understand not born)
- click training - repond with goos reaction time
what are the different types of learned behaviours
- fearful stimulus - flee
- ## non fearful stimulus - ignores
what is more diffucult to transition between fearful and not fearful
not fearful to fearful is the least difficult
- fearful to not fearful is the most difficult
what are the different techniques to reduce fear
- desensitization
- reassurence
- body language
- presence of other horses
why do we need to be carful with memory
- effect of first experience - harder to go from fearful to not fearful
- so every first experience needs to be good
predatory habituation
- do not want horse to recognize you as a predator
- ## continously remind horse we are sustinance provider and safe
flight
- primary survival behaviour
- grasslands
- large predatory enemies
- sprinters
- ## quick reaction time, running from perceied threats starting at birth
herd mentality
- increased ability to detect a threat
- wont sleep and eat all at once = guards
- move eyes and ears and snort to communicate
social structure
- fluid
- submission - you want to lead the horse not dominate it
- cannot try to over power
- cannot make horse fearful
Signs of submission
- lower head position
- chewing
- licking lips (both are associated with high cortisol and stress)
what is movement control
- manipulation of primary defence mechanism
- horses dominate other horses by movement of control
- humans dictate, when where and how fast they move
- potential fear stimulation
- everything humans do with a horse involves controlling movement
- horses should always feel safe
What is tactile sensitive
- horse skin is like human fingertips
- grooming and rider position can be felt at all times by the horse
- individual sensitivity can come down to genetics and different breeds
- rewards
- que movements and communicates
why is body language important
- controls movements
- signals threats
- horse is very adept at learning to read humans body language
