Final - Horse Behaviour Flashcards
What do ethogram tables include?
- Name of behaviour (label)
- Description of behaviour (in pics or words)
What is generally understood about behaviour names?
- Can have same name, but different description
- Can have same descriptions, but different names
What affects the names of behaviours?
- Use of unique jargon by those involved with each species
- Regional differences in terms
*Thus, behaviour literature uses a variety of terms and it’s important to focus on the behaviour itself and what it is
What is the evolutionary background of horses?
- Horse ancestor is a pony-shaped mongolian wild horse (Przewalski’s horse)
- True horses occupied the Eurasian lowlands north of the great mountain ranges
- Despite their morphological differences, all the breeds, groups and types of domestic horses belong to one species
What are used for behavioural comparisons?
For behavioural comparison, many use feral horses rather than the Przewalski horse
- Przewalski’s still exist in captivity, but came from a nucleus of 11 foundation animals THUS, they have emerged from a shallow gene pool over the past 20 generations of captivity
- Mustangs found roaming North America are feral representations of these species
Behavioural biology of horses
- Long nose
- allow it to graze while maintaining surveillance above the grass - Relies on caution, speed, and agility
- w/o horns or antlers, these are its chief means of self-preservation - Social herbivores
- seek companions for added safety, mutual comfort and enhanced detection of food
- feels insecure when isolated - Ability to use minimal physical effort to rest while standing
- Trickle-feeder obliged to forage frequently (generalist herbivore)
Behavioural biology: trickle feeder
A horse is a trickle-feeder obliged to forage frequently (generalist herbivore)
- Has NOT evolved to eat and then ruminate in one spot
- It eats and moves and eats and moves
- Restriction of movement and imposing periods of fasting are likely to be more problematic to equids than to members of many other species
Horses: Feeding and Foraging
- As temp increases, foraging behaviour decreases
- Time of day affects foraging bout length
- longer feeding bouts at dawn and in the late afternoon - Breaks btw feeding bouts are short
- tend to occur to perform other activities such as maintenance, social and repro behaviours
Horses: Vision
- Horses can see objects clearly but also maintain distant watchfulness
- Panoramic vision: 330-350
- Binocular vision: 60-70 - The blind zone accounts for a proportion of startle responses, including shying
- Image magnification is 50% greater than humans
- Good distance vision
- Night vision
- Dichromatic vision
- yellow is identified most easily, followed by greens, then blues with reds the least easily identified
- better than humans at discriminating btw shades of grey but trouble w discriminating btw greens and greys of similar brightness
What is the horse’s visual field affected by?
Visual field is affected by the level at which the head is carried
Horses: Hearing
- Similar to humans, but may hear at higher pitches
- Funnel-shaped ears can move in unison or independently
- 10 muscles, the ears can be moved in lateral arcs of 180
- direction the ear is pointing helps to indicate where the horse’s attention is focused - Can protect their hearing from very loud noises by laying ears flat
What may horses with impaired hearing show more of?
Drooping of the ears
Horses: Smell and Taste
- Olfactory sense is well developed
- Have a vomernasal organ and show the flehmen response
- Sense of taste that can discriminate btw safe and toxic plants with variable accuracy
- may be able to detect trace minerals
Horses: Touch
- Very sensitive to tactile stimulation
- especially around the muzzle and ears
- some horses dislike their ears, eyes, groin and bulbs of the heels being touched - Sensitive to the presence of others at their side
- Allogrooming areas
- common along mane
- less common over back and rump
- rare along shoulders and underside of the neck
Allogrooming areas
- common along mane
- less common over back and rump
- rare along shoulders and underside of the neck
What grooming styles are used by horses?
rolling, shaking, rubbing, scratching, and nibbling
In feral horses what do social groups consist of?
Harem groups: typically 1 male, a variable number of females and young horses
Bachelor groups: excess males
- leave their natal band around 0.7-3.9 yrs of age
Under the permanent harem-type of social organization, females are in constant association with a male. What does this result in?
- Detection of heat is assured
- Harem males do most of the breeding
What does stability of the harem group depend on?
- The herding instinct of the stallion
- Strong social attachment btw harem members
- Rejection of intruders
Horses: Dominance Hierarchy in feral vs domesticated horses
In feral or domesticated horses:
- a dominance hierarchy develops, and once developed remains stable; serves to reduce aggression and agonistic encounters
In feral groups, males tend to rank at the top
- dominance expressed as threats to bite or kick, or actual biting and kicking
In domesticated groups, dominance is expressed in competitive situations
- ex. a restricted food source
Horses: Dominance Hierarchy in small vs large herd
In small herds
- dominance hierarchies are linear
In large herds
- triangular relationships have been observed; most social triangles occur in the middle of a band’s organization
What factors appear to affect rank in a dominance hierarchy?
- Height or body wt, but not necessarily age, appear to affect rank
- Length of time in band appears to affect rank
- The daughters of a dominant mare tend to be dominant within their own herds
In terms of sexual receptivity, horses are…
Seasonally polyestrous
- long day breeders
- duration of estrus decreases at ht of the breeding season
An unreceptive mare vs a receptive mare
Unreceptive
- kicks, squeals and lays back her ears if the stallion approaches
Receptive
- indicate readiness for mounting by standing still, spreading the hind legs, lifting the tail to one side, lowering the pelvis and repeatedly exposing the tissue of the vulva (“winking”)
What sexual behaviour is important in horses?
Foreplay
- the male will smell, nibble and lick the mare and exhibit flehmen (curling of the top lip to expose the teeth)
When is copulation first achieved in horses?
Between 15 months to 3yrs
- although interest is shown by young males as young as 3 months
While semen collection using a dummy is safer, what does research show?
It produces semen with reduced motility and lower total sperm count (despite higher concentration of spermatozoa)
What is the gestation period for a horse?
340 + 5 days
When does foaling tend to occur in feral horses versus stabled Thoroughbreds?
Feral: foaling tends to occur in the early morning hours
Stabled Thoroughbreds: foaling tends to occur at night and towards dawn
What does the mare do after birth?
- After birth, the mare remains lying down and if the foal moves within reach, she will nuzzle it
- Once the mare stands, she will nuzzle and vigorously lick the foal
- Begins the formation of the bond btw mare and foal; relationship may continue for up to 2 yrs
- If the foal is lying down, the mare is likely to stay close by
The mare keeps the foal away from contact with herd members. What are foals classified as?
Followers
There are horse behaviour changes associated with confinement. What can stabling compromise?
Feeding, social, and kinetic behaviour as well as health
How does stabling affect feeding behaviour?
- Stabling limits feeding choice
- Concentration rations are consumed more rapidly than a pure forage diet
- Feral or pastured horse will spend 70% of its day foraging
- Stabled horses may only spend 10% of their time feeding
How does stabling affect social behaviour?
- Anecdotal evidence of horses performing operant tasks
- ex. undoing bolts with their lips to escape - Choice of equine neighbours in a stable yard is dictated by stable manager
- bonded affiliates may be separated while individuals with mutually low tolerance may be housed next to one another - Stables of all sizes, when designed for individual horses, prevents detection of predators and escape
- survival instinct - Eliminative behaviour in the stable differs markedly from that in the paddock
- occupants cannot easily avoid contact with their waste
- fresh layers of bedding regularly prompt urination in a male
How does stabling affect kinetic behaviour?
One prevailing feature is restricted space
1. Rolling behaviour is more difficult to perform in a stall than it is at pasture
- many stabled horses are unable to perform this basic maintenance behaviour
- requires 6m span to roll from side to side
- After periods of confinement, horses show post-inhibitory rebound
- may explain why unwanted behaviours during training occur more frequently among stabled horses than those at pasture
After periods of confinement, horses show what?
Post-inhibitory rebound
- if you prevent the animal from a behaviour, once they are able to do it they will spend a lot of time and do a lot of the behaviour
- may explain why unwanted behaviours during training occur more frequently among stabled horses than those at pasture
Horses: Lying and Standing Behaviours
- Resting with wt distributed on 3 legs
- Lying down sequence
- Recumbent resting attitudes
- Arising sequence
Horses: Time Budget
- Majority of time spent foraging (50-75%)
- 15-35% of time spent standing
- Horses will typically take over 10,000 paces/day; part of natural grazing behaviour
- Recumbent postures most common btw midnight and 4am, while standing resting during daylight hrs
How did Przwalski horses budget time?
spend 15.7% of their time standing resting,
1.2% lying sternal, and 4.1% laying laterally within a 24h period
What is a change in activity levels often attributed to?
The horse’s state of health, the diet, or the management routine
Who is the requirement to sleep for significant portions of the day particularly crucial for? Why?
Younger animals; to grow and assimilate new infor
What are the 4 stages of equine sleeping patterns?
- Wakefulness
- Drowsiness
- Slow wave sleep
- Paradoxical sleep (REM sleep)
What type of sleeping patterns do horses show?
Horses show polyphasic sleeping patterns, sleeping for short durations over multiple time points in any one 24hr period
When can slow wave sleep be achieved? What does REM sleep require?
Slow wave sleep can be achieved while the horse is standing or lying. REM sleep requires lateral recumbancy (due to decreased muscle tone)
Horses show a reluctance to lie down to achieve sternal or lateral recumbency unless what?
They are in a familiar environment with known social companions to maintain vigilance
Does housing and bedding influence the longevity of resting behaviour? How?
YES
- pregnant mares in stables spent more time resting overnight compared to those on pasture
- horses spent more time recumbent when provided with straw bedding rather than wood shavings
What are the 2 distinct types of horses and their origins?
- Cold Bloods
- thought to originate from small, heavily set horses
- genetics from taller horses introduced later on - Hot Bloods
- thought to originate from finer-boned horses of up to 14.3 hands
- swift
- reactivity and athleticism have led them being favoured for racing, performance and sports; may also be why they are over-represented in surveys of problem behaviours in stables
What does hot and cold relate too?
Type usually described in horse books as related to temperament but may refer to the climate the type was originally adapted to
Uses of modern horse breeds and types
- Show-jumping
- Dressage
- Eventing
- Endurance
- Racing
- Trotting and pacing
- Ball sports
- Leisure
Show jumping
Agility over fences and against the clock
- obedience, boldness, responsiveness
- tendency when jumping to tuck in the forelegs and kick back the hind legs
Example breeds
- Thoroughbreds, Draft/TB crosses, Welsh Cob/TB cross, warm-bloods
Dressage
Controlled and yet demonstrably powerful execution of set maneuvers
- Responsive, calm, confident, and classically correct, free, regular paces
Breeds
- Draft/TB crosses, Warm-Bloods
Eventing
Combined demonstrations of stamina, agility and compliance in the dressage arena
- calm, responsive
Example breeds
- thoroughbreds, draft/TB crosses, warm-bloods, warm-blood crosses
Endurance
Long-distance riding and ride and tie events
- Tendency to bond with humans, calm, compliant, drink readily
Example breeds
- Arabians, arabian crosses, appaloosas
Racing
- flat
- hurdles
- steeple chasing
- Arab racing
- Quarterhorse racing: reactive to stimuli, desire to run, reluctance to be at the back
Example breeds
- thoroughbreds, arabians, quarterhorses
Trotting and Pacing
Harness racing at the trotting or pacing gait
- tolerant of harness and handling
- desire to run
Example breeds
- standardbreds
Ball sports
Polo and polocross
- reliable, responsive, hardworking, agile, swift to learn
Example breeds
- Polo ponies, stock horses, small thoroughbreds, quarterhorses
Leisure
Recreational trail-riding/trekking/hacking; riding club activities including quadrilles and combined training
- adaptable, calm
Example breeds (any riding breed)
- American saddlebred, quarterhorses, standardbreds, arabian crosses
Clever Hans
- Austria, 1900s
- Hailed as an arithmetic genius
However, his accuracy was depended on being able to see his audience
- needed a cue to stop
- operant conditioning: had learned he would be rewarded if his foot movements stopped when he detected subtle behavioural changes in human observers
