Section A- social licence, ethology, learning theory, handling and employment Flashcards
What do you understand by the term ‘social license’?
Society allows us to do certain things. In the context of horses it allows us to keep them and to ride them. This is our social license to use horses.
Society changes and it is possible that what society considered acceptable in the past is no longer acceptable.
We need to make sure that everything that we do is done as well as we can so that the majority of society feels it is acceptable.
If a majority of society feels what we do is not acceptable it is possible that a legislative change could happen and we may not be able to continue to do what we do with horses.
What do you understand by the term ethology and how does it correspond with
our treatment of the horse?
The study of horse behaviour, treating horses in a way that allows them to express their natural behaviour-roaming free, herd hierarchy, trickle feeding
Freedom, friends, forage
Outline some of your responsibilities towards the horse and its natural lifestyle.
Allowing horses to live and roam in paddocks and fields, allowing natural forage. Allowing natural forage creates an acid buffer in the horses stomach, preventing acid splash therefore preventing gastric ulcers. Allowing time to rest, allowing them to not only see their friends but to also interact with them in a natural way, grooming, playing. Companionship prevents gastric ulceration due to stress.
Does companionship prevent gastric ulceration? Can you thihnk of some things that companionship does do?
Discuss a horse’s natural instincts.
Flight, fight, freeze
How does the horse’s natural instincts affect its behaviour?
They can be shifty, spooky in new places, wary of new things
What helps a horse to retain learning?
Repetition, positive and negative reinforcement
What are examples of positive and negative reinforcement? Expand your answer. Give detail.
What are your views on a horse’s behaviours, that he knows what he has just done, that he has a concept of right from wrong.
They don’t understand right from wrong. They may retain knowledge of what gave them reward and means that they are more likely to do the same again.
Explain some of the disadvantages of using punishment.
Provides the horse with fear, lack of trust to the rider. May not associate the punishment with the wrong action so can be confusing
What might you use as an alternative to punishment?
Positive reinforcement- treats, scratches, verbal appraisal
Negative reinforcement- verbally, pressure
What are stereotypical behaviours?
Weaving, cribbing, windsucking
Have you experienced any of these behaviours with the horses you have looked
after? What did you do to cope with the problem?
No but-
Windsucking- provide companions, turnout, stable toys
Cribbing- painting tar, ensuring they have enough food
Weaving- turnout, enough exercise, enough food, friends
Cribbing is also turnout, something to do, companionship
How can you manage a horse that crib bites/weaves/box walks?
Friends, food, turnout
How about stable toys?
Describe and demonstrate how the use of equine learning theory may help encourage better stable manners.
An example is a horse that is barge where you can use pressure and release so the horse goes back and then use positive reinforcement once you have released the pressure so the horse is rewarded
How can you minimise the danger of a horse that bites when groomed?
Make people aware of the biting problem, having a competent person holding the horse, tieing them up tightly, holding the lead rope whilst you groom the ticcly bits
Why are you towing the horse?!
Perhaps a sign can be put on the horse’s door warning the horse can bite when groomed. Colour coded traffic lights on stable doors such that a biting horse is only handled by experienced staff. (red on the traffic light).
What signs do you need to be aware of to reduce any negative behaviour in fit
horses?
Raised head and neck, tail swishing, pawing, shying, whinnying, increased oral behaviours
What about tension? What might their eye look like? The behaviour webinars that I have told you about would be worth watching.
Describe what a nappy horse means. Why would a horse behave in this manner and what can you do to reduce areas of confrontation?
When a horse is not wanting to move away from something, they may spin, refuse to move. Eg. Moving away from friends
A good way to help would be to remove the horses that are causing the issues and place them in a more helpful location eg at the top of the drive you are trying to move them up
Why do they behave in this manner?
Have you looked after a horse that kicks? How did you manage a horse that kicks?
You would need to ensure that someone competent is holding the horse when you are trying to do something, make everyone aware that they kick, be very careful around their back legs in particular, wear a red ribbon in their tail when they are being ridden
What PPE would you consider wearing?
What are the challenges of looking after horses on long term box rest?
They will start to get agitated, this could give a higher chance of gastric ulcers due to the potential stress. Their legs may start to fill due to the lack of movement. They will be at a higher chance of becoming obese due to lack of exercise.
How do you stop them from getting too fat without reducing their food intake?
They could eat hay instead of haylage, if they are likely to cough then you could soak or steam it. They could eat low sugar feed
How can you slow the rate at which they eat? ie- they can eat continually but they can’t get as much at one time. Several different ways this can be achieved.
Have you considered, or used, any stable toys?
They could provide a benefit, as they will provide the horse with entertainment and a bit of movement through their necks
Would they have an effect on their mental wellbeing. What sort of toys might you consider?
Which ideas have you had the most success with, or what might you try first, for a
fresh horse/depressed horse?
Make sure that they have enough friends around them. Ensure they have enough food. Provide them with attention; grooming, carrot stretches etc.
Anything else for a depressed horse?
You haven’t made an answer for the fresh horse!
What is involved turning horses out after box rest?
Most vets recommend that after a long bought of box rest that horse are sedated when they are first turned out. They will need to be in a 5x5 paddock and only turned out whilst supervised for an hour.
Why sedate? Why a small turn out area? Anything special about the turnout area? Security? Substrate?
What is rehabilitation and why is it important?
Rehabilitation is when you are bringing a horse back into work after an injury. It is important because you need to ensure that you are bringing them back into work slowly and properly, to ensure that there is a limited chance of reoccurring injury
Have you used rehabilitation on any horses you have looked after?
Yes he had a tendon sheath infection and was on box rest for 11 months, he started out walking in hand, then gentle walk whacks, walk hacks with a little trotting, normal hacks and then starting school work
Why is it important to build up exercise graduallly?
What is massage? How can massage benefit some horses?
Massage is is a hands on therapy that involves manipulation of the horse’ body such as stretching, joint mobilisation and muscle activations. They will look for areas of tightness, change in muscle tone, inflammation, heat and areas or discomfort. It benefits flexibility and range of motion, reduces stress and helps aids recovery.
When would walking a horse in hand be helpful in rehabilitation? What conditions would this benefit?
To start building up movement within the joints, very useful after tendon sheath injury’s to prevent adhesions. Start encouraging muscle to develop. After Muscle or tendon injury can help the tissue to develop in the right way, such as fibre alignment.
What is hydrotherapy?
Hydrotherapy is the use of either a water treadmill or swimming. It is supported movement,because the water provides resistance. The weight is supported by the water, so you can exercise tendons, ligaments and joints without the need to put weight down. The water js warm, so it helps to keep muscles warm.
When might therapeutic ultrasound be considered?
Ultra sound therapy has many benefits for horses. It works by passing sound waves through tissue in the body. It can help to increase circulation, improve blood flow which can be particularly beneficial post it-up. It can help to speed up the healing process of wounds and increase range of motion. It can also help to decrease scar tissue formation , decrease muscle spasm and inflammation, particularly in tendons and ligaments.
It might be used to assist the healing of wounds and injuries on horse, as well as reduce scar tissue
What have you experienced or read about shock wave therapy?
Shockwave therapy is a non invasive treatment which uses sound waves to stimulate healing in wounds, ligaments, tendons and bony structures. The treatment is usually done under sedation. It increases blood flow and increases growth of new blood vessels. It is used in suspensory ligament injury, tendon injury, navicular syndrome, back pain and injuries.
Why are some horses difficult or nervous to clip?
They can be scared of the clippers as they produce noise and vibrations on their skin. They are prey animals, so they tend to react first and think second.
