Behavioural processes.
Publisher:
Elsevier Scientific Pub. Co.
Frequency: Twelve no. a year
Country: Netherlands
Language: English
Start Year:1976 -
ISSN:
0376-6357 (Print)
1872-8308 (Electronic)
0376-6357 (Linking)
1872-8308 (Electronic)
0376-6357 (Linking)
Impact Factor
1.3
2022
| NLM ID: | 7703854 |
| (DNLM): | B02680000(s) |
| (OCoLC): | 02497823 |
| Coden: | BPRODA |
| LCCN: | 77643118 |
| Classification: | W1 BE135F |
Using differential reinforcement to improve equine welfare: shaping appropriate truck loading and feet handling. Inappropriate behavior during common handling procedures with horses is often subject to aversive treatment. The present study replicated and extended previous findings using differential reinforcement to shape appropriate equine handling behavior. In Study 1, a multiple baseline across subjects design was used with four horses to determine first the effects of shaping target-touch responses and then successive approximations of full truck loading under continuous and intermittent schedules of reinforcement. Full loading responses were shaped and maintained in all four horses and occurrences o...
Post-conflict friendly reunion in a permanent group of horses (Equus caballus). Gregarious animals living in permanent social groups experience intra-group competition. Conflicts over resources can escalate into costly aggression and, in some conditions, non-dispersive forms of conflict resolution may be favoured. Post-conflict friendly reunions, hence reconciliation, have been described in a variety of species. The aim of this study was to explore, for the first time, the occurrence of reconciliation in a group of domestic horses (Equus caballus) and learn more about strategies used to maintain group cohesion. The behaviour of seven horses living as permanent group in an...
A preliminary study of the effects of handling type on horses’ emotional reactivity and the human-horse relationship. Handling is a crucial component of the human-horse relationship. Here, we report data from an experiment conducted to assess and compare the effect of two training methods. Two groups of six Welsh mares were trained during four sessions of 50 min, one handled with traditional exercises (halter leading, grooming/brushing, lifting feet, lunging and pseudo-saddling (using only girth and saddle pad) and the second group with natural horsemanship exercises (desensitization, yielding to body pressure, lunging and free-lunging). Emotional reactivity (ER) and the human-horse relationship (HHR) were as...
Stimulus discrimination by horses under scotopic conditions. Scotopic vision in horses (Equus caballus) was investigated using behavioral measurements for the first time. Four horses were tested for the ability to make simple visual discriminations of geometric figures (circles and triangles) under various brightness levels within an enclosed building. Measurements of brightness ranging from 10.37 to 24.12 magnitudes per square arcsecond (mag/arcsec(2); in candelas per square meter-7.70 to 2.43E-05cd/m(2)) were taken using a Sky Quality Meter. These values approximated outdoor conditions ranging from twilight in open country to a dark moonless night in ...
Facial hair whorls (trichoglyphs) and the incidence of motor laterality in the horse. Several species demonstrate obvious motor laterality (sidedness, handedness) in their motor function. Motor laterality in the horse affects locomotion and subsequently equine performance during training and may have inherent safety implications for equitation. Some of the most commonly used identification features in the horse are hair whorls (trichoglyphs), since their specific location and character vary to some degree in every horse. We investigated the relationship between the hair flow of single facial hair whorls and the incidence of lateralised motor bias in 219 horses when under saddle...
An investigation of colour discrimination with horses (Equus caballus). The ability of four horses (Equus caballus) to discriminate coloured (three shades of blue, green, red, and yellow) from grey (neutral density) stimuli, produced by back projected lighting filters, was investigated in a two response forced-choice procedure. Pushes of the lever in front of a coloured screen were occasionally reinforced, pushes of the lever in front of a grey screen were never reinforced. Each colour shade was randomly paired with a grey that was brighter, one that was dimmer, and one that approximately matched the colour in terms of brightness. Each horse experienced the colour...
Social feeding decisions in horses (Equus caballus). Like many other herbivores, in a natural environment equids feed on rather evenly distributed resources. However, the vegetation in their vast habitats constantly changes. If food is plentiful only little competition occurs over food, and in non-competitive situations domestic horses tend to return to the same feeding site until it is overgrazed. In contrast, they compete over limited food for which the social status of the individuals appears to be important. Especially in ruminants several studies have proved an influence of social organisations, rank, sex and the depletion of feeding sites ...
Male infanticide and paternity analyses in a socially natural herd of Przewalski’s horses: sexual selection? The sexual selection hypothesis explains infanticide by males in many mammals. In our 11-year study, we investigated this hypothesis in a herd of Przewalski's horses where we had witnessed infanticidal attacks. Infanticide was highly conditional and not simply linked to takeovers. Attacks occurred in only five of 39 cases following a takeover, and DNA paternity revealed that, although infanticidal stallions were not the genetic fathers in four cases out of five, stallions present at birth did not significantly attempt to kill unrelated foals. Infanticide did not reduce birth intervals; only in...
Equine learning behaviour: what we know, what we don’t and future research priorities. Murphy and Arkins (2007) present a thorough and carefully researched review of publications on equine learning behaviour. They have documented the extent of current studies and identified some limitations in the literature available for this species. Throughout, these authors have suggested areas warranting further research. I would like to offer the following comments in support of their aims while evaluating some potential directions for future research.
Equine learning behaviour. Scientists and equestrians continually seek to achieve a clearer understanding of equine learning behaviour and its implications for training. Behavioural and learning processes in the horse are likely to influence not only equine athletic success but also the usefulness of the horse as a domesticated species. However given the status and commercial importance of the animal, equine learning behaviour has received only limited investigation. Indeed most experimental studies on equine cognitive function to date have addressed behaviour, learning and conceptualization processes at a moderately ba...
Social relationships in a herd of Sorraia horses Part II. Factors affecting affiliative relationships and sexual behaviours. The influence of age, dominance rank, kinship and aggressiveness over affiliative relationships and sexual behaviours were analysed in a herd of Sorraia horses, Equus caballus, kept under extensive management. Subjects were 10 adult mares 5-18 years old that had known each other since birth, and a stallion introduced into the group for breeding for the first time. Kinship coefficient and dominance rank were the most important factors affecting affiliative relationships. Bonds were reciprocal and stronger among mares with higher kinship. Mares spent more time in proximity to close-ranking and l...
Social relationships in a herd of Sorraia horses Part I. Correlates of social dominance and contexts of aggression. Factors related to dominance rank and the functions of aggression were studied in a herd of Sorraia horses, Equus caballus, under extensive management. Subjects were 10 adult mares 5-18 years old and a stallion introduced into the group for breeding. Dominance relationships among mares were clear, irrespective of rank difference, and remained stable after introduction of the stallion. The dominance hierarchy was significantly linear and rank was positively correlated with age and total aggressiveness. Higher-ranking mares received lower frequency and intensity of agonistic interactions. Nevert...
Matching by horses on several concurrent variable-interval schedules. Using three horses we imvestigated responding on several concurrent variable-interval schedules. Each horse was first trained, using the method of successive approximations, to press a response lever with its upper lip. Following successful acquisition of the lip-press response, horses spent several days on pretraining schedules. These included a continuous reinforcement schedule and three variable-interval concurrent schedules: VI 15-sec VI 15-sec, VI 30-sec VI 30-sec, and VI 45-sec VI 45-sec. Horses were then exposed to the experimental sessions; sessions were conducted daily in the horse's ...
Luminance and chromatic discrimination in the horse (Equus caballus). Equine colour vision was measured under conditions that minimised the possibility of animals using brightness cues to make chromatic discriminations. In a two-stage study, we first obtained luminance discrimination functions for achromatic targets then tested for chromatic discrimination over a range of target luminances. Horses were trained on a two-choice discrimination task. The positive stimulus was varied in luminance and/or colour using neutral density and broad band colour filters. The negative stimulus appeared as a uniform grey. In the brightness discrimination task, the horses perfor...
Stability over situations in temperamental traits of horses as revealed by experimental and scoring approaches. Individual behavioural reactions of adult horses in a variety of experimental tests were compared with ratings by riding teachers. The tests were made in a non working situation, with the animals being released in an arena, a box (arena test, new object test, learning tests) or handled (new object/handling situation). The traits rated by teachers were fearfulness, nervousness, gregariousness and learning abilities at work (ridden or handled). Despite a great homogeneity in the reactions exhibited by the horses in the different situations, large individual differences were present. Correlations...
Experimental tests to assess emotionality in horses. Different tests were used to assess different aspects of the emotionality of 1-3 year-old horses: arena test; a `novel object' test; and a handling test. In reaction to the test situations no important differences were observed according to age or sex in the behaviour patterns, but clear individual differences were observed within these classes. The arena test seemed to reveal the degree of gregariousness of the animals whereas the results in the two other tests were correlated and seemed to reflect an inherent degree of fearfulness in the horse. Indices were developed that enabled to rank the...