Topic:Behavior
Equine behavior encompasses the study of horses' actions, reactions, and interactions within their environment and with other living beings. It includes the examination of innate behaviors, such as grazing and herd dynamics, as well as learned behaviors influenced by training and human interaction. Understanding equine behavior is essential for improving horse welfare, training methods, and management practices. This topic covers a range of behaviors, from social structures and communication to stress responses and problem behaviors. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the various aspects of equine behavior, including factors that influence it and its implications for horse management and welfare.
Visual acuity in the horse. We assessed the ease with which horses could learn visual discriminations and measured their resolution acuity. We trained three horses to press their noses against one of two large wooden panels to receive a small food reward. Following training on a series of two-choice discrimination tasks, resolution acuity was measured. Although there was some variability between animals, the best acuity obtained was 23.3 c deg-1. Within the margin of error imposed by limited anatomical data, the obtained values are consistent with predictions based on retinal ganglion cell density estimates and posterior...
Nonpharmacologic management of stereotypic self-mutilative behavior in a stallion. Self-mutilative behavior, a form of stereotypic behavior, can be a serious problem in stallion management. An 11-year-old Quarter Horse stallion was referred for evaluation of repeated episodes of self-mutilation and aggressive behavior. Historically, this behavior worsened when the horse was isolated from other animals and confined to a stall for long periods. Observations of the stallion revealed episodes of self-mutilation and other forms of stereotypic behavior precipitated by stressful situations. Modification of this behavior was achieved by environmental and nutritional management and p...
The role of procaine in adverse reactions to procaine penicillin in horses. Procaine penicillin is a commonly used antibiotic in equine medicine but its use is associated with a substantial incidence of adverse reactions. Soluble procaine concentrations were determined by HPLC in several commercially available procaine penicillin preparations, including some that were involved in adverse reactions. The mean (+/- SEM) soluble procaine concentrations in the veterinary preparations was 20.18 +/- 5.07 mg/ml, which was higher than the concentration in the only procaine penicillin preparation for use in humans in Australia of 7.3 mg/ml. Heating the veterinary procaine penic...
Alcohol use and horseback-riding-associated fatalities–North Carolina, 1979-1989. In the United States, an estimated 30 million persons ride horses each year (1). Total injury-related morbidity and mortality associated with horseback riding in the United States is unknown; however, during 1976-1987, 205 such fatalities occurred in 27 states (2). Even though alcohol use is a risk behavior for many types of injury, its role in horseback-riding-associated deaths has not yet been established. This report summarizes a study by the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) to characterize all horseback-riding-associated deaths during 1979-1989 and to determine wh...
Normal and abnormal sexual behavior. This article includes a brief description of the reproductive patterns and specific behaviors comprising courtship and copulation in equids. The author then focuses on breeding behavior of the domestic stallion. Descriptions of normal breeding behavior under a variety of domestic management systems, comments on sexual behavior of donkeys and exotic equids, and the most common types and treatments of sexual behavior dysfunction are included.
Training the novice stallion for artificial breeding. Although the act of breeding is instinctive to the stallion, the use of a phantom mare and AV represent an unnatural element to this act. The use of these devices, as well as proper breeding manners and etiquette, must be taught to the stallion. The novice stallion usually learns these techniques rapidly and is quite manageable if proper restraint is used during training. Positive reinforcement for good behavior is essential. The ultimate goal in training the novice stallion is to develop an individual that will enter the breeding area with controlled enthusiasm, develop an erection and gracef...
Training the novice stallion for natural breeding. There are myriad problems that can arise when training the novice stallion for natural service. Many problems can be avoided by proper early training of the novice stallion. In the final analysis, common sense should prevail. The major ally of common sense is patience. One should keep in mind that the goal is to have a stallion behave in a disciplined manner, allowing for his expression of libido and effective mounting, intromission, and ejaculation. This is accomplished through judicious training and, as with any training process, takes some time and work. Proper training will help circumvent...
Lipid composition and thermotropic phase behavior of boar, bull, stallion, and rooster sperm membranes. Composition and thermotropic phase behavior of sperm membrane lipids from species ranging in sensitivity to cold shock were determined. Lipids from whole sperm and sperm plasma membrane were fractionated into neutral lipid, glycolipid, and phospholipid fractions. Compositional analyses were completed for free sterols, phospholipids and phospholipid-bound fatty acids. Phase transition temperatures were determined for phospholipid and glycolipid fractions using differential scanning calorimetry. Cholesterol was the major sterol in sperm lipids of all species. Cholesterol to phospholipid molar ra...
Bad language? No abstract available
The pharmacology and pharmacokinetics of high-dose methocarbamol in horses. The haemodynamic, respiratory and behavioural effects and pharmacokinetics of methocarbamol were studied in eight healthy, adult horses after intravenous (i.v.) and oral administration of large dosages. Heart rate, cardiac output, mean pulmonary arterial blood pressure, systolic, diastolic and mean aortic blood pressure, respiratory rate and arterial blood gases did not change after either i.v. (30 mg/kg bodyweight [bwt]) or oral (50 and 100 mg/kg bwt) dosages of methocarbamol. Mild to moderate depression was observed in five of eight horses administered i.v. methocarbamol, and in all horses a...
Sympatho-adrenal activity and the clinical sedative effect of detomidine in horses. Thirty-nine horses were given detomidine 10 micrograms/kg bodyweight (bwt) intravenously (iv) and six horses were given a corresponding volume of saline solution before minor procedures. Venous blood samples were collected for catecholamine and cortisol determination immediately before the detomidine or saline injection and 20 mins after it. The behaviour of the horse at the time of detomidine injection and the extent of sedation were evaluated. Plasma adrenaline, noradrenaline and the catecholamine metabolites, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylglycol (DHPG) and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), and c...
Common horse sense. This research article corrects a common misconception about the energy metabolism in horses during short sprinting and long-distance running events, emphasizing that short sprints are primarily powered by anaerobic activity, […]
Investigating equine ingestive, maternal, and sexual behavior in the field and in the laboratory. Some of the techniques that may be used to study social, reproductive, and ingestive behavior in horses are described in this paper. One of the aspects of equine social behavior is the dominance hierarchy or patterns of agonistic behavior. Paired or group feeding from a single food source may be used to determine dominance hierarchies quickly. Focal animal studies of undisturbed groups of horses may also be used; this method takes longer, but may reveal affiliative as well as agonistic relationships among the horses. Reproductive behavior includes flehmen, the functional significance of which ...
Use of manual stimulation for collection of semen from an atactic stallion unable to mount. A 9-year-old atactic breeding stallion was trained to ejaculate, with only manual stimulation, while standing on the ground. Ejaculates obtained yielded fertile semen with morphologic and motility characteristics within the range for normal stallions. This method extended the breeding life of a stallion unable to mount a live or dummy mare or to ejaculate into an artificial vagina while standing on the ground.
The pharmacokinetics and locomotor activity of alfentanil in the horse. The pharmacokinetics of alfentanil were investigated in the horse. Four doses of alfentanil (4, 10, 20 and 40 micrograms/kg) were given to four horses at different times and their locomotor activity monitored. Doses of 20 and 40 micrograms/kg produced a significant increase in locomotor activity. The plasma concentrations of alfentanil were measured in six standing horses and the pharmacokinetics calculated. It was found that the decay curves were best described by a biexponential equation. The elimination half-life (t1/2 beta) was 21.65 +/- 3.99 min and the clearance (Cl) was 14.1 +/- 0.7 ml/...
Stimulus generalization, discrimination learning, and peak shift in horses. Using horses, we investigated three aspects of the stimulus control of lever-pressing behavior: stimulus generalization, discrimination learning, and peak shift. Nine solid black circles, ranging in size from 0.5 in. to 4.5 in. (1.3 cm to 11.4 cm) served as stimuli. Each horse was shaped, using successive approximations, to press a rat lever with its lip in the presence of a positive stimulus, the 2.5-in. (6.4-cm) circle. Shaping proceeded quickly and was comparable to that of other laboratory organisms. After responding was maintained on a variable-interval 30-s schedule, stimulus generalizat...
Responses of cortisol and prolactin to sexual excitement and stress in stallions and geldings. Sexual stimulation induces rapid secretion of cortisol and prolactin (PRL) in stallions. Experiment 1 was designated to determine whether stallions associated location and(or) procedure with previous sexual stimulation in that location. After a control period on d 1, four stallions were exposed to an estrous mare for 5 min on d 2. On d 3, 4, 5, and 6, the same procedure was followed with no mare present. Concentrations of PRL and cortisol increased (P less than .05) after mare exposure on d 2 but did not vary (P greater than .05) on d 1, 3, 4, 5, or 6. In Exp. 2, six stallions were used to det...
Animal behavior and animal welfare. The value of behavioral techniques in assessing animal welfare, and in particular assessing the psychological well being of animals, is reviewed. Using cats and horses as examples, 3 behavioral methods are presented: (1) comparison of behavior patterns and time budgets; (2) choice tests; and (3) operant conditioning. The behaviors of intact and declawed cats were compared in order to determine if declawing led to behavioral problems or to a change in personality. Apparently it did not. The behavior of free ranging horses was compared with that of stabled horses. Using two-choice preference tes...
Wood chewing by stabled horses: diurnal pattern and effects of exercise. Nine yearling horses, stabled in individual stalls, were used in a trial to determine the diurnal pattern of wood chewing and the effects of exercise on this behavior. The trial was a Latin square design conducted over three 2-wk periods during which each horse was exposed to each of the three following treatments: 1) no exercise (NE), 2) exercise after the morning feeding (AM), and 3) exercise in the afternoon (PM). Horses were fed a complete pelleted feed in the morning and both pelleted feed and long-stemmed hay in the afternoon. Exercise consisted of 45 min on a mechanical walker followed ...
Parahost behavior of adult Gasterophilus intestinalis (Diptera: Gasterophilidae) in Delaware. Parahost behavior of adult Gasterophilus intestinalis (DeGeer) was observed during the summers of 1978 and 1979 near pastured horses on two farms near Newark, Del. Adult fly occurrence, although sparse in early summer, indicated a gradual increase, with three surges in emergence. In the laboratory, males lived 1-3 d and females 1-2 d. In the field, marked flies were not seen on days following their release. Adult behavior indicated an urgency in mating and oviposition dictated by a short life span. Male flight patterns were characterized by in-flight searches for females and intraspecific conf...
Pasture mating behaviour of donkeys (Equus asinus) at natural and induced oestrus. The mating behaviour of 2 jacks, each with 21 non-pregnant jennies, was studied when the jennies were in natural oestrus and simultaneously induced oestrus. The main observations were: efficient pasture breeding at natural and induced oestrus, a territorial sociosexual structure, prolonged pre-copulatory interaction, gradual increase of mating activity up to 2 days before ovulation, a copulatory sequence similar to that of horses, vocalization of the jack as a conspicuous behaviour initiating pre-copulatory interaction, frequent heterotypical behaviour of jennies and active involvement of jenn...
[Social and behavioral organization of horses on the Giara (Sardinia): distribution and aggregation]. In this paper some considerations on the environment of the 42 Kmq of the volcanic-basaltic Giara tableland are discussed. Conditioning by the environment and its effect on the distribution of a population of 712 horses is illustrated in view of their social and behavioural organization.
Hordenine: pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and behavioural effects in the horse. Hordenine is an alkaloid occurring naturally in grains, sprouting barley, and certain grasses. It is occasionally found in post race urine samples, and therefore we investigated its pharmacological actions in the horse. Hordenine (2.0 mg/kg bodyweight [bwt]) was administered by rapid intravenous (iv) injection to 10 horses. Typically, dosed horses showed a flehmen response and defecated within 60 secs. All horses showed substantial respiratory distress. Respiratory rates increased about 250 per cent and heart rates were approximately double that of resting values. All animals broke out in a sw...
[Several physiologic aspects of the reactions of foals in the first three days after weaning]. Changes have been observed in nine foals, six months of age, after weaning for the time of three days, namely in the intake of drinking water, hematocrit, sedimentation of erythrocytes and three minerals Na+, K+ and Cl-. Foals respond to weaning immediately, lowering significantly their consumption of drinking water and increasing high significance of Na+ and Cl-. Changes of level K+, hematocrit and sedimentation don't show any significant variations. The results reached are to be considered as an introductory information for further inquiry on the more extensive methodical basis.
Taste aversion learning in horses. The ability of ponies to learn to avoid a relatively novel food associated with illness was tested in three situations: when illness occurred immediately after consuming a feed; when illness occurred 30 min after consuming a feed; and when illness was contingent upon eating one of three feeds offered simultaneously. Apomorphine was used to produce illness. The feeds associated with illness were corn, alfalfa pellets, sweet feed and a complete pelleted feed. The ponies learned to avoid all the fees except the complete feed when apomorphine injection immediately followed consumption of the feed....
Ingestive behavior. In summary, horses spend 60% or more of their time eating when grazing or when feed is available free choice. Grasses are their preferred food, but they supplement the grass with herbs and woody plants. Sweetened mixtures of oats and corn are the most preferred concentrate. Horses can increase or decrease the time spent eating and amount eaten to maintain caloric intake. Their intake is stimulated by drugs such as diazepam and by the presence of other horses. Horses stop eating when gastric osmolality increases; increases in plasma osmolality, protein, and glucose accompany digestion. Foals ea...
Naloxone-induced abdominal distress in the horse. Endogenous opioid peptides have been implicated in the regulation of pain perception, behaviour, gastrointestinal activity and other physiological responses. However, the functional role of these peptides in the horse has yet to be elucidated. The opioid antagonist, naloxone, is often administered to infer endogenous opioid effects. In the present study, naloxone (0.75 mg/kg bodyweight) was administered to eight Thoroughbred racehorses and a number of behavioural and autonomic responses were measured. Naloxone produced rapid onset diarrhoea, restlessness, abdominal checking, tachycardia, tachy...