Are 6-month-old foals sensitive to dam’s influence?

This research examines whether 6-month-old foals remain responsive to their mother’s influence, especially when such has been positively contacted by a human. The study discovered that although this influence is noticeable, the individual behavioral characteristics of foals play a larger role at this age than at earlier stages.

Research Methods

• The research was conducted on 16 groups consisting of a foal and a mare, otherwise referred to as foal-mare dyads.
• Half of the mares (eight in total) got positively interacted with by the researcher in the presence of their 6-month-old foals.
• The remaining eight mares were not interacted with by the experimenter.

Testing Phase

• All the foals were put to a series of tests 15 and 30-35 days later under different circumstances.
• These tests included their reaction to a motionless human, an approachability test, and a saddle-pad tolerance test.

Observations

• A positive effect of the mare’s handling by the human was noticed on the foals’ reactions toward humans.
• However, there was a high variation in individual responses, suggesting that the behavioral characteristics of the foals were more influential at the 6-month age than the mare’s treatment.

Conclusion

• Although the handling of the mares by humans influenced the foals and how they subsequently related to humans, the individual behavioral inclinations of the foals proved more influential at this age.
• This suggests that at 6-months-old, foals are potentially developing an increased independence from their mother’s behavior and influence.