Responses of horses offered a choice between stables containing single or multiple forages.

This research examines how horses choose their foraging locations — given the option between stables with one type of hay or multiple hays, horses prefer the latter despite the varying palatability of the forages offered or their preferences.

Objectives and Methods

• The primary aim of this research was to understand the behavioral tendencies of horses towards foraging, particularly, their preference for varied over single type of forages.
• The experiment involved 10-12 horses which were introduced to two similar stables; one containing a single type of forage, and the other having a variety of six different forages.
• This process was performed in four replicated trials, each five minutes long.
• After each trial, horses were released into the gangway between the stables and left for five minutes. Researchers then observed and recorded their initial and final choices, the mean duration spent in each stable, and the frequency of their location changes.

Findings

• Upon release, most horses initially entered the stable that was closest to them.
• However, if the nearest stable contained a single forage, the majority of horses eventually transferred to the other stable which contained multiple forages.
• The horses stayed for a longer time in the stables with multiple forages, indicating their preference for varied forages over a single type.
• Interestingly, during trials when both stables contained hay or a preferred forage, eleven horses still switched between the two stables, suggesting that horses may inherently have the motivation to move between different foraging locations.

Conclusion

• The study revealed that horses showed a clear preference for multiple forages located in different places, despite the palatability of the forages or their individual preferences.
• The tendency of horses to switch between stables that both contained desired forages suggested a motivation to move between foraging locations.
• This observation hints at the broader behavioral pattern of horses in their natural environments and can have implications for managing horse feeding in controlled settings.