Abstract: Initial equestrian training and especially first mounting of a rider are stressful challenges for young horses (1). Most young horses are raised in groups but, in association with equestrian training, they are commonly transferred to individual stabling in loose boxes. Although, in most stables, visual contact with horses in adjacent boxes is possible, separation from the herd might be an additional stressor. We have studied physiological stress parameters, in 3-year-old sport horse mares (n=8), transferred from a group stable with access to a paddock to individual boxes without paddock. Once stabled in the individual boxes, mares underwent a standard training for young horses. Horses had been accustomed to lunging and tolerating a rider on their back several weeks before the study. Mares were studied from 5 days before to 5 days after changing the stable. Cortisol concentration in saliva, locomotion activity (ALT pedometers), heart rate (HR) and HR variability (RMSSD: root mean square of successive beat-to-beat intervals) were determined. We hypothesized that the change of the stable increases cortisol release and is associated with changes in HR and RMSSD and reduced locomotion. Before mares were moved to individual boxes, cortisol concentration showed a pronounced diurnal rhythm with values around 0.6 ng/ ml in the morning and a continuous decrease throughout the day. When the mares were moved to individual boxes, cortisol concentration increased to 1.8±0.2 ng/ml and did not return to baseline values within 6 h (p<0.05 over time). On subsequent days, a diurnal rhythm was re-established but shifted to a higher level than before. Locomotion activity determined by ALT pedometers was increased for some minutes only after mares has been placed in individual boxes but was only slightly higher than during the time mares spent with the group in a paddock. On days 2-5 in individual boxes, locomotion activity was reduced compared to the group stable. HR increased and the HRV variable RMSSD decreased when mares were separated. In conclusion, separating horses during initial training from their group is an additional stressor, although the stress is less pronounced than induced by other social challenges, e.g. weaning of foals (2). When stabled in individual boxes, mares move less than when kept as a group. Horses kept in a group thus appear to exercise themselves freely, such an effect is absent when the animals are kept individually.

Abstract: Domesticated horses are constantly confronted with novel tasks. A recent study on anecdotal data indicates that some are innovative in dealing with such tasks. However, innovative behavior in horses has not previously been investigated under experimental conditions. In this study, we investigated whether 16 horses found an innovative solution when confronted with a novel feeder. Moreover, we investigated whether innovative behavior in horses may be affected by individual aspects such as: age, sex, size, motor and sensory laterality, fecal stress hormone concentrations (GCMs), and task-related behavior. Our study revealed evidence for 25% of the horses being capable of innovative problem solving for operating a novel feeder. Innovative horses of the present study were active, tenacious, and may be considered to have a higher inhibitory control, which was revealed by their task related behavior. Furthermore, they appeared to be emotional, reflected by high baseline GCM concentrations and a left sensory and motor laterality. These findings may contribute to the understanding of horses&#65533; cognitive capacities to deal with their environment and calls for enriched environments in sports and leisure horse management.

Abstract: Some animals give specific calls when they discover food or detect a particular type of predator. Companions respond with food-searching behaviour or by adopting appropriate escape responses. These signals thus seem to denote objects in the environment, but this specific mechanism has only been demonstrated for monkey alarm calls. We manipulated whether fowl (Gallus gallus) had recently found a small quantity of preferred food and then tested for a specific interaction between this event and their subsequent response to playback of food calls. In one treatment, food calls thus potentially provided information about the immediate environment, while in the other the putative message was redundant with individual experience. Food calls evoked substrate searching, but only if the hens had not recently discovered food. An identical manipulation had no effect on responses to an acoustically matched control call. These results show that chicken food calls are representational signals: they stimulate retrieval of information about a class of external events. This is the first such demonstration for any non-primate species. Representational signalling is hence more taxonomically widespread than has previously been thought, suggesting that it may be the product of common social factors, rather than an attribute of a particular phylogenetic lineage.

Abstract: Die Domestikation des Pferdes begann wahrscheinlich etwa 5500 v. Chr. in
Südosteuropa. In Mitteleuropa traten circa 3000 v. Chr. die ersten Hauspferde auf.
Grundsätzlich wird davon ausgegangen, dass sich die Ansprüche des Pferdes
hinsichtlich der Lebensbedingungen, welche sich im Laufe der Evolution über
Millionen von Jahren entwickelt haben, in der Obhut des Menschen nicht wesentlich
geändert haben. Für Pferde typisch ist das Leben im Sozialverband, der Herde
(Zeitler-Feicht 2008). Diese wird auch in den Leitlinien der Sachverständigengruppe
tierschutzgerechte Pferdehaltung (10. November 1995) empfohlen, sofern es nicht
durch zu häufigen Wechsel im Bestand zu einem Übermaß an Stress und
agonistischen Aktionen kommt.
Ziel der Arbeit war es, anhand eines nach der Literatur erstellten Ethogramms des
Sozialverhaltens des Pferdes, herauszufinden, inwieweit Änderungen der
Gruppenstruktur die sozialen Beziehungen beeinflussten. Die Fragestellung bezog
sich auf eine Herde in Offenstallhaltung. Um die eventuellen Veränderungen der
sozialen Interaktionen zu untersuchen, wurde erst die vorhandene Gruppenstruktur
der Herde festgestellt. Danach wurde ein Individuum aus der Herde entfernt und ein
anderes dazugestellt. Anschließend wurde die Gesamtgruppe in zwei Untergruppen
geteilt und nach einem gewissen Zeitraum erneut zusammengeführt. Dabei wurden
jeweils die Interaktionen der Pferde anhand des Ethogramms beobachtet,
aufgezeichnet und protokolliert.
Untersuchungsgegenstand war eine Herde Islandpferde, die in einer
Ausgangsgruppe von 16 Tieren gehalten wurde.
Die Beschreibung einer sozialen Ordnung im Allgemeinen und einer Rangordnung im
Besonderen wird in vielen Studien ausschließlich auf der Basis der Beobachtung und
Bewertung offensiv aggressiver Verhaltenselemente durchgeführt. Aggressives
Verhalten muss hingegen im Gegensatz zu Verhaltensweisen, die die Anerkennung
des sozialen Status des anderen Pferdes bedeuten, wie Abwenden oder Meiden,
nicht notwendigerweise ein Anzeichen von Dominanz über ein anderes Tier
bedeuten (Van Hoof u. Wensing 1987, Schilder 1988). Ein weiterer Aspekt dieser
Arbeit sollte sein, eine Möglichkeit zu finden, die Sozialstruktur auch auf der
Grundlage defensiver und soziopositiver Verhaltenselemente zu definieren.

Abstract: Horses are known to show fear reactions when confronted with novelty and this can be a considerable hindrance in the context of working situations such as riding, dressage or racing. The aim of the present study was to measure the potential effects of a synthetic analogue of the Equine Appeasing Pheromone on saddled horses when subjected to a stressful situation using a double-blinded, placebo controlled study design. A group of 40 horses was analyzed during this study and horses were divided by sex, breed and reactivity into two homogenized groups. The test, which consisted of walking the horse through a fringed curtain, was selected from a range of tests which are used to assess behaviour for the selection of French breeding stock. Horses that could have been subjected to the test on a previous occasion, and therefore be familiar with it, were not included. Behavioural and physiological parameters were both taken into account with measures of time to go through the curtain, fear related typical behavioural patterns, based on available literature detailed in the bibliography, and heart rate being recorded. Parameters were analyzed by means of Mann-Whitney U-test. Significant differences were noticed between the two groups concerning heart rate data during the test (UMeanHR = 100.5, pMeanHR = 0.02; UMaxHR = 75, pMaxHR = 0.001) and during the whole measured period (UMeanHR = 67, pMeanHR = 0.005; UMaxHR = 58, pMaxHR = 0.002). Observation of the animals also revealed less behavioural items characteristic of fear within the treated group. As a result, horses performed the test with a better time performance when they received the pheromone analogue (U = 62, p = 0.002). The main parameter, area under the HR graph, is based on heart rate measure and performance. Differences noticed (U = 74, p = 0.002) for this parameter lead to the conclusion that horses who received EAP underwent less stress related consequences in terms of their cardiac physiology. As horses are subjected to a number of foreseeable stressful events this study suggests that the use of Equine Appeasing Pheromone could be a significant factor in improving the welfare of this species.