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Bökönyi, S. The Przevalsky Horse. Souvenir Press Ltd.
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Goossens, A., Schwartz, C., Barret, B., Jacquot, M., Van-Erck-Westergren, E., & Tomberg, C. (2015). Characterisation of the splenius muscle’s activity (Splenius cervicis) during a walk phase at the warm up onset of ridden horses (Equus caballus). In , & K. Krueger (Ed.), Proceedings of the 3. International Equine Science Meeting. Wald: Xenophon Publishing.
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Toewe, B., Fey, K., & Würbel, H. (2008). Effect of an omeprazole (GastroGard) treatment on cribbiting in horses suffering from gastric ulceration. In IESM 2008.
Abstract: Cribbiting is a common stereotypy in domestic horses and is associated with stress and low fibre/high concentrate diets, which are known to cause gastric inflammation and ulceration. Recent studies indicate that antacid supplements can reduce both gastric inflammation and cribbiting. However, stereotypies are also associated with altered brain functions and these are thought to be responsible for emancipation. Emancipation refers to a process by which stereotypies become increasingly independent of the causal factors and may therefore persist with age, regardless of the conditions. Emancipation complicates therapy and points to the importance of prevention.
To further examine the relationship between gastric health and cribbiting and its relation to age at onset, we examined the effect of the proton-pump inhibitor omeprazole (GastroGard, Merial) on gastric inflammation/ulceration and on cribbiting in a double-blind placebo-controlled study. Thirty-one horses of different sex, breed and age were randomly allocated to treatment and placebo and divided into three groups depending on age: 0-5 years (n=11), 5-10 years (n=11) and >10 years (n=9), whereby age at onset of cribbiting was ≤ 5 years for all horses. Treatment and placebo were administered orally by syringe once every day for 28 days by the horse owners. Treatment consisted of 4mg/kg omeprazole for the first four days and 1mg/kg for the following 24days. Using scan sampling and behaviour sampling, general activity and the number of crib-bites were assessed in the home pens one day before and one day between day 21 and 28 of treatment. Observations were made for three hours each around morning and evening feeding times, respectively. Prior to pre-treatment observations and after post-treatment observations, the horses were transported to the clinic and endoscoped for signs of inflammation and ulceration in the oesophagus, the squamous area, the glandular area and the first part of the duodenum using a common scoring system (Andrews et al. 1999). All 31 horses showed signs of gastric inflammation/ulceration which decreased significantly from a median score of 1,2 to 0,6 in the treatment group (Wilcoxon signed rank test, z=-3,186, p=0,001), while there was no change in the placebo group (z=-0,577, p=1.0). However, there was no significant difference in cribbiting before and after treatment, neither in the treatment group (z=-1,834, p=0,068), nor in the placebo group (z=-0,415, p=0,734). Moreover, there were no significant effects of age on gastric inflammation/ulceration (2-way ANOVA, F=1,112, p=0,345) or cribbiting (F=1,113, p=0,344). These results contrast with the recent studies on the effects of antacids on gastric health and cribbiting. There are two possible explanations for this: First, cribbiting may become rapidly established and may thus have persisted even in the youngest age group. Second, omeprazole acts specifically by reducing gastric acid secretion into stomach, while antacids may also have an effect on the intestine. However, these results shed doubts on the hypothesis that cribbiting is caused by gastric inflammation/ulceration. |
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Timney, B. (2008). Photopic Spectral Sensitivity and Wavelength Discrimination in the Horse (Equus caballus). In IESM 2008.
Abstract: A number of studies have demonstrated that horses have chromatic vision and are able to distinguish colours from grey, independent of brightness. Anatomical and physiological data support the view that they are dichromats. In two experiments we provide behavioural evidence for their dichromacy. In the first we measured photopic spectral sensitivity. Using a spatial two alternative forced choice task, two horses were required to discriminate a coloured circular patch on an achromatic background from a blank field over a range of wavelengths . The obtained spectral sensitivity function was consistent with the presence of two cone classes with predicted spectral peaks at 429 nm and 545 nm, respectively. In the second experiment we obtained wavelength discrimination functions. The same animals were required to make discriminations between a series of standard wavelengths and a series of comparison wavelengths across the spectrum. The resultant wavelength discrimination function showed a single minimum at approximately 480 nm, which is also consistent with the view that horses are dichromats. Key Words: Horse, colour vision, spectral sensitivity, wavelength discrimination
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Theodoropoulou, P., & Youlatos, D. (2012). Prevalence of stereotypies amongst Thoroughbred race horses (Equus caballus) in Greece. In K. Krueger (Ed.), Proceedings of the 2. International Equine Science Meeting (Vol. in press). Wald: Xenophon Publishing.
Abstract: Thoroughbred horses are keen to develop stereotypies in higher rates compared to other breeds. In Greece, race horses are exclusively thoroughbreds, which are intensively kept under strict environments. Our study, the first of its kind in Greece, explores the prevalence of stereotypic behaviour in these horses and its interrelation to intrinsic and management factors. For these purposes, we recorded intrinsic (age, gender, indoors and outdoors temperament, playfulness, etc.) and management parameters (time spent out, number of horses per groom, etc.) in association with established stereotypic behaviours (box walking, weaving, head nodding, wind sucking, bed eating) in 209 horses in the Markopoulo Race Track, Attica, Greece. Our analysis showed an overall prevalence of 46.6 %, which is way too high compared to those reported for other race horses worldwide. Furthermore, box walking was strongly associated with indoors temperament (p=0.012), playfulness (p=0.03), and horses per groom (p<0.001). Bed eating with gender (p=0.009), outdoors temperament (p=0.018) and playfulness (p=0.004), while head nodding with indoors and outdoors temperament (p=0.001 and p=0.002, respectively). These results corroborate with previous investigations in other race horses, and indicate the importance of intrinsic factors in developing stereotypies in Thoroughbreds.
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Takimoto, A., Hori, Y. T., K,, & Fujita, K. (2012). Do horses (Equus caballus) show a preference for a fair person? In K. Krueger (Ed.), Proceedings of the 2. International Equine Science Meeting (Vol. in press). Wald: Xenophon Publishing.
Abstract: It is advantageous to identify individuals who are likely to behave fairly and those who are not. This ability to judge others’ fairness seems important for social species to interact or cooperate with their partners. Domestic horses (Equus caballus) have lived with humans for over five thousand years, hence they might have developed sensitivity to human personality. In the present study, we investigated whether horses would discriminate between a person who behaved fairly and a person who behaved unfairly. Specifically, we asked whether horses show a preference for the former. We tested 12 horses (11 thoroughbred and 1 Anglo-Arabian horses) at the horseback-riding club of Kyoto University. They were divided into 6 pairs which consisted of a participant and a partner. A participant was picketed between two polls next to a partner at the hoof washing place. Each horse put his/her mouth in an actor’s hand when the actor (an unfamiliar person) stood in front of them, and then received food from the actor. A fair actor always behaved fairly and gave a small quantity of hay (low-value food) to both of them in return for the task. An unfair actor always behaved unfairly, giving a small quantity of hay to the participant in return for the task, but always giving a piece of carrot (high-value food) to the partner in return for the task. Both actors always stood in front of the partner first, so the partner always did the task and received food from the actor before the participant. Finally, the participant was offered a piece of carrot by the two actors. The participant indicated which offer was accepted by stretching toward the chosen actor. The latter then moved the hand forward to allow the participant to take the food while the other actor’s hand withdrew. The orders (1st or 2nd) and the positions (left or right) of the two actors varied pseudo-randomly across trials. The color of the clothes of the two actors (white or black) was counterbalanced between sessions. We conducted 8 sessions, consisting of 8 experimental trials, across which the actors maintained their respective roles (fair or unfair) of the fair and unfair person. Furthermore, the two actors switched roles across sessions so that they played both roles the same number of times. One session was run per day. If horses can discriminate between fair and unfair people and show a preference for the former, they should choose the former significantly more often than the latter when both actors offered food. The participants showed no overall preference for accepting food from either actor. However, three of six participants showed a side preference. The result of the present study suggests that horses are insensitive to humans’ fairness. Horses may not have expectations about fair treatment.
Keywords: horses,fairness,horse-human interaction
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Takimoto, A., & Fujita, K. (2008). Are horses (Equus caballus) sensitive to human attentional states? In IESM 2008.
Abstract: The ability to reliably detect what others are attending to seems important for social species to interact with their partners. Domestic horses (Equus caballus) have lived with humans for over five thousand years, hence they might have developed sensitivity to human attention. In the present study, we investigated whether horses would discriminate the situation in which a human experimenter could see them from the situation in which she could not. Specifically, we tested whether horses understand the role of eyes in human attentional states, produce more visual gestures when the experimenter can see their begging behaviors and produce more auditory or tactile gestures when she can not. We used with a slight modification the paradigm that previously yielded support for chimpanzee understanding of human attention (Hostetter et al. 2007). Twelve horses were offered food by the experimenter who showed various attentional states in front of them. We scored frequency of begging behaviors by the horses. In experiment 1, we set three kinds of condition: hand over the eyes, hand over the mouth and away. In the last condition there was only a food in front of horses, which was a control condition. The results showed that horses produced more auditory or tactile begging behaviors when the experimenter“s eyes were not visible than when her eyes were visible, but there was no difference in visual begging behaviors. In experiment 2, we set two kinds of condition: eyes closed and eyes open. The horses also produced more auditory or tactile begging behaviors when the experimenter”s eyes were closed than when they were open. However, there was no difference in visual begging behaviors. These results show that horses discriminate the situation in which humans can see from that in which humans can not. Of special interest, horses increased only auditory or tactile behaviors, not all types of communicative behaviors, when the experimenter could not see their begging behaviors. This result suggests that horses are sensitive to human attentional states. Moreover, horses may do recognize the eyes as an important indicator of whether or not humans will respond to their behavior and they may be able to behave flexibly depending upon human attentional states
Keywords: Horses; Attentional state; Begging behavior
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Søndergaard, E., & Turner, K. C. (2008). Timeframe for a novel horse to become familiar in a group. In IESM 2008.
Abstract: The case of familiarity in equine husbandry is not a topic that has suffered vast amounts of examination. During their lifetime domestic horses will most likely experience multiple changes in their social environment such as being sold, moved, and sent to training amongst other things. In recent years a considerable amount of studies have shown the benefits of group-housing on horses, and familiarity timeframes are of genuine importance in management of such systems.
It is our intension to determine the timeframe a novel horse faces before it is recognized as being familiar in an already established group, what factors are of importance and the level of injuries sustained in the introduction period. 24 2-year old Danish Warmblood fillies were used for this study in two blocks of 12 horses. The familiar horses, titled the K-group, consisted of 16 horses and the U-group, the unfamiliar horses, of 8. The horses came from different studs to ensure no prior contact between the two groups of test animals. They were all raised in stable group-housing systems and thereby accustomed to social interactions between conspecifics. Prior to pairing the K-horses up, nearest-neighbour observations was performed in the holding paddock to ensure the two horses were in fact familiar and would act as an established group. 8 groups of 3 individuals, 2 familiar and 1 unfamiliar, were held in separate paddocks measuring 80x80m. The horses were within eyesight of the other groups but were not able to have any physical contact. Behavioural observations were performed for 20 minutes per group upon letting the U-horse enter, and then for one hour per group (3x20mins) every Monday, Wednesday and Friday the following 16 days. On day 0, 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 they were tested for individual preference within the group, and on test day 1 and 16 any injuries sustained were also noted. Dominance rank within the groups was determined by a group-feeding test on the last day of observation. Preliminary results from the first block indicate an overall timeframe of 6-7 days for familiarity to develop, established by observational data such as fading of greeting behaviour and decrease in distance between the three horses in the respective groups. It was also indicated that aggression between horses in the groups is not determined by familiarity but by dominance rank. Results from the full experiment will be presented. |
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Stupperich, A., & Strack, M. (2008). Interaction with horses (equus): Assessment with a circumplex based questionnaire. In IESM 2008.
Abstract: According to Interpersonal Theory every interaction is motivated by efforts to achieve and maintain self-esteem and to avoid anxiety. People"s characteristic ways of accomplishing these ends are called interpersonal reflexes. Those interpersonal reflexes are evident in interaction with animals, since they are determined by the interpersonal traits of personality. We wanted to catch the typical interpersonal reflexes in between humans and horses compared to pet animals.
We used the self rating assessment instrument “Inventory of Problematic Interactions with Animals” (IPI – Animals), which bases on a Interpersonal Circumplex Model (Human Animal Circumplex; HAC) and was constructed to catch specific dispositions of distress caused by animals using two dimensions (too dominant vrs too submissive and too warm versus too cold). Data of 233 male adolescents (93 of them actual pet owners, from that 12 horse owners) were collected. We found that different pet preferences holds distinct locations in the HAC. Horse persons differ from dog and cat persons within the dimension dominance (dog: chi2(df126) =161.54 p= .018; cat: chi2(df126) =199.95 p= .045). Persons, who own a horse or would wish to own one, describe themselves as dominant, but warm interactors. They report that they want horses to notice them. They tend do too much for them and behave very effusively with them. On the other hand they feel that the animal takes too much advantage of the relationship. |
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Stucke, D., & Lebelt, D. (2012). “Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN) – Erforschung von Schmerzindikatoren am Pferd”. In K. Krueger (Ed.), Proceedings of the 2. International Equine Science Meeting (Vol. in press). Wald: Xenophon Publishing.
Abstract: Das EU-Projekt AWIN (Animal Welfare Indicators) hat zum Ziel, ein weltweites Netzwerk zum Thema Tierschutz und Wohlbefinden von Tieren zu erstellen, durch welches Forschungsergebnisse und neue Erkenntnisse ausgetauscht werden können. Diese Informationen sollen auch dem Gesetzgeber zur Verfügung gestellt werden, um neue Gesetze auf wissenschaftlichen Grundlagen beschließen zu können. Des Weiteren soll diese Plattform zu Trainingszwecken genutzt werden, damit Personen, die im Bereich Tierschutz arbeiten, sich fortbilden können.
In vier Arbeitsgruppen wird am Tier zum Thema Wohlbefinden und Schmerz geforscht. In der ersten Arbeitsgruppe werden Beurteilungsprotokolle für Ziegen, Schafe, Pferde, Esel und Puten erarbeitet, um Wohlbefinden und Schmerz objektiv bestimmen zu können. Dabei geht es sowohl um die Erfassung individueller Parameter, als auch um haltungsbedingte Parameter wie Tierdichte, Gruppengröße oder Mensch-Tier-Interaktion. Das Ziel dieser Protokolle ist die einfache Anwendbarkeit auf große Tierbestände. Die zweite Arbeitsgruppe erforscht die Beziehung zwischen Wohlbefinden und Krankheit bzw. Schmerz. Der Einfluss von akuten oder chronischen Schmerzen kann das Wohlbefinden erheblich beeinträchtigen. Anhand des Krankheitsbildes der akuten und chronischen Hufrehe sowie durch den chirurgischen Eingriff einer Kastration an gesunden Pferden sollen Schmerzindikatoren am Pferd erforscht werden. Die akute Hufrehe dient als Modell für sehr starke Schmerzen. Die Schmerz-assoziierten physiologischen Parameter Herzfrequenzvariabilität und Zytokinreaktion im Blut werden bestimmt. Mit einem Schmerzbeurteilungsbogen werden außerdem ethologische Parameter wie z. B. Körperhaltung, Kopfbewegungen, Lahmheitsgrad, abnormale Gewichtsverlagerungen, Mensch-Pferd-Interaktionsverhalten und weitere physiologischen Parameter wie Atemfrequenz, Herzfrequenz, Darmgeräusch und Körpertemperatur erhoben. Durch das Krankheitsbild der chronischen Hufrehe sollen die ermittelten Schmerz-assoziierten Parameter auf ihre Aussagefähigkeit auch für weniger starke Schmerzen überprüft werden. In der Kastrationsstudie werden Basiswerte ohne Schmerzen vor dem chirurgischen Eingriff erhoben und mit den Werten nach der Kastration verglichen. Neben den oben genannten Parametern werden zusätzlich Cortisolmetaboliten im Kot bestimmt und es werden Videoaufzeichnungen von der Mimik des Pferdes gemacht und ausgewertet. Außerdem soll der Einsatz von Schmerzmitteln vor und nach der Kastration und deren Einfluss auf das Befinden des Pferdes nach der Operation erforscht werden. Das Forschungsziel der zweiten Arbeitsgruppe ist die Bestimmung von geeigneten Messparametern, durch die Schmerz objektiv beurteilt werden kann. Die dritte Arbeitsgruppe beschäftigt sich mit dem Einfluss von pränatal erlebtem Stress auf die Individualentwicklung des Fohlens. Veränderungen in der Herdenstruktur, soziale Isolation oder abruptes Absetzen des letzten Fohlens während sensibler Trächtigkeitsphasen beeinflussen die tragende Stute und den Foetus. Nach der Geburt wird das Verhalten der Mutterstute und die Entwicklung des neugeborenen Fohlens beobachtet. In der vierten Arbeitsgruppe schließlich wird das wissenschaftliche Netzwerk zusammengesetzt. Neben wissenschaftlichen Forschungsergebnissen und Publikationen werden auch Lernmaterialien („learning objects“) erarbeitet und zur Verfügung gestellt. „Learning objects“ sind digitale Lernmaterialien, in denen spielerisch Stück für Stück der Lerninhalt interaktiv erarbeitet werden kann. |